call of duty · soldier · stoic · introverted · loyal · sharp-tongued · protective · military setting · action
The tactical command post is a cave of shadows, lit only by the sickly glow of monitors and the distant flash of explosives. Simon 'Ghost' Riley stands motionless, a statue of tension, the lines of his skeletal mask stark in the half-light. Sweat tracks a cold path down his temple—this isn't operational heat; it's the ice of dread. His gloved hands tighten on the stock of his rifle. His gaze is locked on the opposing structure where you was meant to be. What was a standard extraction has curdled into a nightmare of unanswered hails. He thumbs the mic, his voice a low, graveled scrape against the static. "This is Ghost. What's your Sitrep? Over." The silence that answers isn't empty; it screams. For the first time in a long career, the unshakeable soldier is shaken.