A Ghost's uprising

Hammond

No words have been spoken ever since team onslaught returned to the helicopter other then the soft hum of the engine, Hammond was talking into a head set, most likely to his superior.

  " Yes....."

  "Unfortunately we only managed to snag one sir, he's alive but in critical condition."

        "The others? "

Hammond paused recalling the gore he witnessed, humans strapped to tables as if they were frogs being dissected. In all his years as an elite tier one operator what he witnessed was unlike any act of inhumane cruelty he's conducted, he would personally know first hand.

      Looking back into the helicopter , Ghost was tending to the last surviving member of his old squad.

He went back to his conversation on the radio.

  "They weren't so lucky."

  "Understood........onslaught out."

      Setting the head set  down the morning sunlight caught Hammond off guard, mumbling to himself as he rummaged through his gear behind the cockpit seats for his smart glasses he couldn't help but note how exposed they were. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it made him nervous. Knowing better than to let his anxiety get the better of him he kept his cool.  But still he couldn't help but occasionally twiddle his thumbs and glance out the window every now and then to study the topography, he was slightly surprised at how ridiculously high and steep the hills were. He even could have swore he saw the natives with wings flying around in the distance moving clouds around and small communities of houses made out of clouds......clouds!  Shaking his head disbelief of the thought he had more pressing matters to think about other then the things he saw during the nightlong helicopter ride back to G.H.Q.  Then again he was willing to think about anything to alleviate his feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Casper

Casper on the other hand was staring out the tinted window watching the luscious green forests blur beneath him. He was wide awake this time having plenty of time to sleep the entire night flying back. Well partially anyways due to his nightmares, but strangely this time it was different.

Casper knew he was dreaming but yet again it was as if it were real like so many other dreams before but this time there was no painful past to relive, no cryptic message to be relayed to him from a doppelgänger. Just him facing a mirror floating in front of him in a soft white nothingness.   Staring at himself Casper was contemplating that this was some sick way of reminding him that the reason most of his team was dead because he wasn't fast enough.

"I-I don't understand.....I did everything I could to save them....If only I was faster....they might still be a-alive."

Alexander "Vapor" Halsey.... Mitch "T-bone" McKnight ....Keegan "crutch" Mitchel

They were all outstanding soldiers in their own right, but they were more than just brothers in arms, they were family to him.

These individual's nurtured him, gave a damn about him when no one else would. And they were gone,butchered like damn cattle.

He knew they had family's they would talk about them while off duty. As far as he knew vapor had 3 kids and a girlfriend. Mitch was single while crutch had a fiancé .

His train of thought stopped immediately once he realized something, how did he know that? Every time he tried to remember something all he could recall were blurry images and immediate head aches.

"How did I-"

He couldn't finish his sentence because it was as if some thing opened the floodgates and his memory's  torrented into his head.

It was all too fast for him to interpret  as memory after memory reeled in his head.   T-bone playing catch with a football, the sight of vapor and crutch giving thanks in the heat of battle.  Raptor giving the signal to breach and clear a room. The celebration of his own birthday, blowing out the lit candle on a single cupcake as he was surrounded by the young men he considered family.

Fighting back the tears and array of emotions that stirred in him, even in a dream he was determined to stay strong and not let his emotions get the better of him despite his confusion.  Memory after memory only made him miss them more, lowering his head he whispered.

"This is my fault how can I ever forgive myself?"

"Oh please Casper enough with the bullshit."

Stunned Casper looked up to see his reflection talking to him.

"You remember the saying " We are not at the mercy of our environment or events that happen around us because we can dictate how it effects us."  What happened was horrible I won't argue about that, it never should have happened but it did, there was nothing you could have done to stop it."

"..................."

   Staring Blankly at the floor, Casper was deep in thought, slowly but surely something within him was breaking free. No longer restrained from his subconsciousness.

"There you go, keep thinking....tell me... do you think your deceased teammates would have wanted you to be this way?"

Something blown up in Casper. His mind perhaps, recognizing the sudden realization that took place in his sense of awareness.

"No.......they would have wanted me to....move on with my life, be happy, live life to its fullest extent a-and k-keep them alive through my m-memory's."

Ghost was fighting not to cry, not of sorrow or guilt, but of relief of the pain that plagued inside his heart, those who sacrificed themselves in the past so he could look forward to the future, their dying words finally made sense.

" Before I let us go I thought I should tell you even though this isn't really in my department, that  you should express how you feel.

You're not a machine.......you are a person.

The white nothingness faded to black when Casper opened his eyes again he was awake as he sat up Hammond carefully studied his partner, noticing that was the most peaceful sleep he's ever had since he went through indoctrination.

"Morning sleeping beauty."

        "Morning."

Casper replied softly then thought carefully.

"There is something really off, I can't name it specifically but I intend to find out."