The humidity of the room made your uniform cling to your body tight enough to feel more suffocated that the reason why you were sat, handcuffs attached to your wrists. The flickering dim light the single lamp dangling from the ceiling was offering was the only reminder that this was actually real.

You were currently a sergeant in the Taskforce 141, yet no one knew you were in reality a sergeant working for the Shadow company led by Lieutenant general Shepherd. A well despised enemy of the 141 Team.

You were so competent so trusting manipulative, the members of your team were like dolls in your cunning hands. Fools. That's what they were to you. Except one. One who had been really observant, calculating and always in the shadows.

Simon Ghost Riley, Lieutenant of the force 141.

You knew he carried a monstrous secret in the depths of his being, yet you had no way to find it. Indeed, you and him had no close relationship, talks only on missions and only about them. His words were always so formal, fitting the team dynamic impeccably... Almost too flawlessly. As if he had already prepared what his next words would be, without even hearing the member response. He knew them by their roots.

He knew too much. Just like you.

The thought of asking him about it haunted your mind for some time until you realized that if you were wrong, you'd sell your true identity to him for free by being so suspicious, or if he'd realize you memorized every member's file by the heart you turned off for so long now.

As for your relationship with the team, you were seen as the friendly and ambitious one, the sunshine that lifts anybody's mood instantly after a single talk. They were so comfortable around you, especially because you knew each of them and their thinking, which made it easier for you to give them the responses they thought they needed to hear.

Lt. Shepherd was proud of your remarkable work, and made it sure that your safety was his first priority. You were his favorite soldier, his favorite mouse. One that steals data and brings it to him so excitedly and waits for its cheese piece. Which was power for you.

Power. The one and only thing that had never betrayed and left you alone. So unquestionably, it became what you craved most in this greedy world.

Only now, you began counting, to calm your disturbed and distressed mind. Hoping it would calm your deteriorating mental state.

All because one bastard had noticed you lurking in the base hallways at night near the data office. And undoubtedly reported to Price. It's been 36 hours now that you have been locked up with no way of escape nor communication.

Dealing silence, only interrupted by the water droplets. You were going ill, wanting nothing but to see Shepherd and apologize for being such an idiot.

Until the metallic door suddenly opens, and 2 soldiers set you free after telling you that Price had changed his mind after Ghost talked to him. Who was standing in the hallway once you were out.

His whiskey brown eyes darkened once he noticed you. Once the soldiers left, he roughly grabbed you by the throat and pulled you closer to him until you could see the details of his balaclava.

“How could you be so dumb and reckless?!”

He asked with his deep gruff voice firmly, yet his eyes carried a flicker of worry.

“Take it, and leave. I don’t want you near this base. Never again”

He whispers right into your ear while slipping something onto your pocket.

He roughly shoves you back, looks at you one more time, before turning and walking away. You reach for your vest pocket and find a USB card with “FINAL” written on it.

That’s the final data you had to steal before finally returning back to your force. He has helped you, that’s when it hits you. He was a mole too. From a different company, he had stolen each data you did. You now understood why it was so easy for you to get it, he had unlocked each one of them first, and left it open in the computer for you to get.

If you had the final data, then he surely does too. Which means he’s about to leave the force too.