All under Control
AN: Special thanks for Sabere Commander who suggested the origins of the Ghost. He has some good Alpha & Omega fanfics of his own as well, feel free to check them out in my "Favorite Stories" listings
Damon couldn't believe he is going to do this, he would much rather get in a firefight than a physical one, but what can he do? Price has been here the longest and if what he says is true, then he worked out this fool proof plan.
Then again, the guy's last mission ended with him hanging a poor sucker from the rafter of an expensive resort complex.
Damon pauses as he asses his target.
"Bruiser" as he has come to be known, is surrounded by six other guys, all chuckling at whatever inside joke they are talking about. They are all huge and have just as much muscle tone, no matter which way he looks at it, this may very well be another fight for his life.
He looks around the room to search for the guards. He can see a few of them through the slits in the wall as they walk above the prisoners, keeping a rather close eye on them no doubt. He hears a gunshot and somebody screams, reminding him how bloody this little skirmish is going to get.
He looks behind him and towards the table where he was sitting at earlier. Price is sitting there with a serious expression on his face, but even from a distance Damon can see the excited gleam in the man's face as he makes a shooing gesture at the Ghost. Ash looks more sympathetic though as she watches her Sergeant closely with her muscles tense, all set for action.
He releases a calming breath, looks to Bruiser, and starts moving forward. With each step he feels his life starting to flash before his eyes as he searches for a time in his life when he has done something this stupid. He was trained to know what fights to get into and which fights to avoid, he was taught to never get into a battle he knows he can't win. It didn't take a genius to know who is going to come out on top if this was a straight out fight.
He hesitates when he is a few feet away from the giants. He shakes his head defiantly and walks straight up behind Bruiser, who was laughing at his own joke. Willing himself not to stop, Damon raises a hand and taps the massive man on the shoulder with his finger.
Bruiser turns around with a wide toothy grin when Damon curls his fingers into a fist and slugs him straight in the face. The Ghost's hand throbs with agony as if he has just sock a cemented wall, but he is rewarded with the sight of blood pumping out of the man's nose as he falls backwards and lands with a great thud as he makes contact with the table.
That's when total anarchy enraptures Damon.
Immediatley one of the closest brutes makes a grab for Damon and is able to wrap his large fingers around his neck. However, the combat veteran puts his own arms over his asalints and brings them down with quick and devastating precision. There is a crack as the man howls as he feels something in his arms breaking, but a millisecond later, a far more destructive crackle is heard. Recognizing the sound, Damon ducks down just as the bullet soars over his head and strikes the massive man in the head and he falls to the floor.
Before the Ghost could rise though, a heavy foot kicks him in the chest and causes him to wheel backwards into a small crowd. Soon more bodies falls to the floor in a massive and understandable chain reaction, but all that the guards knows is that there is a fight and the guards are gunning. Some prioners tries to get away, but others pulls some more down and started to beat the other. One by one, group by group, skirmishes started popping all over the room as rivals and people with pent up anger lashes out at the other, releasing a fury that they have been conealing since their imprisonment. The hall is filled with screams, battle cries, and finally, the booms of semi firing rifles going off, but the inmates hardly notices, unless the bullet strikes them.
Damon knew beyond a doubt that this is a bad idea. He tries to move back to the others, but he is forced to fight for his life while trying to stay low as possible. He block hits, catches savage kick and once wrestled a improvised knife from a woman's stabbing hand. Years within this bloody hole in the Earth has made everyone lust for blood, to inflect some suffering upon others, to share their pain and misery, making the room a confusing show of limbs, thrown objects and shooting bullets.
At one point someone grabs Damon in a head lock and attempst to twist the Ghost's head off. However, Damon turns with the man and was able to throw the attacker off balance, enabling the Ghost to slip out of the lock and latches onto one of the person's arm, intending to dislocate the limb. Suddenly somebody crashes into his side and sends him skidding to the floor.
The new attacker is a crazed looking kid who couldn't be more than eighteen years old, maybe evern younger, but the blazing look in his eyes informs that the kid is far from reason, and this was confirmed as he starts kicking at the Ghost with barbaric force. The first kick smashes Damon's nose and he feels breakage, he is partially stun by the pain but his eye refocus just in time to stop the next attack. He catches the young man's leg, but before he could disable him, the first attacker came back into view as he jumps on top of Damon, trying to pin down the Ghost with his large body like a wrestler.
Damon tries to wringgle out of the grip, but he is stuck as if his body is in a vise. But this actually brought something good on Damon's part, the second man is caught also since his foot is jam between Damon and his large openent. The kid started tearing at the back of the large inmate's shirt, ripping his shirt and jabbing powerful hits into the guys side. The man grunts as he raises himself a little in a attempt to ward off the attack and that is when Damon makes his move.
He is still holding the kid's foot with his hand so he pulls it closer to him a little before throwing the limb out. The kid is lost in another tumble of a fight, hopefully keeping him occupied while Damon deals with his first attacker. The man makes to bash the Ghost's head against the floor with his elbow, but Damon swiftly avoids it. He then grabs the guy's head and brings it down while he brings his own head up. There is a thump as their skull collides and dazes both of them. Damon was prepared though and with the strength from his body, he pushes the man off and onto his feet. A second later, there is a sharp bang and the attacker's head explodes before he falls to the floor.
Damon attempts to get to his feet again when someone tackles him down again. Now he is fighting a huge man who's very beiceps ripple with unimaginable strength as he applies force to Damon's back, trying to snap his spine. He struggles, but cannot get free, in fact, the pain is slowly increasing. He finally releases a yell as he feels his back beninding and knew his spinal cord isn't going to last much longer.
Suddenly, the pressure is relieved as the man is thrown off of Damon. Quick as a flash; the Ghost rolls over and looks up to see Ash. She has a nasty bruise on her cheek and her leg looks bloody. Before he could ask though, a dark figure coming up from behind her gets his attention and he tries to shout a warning but it is too late.
Ash turns as fast as she could, only to be hit across the face with a bayonet stick. The Ghost Operative collapses while a figure stands over her. He is wearing black armor, a helmet with a visor shield, a mask covering his face except for his eyes and he holds a riot shield in his other hand.
Damon is torn between evading his abvisary, but he couldn't leave Ash defenless on the floor, so he acts. He rushes the guard as he makes ready to ram him with his shoulder. Anticipating the attack, the guard holds the shield in front of him and thrusts it forward to strike at Damon. However, the man has underestimated the Ghost's agility, he meets the shield head on, he places his hands on the barrier, and pushes down on it as he lifts his body up and propels himself over his advisoary. He lands on his feet behind the stun guard and immediately kicks at the back of the person's knees. The man went down screaming, but Damon isn't done, when the man is bent over before him, the Ghost grabs his head with one hand and thursts it downwards. The visor cracks and shards mixed with blood is sprayed across the floor after the impact.
Damon than picks up the available shield and stick. He scarcely hears the sound of a gun over the din of battle, but is able to hold it over him in time. The round made a hole in the fiber glass, but that was it, it stopped the slug from getting to Damon. He hears a cry and look over his shoulder to see another guard advancing on him.
Dressed similarly to the first, he holds his shield in front of him and a stick in the other, he charges the Ghost with his shield held high. Damon is ready though, just like the first, Damon dodges the intial attack. The man tries to push the Ghost over, but instead he spins around the shield until he is by the guard's side. He then brings down his stick on the man's wrist that is holding up the shield. He screams as blood gushes out and white bone juts from his skin. Damon's only act of mercy is bashing the stick against the man's head, knocking him unconscious.
Damon looks down at the people he brought down, feeling confident with himself when he hears someone yell out, "American!"
He turns to come face to face with Price. The man has what looks like a metal pipe in his hand…a hand that is flying towards him. Taken off guard, Damon attempts to raise his shield but is too late as he feels the cool metal smack him and he falls into darkness.
Damon moans as he comes to, confused with what has just occurred.
They were fighting, planning their escape and then Price-
He sits up-right. Price betrayed them!
"Price," he growls savagely.
He hears a moan next to him and someone groggily says, "What?"
He twists around and sees he isn't alone. He is in a room made of steel with no apparent windows or doors. Lying in piles are people, a dozen or so, all of them bloodied and possessing limbs that has obviously been broken, from arms, to legs, to skulls. He doesn't see Ash, but he does recognize the man lying on his back, looking up at him.
He has a black eye, a cut over on his forehead and he is clutching his rib cage a little. This sparks little sympathy from Damon though. He pounces on the former SAS soldier and attempts to strangle him.
"Are you out of your mind!?" Damon screams as he tightens his grip, "was this your plan all along?! Get us in trouble so they can execute us?! Your own personal revenge against the United Sta- argh!"
Price has dug his hand into Damon's body, between his ribs close to his heart. Price then makes a huge heave, surprising Damon with his speed and strength as he is flipped over and now he is on the floor while Price is on top of him. He gags when he feels something cold press against his throat and looks down to see a blade pressed firmly against his skin.
"Believe me yank," Price growls, "if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already."
Damon remains silent.
"Yes," Price finally reveals, "this is all part of the plan," he removes the knife and stands up, "and if you want to survive, you'll do as I say, got it?"
The Ghost sighs and shakes his head, "what choice do I got?"
"Death," Price replies.
Damon shakes his head, "Of course," he looks around at the bodies and asks, "Are they dead?"
"No," Price says as he looks around, "they would have a different smell." He walks up top one wall and starts tapping it, making large metallic thumps as he does so.
"Is Ash here?" Damon asks with concern as he tries to distinguish her from the mound of prisoners.
"Don't know," Price says, still tapping the wall, "if she isn't here then she is in one of the others."
"Other what?"
"Release containers."
This causes Damon to stiffen as he looks back at Price slowly.
"Release containers? Release continaers for what? What are they releasing us into?"
Price glances over his shoulder to speak when an alarm is sounded. It blares from somewhere outside, the constant whirls appearing to echo within the small room, rousing up the other inmates from their darken sleep. Before Damon could comprehend what was happening, there is a loud hiss and one of the walls slowly rises from the floor as it retreats into the ceiling.
A strong gust of humid wind smacks Damon in the face and almost blows him back over. He smells a deep musk that smells familiar, almost like earth and a kind of greenery scent. Sure enough, as the wall lifts, it reveals a show of nature, but he can see the impossibly huge trees, the large leaves and the rope like vines as they stretch out from one plant to another. Searchlights surround the patch of greenery, making him calculate that the area could be as large as a football stadium, or maybe even larger. The cold metal bars it from spreading, making Damon realizes this isn't freedom, far from it, this is their execution grounds.
"Is this…" Damon tries to speak when a loud roar interrupts him, it was deeper than any animal sound he has ever heard before and sounds just as savage.
"I believe the cliché line here," Price states calmly, "is welcome to the jungle."
Damon couldn't believe his ears and he starts shouting again.
"The jungle!?" he screams at Price, "Are you insane?! This is the last place we want to-"
Price cuts him off by quickly placing a hand over his mouth and quickly makes a shushing noise. Damon wanted nothing more than to hit Price right than and there, but that is when he hears the hiss above them. He frees himself from Price's hand and looks up just in time to see a small door open above them before large slabs of red substances rain down. The objects land on the ground with a disgusting squish and showers the two men in red liquid that turns out to be blood.
"What-" Damon begins to ask when Price shoves him in the back and barks, "Run!"
The Ghost was tempted to stop, but Price grabs the back of his shirt and shoves him forward, forcing him to move or else risk tripping. They leave their still dazed fellow inmates as they make a beeline for the jungle until they are completely covered by the tree line.
It isn't after that did Damon starts cursing as he runs bare foot through the foliage, stepping on hard rocks and prickling plants. Price doesn't even look fazed, its as if he is use to running with no boots on.
The small area of greenery might not be considered a full scale jungle, but it is one nevertheless in Damon's eyes. This is so different from the forest he resided in during his disastrous mission a year ago. There it wasn't as humid, shadows didn't jump at him, and it had a gernal feeling of home, here he feels like he is on a alien world with the large plants and near erriee silence. One would have thought with this much space that a creature could-
Suddenly there are cries of alarm behind them, wails of men and women and the unmistaklbe sound of a animal roaring so loud that the sound seems to chase after them.
Damon briefly turns around and asks, "what was that?" while the howls of agony continues.
"Cat," is all that Price says, not breaking his stride, forcing Damon to jog back up to him.
"Cat?" he questions, "what do you mean cat?"
"I mean the big hungry kind, the type that eats man whole," he gestures at their bodies, "why do you think the Koreans dropped blood on us? It's certainly not for a fashion statement, its to let their overgrown Siamese felines know its breakfast time."
Damon stops in his tracks.
"And we left Ash to face them alone?" he asks, unable to believe how rash he had acted.
"She's a tough lass, I'm sure she'll be fine," waves off Price.
"We've got to go back," Damon says and is starting to turn around when Price whirls around and speaks.
"Now hold on there Yank," he says, "going back there is just going to get you killed, a big load of help you're going to be to your comrade."
"But-"
"If you are truly trained in the same tatics as Riely, then I'm sure you know what to do when facing a predatory animal."
"Yeah, but that's when we're awake," Damon protests, "we don't even know if she was conscious."
Price shakes his head before turning around and starts walking again, "Look, there's no point going back, the others would have scattered by now and are running like maniacs in this mess, if Ash made it than she'll find us."
"You have a lot of faith in us," Damon comments as he reluctantly follows from behind, hating himself from every step he takes from his teammate.
"No I don't," Price stubbornly admits, "I have a lot of faith in Riely's training," he briefly looks over his shoulder and watches Damon's face, "tell me Yank, how did the Ghost program get started?"
The indicated Ghost blinks before shrugging, "A Special Forces team got pinned in the desert during the war on terrorism campaign, almost everyone perished except for a few who hid among the dead and rose up against the enemy combatants…that's the story they tell us."
"That was a joint Task Force between the U.S and the U.K," Price reveals, "it was Riley, call sign Ghost, who suggested the tactics the forces used to defeat the enemy, after that your military was impressed and had SAS loan him to you blokes so he can further train the survirors of that mission. From then on, those yanks carried on his training before he was transferred back to war," here he sighs, "under Task Force One-Four-One."
Damon never heard that side of the story, in fact he didn't even know if the first Ghosts were Americans.
"Did you know Riley well?" Damon asks as he jumps over a fallen tree.
"Only for a few months," responds Price in a heavy voice, "but that was long enough to know he was a good man."
"Sounds like it," Damon comments before he notices Price has stopped and he does so as well.
"Here we are," Price mummurs as he pushes away some vines and says, "do you know what this is?"
"I think it's a wall," Damon says sarcastily as he recognizes the same alloy the prison is made up of gleaming at him.
"That's what they want you to think," Price says as he breaks off a branch from a nearby tree, he looks down its length, nods to himself, and then brings it down hard as he smashes the end of the limb.
"What are you doing?" Damon asks.
"Getting us out," informs Price as he walks back up to the wall. He touches the cool metal and gently runs his fingers over its side as if he is feeling for something. Finally he discovers a spot, he steps back, hopds up the branch, point first and shoves it as the place where Price was touching a moment before.
Damon feels his jaw drop at what he sees. There is a shattering explosion as the branch hits the barrier, but its not what breaks. The cold metal has yielded and now the branch is buried an inch into it. Price grunts as he pulls the limb back out and reveals a small hole.
"How did you…" Damon trails off wondering what he has just seen.
"It's all an illusion," Price explains as he makes ready to dive the branch in like a harpoon again, "the guards built up the legend that this is the most secured area of the whole facility," he pauses as he shoves the branch into the breach again and grunts once more as he makes the hole wider, "they did this because they're cheap and didn't want the prisoners to know the only way out is farther in."
"How do you know this?" Damon asks as he watches Price work in tunneling their way out.
"I know a guy here who owed me a favor, he helped construct the plkace and in returns, the guards threw his sorry bum in here." He flashes Damon a grin, "he knew if there was anyone in here who can really give them grief it would be me."
Price snarls as he digs further into the metal until now there is a gap big enough to stick a hand through. On the other side of the wall is a darken space, wheter it's a hallway or another cell, Damon couldn't tell.
It is then that he notices that Price appears to be getting winded. He is about to offer to help when Price suddenly stands up straight and asks, "do you hear that?"
Damon imminently he turns in a circle as he tries to detect anything out of the ordinary, but he doesn't see anything amiss.
"I've got nothing," Damon reports.
"No," Price whispers as his old eyes scans the area, "what happened to the screams?"
Damon's throat dries as he makes the connection as well and asks, "So is it…"
Price nods his head, "we're being watched."
"Are you sure?" The Ghost asks, hardly believing his luck is this bad.
"I can feel it," he narrows his gaze, "cats are probably the most dangerous of creatures to fall prey to."
"Not helping," Damon murmurs as if the animal can hear them, for all he knows it probably is. "So what is it? Tiger, lion, panther?"
"How should I know?" whisoers Price, "no one has ever returned from here alive."
"Again, not helping," Damon replies as his mind begins to play trick on him. He soon sees glowing eyes in the bushes, every whistle of the breeze is now a growl and the breathing of the aged soldier next to him reminds him of huger driven beasts.
"Alright, don't panic, we're not in trouble yet," Price commands.
"Yeah right," says Damon.
"Look, just take this," Price presses a smallcrude blade into Damon's hand, barely two inches long, but the blood stain on the blade informs him it has been used before to great effect.
"How do you skin a cat?" Price asks as he slowly raises the brach again to continue his work.
"Hope it's on its seventh life and its dumb enough to walk into a blade?" Offers Damon.
"That's a negative," Price cautions, "I learned this old trick from a book once, find a large tree bark, like a shield, hold it in front of you, and wait for the cat to attack you headlong."
"…You're kidding right?"
"I hardly kid when it comes to these things." Retorts Price.
"Why don't I put on my 'maul me' shirt on to make it easier for the cat?" Damon asks.
"You can do that if you want," Price says as he readies himself with the branch, "but know this, as soon as I start making noise again, it'll come for us, it'll be your job to kill it, got it?"
Damon moans as he mutters, "Why can't I get the easy job for once?"
Sorry for the cliffhangers and short chapters, just expierencing some writer block I suppose. Thanks for reading and I hope you emjoyed.