Chapter Text
Soap's leg bounced as he sat there in the helo, feeling the pre-mission jitters. He wasn't nervous--no, far from it. He was excited--it had been at least four months since something last popped on their radar, and the possibly undiagnosed ADHD was getting to him for being on base for so long. He had filled his time with training, cleaning, the usual-but he was downright antsy and not even Ghost could soothe it. Even now, his LT huffed and set a hand on his knee to still it, looking over at him from the corner of his eye. He wasn't wearing his usual mask, instead it was a black balaclava with his usual grease around his eyes--while it was a new moon and dark as shit outside, he didn't want to risk the visibility of his hard, white mask.
"Wha? M jus' rarin' ta go." Soap faked a pout, earning a sigh that almost upgraded to a chuckle from Ghost. Even under the mask, Soap could tell the other was smirking over at him.
"Mnn. We're not rushin' in though, remember? Stealth, Johnny."
Soap couldn't help but grin at the reminder, almost rolling his eyes until Ghost squeezed his knee affectionately, before removing his hand. Right right, as itchin' as he was for some action, this mission was purely a slip in 'n out, hack the system, get the data, and bugger off before anyone catches wind. Ghost's specialty, with Soap as support, and Gaz as back up. Soap flicked his gaze over to Gaz, who was looking out the window until he felt eyes on him, flicking his chocolate hues over to soft blue, and offering a small smile.
"Shame I get to miss out on the action, but Price said not to leave a mess this time." This time, a reminder of Afghanistan that had Soap's cheeks flush. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and both Ghost and Gaz chuckled, Ghost subtly tapping his outer thigh against his. The surge of affection he felt for his LT had him bite his lower lip, failing at hiding a smile. Gaz rolled his eyes at the two and yet he grinned, only to perk up with them as Nik spoke through his headset, alerting them they were a few clicks away and landing soon.
Soap's heart thudded quickly in his chest as they all got ready, the helo landing in a bare patch of land in the middle of a forest somewhere in Germany--it was pitch black outside, and as the three climbed out, Price's voice came through their comms. "Get the intel, destroy the systems and get back on out--don't shoot unless necessary, there might be civilians on site."
"Copy," The three confirmed before setting on their night vision goggles and checking their location. They were a few miles away from their target--a hidden lab somewhere in the forest, intel claimed human experimentation for possible bioweapons, a nasty combo that had the higher ups breathing down on their neck. They had to be careful, any fuck ups would turn the place to ground zero of a possible world pandemic.
The three fanned out as they walked in silence, taking their time to ensure minimal sound and studying everything through their goggles. The heat signatures that came up seemed to be mainly small animals, no sign of any human activity this deep in the forest, but after two hours of walking, they spotted lights in the distance. Soap raised his goggles up to squint, noticing a medium sized facility with a single light at the door. The facility was made of dark concrete and had a single dirt road from the side of it to the forest, and seemingly only one car parked at the front, a jeep from the looks of it.
"Intel said there's not much activity at night," Ghost confirmed their suspicions, yet still they waited, hidden behind the trees and watching for signs of activity. After half an hour of not a single soul stepping out or around the base, Ghost pulled out his rifle, aiming before firing a single shot. The light above the base's door went dark, and they waited another ten minutes in silence before Ghost handed off his rifle to Gaz, taking out his knife and giving the signal to Soap to follow. They crept in unison, Soap pulling out his pistol and twisting the silencer on as they made it to the door, then branched off to circle the building. There were no windows, no signs of activity, whispering in their comms when they got to the back and met up--a single door here, no light. Ghost hesitantly took hold of the handle, giving it a twist--locked.
He pulled out a roll of fabric from his tactile vest, unrolling it to reveal a set of lock picks. Ghost didn't need to see in the dark to pick the lock, the tiny clicks seemingly loud in Soap's ear, before a louder click had them both still. Ghost withdrew the picks, packing them away cleanly and picking up his knife, twisting the door and opening it. A lit hallway greeted them, one of the lights flickering. Complete silence. They shared a look before stepping through, Soap following Ghost quietly. They scanned corners here and there, finding empty halls and even emptier rooms. There were signs of activity, but not a soul in sight.
"Creepy," Soap whispered in his comms, and Ghost only hummed in response, gesturing silently for Soap to head down one way and him the other when they reached a T point in the hall. There was only one door on Ghost's side--he checked it and found a room that looked like a lounge, so he turned and caught up with Soap, who was finished peering through one of the rooms before they noticed a light on in a room at the end of the hallway, the door wide open. Soap paused at the side of the door, peeking through the hinges.
The room was well lit and looked like a lab, glass beakers full of liquids, things bubbling under a small fire--that confirmed someone was on base, but they didn't seem to be in the room.
Soap moved to the other side of the door quickly, to get a better angle inside. He spotted an open door further in the room, but he didn't hear any sounds. A closed laptop was visible on the table by a set of empty test tubes--he eyed it before stepping in, holding his breath as he approached. Ghost peeked through the door, stepping in just as Johnny picked up the laptop--only for them to both still as a man wearing a white lab coat entered from the open door inside of the room, eyes widening at the sight of them.
They froze, but just as Soap began to raise his pistol, the man lunged for the table to his left, grabbing a sealed bottle with a blue substance, and chucking it at him as hard as he could.
Soap's eyes widened--there was no way he could dodge--
Ghost dove instantly, slamming his weight into Soap just as the bottle smashed into the side of his head, splattering the larger man with the liquid inside just as they both fell to the ground. The liquid reacted violently--there was a sudden flash of bright light that had Soap close his eyes as they crashed to the ground, the heavy weight on him suddenly....gone?
Soap opened his eyes--Ghost was nowhere to be seen.
Soap could only suck in a breath, a hollow feeling sinking into his gut as he looked around the empty room before a sound of anguish left him, raw and loud, stealth all but forgotten at the sudden loss of his partner. It was as if he had simply evaporated--not even a scrap of clothing left.
"Soap?! Soap what--" Gaz spoke into the comms in alarm--but Soap could only reel, shifting to sit up with a pained gasp. He heard Price's alarmed voice, but it didn't register as he stared at the empty room, his chest tightening as the backs of his eyes stung. Ghost--Simon--he was---
Footsteps rushed by him, the scientist running out of the room--Soap swiveled his head in his direction, the pain flaring up into a rage as he grabbed his pistol and got up, making to rush after him--but a step in he heard--
"THE F-FUCK?! SOAP---SHIT--!"
Ghost.
It stopped him dead in his tracks as he heard his voice through his comms, looking around the room wildly, breathing out a sigh of relief--"Ghost?! Where the fuck--"
He heard Ghost grunting with effort, but he didn't hear him in the room, just from his comms, and before he could say anything else, Ghost finally spoke, "Soap--I'm gonna fall--fuck---look down!"
"H-huh?" Soap blinked, looking down--and for a moment he didn't see anything until he noticed movement at the top of his vest, the grunt in his comms as a tiny head popped into view, one arm tucked over the front velcro of his vest.
"...W-What the fuck?"
Soap's eyes widened as he stared down at a tiny, palm sized Ghost, before Ghost snapped, "Johnny--I'm losing my fucking grip here." That had him blink, before quickly cupping a hand under him, holding his breath and scooping him up, staring down at him with wide eyes before Ghost turned his head towards the door. "Soap, he's getting away!" Soap could only stare down at him in shock, his hand trembling--he heard the tiny voice, but he heard him better through the comms--it didn't make any sense--was this real--a dream--
"Guys, got eyes on a civilian running--"
Ghost cursed under his breath, "Gaz, stop him--don't kill him--"
"He's already at the fucking--car--" The sound of Gaz running echoed through the comms, but Soap wasn't paying attention, he was still staring down at Ghost, who tried to stand in his hand, woefully unbalanced.
"Johnny, Johnny snap out of it---fuck--"
"You're...." Soap couldn't help but shake his head, trying to clear his thoughts looking around the room once before tucking Ghost close to his chest and running. By the time he got to the door, he heard the sound of the car starting, a squeal of tires just as he slammed the door open, watching the car rush down the street just as Gaz ran into the clearing, panting heavily from the run.
"Fuck! Where's Ghost?" He breathed out, and Soap blinked, before looking down at his chest and uncurling his hand.
"Uh....h-here?" He sounded so unsure and confused, and Gaz followed his gaze down to his hand before stilling, staring before his eyes widened.
".....Whaaaaatthefuck?"
"Boys, what's going on?!" Price's voice cut through their muted silence, and Soap hesitated, meeting Gaz's eyes before they both looked down to Ghost.
"Uh....you're not gonna believe it until you see it, sir..."
-----
The three stared in shared silence down at Ghost, who paced back and forth by the retrieved laptop. Price opened his mouth--closed it--hummed--then opened his mouth again, finally looking to Soap.
"You said he got in the way of a thrown bottle---and when it hit him--he just....shrank?"
"Yea."
"Right. Fuck. Okay." Price ran a hand down his mustache and face, looking back down at Ghost, who only shrugged, finally stopped pacing.
"...Could be worse. I could be fuckin' dead."
"You're....five inches tall, son."
"How did it even--how are his comms working? Everything just...shrank with him....?" Gaz mumbled, and he couldn't help but reach down and lightly poke Ghost, as if he couldn't believe it. Ghost stumbled back and growled softly in annoyance--they had found that they could barely hear him without the comms, and somehow all of his equipment had shrank with him, save for his knife--if only because he dropped it when barreling into Soap.
"My question is--why didn't you shrink too?" Gaz looked over to Soap, and it was his turn to shrug, though the panicked look on his face hadn't settled this entire time.
"I unno, it dinnae hit me?" Price swore again under his breath, looking down at Ghost, stroking his chin in thought.
"Well....we have the data, there might be something we can do about this. I've sent over a team to dig for more data since that civilian was the only one there, and no doubt anyone he worked with knows the lab is compromised. There might've been something overlooked."
"Maybe it'll wear off? I mean.....this cannae be permanent, right?" Soap asked hopefully, looking down at Ghost, then back up at Price. Gaz followed his gaze and Price stood there silently for a moment before humming.
"...Not a word to anyone--keep Ghost out of sight until we figure things out. Don't want him sent to a lab just yet."