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freds-one-piece-fics · 10 months

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Straw hats x reader: How it begins hc

-you first meet the straw hats when visiting a town, looking for a place to work and have stability.

-today was your first day of your job, after a lot of convincing that you could handle the tough activities you’d be paid to do.

-your large figure definitely drew eyes but it wasn’t what caught the crew’s attention.

-nope. It was the absolute unit of a massive tree you were carrying with one arm while the other was occupied by a cart full to the brim with logs that would normally be pulled by 4 horses.

-it wasn’t hard to miss either with every town dweller making space for you while side eyeing you nervously.

-Luffy was the first (and at the moment only person) to approach you with such enthusiasm.

-it surprised you for sure, but you tried to mimic half the enthusiasm out of politeness.

-“greetings sir, lovely weather we’re having?”

-“it’s really cold actually.”

-his bluntness was another little surprise, but you found it amusing nonetheless. It’s nice to have a friendly chat with someone for once, outside of work, of course.

-speaking of, you couldn’t stay too long, and although you could hold these logs all day, you’d rather not waste time.

-so you leave him be, thinking it’d be the last time you two would speak.

-well you were wrong.

-This time you’d meet the straw hat’s crew consisting of a red head navigator, a long nosed sharp shooter, a blonde chef, a mossy green swords man, and a cute little reindeer.

-turns out their boat was a little worn, nothing too expensive, but definitely wouldn’t survive the places they’d be going.

-the swordsman, reindeer, and the long nosed man were skeptical when meeting you, the deer and long nose were for fear reasons, the greenie was mostly suspicious but also somewhat uninterested.

-you didn’t find this weird though, you were use to it, however you didn’t know that they were judging your every move because their captain put you on the “going to make my nakama” list.

-gotta make sure your future crewmate isn’t bad news, y’know?

-after they hang around, waiting for their ship to get some small repairs, some of the crew members eventually start talking.

-the blonde chef man was one of the first (other than Luffy) to actually introduce himself. He was very courteous, always offering to bring you and the red head a drink even after you declined politely the 5th time.

-the skittish man and deer would test the waters, waiting for Luffy and Sanji to start the conversations before getting comfortable enough to have small chatter.

-Chopper was pretty happy to not be called a little dog for once, and appreciated you not treating him like… an animal? Even though he is technically an animal, he appreciates not getting treated as less…

-and Usopp found a lot of what you are working with fascinating, adding his own tidbits and insights about certain tools you were holding in that moment.

-you knew nothing of what he said.

-although it seemed like it, you weren’t an engineer, but you were useful when it came to positioning hard-to-move parts.

-but despite not looking at them as you held a large, heavy beam for another coworker to hammer on tight, you listened carefully and answered every other question.

-you were actually pleasant to talk to.

-each day, the crew would get comfortable, hanging out in the ship area to overlook the process despite the town having more than enough activities.

-you weren’t sure why they would hang out here when there wasn’t much to do other than to watch, but you appreciated the company.

-the red head did leave to check out the shops the first few days, but she did get to talking to you, and she mentally regretted not talking to you sooner.

-you were so nice despite doing all this work, getting your ear talked off, and she actually felt heard. You understood her frustration with the men throwing away money getting everyone into trouble.

-it was nice to be around someone who isn’t yelling 24/7 despite being within earshot.

-then you reach the last day.

-the goat boat is finished with some nice touches.

-you’re prepared to send the crew their way, telling them the ship was in good condition thanks to your coworkers before Zoro finally speaks to you directly.

-“why not go out for a drink, eh? A little thank you for helping with the ship.”

-you almost decline, saying you only move stuff around when the others start to chime in enthusiastically.

-“yeah! I wanna go eat at that restaurant I spotted near the food market area! It’s fun chatting with you and we don’t wanna leave without a send off!” Nami said with a lot of cheer in her voice

-“plus… I’ll pay.”

-well shit. When she puts it like that…

-you accept, while she turns to tell Zoro that the feast would be added to his tab.

-he didn’t like that.

-anyways, y’all go and get drunk and fueled up.

-Zoro challenges you to a drinking contest, which you accept out of politeness (much to the dismay of the other more sane crew members).

-much to their shock, you actually out drink Zoro.

-he’s heavily drunk but is conscious enough to not pass out or make a completely stupid decision.

-and you sat there, only buzzed.

-“it’s genetics.” You dismissed.

-it wasn’t a lie, it definitely was, but it wasn’t naturally occurring…

-anywho! You’re just about ready to leave to get back to your workplace to catch some sleep when Luffy stopped you.

-you know what comes next…

-“become my Nakama!”

-you sit there, almost stunned.

-how do you answer that???

-“…no?”

-cue the silence.

-“…you don’t wanna be our friend?” your veins completely iced over when the little deer looked at you tearfully.

-“n-no- I mean I enjoy being your friends, but I just started a job here.”

-“the job where you only follow orders and do nothing else? Sounds boring.”

-there’s the bluntness once again. Typical Luffy.

-but it does make you uncomfortable for a few different reasons…

-“it doesn’t seem like much of a life if I’m completely honest. It doesn’t seem like others are interested in having a conversation with you outside of work”

-Sanji immediately snaps at Zoro for the comment, but you did take in what he said.

-you listened. And you knew it was true.

-this job… wasn’t really what you wanted. You escaped with the intention to never follow orders like a trained dog ever again.

-you only wanted it because you needed to have… something.

-so you find yourself mildly convinced.

-mildly.

-“you have enough beds, correct?”

-it really didn’t take much convincing, did it?

-so there you all went, sailing into the unknown. Not knowing just what a mistake you may have made from simply giving in to the smallest of pressure…

~~~~~~~~~~~

Woo this was a rough start lmao.

I haven’t wrote hcs in a long time, so this is gonna be awkwardly written 👍 but I’ll get a hang of it again

#yandere one piece #tw yandere #yandere strawhats #straw hat pirates #straw hats x reader #one piece x reader

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smarchit · 10 months

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I Could Make You Care, chapter 3

Simon "Ghost" Riley x OC; enemies to lovers, slow burn, hurt/comfort

Word count: 6.9 (nice lol)

Warnings (will update to add more as the story progresses!!): angst, canon typical violence, sexism, depiction of injuries

Summary: The 141 gets a break in their latest mission. Annie and Ghost aren't even pretending to like each other, but when plans shift south, can they work together? No. They're not even trying.

"That's another lap!" Ghost barked. He was standing next to Price, watching the newest batch of recruits struggle after already putting in several miles that morning. Their pained replies went ignored as he sat back down beside the captain.

"We have a name," Price murmured, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He glanced back at Ghost, who was watching them with feigned interest. "I talked to Kate earlier this morning. The tip came in from an informant a few weeks ago. It's been verified."

Ghost nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. The name of their most recent target had been somewhat of a challenge to procure. Every time, it ended up being a false lead, and the weeks had dragged on while they tried to find it. They'd been working on this mission in broken parts for months, it was time they finally got a break. "Good."

Price nodded in the direction of the hills far off in the distance. "It's not going to be an easy one. He's slippery. PMC, FBI, InterPol, KorTac, no one's been able to get anywhere near him. KorTac came the closest, I heard. They apprehended a few of their suppliers near a port in Spain in the middle of a product exchange."

"KorTac?" Ghost asked, giving Price a curious look from the corner of his eye. He did his best to focus on the runners on the far side of the track to distract himself. KorTac was incredibly capable and very dangerous, if they couldn't get anything, how would the 141 fair?

"On the hunt briefly last year for about nine months," Price explained. "Took their prisoners in for questioning a few weeks before they called the dogs off, and they couldn't get so much as a "fuck off" out of 'em before they went home to meet their maker. And you know how thorough KorTac can be with their interrogations."

Ghost hummed in agreement through his mask. "Cyanide, it's the better way to go if that's what you're up against."

Price shook his head and crushed his spent cigarette under his boot. "Wasn't cyanide capsules. They just... dropped. Like a switch in their brain turned off and they all went lights out. Laswell's sending us the video from their interrogation attempt."

"Should I round up the kids then?" Ghost asked as he stood up. He stuffed his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie and glanced at Price for an answer.

The captain nodded. "Go ahead. I'll watch your greenies for you."

"Don't treat them too nicely!" Ghost called back with a chuckle as he walked back towards the base.

An hour later, the 141 was crowded around a table in the briefing room on base. Kyle and Johnny had been sparring with a few other sergeants in the gym when Ghost collected them, and Annie arrived directly from the firing range. She rushed in at the last moment, out of breath and red in the face. She took the open seat next to Ghost and breathed an apology to the captain.

Ghost eyed her up and down, a silent judgment on her lack of punctuality. He had gone looking for her to tell her about the briefing, but hadn't really looked too hard. Accidentally, of course. Besides, Price said he told them all earlier about the meeting. Ghost leaned over and yanked one of her earplugs out and handed it to her with a smug expression under the mask.

Annie glared at him and snatched it out of his hand. She stuffed it into the pocket of her leggings and brought her leg up to rest her foot on her chair.

Yellow sneakers, Ghost noted. His eyes rested on the sunny canvas high tops, faded and dirty from years of wear. Infuriatingly cheerful shoes for an infuriating cheerful soldier.

Annie caught him staring and swiftly put her foot back down below the table. She leaned forward and scooted the office chair a bit closer to the table.

Maybe not so cheerful. More of a brat.

Price nodded in acknowledgement once Annie got situated. He pulled up a few images of their newest objective - a private airfield near the Baltic coast. He flipped to an image of notable targets in the area, checkpoints and way stations.

"Our man has some private contractors - local boys, on standby," he said. He nodded at the stack of files in the middle of the table and flipped the pictures on screen over to a slightly out of focus shot of a tall, dark haired man in a long coat standing in front of a few crates. "There's several chains of command at play, of course. But our man here, he's our meal ticket. Gusev Petrovich."

"Petrovich, that name sounds kind of familiar. Wasn't he an operative for Zakhaev before he went tits up?" Ghost asked as he leaned back in his chair. "Old friend of yours, John?"

The captain shot him a look before he continued. "Petrovich fell off the map shortly after Zakhaev gave Makarov the order to detonate a warhead that took the lives of almost fifty thousand people," Price elaborated. The slideshow stilled behind him on a few of their previous targets - Zakhaev, Hassan, Makarov, and now Petrovich. He rested his palms flat against the table and leaned forward slightly. "We lost track of him, as well as several others of Zakhaev's closest officers, and figured he was among those killed in the bombing. We never saw mention of him in any of the reports we were able to obtain."

"Why's he popping back up now though?" Kyle asked. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Guess he figures with Zakhaev and Makarov gone, there's demand for a new warlord?"

"If he was still dealing arms to the cartels, I would say you're right," Price said with a shrug. He changed the slide to a bird's-eye shot of a warehouse tucked deep in the mountains. There were half a dozen box trucks lined up outside, unmarked and idling in the gray winter landscape. The satellite image was a little blurry, but the stacks of tarp-covered crates were clearly unmistakable. "Petrovich has deals with a dozen or more companies, all producing mass quantities of deadly chemicals, carcinogens, hallucinogens, those sorts of things, which he then turns and sells to the highest bidder for a very pretty profit."

"So he's a glorified drug dealer?" Annie asked as she flipped through the file. She scanned the report and raised a brow as when she looked at Price.

"In a sense," he replied. "Most of the chemicals he distributes are made to be released into the air or water supplies. I don't need to remind you lot of the attacks in London and Berlin?"

A tense silence filled the briefing room. The 141 remembered in vivid detail the extent of damage caused by the explosions in the UK and Germany a few years prior. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost as a result, hundreds missing, and countless others still suffering long term injuries.

"When do we ship off, Cap?" Johnny asked. He ran a hand through his mohawk and stretched a crick out of his neck.

"Tomorrow morning," Price replied. He gestured towards them all with both hands. "Go rest up. Make sure you get your beauty sleep, Ghost. Get your bag ready, meet up at Dock 6 at 7 AM."

Ghost grunted in reply as the others all left to use the remainder of the evening to prepare for their newest mission. Everyone on base had their own rituals and superstitions, some were meticulous in packing their gear, some drank until their fear felt like confidence, some acted like the night was no different than any other, many prayed, others called their families to hear their voices one more time. But he was always alone.

He didn't mind, really. The silence and solitude of a near-empty base in the predawn hours always made the transition from Simon Riley to Ghost that much easier. Not that there was much to transition between these days. It was alright, really. Less Simon meant less people would miss. No one can miss a ghost.

He gave a half hearted wave to Price before he left the briefing room, in search of a quiet place to sit until morning. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Johnny and Kyle headed in the direction of the elevator. Annie was still chatting with Price in the doorway, and Ghost hesitated for a moment on which direction to go.

"Lieutenant, want to join us?" Kyle asked with a half smile as he beckoned him over.

He glanced over his shoulder at Annie and Price before nodding at Kyle. The distraction couldn't hurt before a mission. It was better than hanging around, waiting for another option.

Before he walked away with the two men, he briefly wondered about the pre mission rituals the others had. How were they so different from his own? The companionship, the brotherhood, the warmth?

Before the elevator doors shut to carry the three men to the mess hall, Annie's laughter echoed down the hall, bright, silvery chimes cutting through the silence.

×××

"Only one way to go, sergeant," Ghost said softly through the comm. He seemed more smug than usual, and Annie could almost hear the self satisfied smirk he probably wore. He was on overwatch today, but Price had assured Annie that the lieutenant would still be nearby just in case. Joy. "You know how to climb, don't you?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Trust me, sir, where I grew up, there wasn't much else to do with your free time besides climb trees."

"Didn't think goddesses could climb trees," Ghost hummed, almost amused.

She bit back a response in favor of getting her climbing gear set up. All she needed was to fall on her ass and Ghost would never let her live it down as long as she lived. He still told her to watch her step after she tripped getting out of a truck two weeks ago.

"And last I checked, ghosts don't talk," she finally hissed back after a minute. She tested her rope and gave it a final tug for good measure.

"Mm, there's a whole channel on TV that says otherwise."

Annie rolled her eyes and kept a snide comment to herself and started her slow climb up the cliffside. Figures that Ghost would enjoy those terrible paranormal shows. She did too, but never in a million years would she give him the satisfaction of knowing that. The less he knew about her was less fodder for him to resent her for.

When she reached the top, Annie pulled herself up onto the lip of the cliff and sat there for a moment, her legs dangling off the side. From her new position, she could see the coastline stretched below, extending far beyond what she was able to see. Once she caught her breath and put her ropes away, she scooted back to safety.

"Ghost, I'm at the top of the cliff," she said with a sigh. Her upper arms burned from the exertion, and she made a note to work on that next time she got a chance.

"How's the view from up there, sergeant?" Ghost asked.

Annie took a moment and looked out over the water. She felt the cool sea breeze lift her sweaty flyaways off her forehead and closed her eyes at the feeling. "Actually, it's pretty nice."

"Take it all in," he replied back after a beat. "It only gets worse from here. Think of it like a last memory before you get shot."

"Oh, wow, that's comforting," she said with an annoyed sigh. He wasn't even with her and he still managed to ruin the moment. "Really makes me appreciate this more, you know? Really, thanks. Thanks for that."

"Don't mention it." Fucker.

Annie almost threw her nav off the cliff and into the fucking water. At this point, she knew he was doing it exclusively to irritate her. He had to be.

"Better head to that checkpoint soon," he said after a few minutes of blessed silence. "Get it cleared before dark."

Annie groaned in frustration. "I know, I know. Damn, don't get your undies in a twist. You try climbing a fifty foot cliff!"

"I did it this morning," he responded casually. "Didn't take as long as it took you though."

"Of course it didn't," she grumbled as she stood up and grabbed her gun from its resting place against a rock. She double checked the location of the checkpoint on her nav and set off on foot through the woods.

×××

Annie made it to the checkpoint an hour later. She slung her pack off and stretched out her shoulders while she took a quick break to steady herself. After this, it was go time, and she knew no matter what she did, it was going to be unpredictable and violent. Just another day at the office.

Once she'd gotten a grip on her nerves, she pressed her thumb to the comm button.

"Alright, I can see the checkpoint," she whispered, keeping low and out of sight in the treeline.

"There should be guards at the gate," Ghost replied. "Take them out."

Annie nodded and set up the scope on her rifle. She lay flat on her belly and positioned herself and her gun to take out the two men watching the checkpoint. Two shots and two bodies later, and Annie quickly gathered her pack to advance into the post.

"Move fast, those shots probably alerted the others," Ghost warned. "Don't die."

Annie fumed and pulled her knife from its holster and swung her rifle on her back in favor of her pistol. She slipped under the gate and ducked out of sight into the booth.

Don't die.

He made it sound like an order.

Annie gasped when the glass window of the guard booth shattered above her from a bullet fired from somewhere nearby. Shards of glass dusted her jacket and she quickly shook them free. She gripped her pistol tightly and scooted towards the door to try and see where the shooter was positioned. Another bullet whizzed past her ear and she quickly took cover again.

Footsteps quickly approached her cover spot, and she raised her gun just as a guard appeared in the doorway. She fired at him, hitting him twice in the chest.

"Down you go," she muttered as she watched him fall forward. She stood up and kept her head down as she ran towards the low building to the left of the checkpoint. The blueprints they acquired from a shipping depot a week prior had shown that there was a whole sublevel to the building, with important distribution information stored within.

"I might lose you when you get inside," Ghost warned her. "Keep an eye on your comm, Artemis."

"Please, I couldn't get that lucky."

"Just don't do anything stupid."

"So do the opposite of whatever you would do," she replied. "Got it."

Ghost did not humor her with a reply.

Annie smirked, satisfied with her little victory, and quickly opened the door. She took the stairs down quietly to avoid detection. When she reached the bottom, she kept close to the shadows.

Two guards were nearby, and she crept up behind them both. They were quietly talking and listening to indistinct radio chatter on their walkie talkies. When Annie sprung up from the darkness, the man facing her had no time to react. She drove the knife into the side of his neck and yanked it towards her, sending a spray of crimson into the air. The second guard fumbled with his rifle and misfired in his shock, shooting almost an entire clip up at the ceiling in his haste. Annie dropped him quickly with two shots to the chest. She took a moment to recover before she continued down the hallway.

"What do you see?" Ghost asked.

"Two dead fuckers behind me," she said bluntly. "A surprisingly spacious kitchen, and a moderately supply room."

"I'm not interested in buying property here, sergeant. Nothing else?"

Annie glanced into the supply room and blinked to adjust her eyes to the low light. Bingo. In the corner was another door. She let Ghost know when she moved closer to it.

"Check behind it," he ordered. "There wasn't a door there on the blueprints."

"Ooh, scary door," she whispered as she pulled it open. She was met with another staircase leading down further underground. "Huh. That's not what I was expecting."

"What could you possibly have been expecting?"

"Narnia, obviously?" she hummed as if it were a completely normal response.

"Just go check it out," he sighed, quickly losing patience.

"Aye aye, sir."

Annie slipped her gun back into its holster and readied her rifle before she quickly took the stairs all the way down to the bottom. She dropped to a crouch immediately and was almost spotted by a guard who happened to glance her way. She cursed her luck when he said something to the others and started to walk towards her, drawing his gun.

When the guard reached the doorway, Annie leapt from the shadows and took him down from behind with an arm around his neck, keeping her hand pressed firmly over his mouth until he went down. The body thudded against the ground and alerted the others nearby.

They opened fire as soon as they saw Annie and she cried out when a bullet grazed her right upper arm. White hot heat spread down her arm and radiated in her chest.

"Fuck you!" she shouted, firing at the woman who had hit her. Both her and her two companions fell easily, leaving Annie alone with the smell of gunpowder and blood and death.

"Sounded easy," Ghost said softly. "You're alright?"

Annie winced and touched her arm. She winced at the blood dripping down her arm and nodded to herself. She really didn't want to tell Ghost she'd been shot, he'd probably just berate her for being careless. "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright."

"Good, keep moving," he said. "You'll be going in blind, the lower levels aren't even showing on the blueprints. If I lose you on comm, fall back."

"Yes, sir," she said. She quickly poured alcohol on her arm and groaned through the stinging pain. At least it would be clean.

She continued down the path, thanking her lucky stars it was clear, though distant radio chatter told her she wasn't entirely alone. She could hear footsteps coming down the hallway towards her and quickly swiped her arm across the surface of a low counter to clear it of debris so she could slide, Hazard-style across it.

She crouched down low on the other side, waiting for the immediate danger to pass her by. The radio chatter grew closer, and she held her breath and gripped her gun tightly in anticipation.

"Do you like jokes, sergeant?" Ghost asked her as the footsteps drew nearer.

Annie rolled her eyes and mouthed a silent curse. Of course Ghost would pick this exact moment to hit her with one of the terrible jokes Johnny had warned her about.

"Not at the moment, sir," Annie muttered. She ducked behind the counter just as four more guards jogged past her.

Ghost continued like he hadn't even heard her. "Do you know why stormtroopers have such bad aim?"

She rolled her eyes and checked her nav for a moment, watching them move past the three guards she had taken out, before she sighed heavily into her comm. He really wasn't giving her a choice, huh? Fine. "Okay. I'll bite, sir. Why?"

"They're counter-Fetts," he replied, tone completely serious. He sounded like he had bored himself with his own joke.

"Jesus," she sighed after a few seconds of silence. "That one was terrible. What if I didn't see those movies?"

"I thought you liked movies, sergeant?"

She scoffed and quickly left her hiding spot to continue through the hallway. "Depends."

"On what?"

"The company. Sometimes people talk too much - ruins the experience."

"I don't talk a lot."

"And yet you haven't really stopped since I got in here."

Ghost finally fell silent again, much to Annie's relief. When he wasn't snapping at her every move, he was annoying the hell out of her.

She continued down the path opposite the way the guards had gone, keeping a close ear out for more. In the back of her mind, she heard Ghost warning her about going too far inside and losing contact. Annoying or not, he was still her lifeline while she was deep underground.

When she made it to the end of the hallway, she was met with a heavy steel door blocking her from going any further. She tried the handle and found it was unlocked, much to her surprise. She pulled it open and almost immediately sighed with relief. The air was almost fifteen degrees colder, and the temperature dropped with every step down she took.

When she reached the bottom, she saw a room to the left filled wall to wall with computer monitors and servers. The screens were all flashing black and white static shots of long empty hallways, empty rooms, and exterior shots of what appeared to be several different locations.

"Heads up, lieutenant," she murmured into her comm. "Looks like this place is also some kind of monitoring station for their other locations. I'm going to try and grab a hard drive or two, there's gotta be something we can use on them right?"

She didn't wait for a reply before she moved to a computer to wake it back up. As soon as she started clicking on different programs, a security warning flashed on the screen, bathing her in an eerie red glow. An alarm began to wail nearby, no doubt alerting all available guards in the area that they had a rat.

"Oh, motherf--"

"--fall--" her comm hissed. "Now!"

Annie pressed the button a few times to try and muster the damn thing back to life. Her hand rested on a sleeping laptop on the desk. Nothing she could do with it now, but her fingers twitched as she left it behind. "Repeat, Ghost."

She knew she had to leave now and leave fast, and when she shut the door behind her, she whispered her second attempt. "Lieutenant, can you repeat that?"

Nothing came through, not even a crackle, letting her know there had at least been an attempt on his part to call back.

She stood there nervously, one hand still on the door to the server room, body turned and ready to fly back up the stairs to her freedom and safety. But what if she'd been ordered to grab as much as she could before she fell back and she didn't hear him? She couldn't exactly blame the shitty comm connection if this whole mission was for nothing.

"---- back, Artemis!" Ghost shouted, voice echoing over the wailing of the alarm. His voice crackled over the comm from the shoddy reception deep beneath the checkpoint. "--- too many of them. Fall -- now! Leave it!"

Annie's eyes flicked between the stairwell leading back up, and the door her hand was currently on. The intel was right there. She was so fucking close.

"Fuck it," she whispered as she shoved the door back open with her shoulder. The door gave way and she quickly moved to the desk in the corner. She would have to take the whole thing, there wasn't enough time to download all the data they would need.

Annie quickly stuffed the main laptop into her bag and pulled open all the desk drawers, desperately searching for more information. Ghost and Price would be pissed at how reckless she had been, she needed to make it worth it.

"Come on!" she shouted to herself as she grabbed a second computer for good measure. It wouldn't fit in her bag, and she tucked it under her arm to keep it safe.

Footsteps on the stairs alerted her to more guards quickly headed her way. She ducked behind the desk and readied her gun for another firefight. Just as the door burst open, shots rang out. Before she could duck behind cover, a stray shot ricocheted off the cinder block wall behind her, sending concrete chunks flying at her. One piece flew back and hit her in the temple and she felt dizzy for a moment following the impact. The laptop slipped from beneath her arm and bounced off the ground. Blood flowed down her cheek from the wound and soaked into her T-shirt before she turned and fired at the man rushing at her. He tripped over his own feet as the bullets hit him and he collapsed in the doorway.

A second guard, then a third rushed towards her, blocking the doorway and preventing her escape. She could hear more coming down the stairs behind them. A few rapid shots took the first two down, but they were quickly replaced by two more, all opening fire at her.

She crouched down and pressed her back against the desk and took a deep, quick breath as gunfire rained down on her. With shaking fingers, Annie quickly pulled a grenade from her vest, yanked the pin, and lobbed it into the hallway to try and increase her chances of getting out. She hunched over and plugged her ears just as the explosion shook the ground and resonated in her chest. Dust rained down on her from the ceiling and she pulled her thin t-shirt over her nose to filter her breaths as it settled on her skin and clothes. It clung to the sticky blood on her arm and face and she blinked it out of her eyes.

Annie waited a beat before she cautiously stood up. The guards that had pinned her had almost all been taken out thanks to her grenade.

After finishing off the ones that hadn't been killed, she ran back into the server room and began stuffing files into her bag. She also made sure the two laptops in her possession were undamaged and found room in her pack for the one she had dropped. She swung it back onto her shoulders, grunting at the weight, and made her way back upstairs to the upper level.

Annie pressed her thumb to the comm and cleared the dust from her lungs. "Ghost, got lots of goodies for you," she wheezed, trying not to sound too pleased with herself.

No reply.

Annie scowled and checked her comm. Dread pooled ice cold in her belly when she saw that the signal had been completely lost while she was underground.

She quickly switched it off and back on again to try and restore the signal. Ghost was probably going insane, he had to be furious with her, gnashing his teeth and gathering venomous words to spit at her. She sighed, half in relief and half in fear, as the light flashed green, and clicked it a few times to make sure it was working properly before she called out for the lieutenant.

"Sir, intel is secured, I'm heading your way now," she said, trying to hide the way her voice shook.

"Artemis." Ghost didn't sound mad, but Annie figured he had to be fuming behind his eerily calm demeanor. Honestly, he was probably way past mad now. She didn't even have the term for how fucking pissed he probably was. "Still in one piece?"

"All the important stuff is, anyway," she said as she made her way back up the stairs.

"Good, then I don't have to be the one to explain to Price why you didn't follow my orders."

Annie sighed. There it is. She exited the underground portion of the checkpoint and stepped out into the warm breeze. Just as the sunshine warmed her skin, she was tackled to the ground from behind. Her assailant dropped onto her from above and wrapped thick legs around her shoulders.

She hit the pavement with a thud, turning her head to the side just in time to avoid hitting her face. She felt all of the air forced out of her lungs in a sudden rush, and she gasped wildly for air.

A gunshot rang out from behind her, and Annie jerked away in shock, temporarily deafened by the tremendous sound. She braced herself for the nerve endings in her brain to register the intense amount of white hot pain that came with a point blank gunshot wound. If it didn't kill her before that.

After a moment, she realized she felt nothing, no searing, crippling agony across her body. She hesitantly cracked open an eye and looked around. She hadn't been hit. The bullet had somehow missed her.

She rolled onto her side and glanced behind her. Her attacker tumbled off of her and now lay on his side in a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood.

Annie was suddenly hoisted upwards by the back of her tac vest. She let out an undignified yelp and thrashed a bit before she was set back on her feet. Her gaze shifted from gray, sunbleached asphalt, to her own well-loved boots, up, up, up until she was looking directly up into Ghost's terrifying mask.

Shit.

He holstered his pistol and grabbed the strap of her vest hard enough to send her stumbling forward. His dark eyes were cold and endless when he stared down at her, desperately searching for any reasonable explanation as to why she had just done what she did.

"Ow, nice to see you too, sir," Annie spat, trying to shove him away.

Ghost tugged harder for a moment, just to see her nose scrunch up as she tried to keep her balance. He released her and let his arms fall to rest against his rifle.

"Do you know how much trouble you're in?" he asked in a threatening tone.

Annie sighed and looked down at her boots again. She honestly would have loved to tell him off. To rub his face in the fact that she got what they came for, alone. But he was her superior, and it didn't matter if she hated him. She had to save her ass, even if that meant kissing his. But she refused to apologize. Never apologize.

"Sir, I knew the risk, and I thought I could--"

"You don't think, and you obviously didn't know the risk!" he shouted over her. "The inside of that building was completely dark, you could have easily been overpowered!"

Annie set her jaw and looked back up at him. She glared straight into his mask and put both hands on her hips.

"I know that, sir. But I just--"

"No," he growled. He held up his hand to stop her from talking more. He pointed past her down the road. "Don't even try to explain yourself, I don't want to hear it. Think of what you want to say before we get to the safehouse. Go."

Annie scoffed to herself and followed Ghost down the road. Whenever she tried to talk, he just shot her a look that very plainly told her that he wasn't even in the mood to yell at her. She hated it. Him. This. Him.

The five miles to the safehouse passed in a tense silence. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon when Ghost and Annie turned onto the final stretch and the safehouse came into view.

As soon as they entered through the locked door, he was right behind her, herding her into the center of the living room, ignoring the greetings of their teammates who had already settled in. He ground his teeth together and kept stepping up closer to her every time she moved backwards.

"You know, if you're that fucking desperate, you should know that I don't even kiss on the first date, lieutenant," she snapped. She quickly turned on her heel and glared up at him.

"You think you're so bloody cute don't you?" Ghost shouted, his tone accusing as he stepped closer to her, invading her personal space. He didn't give a fuck. He crowded her back against the wall, the toes of his boots right against hers.

With a warning shout, Kyle and Price stood at the same time. They cast nervous glances at each other and then at Johnny, who was watching carefully on the other side of the room in the connected kitchen. No one moved, waiting for someone to pounce first.

"Actually, sir, I do," Annie sneered up at him, a challenge written on her face. Ever defiant, she crossed her arms over her chest and straightened up a little.

Rage and anger rolled off of him in waves. He fumed silently down at her for a moment, hating her and her little smartass mouth.

"You've been nothing but a pain in my ass since your arrival, sergeant," he growled. "Picking fights, disobeying direct orders, putting yourself in harm's way--"

Annie barked out a laugh and counted on her fingers as she came to her defense against each of the lieutenant's points. "Defending myself, gathering intel, finishing the mission--"

"Your life, sergeant," he hissed, "Is far more valuable than anything else we accomplish here. That includes the mission."

"I accomplished what we came for!" Annie shouted. "If I fell back, then we came out here for nothing, and I couldn't leave empty handed!"

"Clearing the base would have been enough, Artemis!"

"And wait until God knows when for another opportunity like that? I don't think so. Then it would just be one more thing for you to hold against---"

"You know what's a shame?" he asked, his voice low and threatening and gravelly. He glared down at her and crowded her impossibly closer against the wall. "You have this misguided notion that you need to prove that you belong on this team when you couldn't be further from the truth. There's a dozen people who would do anything to take your place, and yet you're here and they aren't! You're selfish - everything you've done since you've joined us has been for your own gain, and you're so eager to prove that to yourself that you don't think for a single bloody second about what happens after!"

Annie blinked up at him, suddenly speechless, with a shocked expression on her face. She looked as though he struck her, rather than just yell loud enough to leave her ears ringing. Her eyes grew watery and she quickly flinched away just as Ghost leaned back away from her.

Did I go too far? he thought. He so rarely yelled anymore, choosing instead to save it for the battlefield. He hated that he could hear his father in his voice, angry and hateful and cold. Before the vaguest thought of a potential apology came to his mind, he was interrupted.

"Alright, that's quite enough!" Price barked, finally intervening in their argument. He stepped forward over Annie's hastily discarded backpack and shoved himself between them. "This stops. Right now. Or you're both sitting the next mission out, and will spend it scraping shit out of the bathrooms!"

"Recruit punishments, John, really?" Ghost muttered, sparing a glance at the captain.

John shrugged and pushed Simon away. "If you're both going to squabble like recruits, I'm going to treat you like recruits," he replied angrily. He put a hand on Annie's shoulder and gently tugged her back. "You two have been at each other's throats since you started, but you need to work together to survive."

Annie shrugged his hand off of her. She avoided eye contact with the both of them and glared daggers at the ceiling. Unshed tears sat at her waterline, coming dangerously close to spilling over.

"Hey!" Price warned her. He stuck a finger out to her and raised his brows. His expression was very clear. Leave it alone.

Ghost sighed and gently raised his hands from his hips. He gestured vaguely towards Annie and John shook his head in defeat.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Price hissed at them both. He threw his hands up and sighed heavily. "And I really, really don't care. Just figure it - this - out. You two can find it in you to be civil to each other, even if it's only for missions. That's an order, both of you! For God's sake."

"Yeah," Annie mumbled, shooting Ghost a look that would've killed him if it could. "And it wouldn't kill you to say please. Maybe start there. Sir." Annie shoved past Ghost and disappeared up the stairs, praying that no one saw her angry tears.

"I said both of you!" Price called after her, exasperated.

Ghost scoffed and picked up Annie's pack. He opened it carefully and removed both the laptops she had recovered as well as the stacks of files. It would take days, maybe weeks to sift through the information. He muttered to himself as he passed both to Price, who gave him a look.

"Easy," John muttered as he set them on the table. "I'll see what can be done with these right now. Laswell might want them. And Simon, speaking of wanting things--"

"You'll get your bloody paperwork, John," Simon grumbled, still rooted to the same spot.

John scowled and crossed his arms over his broad shoulders. "I thought you were better than fighting with your own team. Haven't seen you this riled up since Las Almas."

"He's just sore because he's not--" Johnny teased, sliding up beside him.

"Shut up, Johnny," he hissed. He zipped Annie's pack up and glanced at the stairs. "Just gets on my damn nerves is all. Fucking irritating."

Price muttered something to himself and went to pick up his smoldering cigar from the ashtray. He glared at his lieutenant for a moment before he sat back down in the battered armchair.

Ghost sucked his tongue against his teeth, annoyed by the events of the afternoon. He brushed past Johnny and went into the tiny kitchen to grab the first aid kit for himself.

He threw Annie's backpack onto the counter and glared at. The little chunky, homemade, beaded keychains on the zippers were definitely not approved, and he had half a mind to toss them into the garbage and write her up for them. She had obviously had the whole pack for a while, given the patches of assorted fabrics keeping the bottom together and the reattached patches indicating her squad and rank. He noticed she had embroidered her callsign near the shoulder of her right strap and he sighed heavily.

Figure it out, Simon.

×××

A few hours later, after everyone had gone to sleep and the safehouse was silent, Simon woke with a start at the sound of cautious footsteps on the stairs. He had taken the couch for his temporary bed, and angled himself so he would be able to see the locked front door with ease.

The light in the connected kitchen flooded the small room, and when his eyes adjusted to the fluorescents, he saw Annie hunched over the counter, her back towards him. She had changed her clothes at some point during the night, and was standing there in only her leggings and a pale blue sports bra.

Ghost almost shut his eyes again to give her privacy, but stopped when she turned slightly, revealing an angry red gash to her upper arm. He almost sat straight up when he saw all the dried blood crusted down her arm, but thought better of it. He figured she wouldn't want his help or sympathy. How had he not noticed that she had been injured? Had he been too focused on yelling at her to realize it? The thought that she didn't want to tell him flashed across his mind. That could be dangerous, hell, it could be fatal.

His gaze flickered back to Annie as she hissed quietly through her teeth and dabbed at the wound with an alcohol soaked pad. She quickly cleared away the blood with a clean rag and reached for something else in the first aid kit. When she turned, the light caught a smattering of silvery white scars across her back, concealed partially beneath her bra and by a tattoo on her shoulder blade.

He couldn't get a good look at them from his prostrate position on the ancient sofa, but he noted them for another time. When she glanced in his direction, he quickly shut his eyes so she would think he was still sound asleep.

Simon waited a moment and cautiously opened his eyes. He could see her bent over the sink while she stitched up her injured arm with her non-dominant hand. Little curses and whimpers of pain were barely audible, and he could see her hand shaking from across the room. The hand that wasn't working on sewing her arm closed had a white knuckle grip on the edge of the sink.

He almost got up to help her, but by the time he made up his mind to go over, she had finished her stitches. She had quickly bandaged her arm and put a clean t-shirt on, covering the strange scars on her back. He saw her spare a quick glance his way before she flipped off the kitchen light and quietly slipped back up the stairs.

#my writing #cod mw2 #simon ghost riley #Simon riley x oc #simon ghost riley x oc

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