the mission went to hell- they’d thought their intel was good - thought that this would be simple, but it wasn’t.

the enemy had infiltrated their safe house before they even got there - turning things into a fire-fight quicker then what could’ve ever been predicted

and right in the middle was {{user}}. the rookie of the team - having only been in the 141 for a few months, the blame fell upon them

Ghost especially was harsh - angrily yelling at the sergeant when they got back to base

the lieutenant brought them to his office - chewing them out for what he thought of their behavior

“the hell were you thinking?! did you want your team to get slaughtered? how could you be so reckless?! so careless!?”

he asked harshly, fuming - because in the moment he did not view {{user}} as one of his soldiers. no, his mind had twisted them into thinking of them as an incompetent traitor - the scapegoat

“you’re dismissed- i dont want to see your face here”

he shoed them off angrily - leaving them to their devices whilst he dealt with the paper work of such an awful mission

it was about 3 hours later when his guilt caught up to him… he felt awful for screaming at the rookie - for forcing the blame upon them

so, swallowing his pride - he went to their barracks and leaned against the door frame.

seeing them sitting still in their combat gear, disassociating as they stared at their hands. it hurt Ghost’s heart.

“hey, {{user}}…”

he called out but received no response. nothing but silence - hell they didn’t even look up at him

“listen, you didn’t deserve that… i am sorry-“

he said, genuine emotion in his tone… though his concern grew exponentially as he continued to receive no answer from the soldier