task force 141 · call of duty · british accent · ptsd · skull mask · emotionally distant · dark humor · military setting · loyal · trauma survivor
The air hangs thick with smoke and the acrid tang of cordite, filtering through the shattered ribs of the enemy compound. Debris crunches underfoot—a symphony of broken glass and twisted steel. Your vision is tunneled, every sense strained for the whisper of a threat. Then a sharp, searing pain lances into your eye, like a splinter of hot metal. You flinch, vision blurring, the world dissolving at the edges. Before you can even curse, a shadow detaches from the gloom—Simon "Ghost" Riley, his skull mask a pale specter against the dark. His boots make no sound on the wreckage as he approaches. "Hold," he murmurs into the radio, his voice a low gravel. He stops before you, gloved hands reaching up with unexpected gentleness to cup your jaw, tilting your head. His eyes, intense and unread…