A/N: This is a fanfic about what would happen if Roach and Ghost had somehow escaped being burned at the Estate. This will include other characters as well, some even made up to keep the story going. R&R if you please, but just enjoy the story.
A/N over.
The Estate
Ghost and Roach
Assumed K.I.A. By Cmdr. Shepherd. Bodies to be burned
"Torch their bodies. No evidence left."
Well, shit, Gary thought, two men seizing him and dragging him away from the helicopter. The bullet in his left side was burning like hell, but he tried not to pass out.
Ghost was being dragged along with him to his right, looking unconscious. Gary hadn't seen where he'd been shot, but he assumed it was somewhere quite painful to knock him out.
They soon dropped him and Ghost, and started pouring gasoline and lighter fluid over them, making Ghost start sputtering, some landing in his mouth.
"Why can't we just leave 'em? Waste of fuel, it is..." An unknown voice wafted over to them as a man lit a match.
The man with the match turned back and replied, "Do you want to go against Shepherd?"
"Just saying, it seems like a waste." The other voice remarked again, this time sounding farther away.
"Just go with it. We'll be fucked if we're left here, so get on with it." The man with the match turned to drop it on Gary.
"No you don't, fucker." Ghost had somehow regained enough force to come up behind him with his knife and wrap his arm around his throat, threatening to either break the man's neck or cut off his oxygen.
"Drop him, or you'll die just as easy!" One of the other three men yelled, probably pointing a weapon at Ghost.
Gary tried to rise and felt nauseous. He was weak, and the bullet in his side wasn't helping.
"Stay down unless you want another bullet in you!" That made Gary stop trying to move and lie back, fighting against the urge to just fall unconscious and forget about this.
"Drop the guns, or your little buddy here gets it." That was Ghost, his arm tightening around the first man's throat, his face beginning to change colors as he gasped for air.
"How about you drop him, and maybe we won't have to put you through more pain."
"Wrong answer." In a flash, the man's sidearm was in his hands, and two bullets were off before their enemies could react.
One man reacted fast enough through, two bullets ripping into the armor and clothes of the man held by Ghost, hitting him in the stomach but not going all the way through.
Ghost let off another shot at the remaining man, and judging by a cry of pain, he was still alive.
"Roach, you still with me?" Ghost stopped to ask, motioning with the arm still wrapped around the man's face for him to get up.
"Yea... Drenched me in this foul shit, though." Gary replied, sitting up and slowly standing, his left hand held to where blood had stopped pouring from. The bullet appeared to have missed organs and important parts of his body, but it still hurt like hell to him.
"Roach, go help our friend there." Ghost motioned with the pistol still in his hands. He kept it trained on the man bending down and clutching his leg, where he was struggling to keep blood from pouring.
Roach stumbled over to him and seized the man by the front of his shirt, releasing his left hand from his wound in his side and wrapping it around his throat, threatening to suffocate him.
"Now, listen to me, and I may let you live. Where is Shepherd going?" Roach asked, easing up enough to let him breathe.
"Burn..." The man replied, smiling.
"Funny is it? Is this?" Roach asked casually, before thrusting his right hand into the man's face, curled into a fist. It impacted on his nose, scrunching it up against his face and causing blood to pour out from it, going down towards the sides of his mouth.
"Is that funny? If it's so funny, want some more?" Roach punched him again, this time in his left eye, making him flinch, his eye staying shut as Roach drew back for another punch, this one intending on breaking his jaw.
"Stop... please..." The man muttered, trying to reach up and stop his nose from bleeding.
"Where is Shepherd going?"
"I don't... know."
"WHAT! And you made me punch you in the face because of that? What kind of sick bastard are you!" Roach yelled, tightening his grip on the man slightly, making him start gasping.
"Give Commander... time to... get away. Throw off... bitches like... you." The man then smile done more time.
Out of rage, Roach punched the man in the jaw, a sickening crunch following as the man tried to speak but gibberish came out, before he began screaming in pain.
Roach dropped the man and kicked his stomach, making him fall to the ground. The man lay there gasping for breath as Ghost walked over to Roach and examined the man.
"You're not kidding, this gasoline does smell like horrible, Roach..." Ghost leaned down and examined the man's equipment as he attempted to speak again.
Ghost ignored him, and simply pulled a radio off of the man's chest, and tuned it in to a different frequency, getting static.
"Damn. That's what the frequency was supposed to be. Shepherd's set up a private one, and now we're stranded here..." He began tuning the radio again, only getting static and on one occasion chatter in an unknown language.
"Ghost, can I kill this asshole already?" Roach unsheathed his knife and bent down next to the man who was still sputtering nonsense.
"Go ahead, we don't need him anymore." Ghost replied, still trying to tune the radio into an active frequency.
The man's eyes widened as Roach slit his throat and stuck the blade in the ground to clean it.
He should be thankful, I know much worse ways to kill with a knife that that, Roach thought, watching the man clutch his throat as it bled onto his vest.
He could have slowly cut the man's eyes out for one, and then stabbed him in the heart or throat. He could have cut off the organ most men call their best and watched him bleed to death, but he had been merciful, regardless of his and Ghost's situation.
"...Gamma 2-1 confirm!" That came from the radio, causing Roach to jump. He had suspected Ghost would give up and attempt to contact their colleagues, but he didn't.
"Package is clear, repeat, package is clear. Gamma 2-1 confirm K.I.A. Of targets!" That was directed to the dead man in front of them.
"Bravo 2-2, Oscar Mike to Gamma 2-1's location. ETA is three minutes." That made Ghost make a move. He pocketed the radio and tapped the headset that was his, and spoke into it.
"Archer, respond." Ghost spoke, asking for the man who, in a ghillie suit, had covered them on their approach to the estate earlier, before Shepherd had attempted to kill them and burn their bodies.
"Ghost, you're alive? Shit, we thought you'd been K.I.A." The voice floated into Roach's headset too. "Is Roach still alive as well?"
"Loud and clear, Archer." Roach said.
"Toad, get your ass down! Ghost, callsigns are over, it's every man for themselves. We are fucked if Shepherd's clean up team finds us." Archer spoke again.
"Archer, can you get the evac team on?" Ghost inquired.
"They've gone dark. We've also intercepted intel that a Gamma 2-1 is not responding. I'm guessing that's your doing?"
"Got that right. Bastards tried to burn us after Shepherd shot us. They're sending a search team, so we've got to move." Ghost stood up and began moving slowly towards the cover of the trees nearby.
"They tried to burn you? Shepherd really has betrayed us. If you can, meat us at the secondary exfil point. Our ETA is five minutes if we meet no resistance." Archer went silent after that, probably turning off his mic.
"Roach, take his pistol." Ghost suggested.
The man's pistol was a usp .45. Roach would have preferred to take the man's ACR, but Ghost knew they needed to move fast or get caught by Bravo 2-2.
Ghost and Roach made their way through the trees slowly, making sure not to make any unnecessary noise. The consequences would be greater than they could bear if they were found.
"Roach, halt." Ghost spoke urgently. They had gotten close to the secondary exfil, where hopefully Archer and his fellows were.
"Check the right side of the clearing, see the glare?" Ghost was right, there was a glare coming from a bush at the other side of the clearing, noticeable only to the men who were looking for the slightest detail.
"Archer, we're near the exfil. Have you set up a perimeter yet?" Ghost asked into his mic.
"You've seen the snipers too, then? We're on the south side, it appears like they've got men at each direction. You see the glares from them?" Archer replied, sounds of quick breathing in the background.
"We're on the east side, staring right at this guy who hasn't seen us yet. We're going to try and find the guy on our end." Ghost answered moving to the left, while Roach moved to the right.
"Ghost, I've found one of the fuckers." Roach spoke into his own mic. Directly in front of him, the man's back to him, was a man with an Intervention sniper rifle, looking down the scope to the West.
"Take his ass out, Roach." Ghost replied.
Roach unsheathed his knife again, this time putting his arm around the man's throat and dragging him away from the rifle, which stayed perched on the bush he'd left it on.
He dragged the man back and quickly slit his throat, dropping him to the ground as he tried to speak but couldn't, his airway cut open.
Roach took the man's place, looking through the scope across the clearing. He searched for a few seconds and found the glint of the other sniper rifle, the man's head just visible above it.
"Archer, east side secure. Sitrep on the south?" Roach asked.
"Clear, on my count we take out the other two. Toad, get ready to take out the North one." Archer answered back.
"One... Two... Three.. Fire." Archer didn't bother yelling the last word, it just gave yourself away to the enemy.
Roach held his breath and fired, the kick of the rifle nearly going back and making the scope hit him in the eye. He pulled the bolt back and looked through the scope again, seeing no glint anymore. Either the man had been hit on his mark, or Roach had missed and the man had hid or fled, hearing the simultaneous shot of Toad.
"Ghost, we're clear." Roach confirmed.
"Copy." Ghost replied.
Roach hefted up the rifle and slung it over his back, and began slowly moving to the center of the clearing.
Ghost, Toad, Archer, and Crown were already there by the time Roach reached the center, the four of them in a defensive circle looking in all four directions.
"Fuck. Ghost, Roach, you two are wounded. We need to get out of here as soon as possible, by helicopter if we can." Archer remarked as soon as Roach reached them.
"We couldn't raise Helo 4-1 earlier, but Crown wants to try again." Archer continued, motioning to Crown, who nodded and began messing with his mic, tuning in to the frequency the evac copters should be on.
"Helo 4-1, this is the remaining survivors. Callsigns dropped, we need evac ASAP." Crown spoke into his mic, his right hand reaching into his pocket to pull out a usp .45 and draw back the top, loading it.
"Copy, Helo 4-1 here. Got distracted earlier, fucking bogies trying to take control of us. Oscar Mike to secondary exfil, ETA two minutes." The reply made Crown grin, and he repeated it to the others, who smiled in turn, except for Ghost.
Nobody could tell what was behind that balaclava, a smile, frown, laughing face or tears, Ghost was truly emotionless with that face mask.
Two minutes later, two transport helicopters appeared in the sky, lowering towards them.
"When they touch down, we don't argue, just pile in whichever one is closer. The noise is going to bring Shepherd's men out here, and we don't need to die now, not after surviving this long." Ghost ordered, looking up at the helicopters descending towards them.
"GO!" Ghost yelled as soon as the nearest one was close enough to grab the bottom.
Archer stood under the copter and held out his hands to boost everyone up.
Crown was boosted first, followed by Archer, who in turn pulled up Crown, leaving Ghost and Roach to boost each other up.
"Up you go, Roach." Ghost held out his hands and Roach stepped onto them. Boosted up by Ghost, he grasped the edge of the helicopter and pulled himself in, and turned to grab Ghost.
Ghost grasped his hand and pulled himself into the helicopter next to Roach.
The helicopter began to take of, the second one already hovering above them.
The helicopter suddenly spun wildly, still moving upwards. A streak of smoke could be seen on the other side, followed by a closer one.
"Shit!" Roach yelled, stumbling backwards and out of the helicopter, just able to grasp the edge and keep himself from falling back to capture and eventual death.
"Roach!" Ghost yelled, Archer and him sliding over to the edge to try and grasp his hands and pull him in.
This reminded Roach of the time he, Mactavish, Ghost, and Rocket had been in a favela, and he'd failed to make a jump across a gap to another building, causing him to tumble to the ground and run from a mob of hostiles towards Nikolai's helicopter.
Except that time he'd been hanging from a ladder, and he'd had to jump to it from a ledge. This time, however, he'd been knocked out and this meant even worse than falling into those men from the favela.
"Helo 4-1, if you continue to help these outlawed individuals in their escape, we will be forced to shoot you down." Roach heard the voice from the radio Ghost had decided to strap to his chest instead of his pocket.
"Like hell you will, bitches!" The pilot replied back. He knew who the enemy was here, he'd nearly been killed himself just for sticking to the plan and waiting for the team to exfil, and this had happened.
As the helicotper stabilized and continued to rise, Roach desperately tried to grab either Ghost or Archer's hand with his free one.
"Roach! Come on, you can't die now!" Ghost yelled at him, giving Roach the strength enough to grasp his hand, and then Archer's as they pulled him in.
"Ah, damn. Gonna have bruises tomorrow." Roach mumbled once inside, rubbing his arms. He'd been trained in the SAS, and that had actually made him feel as if his arms would be ripped from his sockets.
"You know, Roach, that's the second time your as has had to be saved in a helicopter." Ghost was referring to the favela that had flashed through Roach's mind earlier.
Roach grinned, and assumed Ghost was grinning too, and held out his hand.
Ghost took it and shook it, nearly bringing the man into a hug but resisted the urge. He didn't feel like hugging now, and he needed to get this bullet out of him.
"When we get somewhere safe and this bullet gets out of me, I'm just gonna have a nice smoke." Ghost remarked.
"I wonder if this happened to Mactavish as well." Roach speculated. It probably had, and he was capable of taking care of himself, but he was still worried. Shepherd was a formidable man, and Mactavish would need all the strength he had to escape this.
"I wouldn't worry." Ghost replied, looking over at Archer and the other two.
They were silent, their eyes changed. Before this, they'd been talkative outside of operations, but now they looked gaunt, as if they'd seen enough to last a life time.
Betrayal could do that to you, especially if you have to end up killing some of the men you'd fought with before.
"They'll be fine, Roach." Ghost appeared to have read his mind and set him at ease. It happened to all of them, and they either got over it or remained silent most of the time, not inputting on the most basic of ideas and plans.
"I hope so... Shepherd and Makarov may be against each other, but we're still a target to him, and we're more of a threat because we've escaped him..." Roach replied.
"We'll kill that bastard if we have to die doing it." Ghost replied, looking out of the side of the helicopter.
No matter where Shepherd hid, he and Roach would find him and pay him back for this. He really would die if he made sure of it.
"Roach... Where do we head next?" Ghost asked.
"We need to find Mactavish at the least, he'll be with Nikolai for sure. That Russian's always there to bail at least one of us out of a tight spot." Roach replied.
"And they're in a boneyard... in Afghan, correct?" Ghost asked, already knowing the answer.
"I feel bad for him, trapped between Makarov and Shepherd's men. He'll survive though, if I know Mactavish..." Roach replied, leaning back against one of the seats I the helicopter.
Maybe things would have gone better if they'd stayed together. Now they had no idea if Mactavish was alive, and they themselves had been shot and nearly burned to death.
"Well, you sure aren't a ghost anymore, Ghost..." Roach remarked. The balaclava would be known to all of Shepherd's forces for sure now, and they'd either hate it, fear it, want to kill it, or all three.
They truly were on their own now. The only ones they could count on were each other, Archer, Crown, Toad, Helo, Mactavish, Price, and Nikolai. They truly were in this together now.