#bat ghost

ㅤㅤThey don't think anything of it, just appreciating your thoughtfulness. Price doesn't think twice about how often he checks on you, not admitting to himself about the it in the back of his head he gets around you, the same one he gets when a target is downed, when one of his Chain is injured and pushing themselves.

ㅤㅤGaz enjoys the bonding that comes with mutual grooming, not paying any mind to how you just happen to have the same brand of nail files as he does, extra strength steel, meant for particularly thick and dense claws- well, he found it a bit odd at first but you just shrugged and said something about high keratin levels running in your family.

ㅤㅤGhost is hesitant, as he is with most things that can be affection, but you don't push him to open up, nor do you treat him any different from the others despite him being something as 'weak' as a bat hybrid. You spar with him with just as much force as you do the others, but stay mindful of the leathery wings on his back, never putting too much force on the thin bones within them. When he complains one morning about his muscles aching from having his wings tucked tight against his back for too long, you're there with a recommendation for a lotion that'll relax the tendons and help them heal.

ㅤㅤSoap swears you know what his chirps and trills and cries mean, and not just know in the way that Price and the others learned, but you Know and Understand, your eyes just a bit too intense when he trills out a tune. He catches the way you admire his wings, and the way you happen to know exactly which wing products suit his wings- most non-birds can't tell the difference between a feather cleaner and a feather coating, let alone ones based for different soaring types. When he prodded you on it, you just shrugged it off, saying you had a couple avian hybrids in your family and you'd grown up around them, so he takes you at your word.

ㅤㅤThey all find it odd how you don't shower with the rest of them, but write it off as a personal thing- it took Ghost literal months of working alongside them before he'd even roll up his balaclava to eat with them, let alone showering.

ㅤㅤPrice finds it odd how your medical records are thin and bare, like he was given a barebones edit of it, but he supposes he's not privy to information like that even as your captain, so he trusts the Medic team to tell him if there's anything wrong.

ㅤㅤThey think nothing of your oddities, until there's a mission gone to shit.

ㅤㅤThe heli's been hit, not enough to send it crashing but enough to send it spinning, and the force of it sends Gaz tumbling out of the cabin, his harness malfunctioning at the wrong time and flinging him out into the open air. Price tries to lunge for him, his own harness snapping taut as his fingers just barely miss Gaz's ankle. The lynx doesn't have time to comprehend it before you're there, a blur diving out of the heli right after Gaz.

ㅤㅤ"ROOKIE, NO!" He roars, claws desperately trying to catch on your pantleg, but he can only watch as two of his soldiers fall to their deaths.

ㅤㅤThere's no rope to save Gaz now, it'd take a miracle for him to survive this fall. The sun blinds him, the wind deafens him, and he can only faintly make out Price shouting something and the black silhouette of the chopper as he falls, teeth chattering from the chill.

ㅤㅤThere's a speck against the sun, barely noticeable until it gets larger, and then you're there. Tucked into a dive, headed straight for him, and Gaz can only think that maybe he won't die alone before you slam into him.

ㅤㅤ"HOLD ON TIGHT, DON'T LET GO," You shout over the roar in his ears, and he does so unthinkingly, his claws digging into the back of your shirt as your arms wrap tightly around him.

ㅤㅤThere's lumps under your shirt, moving and shifting under his palms, the fabric strains and rips and tears and-

Wings.

ㅤㅤWings unfold from your back, sky blue feathers crumpled and brittle and breaking off into the air.

ㅤㅤYou spread the fragile limbs against the air currents, muscles and tendons screaming in agony, joints aching at the strain of use, but you grit your teeth and hold Gaz tighter as you force them open.

ㅤㅤYour wings catch the wind and you angle your bodies, brittle feathers only able to glide, barely keeping the two of you from being skewered on the treetops. Its not enough.

ㅤㅤYour wings slow the descent, soften the blow, just enough that when the two of you slam through tree limbs and tumble to the ground, its only less deadly. You can't tell what snaps are bones and what cracks are trees, agony ripping through you all the same.

ㅤㅤYour wings snap, bones too thin to endure the abuse, the two of you crashing the last 30 or so feet to the ground.

ㅤㅤGaz blinks the haze of agony out of his eyes, body pulsating in pain, and his gaze lands on you, just a few feet to the side. You look haunting. Bruised and bloodied, your chest barely rises for each shallow breath you take, eyes glazed over and unseeing as you heave for air you can't get. His pulse stutters, seeing the wings on your back. They're a sky blue, dirtied and stained by dirt and blood, and he feels sick when he realizes the bits of white are bone.

ㅤㅤSoap had talked about it once, with a hollow look in his eye. About how fragile an Avian Hybrid's wings were. How they were a last resort to target in fights, because even a cracked bone can send them into Shock, and render them flightless for life- if they survive.

ㅤㅤGaz grits his teeth at the way his arm tries to crumple under his weight as he drags himself to you, hovering over you and pressing his paw against the bleeding, trying to slow the flow as his other paw taps at your face, desperately hoping to bring your attention back to him, at least enough to get you to take deeper breaths.

ㅤㅤTime passes in the blink of an eye yet drags on for an eternity before the heli locates them again, kicking up a cloud of dust as it lands. Price jumps out the moment it touches down and is closely followed by Nikolai jumping from the cockpit as both rush over to load you and Gaz into the helicopter, neither stopping to question the bloodied wings on your back, far more occupied with getting the hell out of there.

ㅤㅤThey don't have time to think until you and Gaz have both been rushed into the ICU, nurses and doctors alike shouting orders and demanding supplies for one operation or another.

ㅤㅤNikolai claps Price on the shoulder and steps out once Ghost and Johnny come tearing into the waiting room, the russian man giving the squad some privacy. Hushed words are exchanged, that have both Ghost and Soap's wings nearly flaring in shock. If it weren't for Price's tail flicking in the way it did when agitated, they never would have believed him. They exchanged a long glance, Soap especially disturbed, only two questions on their minds.