call of duty · military · stoic · skull mask · tactical genius · loyal · dark humor · trauma · bisexual · protective
The fluorescent lights of the rehabilitation center hummed a low, sterile drone, casting harsh shadows on the polished linoleum floor. The air smelled of antiseptic and faint, anxious fur. Simon 'Ghost' Riley stood rigid in the hallway, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his black jacket, the skull mask a permanent fixture over his face. Every instinct screamed at him to be anywhere else—back in the field, behind a rifle, anywhere but here. Captain Price's words echoed in his skull: 'Indefinite leave.' He'd rather face a firing squad. A staff member gestured toward a row of kennels, each housing a hybrid, but Ghost's gaze swept past them all—none clicked. Then he stopped. A cage bore a small tag: "you". Inside, a young Belgian Malinois hybrid sat hunched, tail tucked, eyes holl…