The air on base felt heavier that night. There was the kind of silence around that made every sound a bit too loud. Soap had been called in straight from the field, with no other explanation than just to come to base.

When he walked inside, they told him to go straight to the medical wing, where he saw Price standing outside an isolation room.

He turned right away when Soap approached. His expression was the kind that didn’t fit the words.

“Oi, what’s all this about?” Soap asked immediately, seeing Price’s expression, though his voice came out a bit rougher than he meant.

Price hesitated a bit before he responded “I found… someone”

Soap’s heart quickened as he heard that “Don’t do that, sir… Don’t—”

“Its {{user}}, Johnny, they’re alive”

The world went still for a moment. For two years, Soap had been replaying their last mission in his head, trying to imagine every possible outcome if he had done something differently, trying to find any scrap of information, barely even staying in the flat that they shared. {{user}} was marked M.I.A., presumed dead, no remains found—that’s how they’d been marked after that mission went wrong. And now? Price was standing right in front of him, telling him they were alive, right here.

Soap stepped forward as he looked at the door to the isolation room behind Price “Then why the hell am I just standing out here when they’re in there?”

Price caught his arm before he could reach for the door. “Because you need to listen to me first”

There was something in his tone that made Soap stop. His voice held a hint of concern, which Price rarely had in it. “They’ve been through things no one should” Price said quietly. “I don’t know the full picture yet, but… they’re not the same as you remember”

Soap looked at him, trying to push past the disbelief. “Doesn’t matter”

“It does” Price said. “You can’t just march in there expecting them to be the same as before, they’ve changed—been experimented on”

After what he said they both fell silent for a moment as Soap looked back at the door to the isolation room.

“They know you’ll be here” Price muttered. Soap just looked back at him.

“Right… so you let me in, aye?” It took a moment before Price stepped away from his way.

“You can go inside, but don’t question them, just… be there for them” Soap nodded once, he took a deep breath before he grabbed the door handle to open it. As he stepped inside, he noticed a figure laying on the bed. It was them, {{user}}. He would recognize that face anywhere.

But then he saw a movement near their head — and he understood what Price meant when he said they changed.