The unnerving way Ghost seemed to just obey whenever Gonzalo spoke was a thing Roach didn't need to see, thank you very much.
"Look at this, Gary. Simon is listening so well. I figure we could eventually get you to this step as well." Gonzalo's voice hid none of the absolute joy as he spoke. "Stop." Ghost stopped moving. His head rolled and made unfocused eye contact. Roach could tell he wasn't all there, whatever cocktails of chemicals they were given made them fall into a stupor.
"You're a fucking lunatic." Roach snarled, tugging on his restraints. His blood was still weeping out of the cuts he got during his drug-induced pain trip, but it flowed faster the more he struggled. Ghost's muffled screams filled the room again, distracting him as his own torturer gave another injection. When the fog threatened to roll through his mind again, Roach tried his hardest to keep above it. His efforts seemed to backfire, as when the pain returned it seemed like it was two-fold. His voice stopped working, mouth wide open in a silent scream as what felt like a nuclear bomb exploded in his chest. This was much worse than before.
When it ended, Roach was hyperventilating, breaths coming out in short wheezes.
"Did you try to resist? I heard it makes the experience less enjoyable." Gonzalo gave a small laugh. "Just a warning, the more you resist the worse it-Aza what is going on in there?" Roach flicked his eyes to the man in the room with him, whose eyes were staring into the other room. His line of sight was on Ghost. "Do not say I do not know Aza you are a medical scientist." The man with Roach flew out of the room into the other one as Ghost started to convulse in his chair, eyes rolled back behind harshly blinking eyes.
"No, no! What did you do?!" Roach screamed. The man that was with him was working quickly to undo the straps, yelling muffled orders to Aza. Jorge had ended up standing behind Roach when the man has barreled out of the room, and Roach could hear him laughing. "You think this is funny?!"
"Sí."
"You are such a sick fuck like your boss."
"Sí."
Gonzalo swept into the other room, and with a flick of his hand a shutter fell, closing off the view into the room. He yelled more muffled orders before Roach heard the door slam. A moment later he entered the room, walking briskly to the table that held the various syringes. Without a word he injected Roach, watching him intently.
"What, asshole?" Roach huffed, already feeling the beginning effects. "Ya gonna keep staring or what?"
"I am waiting for it to take course and mark down any developments. If this will be an isolated incident or something we must fix." Before he could reply with a retort, Roach felt himself slip, his emotions and senses numbing out. Gonzalo stood towering over him, and he sank down into the seat to stay away. "Sit up straight."
Ok he could do that...but why? Why do that? He should but he doesn't feel like it. Why does he have to tell him what to do that's not fair.
"Stand up, Gary."
He has to stand up wait no he doesn't have to listen to him. He can stay sitting-
Granted it wasn't a mini nuke in his chest, but Roach found no positives as he screamed again. The bleeding on his arms grew as he tried to curl in on himself. If Gonzalo had slapped him or flat out punched him on the side of the head, he didn't feel it but felt his head snap to the side. As it lessened, Roach let out a small moan, rolling the back of his head onto the chair.
"Why resist? I see it in your eyes. You fight this." Gonzalo leaned in close, invading Roach's personal space immensely. "Simon does not fight this. Then again, Simon does not have much to fight for to keep together."
"Wh-what does th-that mean?" Roach stuttered out. His body shook as he waited for an answer, clenching and unclenching his hands to control himself.
"He has told you of what has happened to him. Here, anyway. We figured through his old commanding officer he had a...terrible time with his absent father. It was the perfect candidate to bring to us. To be able to build upon that and mold him as we saw fit." Gonzalo took a step back. "Though, if we had this at the time I believe it would have changed the outcome drastically." Aza opened the door, speaking feverishly before exiting. "It seems Simon has yet to wake up. Jorge shall escort you back to the cell." As the straps came off Roach winced at the amount of blood and bruising showing on his arms and torso. He was too out of it still to fight back, stumbling every few steps. Jorge eventually pushed him into his old cell, Roach standing just inside as the door closed. He looked around, sighing before sitting against the wall. His hands still shook, a possible side effect to whatever drugs they were given. He regarded his hand for a minute, slowly clenching and unclenching again before letting his arm drop. The sores from the restraints stung, but he didn't pay attention.
Just how much did they know about him and Ghost? Obviously more about Ghost, but to somehow get Makarov's attention? And he knew who two random soldiers were? Something wasn't right.
"Aaurgh!" Roach scratched his head furiously. "It just...doesn't make sense!" He banged his head gently against the wall, sighing. He was exhausted, lilting sideways until he was laying down.
Eventually the door opened, Roach unsure how much time had passed or if he had actually fallen asleep. The guy who had been with Ghost before and a different man wearing a bandana to conceal the bottom half of his face came in, carrying Ghost between the two of them. He looked like he didn't know where he was, being put down against the wall with more care than they had seen since they got Nate to look over their injuries. Roach sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes of their blur. Ghost groaned, sliding down into what resembled sitting, unfocused gaze looking at Roach.
"...Roach? Wher-where are we?"
"Same place they always shove us. You ok?" Roach spared the two new people with a side glance. One seemed to post himself next to the door, the other approaching hesitantly. Ghost shook his head slowly.
"I...feel like I got hit with a double decker and...what happened?" Ghost's voice was hoarse as he spoke, and looked down at his arms, frowning. "Memory's...hazy at best. What did they do?"
"Backtrack, last thing you remember?" Ghost's frown deepened, gaze unfocused on the wall ahead of him.
"The...arsehole. Hallways, in circles not a set path. A room, a chair…?" he paused, looking at the welts and bruises. "I...don't remember anything after that."
"They drugged us. Kinda made us all space cadet. And then there was pain. Like a fire-"
"-But...I sorta remember that but...there was a voice. Talking to me." Ghost gathered his thoughts. "Seemed like...a familiar voice."
"Gonzalo talked to you a bit. Do you remember that?" A shake of the head was his answer.
"Afterward you suffered a seizure most likely due to drug withdrawal from whatever they gave you. Too much at once gave you a crash." The man that had accompanied Ghost before spoke up. Roach's eyes snapped to him. "At least, that's what it seemed like. Symptoms match, sir."
"Sir? Why are you sayin' sir?" Roach asked, eyebrows raised.
"Already forgot about us? Hurtful."
"...knew I recognized your shite cologne Toad."
"You keep saying that, sir, and I keep tellin ya that my girl bought it for me and I like it." Toad huffed, pulling off his balaclava to reveal his face, sporting a wide grin. "Glad to see you in kind of eh, one piece." The man next to the door removed the bandana covering the bottom half of his face to reveal Meat, smirking as he took a watchout spot near the door.
"Great to see you two, but I'm assuming this was an intel gather and not a break out?" Ghost asked quietly. Meat shook his head from his spot.
"Sorry, sir. We could try, but every feasible way to get you two out of this room and out is past a guard post and you two are considered VIPs to whatever that guy's issue is. Can't take you two anywhere without him or the big guy. Security is way too tight for two people and two...I mean you guys..." Meat gave them both a hard look over, skimming over their deteriorating health before taking a deep breath. "You guys look like shit."
"Gee thanks." Roach rolled his eyes. He turned to Ghost with a wide grin. "Told you the captain would be looking for us."
"So what now?" Ghost asked, looking between the two and ignoring the smug look on Roach's face. "We have...sort of a time limit."
"The fuck you mean a time limit?" Meat and Toad looked to each other. "Like...less than six weeks? Most of the force just got deployed on mission and won't be back until then. We don't wanna leave you guys like this for that long but we won't have the back-up needed to egress safely." Roach sucked air through his teeth, a long pause stretched between them.
"...today's day twenty five. We have thirty five days." He finally responded slowly. "Assuming me and my smart mouth don't accelerate the process."
"For me, maybe. You, I don't think he'll have his fill of fun with you by then." Ghost pointed out. He let out a small cough, voice scratchy as he continued. "I'm the one with the closer countdown. Appreciate if you kept your bloody mouth shut more often." Roach let out a nervous chuckle as he grimaced.
"Yeah, I forgot that part. But you can't scold me you talked shit about him in front of him, literally hours ago." Meat made an x with his arms, confused look on his face.
"What countdown? Process? What the fuck are you talking about?"
"I have...history...with the man that runs this cartel." Ghost spoke slowly. "It's…"
"Stupid complicated. A lot of death." Roach simplified. "And fuckface wants to off us for whatever bullshit revenge kink he has against Ghost. I'm just here."
"Well when you say it like that it sounds so much better, thank you Roach." Ghost said sarcastically. He looked up to the flabbergasted expressions of Meat and Toad and leaned back against the wall. "It's a long story you don't have time for. 'Tavish knows, he can tell you the less than gracefully abridged version." He nodded towards the door, putting one finger up to shush them. "Someone's coming and you two can't afford to blow cover. Just beat Roach some and leave. If they ask what took so long just say his bloody mouth set you off, it's plausible enough." They all stared at him, Roach insulted.
"Dude did you just tell them to beat me up?"
"Gotta have some semblance to the story to back it up. You think if they told the arse that he'll believe it without some bruising on you?" Ghost shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah get on with it. I can't really feel anything right now anyway, I think the drugs are still kinda in my system. Body's numb." Roach pinched his forearm with a considerable strength, not wincing as he did so. "Yeah, go for it."
"You aren't serious." Toad frowned. "We're here to find you not maim you."
"But you two snuck into a cartel. Gotta get your hands dirty somehow." Ghost pointed out. "Is this your first infiltration ever?" He leaned forward, eyes dark with a dangerous glint Roach recognized. "It's not easy doing an infiltration into a cartel. You witness some horrible shite that sticks with you. Learn to adapt to it." Roach poked him on the shoulder sharply, watching the dark look disappear in a blink of an eye.
"We get it, ass, calm down. Meat, hit me." He stood up, arms spread out with a cheeky grin.
"I still owe you for that time you put bees and a fuckton of ladybugs in my closet." Meat sniggered, Roach letting out a huff. "Don't deny it asshole, Toad said he watched you do it." The brief look of betrayal flashed across Roach's face as he looked at Toad, who shrugged innocently.
"Get on with it, they're getting close." Ghost hurried. Meat frowned, stepping forward before throwing a punch to Roach's stomach. It didn't hurt, but it certainly winded Roach and he doubled over. He wasn't expecting the second punch to land in the same spot, so he ended up on the floor, clutching his side as he tried to breathe. The two slipped on their respective face coverings as Ghost motioned that someone had stopped at the door.
"Next time watch your fuckin' mouth." Meat made his voice go deeper, walking briskly towards the door. As he reached for it it swung open, Gonzalo stepping in.
"What are you two doing in here? I thought you were to report to your next guard duty post after escorting Simon back." Gonzalo narrowed his eyes, eyes scanning the room before landing on Meat and Toad. "Why are you late."
"This one was talking shit. Set him off." Toad's voice was completely different, instead of his usual accent, it was replaced with a rather impressive copy of MacTavish. Roach coughed, hiding a laugh while still catching his breath.
"I suppose that is understandable. Gary does have a rather bad habit of talking incessantly. But do refrain from letting him get under your skin, as it were. He talks highly but in these situations all you have to do is threaten Simon and he will comply." Gonzalo's piercing gaze rested on Roach, who had managed to return to his spot against the wall. Roach flipped him off in defiance, earning a small snigger from Ghost.
"Like you don't bother us on the daily. Hey, question." Gonzalo narrowed his eyes. "No, like a serious question."
"What."
"When you say that Makarov knows us, how did he? We're literally fuck-all soldiers, and use call signs on mission. How would he know who we are specifically?" Roach asked, watching Toad and Meat pause for a fraction of a second before walking slowly out through the corner of his eyes. He knew they would be long gone soon enough. It was an awful feeling, to see the two of them and be so close to rescue but knowing they wouldn't have a chance to get out safely.
"Wait, when was that…?" Ghost muttered quietly. Roach didn't miss the confused look on Ghost's face, who was flexing and staring at his hands.
"Memory loss from chemical compound. I will take note of that, thank you. As for your question, if you were able to return to your team you could ask one of them. I am sure one who leads sheep to slaughter could tell you more." Gonzalo watched for reactions, finding none other than Ghost's apparent confusion. "I will take my leave for now, I will return for you later Gary." With that, Gonzalo turned on his heel and left, the door shutting with a thud.
I know it was a little weird reading last chapter, and this chapter is also a bit weird. I wanted to portray some kind of confusion through their eyes in a sense. It's hard to do it this way. And I know my writing can improve a bit.