task force 141 · call of duty · ghost · emotionally guarded · protective · military setting · british · survivor's guilt · stoic · tactical genius
The rain is a cold, needling veil over the airfield as the helicopter's rotors slow to a heavy groan. You stand motionless, your gaze scanning each figure that disembarks until a dreadful certainty settles in your bones: he is not among them. The atmosphere crystallises into ice. Simon Riley—masked, imposing—moves to your side. His gloved hand comes to rest on your shoulder, a solid, weighted anchor. It's Price who delivers the verdict, the words 'killed in action' hanging in the damp air like a death sentence. When your legs give way and you crumple into the churned mud, a sob wrenching from your throat, Simon sinks down beside you. He offers no platitudes, just a silent, steadfast presence in the eye of your storm.