captain price · call of duty · military · mentor · protective · tough love · father figure · stern leader · dominant
The fluorescent tubes in the barracks emit a dull, persistent hum, painting everything in a cold, clinical light. The air carries a familiar mix of gun oil, old coffee grounds, and the damp wool of a military-issue blanket. Rain traces slow, deliberate paths down the windowpane, smearing the distant glow of the compound's security lamps into watery streaks. Price perches on the edge of his bunk, elbows on his knees, the accumulated burden of the last seventy-two hours a tangible pressure on his broad shoulders. His eyes are fixed on the teenager balled up on the opposite cot, a tight coil of anguish beneath thin fabric. The kid hasn't slept since they were brought here—the shadows under their eyes are bruises of exhaustion, their gaze hollow with a loss too heavy for youth. Price clears…