Chapter 7 - The Gulag

CONTENT WARNING: "Enhanced Interrogation" is included in this chapter

Ryuji woke up strapped to a chair. The room was almost pitch black, if not for a light dangling just over his head. There were four people in the room, two Ultranationalist soldiers, a man wearing a grey suit with a large silver handgun tucked into the waistband. Then there was the fourth man. He was dressed in a fur lined tracksuit and a kevlar vest. His hair was buzzed and Ryuji felt a sadistic aura from him. Clearly, this was Victor Zakhaev. Zakhaev held a picture and nodded.

"We found this in your helmet." Zakhaev stated. "It seems you have people you care about. If you want to see them again, you will tell me who hacked the Armistice."

"Go to hell." Ryuji spat. Zakhaev scoffed. A first slammed into his face, over and over. Unending was the assault on Ryuji. Infact, Ryuji was certain Zakhaev was enjoying it. It reached a point where his face more resembled a giant, cut covered welt than a face. Ryuji spat some blood out as Zakhaev put a mask on.

"Perhaps you just need some air." Zakhaev chuckled. A soldier carted in a drum with N6 written on the side. He was going to get gassed. Ryuji used the last of his strength to struggle against the soldier who tore him out of the chair. Oddly enough, Ryuji felt one of the guards slip something into his pockets.

"Sir, even for you this is cruel. He's still a child." The suited man interjected. Zakhaev laughed.

"Nothing is cruel when you want to send a message." Zakhaev countered. He lifted the lid off the drum, letting a flow gas out. Ryuji's face was shoved in the flow. His lungs burnt, his nose hairs were being scorched by the gas, and his face burnt. Ryuji used the very last bit of his strength to kick himself off of the soldiers. He began coughing violently, blood spilling out with each cough.

"We're done here, take him to his cell." Zakhaev ordered. The soldiers dragged Ryuji through the complex. It was massive, and completely depressing. There were no colors except grey and balck, and there was no natural light to speak of. Ryuji was tossed into a cell with a woman, of all people. The woman soaked a rag in water and approached Ryuji. There was something off about her, Ryuji couldn't put his finger on it. Perhaps it was how clean she was, the youth she had, or maybe her auburn hair that seemed so unnatural. Ryuji coughed a bit before speaking up.

"Hey, guess I have to live with you now. I'm Ryuji Sakamoto." Ryuji managed to say. The woman gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Hello Ryuji," the woman said, her voice a mix of the familiar speech he was raised around and a Russian accent. "I am your new cellmate, Asya Valerivna, you can call me Bell."

"Nice meeting you Bell." Ryuji murmured before coughing. The two said nothing as Bell wiped blood off Ryuji's face and hair. Ryuji felt something in his pocket as he sat. After a while, Ryuji pulled the object out, it was a set of keys. Bell took notice of the keys.

"Those are very important, how'd you get them?" Bell asked. Ryuji shrugged.

"Some guard slipped them in my pocket." Ryuji sighed. Bell sighed as well.

"I have a plan, Ryuji." Bell began. "And those keys are integral to them, they get us into the armory."

"You can have them." Ryuji muttered. "I'm not gonna need them."

"Unfortunately, I need you as well." Bell sighed. "The person who unlocks the armory cannot open it themself."

"Why me then?" Ryuji asked. "I'm just some kid." Bell laughed.

"You are no mere kid." Bell said. "I've heard whispers about you. They say you stole a nuke from Zakhaev, and that you killed forty six men in three months. What Zakhaev did to you is proof of that to me." Ryuji sighed. What choice did he have?

"Fine, I'm in. What's the plan?" Ryuji said.

"The plan comes later." Bell stated. "I want to know who I'm working with. Tell me about yourself, Ryuji." Ryuji groaned.

"What's there to say?" Ryuji sighed. "I'm just some kid from Japan who joined the military to pay for college. I have great friends, and a great team."

"You aren't just some kid," Bell responded. "Some kid wouldn't scare Zakhaev to the point where he finds it worth it to gas them." Ryuji scoffed.

"He's just a sadist." Ryuji spat. "What about you? What would you say you are." Bell clicked her tongue.

"I served with two sides of the Cold War." Bell explained. "I was forced to betray my comrades, my friends. But, they forgave me, somehow. They gave me back the life I was denied."

"Who were these friends?" Ryuji asked.

"A man called Perseus, one of many." Bell explained. "We were a legion, one with the goal of preserving our union. When it fell, we weeped. We decided our new goal would be to bring it back, but Zakhaev had other plans. My Perseus was killed, and now I am here."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ryuji offered.

"Don't be, the ones you lose should be your strength." Bell stated. "Without them, we are nothing. Who keeps you fighting, Ryuji?" Ryuji sat blank for a moment. Then his mind turned to the Phantom Thieves, his mother, Price, Torres, and the rest of ARM-4.

"Heh, it's a long list." Ryuji siad, a smile forming on his face. "Let's just say I'd fight a god for them if I had to."

Micheal slammed his fist into the wall. How could Dimitri do that to him? To Sakamoto? To Sato? Micheal reeled back his fist, waving it to ease the pain. A million thoughts ran through his mind. What happens now? Does he have a mission anymore? What will become of him?

"ARM-4 I have bad news." Laswell informed the team. "The Armistice has been disbanded, we can't offer anymore support. A chopper will be coming to pick you all up on friday at 1800 hours."

"Alright, let's prepare for the evac." Price sighed.

"Are we just leaving Sakamoto behind?!" Micheal spat. "He's in enemy hands, probably being tortured to death over Sakura."

"Yeah are you just gonna leave him behind?!" Sakura spat over the radio.

"We don't have a choice, ARM-4 is no more, we have no backup, no support, nothing." Gaz sighed.

"I'm not accepting that." Micheal said, slamming a fist on the table. "I'm going to get Sak- I'm going to get Ryuji out of that prison, even if I'm alone." Ghost stood up.

"I'm with you, he's our comrade, we're breaking him out." Ghost stated. One by one, Alex, Gaz, Soap, and even Price stood up.

"Alright, what's your plan?" Price asked. Soap reciprocated the question.

"You're the one who convinced us to do this, you're responsible for this." Soap stated. Micheal though for a minute. All he knew was that Ryuji was in the prison, there was a SAM stationed there, and the place would be crawling with Ultranationalists. Micheal pulled up some blueprints and satellite images of the prison on Price's tablet. It would be impossible to get a drone or a chopper there without dealing with the SAM, and chances were slim to none to do so undetected. Brute force would be the way to go here.

"There's a bunch of RC planes in the shops around the downtown." Micheal began. "If we can get a small fleet of them and strap C4 to them, we can fly them into the prison and take out the SAM."

"The Urzik militia did something similar." Alex stated. "I can help set those up."

"What next?" Price asked.

"Once the SAM is destroyed, we have an attack chopper fly in and keep the guards on the surface occupied." Micheal explained.

"How are we gonna get that?" Gaz asked. "We don't have any support."

"Officially, you don't." Kamarov corrected. "I know someone who runs an underground mercenary service, he'll get you that helicopter."

"Alright, thank you Kamarov." Micheal stated. "Next, we have a ground team brute force their way into the complex. We hunt down Ryuji, and get him out." Micheal searched for an exit point, finding a solid one near the showers. "We'll take him out of there with the sewers, they lead right outside and we can have the chopper pick us up there."

"Solid plan, just might work." Soap stated. "You got a name for this op?" Micheal thought for a moment, looking back on his talks with Ryuji. He remembered him mentioning a song he enjoyed, perhaps that could work.

"Operation Willpower." Micheal suggested.

"And when does this start?" Price stated.

"Preparations begin today, the operation begins friday three weeks from now at 1800 hours." Micheal stated. "We need time for preparations, and we need to gather intelligence. Let's go, people." The team prepared their weapons, checked their plates, and other tasks to get ready. Micheal stared out the window at the prison.

We're coming for you, Ryuji, hang tight bud. Micheal thought.

It had been a week since Ryuji was imprisoned and he knew what was to be done. In Between labor periods and beatings, Ryuji prepared homemade shivs and clubs for the escape to come. The plan revolved around a riot that would distract the guards while Ryuji and Bell made their way to the armory. Once there, they would gather weapons and move to eliminate Zakhaev. Once that was done, he and Bell would escape via the sewers. Ryuji was eager, but cautious nonetheless. He also noticed a change in himself. He was slower, more methodical in how he acted, and he always found himself planning a way to take out everyone in any room if the need arose. He also changed physically, a massive scar from the Nova across his face and a beard formed on his face, as well as a notable lack of any blonde dye remaining in his hair and some muscle mass being added to his figure. Ryuji sighed and finished ripping a pipe off the wall. Bell approached him, an inquisitive look over her face.

"There's something wrong with one of the guards." Bell murmured. "She's shorter than the rest, always hides her face, and as you said, she slipped keys in your pocket."

"Not to mention she's a woman, no offense." Ryuji added.

"None taken, it's a given." Bell responded. "It's not very often I see women guards here. And the way she talks, its almost familiar..." Bell all but whispered. "Well, keep at it, we have to be ready in two weeks." Ryuji nodded and got back to preparing. A thought occurred to him, what happens when he gets home? Ryuji wasn't the same person he was when he left home. Would the others recognize him? Would they want to see him knowing he killed people? Did he even deserve to go home? Ryuji sighed, he'd just have to wait and see.

A/N: I feel like thats a good place to stop for now. So yeah. screw Zakhaev, he hurt my boy and will pay. Funny thing, I was orriginally going to have Torres get killed, but I kinda came to love his character and decided he should get a bit of a bigger role. Torres will appear more in the future and hes going to be a sort of helper for Ryuji in the future, as well as a close friend. I'm glad everyone is enjoying this, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Totally Cannon Omake: An unusual sighting

The following is conversation between Corporal Micheal Torres and Private David Walker of the US Marine Corps following a Delta-3 Patrol

Pvt. Walker: You seriously saw that?

Cpl. Torres: Sakamoto will vouch for me, it actually happened.

Pvt. Walker: You mean to say that AQ has a problem with Anime?

Cpl. Torres: Yep, something about being a symbol of imperialism.

Pvt. Walker: So they decided to film a video of them executing pillows!?

Cpl. Torres nods

Cpl. Torres: Yep, Sakamoto and I saw it go down. Guys said something about 'The path of the righteous shall be cleansed with the blood of you waifu'.

Pvt. Walker: Jesus christ man...