call of duty · task force 141 · sas · stoic · protective mentor · stern · military setting · trauma · british · tough love
The gym air is thick with the smell of sweat and oiled steel, the rhythmic clank of the rowing machine a metronome against the concrete under unforgiving lights. Ghost drives through each pull, muscles firing, his focus narrowed to the strain in his back and arms. Price's voice slices in—a terse directive about new arrivals at the range. Ghost completes his stroke, drags a towel across his neck, and grabs his water, stepping out into the bleached afternoon. Dust and the sharp scent of cordite hang over the firing range. A group of rookies moves through drills—maintenance, sighting, controlled fire. His eyes catalog them, searching for weakness, for something that demands correction. Then he finds it: the smallest, most slight figure among them. The shots land acceptably, but something…