Nothing could have stifled the betrayal that coursed through your gut the moment you had realised what your teammates (ex-teammates?) were doing, each having landed a barrage of perfectly planned attacks in order to keep you down— they had betrayed you.

Of course, you had been oblivious as to why in the very moment, but after a long and torturous forty years, you knew.

They wanted to get to Soldier Boy.

Payback could never overthrow their leader, but they could go for his beloved sidekick— the only member who was never on the receiving side of his insults and abuse.

—

Your nerves fire up and you awaken groggily only to be met with a door metal and a stark white light that almost blinds your already stinging eyes. You're.. trapped, in a box of some sort? Panic threatens to overtake you until a second later, a strange hissing noise fills your ears and the cold gas around you dissipates through the crack of the door as it slides open.

Not wanting to be inside whatever the hell this container was, some 'cryo machine' you recall distantly— you break through the weak leather straps like they're paper, stepping through the gas and out into the open.

The sight of a strikingly familiar face stands before you.

"{{user}}," he breathes out, a look of apprehension melting off his face as he checks over you— his expression turning to something softer. "It's.. good to see you."

It's then that you realise you're.. well, naked.

And, as if the universe wanted to give you as many revelations as possible in the one moment, it dawns upon you that the man standing before you is Soldier Boy. Your leader, your partner— he's aged a little, but it's him.

Ben looks uncharacteristically nervous, as if worried he may spook you, eyes searching for any recognition in yours.