Lightning flashed illuminating the room with light, and thunder immediately clashed shaking the safehouse. Archer lunged and snatched the long knife Kirill had rested on the table nearby. Before the Russian could get a word out Archer was above him pressing the blade against his throat.

"Make a sound or move a muscle, and I'll slit your throat." Archer hissed in his ear.

Kirill only narrowed his eyes in response. Archer brought the phone up and flipped it open. Soap had them all remember Nikolai's number in case of an emergency. Archer hesitated, struggling to remember the digits. Slowly they came to him and he quickly punched them in and brought the phone to his ear. He kept his eyes on Kirill's face as the phone began to ring.

"You'll never get out of here alive." Kirill whispered.

Archer smiled gently and pressed the blade harder against Kirill's throat causing him to choke slightly. Blood appeared from the breaking skin and slid down his neck in small streaks. Archer blinked when he heard a click on the other line and then a man speaking quickly in Russian.

"Nikolai?"

The voice ceased for a moment.

"Who is this?"

"It's Archer, from the 141, Shepherd betrayed us and left us for dead, please we need help! Coordinates are ni-"

Archer was cut off as Kirill grabbed the arm holding the knife steady and shoved him backwards. Now that the blade was gone Kirill was free to speak and he instantly yelled in Russian for his comrades downstairs. His heart pounding, Archer lashed out with the knife but didn't realize how weak and tired he was until Kirill roughly grabbed his wrist and twisted it causing him to drop the weapon. Without using much of his strength, the Russian pulled Archer towards him and slammed him hard into the small table by his bed. Archer crumpled to the floor, sparks of pain clouding his vision and impairing his ability to think or move. The phone was lying nearby and Archer could hear Nikolai calling out to him but Kirill quickly picked up the phone and snapped it shut before turning it off so that the phone couldn't be traced. Loud footsteps could be heard running up the stairs and Kirill kneeled next to Archer, bringing his mouth close to the sniper's ear.

"You've had your fun. Now it's my turn." He whispered.

Some time later…

Wake up English.

Ghost was roused by loud noises from the next room. He slowly opened his eyes and groaned in protest when the pain came rushing back. He couldn't keep living like this, so far his life was nothing but emotional- and now extreme physical- pain. Ghost let out a slow shaky breath and lazily blinked waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A flash of lightning caused him to jump slightly, another flash right after it lit up the room and Ghost noticed Archer's chair was empty. Did he escape? Where was he? Ghost tugged at his wrist bonds but couldn't suppress a groan of pain as the ropes cut deeper into his flesh. There was a loud bang in the room next to his and Ghost froze, straining his ears to hear some kind of hint as to what was going on. There were yells of Russian then laughter blended with a familiar cry of pain.

"Archer!" Ghost cried as he again struggled with his bonds.

The noises stopped and the Lieutenant could hear the distinct sound of footsteps approaching his room. Ghost swallowed nervously as Kirill kicked his door open and approached him with a rather aggressive expression on his face.

"Where is he?" Ghost asked through clenched teeth.

"Your friend is as good as dead."

"You're as good as dead."

Kirill smiled.

"We are slowly beating him to death with our bare hands. It shouldn't be long now until his body gives out. He's passed out a few times but we've managed to rouse him back awake with a few….shocks."

Ghost wanted to lunge forward and rip this guy's head off, but he remained silent, not wanting the Russian to get the best of him.

"As for you," Kirill continued as he drew his long knife, "we'll take it nice and slow."

Ghost couldn't help but flinch when the edge of the cold blade gently ran across his bare chest. Kirill smiled wickedly as he slid the blade in strange patterns across Ghost's torso before finally driving the blade deep into Ghost's uninjured shoulder. The wounded Lieutenant couldn't bite back the scream of agony as Kirill twisted the blade deeper into the wound.

"Did you know there are several places on a body that can be stabbed and shot, yet cause minimum damage?" The Russian asked as he jerked the blade from his victim's shoulder. Ghost gasped for breath as he gazed down at the bloody hole in his shoulder. Pain was swarming his mind and soul, it was spreading throughout his entire body and dominating everything he knew. Ghost hardly felt the blade slash across his chest leaving a deep gash that instantly began leaking blood. Weak from blood loss, he felt his head drop limply and nearly touch his chest. He couldn't lift it, not even to glare at Kirill when the man said something about enjoying what he was doing. Ghost shivered when he felt the blade touch his skin again below his ribs. He was about to be stabbed again and he clenched his jaws tightly in preparation for the pain that was sure to come. Instead a loud voice caused Kirill to freeze.

"Enough! Stop!"

Kirill whipped around holding his blade in tense preparation for attack. Sergei paused when he noticed the fierceness in his comrade's eyes.

"Why do you keep trying to spare them Sergei? They won't talk, you know that!" Kirill said angrily.

Archer must still be alive then… Ghost thought as he tried to lift his head to get a glimpse of the two Russians. He felt a pair of eyes on him and then Sergei began speaking in Russian, the only word Ghost caught was Makarov. He must be keeping them alive to send to Makarov. Ghost coughed and grimaced when he tasted the heavy metallic tang of blood in his mouth.

"It's because of them, that we are in this mess!" Kirill backfired, not bothering to conceal their discussion in Russian. Ghost moaned when he felt Kirill's presence draw closer to him.

"I said no Kirill!" Sergei said angrily.

"Try and stop me!" Kirill hissed as he raised his knife.

So this is how it's going to end? Stabbed to death while hanging from a ceiling beam?

Ghost gasped when he heard a loud gunshot followed by a scream of pain. He half expected to see Sergei, annoyed from being disobeyed, holding a gun in Kirill's direction but what he managed to see through his blurred vision stunned him beyond belief. In the doorway stood Soap, pistol drawn. Sergei's body lay at his feet while Kirill desperately crawled on the ground, a streak of blood following him. In the room next door there were more gunshots and yells. Confusion welled up in Ghost's mind as he watched his Captain walk over to him, delivering a kick to Kirill's face that sent him unconscious before turning his attention to the wounded Lieutenant. Ghost was trying so hard to lift his head higher to get a good look at his savior, but he was too weak. Instead he felt Soap's gloved hand gently lift his chin so that they were looking eye to eye.

"Hold on mate, you'll be out of here soon." Soap said softly.

"Tavish…" Ghost whispered, "Am I…dead?"

"By the looks of it almost," Soap said as he smiled gently, "don't talk and save your strength. I'll have you down in a bit."

Ghost could only gaze at Soap's torso as the older man reached up and began sawing through the thick ropes holding the lieutenant's wrists. The feeling of the blood rushing back into his arms was enough to make Ghost scream but he swallowed it as he felt Soap's arms wrap around him and slowly lower him to the ground.

Soap's heart was burning with fury, but more so with fear and sadness as he gazed upon the bloody form of his right hand man. His chest was throbbing from pain from the stab wound he had received in his fight with Shephard but he had pushed that aside when Nikolai had told them about the phone call he had received. Luckily they had been headed to the safehouse anyway, Soap, believing that his entire team had been killed, had refused to get medical help until he had attended to the bodies of his men. Ghost groaned and gave a shuddering cough which caused blood to appear at the corner of his mouth. His deep blue eyes were clouded with pain as he gazed up at his Captain. Soap felt a wave of panic wash over him and he reached for the sheet on the bed Ghost had been laying in earlier. He ripped a large portion of the sheet off and wiped the blood from Ghost's mouth before placing it on the stab wound and applying pressure. Ghost's face creased in agony and he quickly shut his eyes. Soap placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and gazed up when a shadow appeared in the doorway.

"We have to get going. Nikolai is getting Archer to the chopper…" Price said before pausing at the sight of Soap leaning over Ghost.

"How bad is he?" Price asked as he approached.

"Pretty bad. He's been shot in the chest but for whatever reason, they fixed that up. But he's losing a lot of blood from these knife wounds. We need to get him to safety and soon." Soap replied not taking his eyes off the lieutenant.

"Let's get him to the chopper then." Price said as he reached down and pulled Ghost's injured arm over his shoulders. Soap did the same to Ghost's other arm and they slowly lifted him off the ground. Ghost didn't respond to the movement. He had lost consciousness once again. Soap gazed down at the limp form of Kirill lying nearby.

"We have to come back for him. He's the last one alive and he may be useful." Soap said.

Price merely nodded in response as they made their way to the door.

It was four days before Ghost found the strength to open his eyes, and when he did he wasn't sure if the whole safehouse incident was a dream or reality. He only realized it was true when his eyes landed on Soap, who was seated next to his bed, monitoring his progress.

'Welcome back." Soap said as he gave his friend a small smile.

Ghost returned the smile and slowly raised his uninjured arm. Soap's smile widened and he clasped his Lieutenant's hand warmly.

"It's good to see you finally awake." The captain said.

"It's just good to see you," Ghost replied in a raspy voice, "I was so sure you…didn't make it."

Soap nodded and lowered Ghost's arm back to the bed. He ran his eyes over the younger man's patched up wounds and sighed.

"Me and Price survived…the rest didn't. They were killed right in front of me by Shepherd's men. They didn't stand a chance."

"He killed Roach," Ghost said through clenched teeth, "I'll make him wish he'd finished me."

"He's dead." Soap said flatly.

"You killed him?" Ghost asked unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

Soap nodded slowly and pointed at his combat knife.

"Got him through the eye."

Ghost smirked gently in response before reaching up and clasping his and Roach's dogtags.

"There's still work to be done. I'm not gonna let anyone who was involved get away with it."

"You can't kill the entire Shadow Company Ghost. That would be suicide. We need to focus on clearing our names and getting this mess sorted out."

"That won't happen. It's your word against the entire Shadow Company, who do you think the government will believe? It's over Soap, we're on our own."

"You can't let your hunger for revenge take over Ghost. I know what you're feeling, but going on a slaughter fest won't get us anywhere closer to freedom."

"Freedom…" Ghost scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

Soap narrowed his eyes. There was something different about Ghost. Something…darker about his personality.

"Where's Archer?" Ghost asked suddenly.

"He's doing better, walking even. He took a heavy beating that left his face pretty swollen and has a few broken ribs, but he'll be fine."

Ghost nodded and then realized Soap was leaning slightly to the left in his chair.

"What about you?" he asked softly.

"Shepherd gave me a nasty stab wound but I'll be alright." Soap responded.

Suddenly he nodded to the door.

"We have one of the Russians that was holding you captive tied up in the main room. Working on getting some information from him."

Ghost felt a storm of anger brew in his head.

"The one that was carving me up?" he asked.

Soap nodded and Ghost instantly tried to rise. The Captain quickly placed a firm hand on his friend's chest to hold him in place.

"You need to stay in bed and rest. You'll have your time with him but only once your better." Soap said in a commanding tone.

Ghost complied and relaxed himself back into his bed but remained silent, his eyes distant and his jaw clenched.

"I'll be back to check on you later. For now I want you to get some sleep." Soap said in a gentler tone as he rose from his seat.

Ghost simply nodded in response. With that, Soap turned and headed out of the room, shutting the door gently behind him. Ghost waited until the sound of Soap's footsteps disappeared before he again attempted to sit up. After much grunting and painful squirming he was seated on the edge of his bed. The Lieutenant closed his eyes in an effort to will the spinning in his head to cease.

Go get him English

Ghost pushed himself from the bed, ignoring the pain that shot though his burned arm, and swayed until he found his balance on his feet. He scanned the room, his eyes searching for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was only one thing on his mind right now, and it was becoming more violent with each passing second. Ghost slowly made his way to the door and opened it. Archer was seated alone at a table in what appeared to be the kitchen, Kirill was tied to a chair in the corner of the living room. Ghost realized they were taking refuge in a small house, but where they were didn't matter so much to him at the moment. His eyes glinted when he spotted an assortment of kitchen knives sitting neatly inside of a holder beside the kitchen sink. Archer was reading a magazine of some sort and Soap and Price were nowhere to be seen. Taking his chance, Ghost stalked forward. Archer looked up and smiled when he spotted the Lieutenant. His face was bruised and cut up pretty bad.

"Ghost! I can't believe your already up! Shouldn't you be resting though, you lost a lot of blo—Ghost?" He paused when he watched his CO grasp the largest knife in the holder and pulled it free. Ghost's blue eyes glowed as he looked the sharp blade over before turning and making his way to Kirill who watched him approach with wide eyes.

'Ghost no! Stop!" Archer yelled as he struggled to rise, grimacing att the sharp pain from his broken ribs.

But the Lieutenant wasn't listening, he was enjoying the gift of the calm rage that flowed through his body as Roba coaxed him onwards.

Kill him English. Make him pay.

Archer could only watch, horrified, as Ghost slashed Kirill's throat wide open in one quick movement. The Russian's eyes went wide with terror as he choked and gagged on his own blood. Unsatisfied with the job, Ghost walked behind his enemy and hooked his fingers under Kirill's chin. He gave the Russian a final smirk before he jerked the man's head backwards with such force and ferocity that he nearly ripped the head from the rest of the man's body. Blood squirted and streamed from the gruesome slice covering the floor in seconds with a deep scarlet red. Soap had just walked into the house when he froze at the sight. He stumbled and nearly gagged at the sight.

"Christ…" The Captain gasped as he looked up at Ghost, "What...have you done?"

Ghost calmly looked down at the blood dripping from his hand before turning his gaze from Archer to Soap.

"It's only just begun." He replied in a voice that sounded foreign to his comrades.

Archer and Soap could only gaze in shock as Ghost smiled slightly. He was listening to Roba's laughter deep inside his soul.

Im sure you guys have a lot of questions. Will Ghost conquer his inner demons or become a killing machine? Will the remaining Task Force members be able to fix what Shepherd has done? What about Makarov? Everything will come to a conclusion in the sequel so thanks for reading and for all the support! XD