Time crawled by for Ghost, unsure whether it was a few days or over a week without any interruptions from their so-called host. Roach had insisted on talking out his previous 'deal' with Gonzalo, and the two had gotten into a rather heated argument. Ghost felt like he somewhat won the battle, with Roach dropping the subject afterwards. But that was a few hours -days?- ago, and it had been silent since. They had sat next to each other, Roach looking over his once casted arm with fake interest, before looking over to Ghost's right knee, frowning.

"...how do you move that fuckin' knee man it still looks like shit." Ghost snorted in amusement.

"It still hurts like no other, but can't do much about it unless I got real medical care. Don't think it'll ever be completely good to be in the field after this. Not like the other knee is better off or my elbows."

"But your right knee is the one that looks shattered. The other joints look like they got off easy, comparably, but, you know. Not like that'll stop you, Mr. 'I went into a mission with a fuckin' broken wrist and still fired a high-powered assault rifle for over five hours.' Dude how is your body not broken to go on deployment yet?"

"I'm magical." Complete with a wave of his hand. Roach sniggered, tilting his head back onto the wall with a dull thunk. "Learned this skill from Tibetien monks."

"Shut up. It's like you don't even feel physical pain anymore." Roach stretched, his own left arm giving sharp pains. "Like, does it feel weird to you how we can move our whatever broken things well lately? Usually a break in my arm doesn't heal for at least a month, month and a half. It's less time than that...I think...and it still hurts and all but it feels mended." Ghost frowned in thought as Roach poked at his face and winced.

"...I mean, maybe? I dunno Roach. They are a drug cartel. Maybe they pumped us full of garbage. I know Sparks was experimented on a lot when we were captured." Ghost thought back to the times they were given who knows what in needles, hazy memories of intense pain or euphoria coming to mind. "We all were, but I think Sparks enjoyed it too much."

"...I guess that makes sense? But why would they want us to heal faster? It would make more sense to have us like...dying?" Roach shrugged, hands up in defeat.

"You don't remember his 'master plan' to have us suffer for two months before we get offed somehow?" Ghost raised an eyebrow. "I think he wants us as weirdly healthy somehow as much as possible so we can suffer more."

"Riiiight...cuz he's a psychopath. Forgot, thanks for the reminder." Roach gave a cheeky grin. The grin slipped, though, as he got lost in thought. "Hey...how...how long have we been here anyway? I usually have a great sense of time, but lately it's been...a huge blur."

"I know what you mean. My last count was 22 days."

"I had 28." Roach frowned. "What the fuck there's no way we're both off that hard." He paused when they heard footsteps outside the door, it swung open slowly to let Gonzalo in.

"You are correct in that you are both wrong. It is day twenty four." Gonzalo walked in smoothly, stopping just five steps in. "The fact that there is no natural light in here and we like to keep you, how you say, in the dark, so much throws off your own body's natural rhythm. In fact, it is near midnight, approaching day twenty five."

"Not like we've been sleep deprived. I'm more shocked that you haven't done that to us yet. Or is that coming up next? Is it like we have to guess wh-ow!" Ghost had pinched Roach on his arm harshly, a pointed glare on his face. "Yeah ok I'm stupid leave me alone." Ghost swore he heard someone else snicker as he glanced around the room, avoiding Gonzalo's hungry eyes. Roach seemed oblivious to it, rubbing his arm to get rid of the sting. "Dude you're such a dick."

"If you two are done?" Gonzalo seemed to be bothered at being ignored, which gave Ghost a small twinge of enjoyment. "We do have somewhere to be."

"No, not really." Roach replied smoothly. "Ghost how were you keeping time?"

"Dunno how I was supposed to? Did you have a method?"

"Yeah one of the pipes has been dripping the whole time so I kept count. It's actually one drip per second. Didn't say anything because eventually the whole area here woulda flooded and we woulda had to been moved 'cuz they woulda dealt with the leak. I mean the water bill must be astronomical." Roach gave a sidelong glance to their captor. "That, or it would just destroy the place. I was hoping on that one, 'cuz it's been dripping since we've been in here." Ghost watched Gonzalo's face twitch in annoyance.

"Are you done now?"

"If I said no, what would you do?" Roach asked, faking innocence. Gonzalo paused, looking squarely at Ghost.

"We could do some...experimentation." He finally said. "I do have a few things my scientists say are ready for testing." Ghost shuddered as Gonzalo kept eye contact.

"Do we get paid? I used to get paid in college for doing drug tests." Roach spoke up, Ghost not missing the subtle way he leaned closer. Gonzalo seemed not to be able to find a jest in time for Roach to speak up again. "That seems like a no, so I don't think I want to donate my body to science. Maybe after your bullshit timeline thing? I don't mind then, seeing as how apparently I won't need my body after." At this Ghost put his head in his hands, groaning at Roach's levity in the situation.

"Why? Why do you keep trying to make it worse?" Ghost kept his head down, one hand motioning to their aggravated captor. "You see him? With the gun and bull shite twirlilng he does to make himself look even more of an arse? Who wants to kill us? Why do you keep talking?"

"Exactly. You do not seem to reali-"

"You just did it! Don't go giving me shit and insult him in the same sentence! That's double stan-"

"I have had enough of this." Gonzalo growled out, stomping out furiously. Two men, Jorge and a newer face, took his place before making Ghost and Roach follow. Ghost didn't miss the look Roach gave him when he limped, favoring his right knee. The newer face seemed familiar to Ghost, an odd scent that brought to mind hazy memories. The way he also seemed to stare at Ghost behind black balaclava made him both uneasy and wishing he had his old one back.

Gonzalo led the way, turning at odd intersections that to Ghost seemed to be looping in several spots. They eventually ended up in front of a set of double doors, Gonzalo opening them harshly before yelling in Spanish to the few men in the room. He pointed harshly to Ghost, then Roach, giving instructions. Suddenly the room was a flurry of movement, Roach pulled harshly in one direction by Jorge and giving a colorful array of obscenities as the other man grabbed Ghost. He pushed him towards the wall directly ahead of them that held a small reinforced door. The door swung open to reveal a haggard looking Nate, who walked towards Gonzalo at a quick pace.

"Wait, Gonzalo we don't know side effects yet! It's not ready for trial!"

"You have your lab rats now. You can test on them." Gonzalo gestured to Ghost and Roach, who was being shoved roughly into a door a few feet down, yelling all the while.

"It's not ready for human testing!" Nate stopped suddenly as he looked Ghost up and down. "You again? You're still alive?" Ghost didn't have the opportunity to ask before he was pushed into the room Nate had left, grunting as he stumbled in. A single restraint chair was bolted down to the floor, a table set to the side covered in trays and syringes. Across from the chair was a window where Roach was seen being fastened down. The door clicked shut behind Ghost and his newest jailer.

"The rooms are soundproof, just to let you know." Gonzalo's voice came from a PA system as Ghost was pushed into the chair. "You can both hear me, of course, and speak to me. But not each other. I think the two of you could do without some communication. The fact that Simon has any semblance of sanity is because of you, Gary. I intend to change that in the next few days." Ghost watched Roach as he yelled, not hearing a word of it but muffled tones. "You do seem awfully calm, Simon. Is something the matter?"

"Nothin' to say to a twat like you. Not something I haven't gone through before." A low chuckle came from the speaker. As Gonzalo spoke next, an older man came inside, a different tray of syringes and liquids clinking together before they were set on the table. Straps were fastened over his chest, arms and legs as Ghost watched Roach was given an injection.

"No, you are wrong. These have been improved upon the last time you were with us. These were developed with the help of a...mutual acquaintance we have. He was very interested in pain. Seemed to have it in mind for a peculiar person. I believe he is familiar to you, a Vladimir Makarov? He seemed to not mind that I wanted to test these particular ones on you two. Perhaps a history between you three? Or your group?" The two tensed up at the name, Roach visibly paling. The older man came next to him, muttering in what Ghost thought was Honduran. The cold wipe of the alcohol swab made him shudder. Needles didn't phase him, what was in it was what worried him. He looked away as he felt it prick into his skin, looking up to Roach. He looked fine, if in somewhat of a daze.

The abrupt way his body seemed to shut down would have gave Ghost more cause for concern if it weren't for the total feeling of emptiness in his head. All thoughts seemed to dissipate into a dense fog, barely aware of his body sinking into the chair. Vaguely he noticed the two other men in the room, one arms crossed the other holding up another syringe. His head lolled to the side, looking ahead to see a hazy figure in front of him. They looked familiar, but he couldn't place who they were. Or who he was. Why was that guy in front of him looking like he was in pain? He felt cold. Really cold. Or was it hot? Was there a fire? He didn't see smoke anywhere. Who was screaming?

Ghost felt himself snap back into reality, the undeniable feeling of being on fire flooding his senses. The grim realization that it was his voice that was echoing through the room brought no comfort. His whole body seemed to seize and strain against the restraints, small rivulets of blood starting to go down the different contact points. He tried to breathe through the pain, or catch his breath, or anything to distract from the hellfire overwriting his senses.

The fog came back swiftly, everything muting down until there was nothing. His head lolled to the side again, making some semblance of eye contact with the younger man. Something blocked his view, another needle going into his arm. Was it his arm? Who were they? Who was he again?

"It seems like you're having a hard time English." The pain came back again, Ghost screaming until his throat was raw. "You ok there, English? You look awful." It dragged on, blood pouring out of spots where his nails cut into the palms of his hands and the rivulets of blood spilling faster past the restraints. "I must admit that I did not know my son was this devious. I was grooming him to take over the cartel eventually, but his progress without me seems to have accelerated. I'm impressed, aren't you English?"

Who's English? Is that him? That's a weird name. The other shape-it was a person in a chair- ahead of him was staring at him, but why? He didn't recognize who they were. Was he supposed to? Were they talking to him? He couldn't hear them. There was a guy coming closer to him. No the last time he came close everything hurt. No, stop. Stay away don't get closer-

"Stay still."

Ok, he could do that. Why didn't he want to do that earlier? This is nice, staying still. Was that a poke? No, no more pokes stop-

"I said stay still."

Ok, staying still is good. Why wouldn't he stay still. Why was he moving before? That guy in the chair was moving. Why was he moving? They were supposed to stay still. The other guy was walking why did he get to walk. He didn't look too good he looked sick why was he staring?

"Stand up."

He wanted to but he couldn't. It looked like something was holding something down. He needed to get up why couldn't he get up they told him to sta-

"Stop."

Ok. Stop what? He wasn't doing anything. He was staying still. They told him to stay still right who were they anyway. The guy in the chair looked mad. Was he mad at him? He didn't like that the guy in the chair was mad at him but how was he supposed to tell him he couldn't talk-

Ghost jerked as his nerves lit up again, mind processing the new signals of pain. His eyes were shut tightly enough that he could see stars dancing behind his eyelids, hands grasping at anything to distract from the onslaught. His hoarse screams echoed back to him, and Ghost could do nothing to stop the pain.

"You seem like you're losing it English. This is what I was going for with you, but I could never get it to work. At least my son did. And your friend over there seems like it would work so much more once my son hurts him a bit more. He could succumb to it so easily, just like you did just now. Why did you have to fight back so much English?"

Across from him, Ghost managed to pry one eye open to see Roach enduring the same mental torture, body thrashing against restraints and leaving angry welts and bruises. Another wave of agony washed over him, groans of pain the only sound he could produce as he felt himself tilting back. But wasn't he in a chair? The back was gone why was the back gone what was going on he couldn't open his eyes where was he? All he saw, felt and thought was nothing.

Two chapters in like less than a month? Yeah I got a big writing kick after that last chapter, like I'm honestly mad that I never finished this, it had the most fleshed out story out of all of them to be honest, badly written StarFox fanfiction and rewrite of a poorly planned "sequel" of another. Not bashing my old writing but it's nice to see the improvement.
Let me know how this chapter was I was trying a new writing method