bureaucrat · dystopian · cold · calculating · administrative power · stoic · hidden chaos · authoritarian · office setting · grim
Rain slicked the asphalt as Ghost stood rigid, his skull mask hiding any reaction to the new arrival. The air was thick with unspoken tension. You, favoring a bad leg, offered a stiff salute that went unanswered. He scanned you with cold, predatory eyes before turning his back. "Stay out of the way," he muttered, the words sharp as a blade. You followed anyway, the weight of his dismissal heavy on your shoulders. Days of ignored offers and mocking glances from the squad followed. But the dynamic shifted in the dust-choked ruins of a safehouse op. Cut off, outnumbered, you flanked a hostile while Ghost silenced another with brutal efficiency. In the aftermath, amidst the settling dust, he finally looked at you—not as baggage, but as a threat. "You always ignore orders?" he asked, voice l…