GhostSoapRoach

GhostSoapRoach is the poly ship between Simon “Ghost” Riley, John “Soap” MacTavish and Gary “Roach” Sanderson from the Call of Duty fandom.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
In 2016, upon Captain John “Soap” MacTavish and Sergeant Gary “Roach” Sanderson returning from a successful mission to retrieve an ACS module from a downed satellite from a Russian airbase in the Tian Shan mountain range, they regroup with Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley. Following the death of new teammate Private First Class Joseph Allen, they travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to investigate an alleged contact of Makarov, the man who killed Allen, Alejandro Rojas. Due to Allen’s death, Russia initiates an attack on American soil, believing Makarov’s terrorist attack was an American-supported attack, due to Allen being American. They locate and subdue Rojas’ assistant, with Ghost and Soap staying back to interrogate the man. A short time later, they get the location of Rojas and inform Roach. Roach is further ahead when he gets the call, leading to Soap telling him there’s no time for back up and that he’s going to have to do it on his own. Soap wishes Roach good luck. Soap radios back a minute later, giving Roach advice of the area he’s in and telling him to look out for ambush positions and to check his corners. He stays in contact, further telling Roach to intersect, as he and Ghost follow from their end. Roach comes up to his intersection when he and Ghost watch as Soap crashes into Rojas, tackling him out of a two story building, landing on a parked car.

Upon torturing Rojas, he tells the team the only person Makarov hates more than Americans is locked up in a Russian gulag – Prisoner #6-2-7. As the team decides to get the person in the gulag, they’re pursued by the Brazilian Militia, actively trying to kill them. Soap radios for an exfil and as they’re jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Roach misses a jump. Soap tries to reach for him, however he is too late. Roach falls and struggles to gain his bearings as more militia fill the streets, heading straight for him. From the exfil helicopter, Ghost and Soap call out to him – Soap telling him to wake up and for him to find his way back to the rooftops, with Ghost moments later warning him as he can see an incoming group of the militia coming for him. Roach picks himself up and begins evading enemies. Soap radios him, telling him they’re circling the area in their helicopter, but they don’t see him. Eventually, Roach emerges and Soap spots him. He tells Roach to jump down from the rooftops and meet him south of Roach’s position. With Soap’s guidance, Roach reaches the rooftops and manages to jump for the helicopter and climb the ladder to see Soap looking down to him, relived Roach made it.

In order to retrieve Prisoner #6-2-7 from the Russian gulag, Ghost, Roach, Soap and team take a small submarine ride to an oil rig. After disabling SAM sites, they ride to the gulag. They navigate their way through the prison and come to a point where Ghost separates from the team and stays back to hack from the prison’s control room, opening cells and cell doors. Ghost informs them the prisoner is on the other side of the wall. Breaching the wall, Roach is punched in the process as the prisoner overwhelms his guard. Roach falls to the ground as the prisoner holds him at gunpoint. Soap yells for the prisoner to stand down, only to quickly realize the prisoner is fellow man Captain John Price, who was captured during Operation Kingfish. The prison begins to shake as the Navy has resumed their bombardment. The team run to avoid falling debris and find an escape, with Ghost finding his own means of escape. With Soap, Roach is struck by debris and knocked out, with Soap yelling Roach is down. Roach wakes to see Soap firing a flare, alerting their location. The team is rescued and hoisted into the air as the gulag explodes and burns beneath them.

Following the rescue of Price, the team carries out a plan to end the war in the United States. They need to secure a route to a docked submarine at the Rybachiy naval base, which is located near Petropavlovsk, Russia. Soap watches from a satellite feed, however he is unable to spot Roach due to too much interference. He asks Price if he can see Roach, with Price telling him he can. Roach and Price partner up and meet up with Ghost and the rest of the team, Soap remaining back, guiding Ghost and Roach through the mission. Price leaves to head for the submarine, asking Ghost and Roach to cover him from the guardhouse. Ghost tells Roach to follow him and the two take up positions of defensive. As they defend the guardhouse, the silo doors on the submarine open and a nuclear missile launches.

Knowing Makarov is hiding in one of two places, General Shepherd sends the team to both locations to eliminate him. Soap and Price go to the Boneyard in Afghanistan, while Ghost and Roach head to a safehouse on the Georgian-Russian border. Before the mission is set to begin, Ghost requests to be partnered with Roach, which is granted by Price. Ghost, Roach and their team reach the safehouse, only to be ambushed. Roach barely survives, but they press forward. Upon clearing the safehouse, they gather intel from Makarov’s computer, where Roach sets up a DSM to download the information while still evading off Makarov’s forces. With the download complete, Ghost yells for Roach to follow him to the LZ, where Shepherd is. As Ghost and Roach are heading for Shepherd’s location, Roach is struck by a mortar attack. Ghost yells he has Roach and for him to hang on. He helps Roach stand up while telling him to get up and that they’re almost out of there. Too injured to walk on his own, Ghost wraps an arm around Roach, steading him as they continue toward Shepherd. Shepherd’s helicopter lands, with him asking if they have the DSM, Ghost confirming they do. Shepherd immediately shoots Roach, with him falling to the ground. Ghost turns to try to catch him while screaming “no”. As Roach hits the ground, Ghost turns back to shoot Shepherd, though Shepherd is quicker and shoots Ghost as well. Shepherd gestures for a couple operatives of the Shadow Company to come in and dispose of their bodies. Roach, still alive, though too injured to fight back is thrown into a shallow pit, with Ghost’s body being thrown in next to him moments later. Through Ghost’s radio, Price’s voice is heard trying to warn them of Shepherd’s betrayal. Gasoline is poured over them, before Shepherd tosses his cigar onto their bodies, setting them alight.

On Soap’s own mission in the Boneyard in Afghanistan, he desperately attempts to get a hold of Ghost and Roach, though to no avail. Price has to tell him they’re both dead as Shepherd’s “cleaning house”. From that point on, he and Price go on an effectively one-way suicide mission in order to kill Shepherd, in which they succeed in, Soap delivering the fatal blow.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

 * Ghost and Soap warn Roach of the impending Brazilian Militia heading his way.
 * Soap desperately attempts to get a hold of Ghost and Roach.

Fanon
is a popular ship within the Call of Duty fandom. The ships GhostSoap and GhostRoach are amongst the fandom’s most popular, GhostSoap being the #1. Due to Ghost being so actively shipped with both Soap and Roach and for how well all three work together in the original Modern Warfare sub-series (2007-2011), it didn’t take too long before all three men were being shipped. However, the ship didn’t truly begin to take off until the 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare series, more specifically the 2022 game, even though Roach does not appear in that game. With Ghost and Soap returning as main characters without Roach, fans were quick express their disappointment in him being absent. Though since Roach is absent and both Ghost and Soap are alive, fans are hopeful for them to be reunited in the next installment.

On AO3, has 110+ works in its romantic/poly tag, and 10+ in its platonic/general tag. In most fan works, Ghost and Roach are typically portrayed as being in an established relationship, with Soap then being invited in.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Ghost/Soap/Roach tag on AO3
 * Ghost & Soap & Roach tag on AO3
 * Ghost/Soap/Roach tag on FanFiction.net

ART

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Variations

 * GhostRoach refers to the ship between Ghost and Roach
 * GhostSoap refers to the ship between Ghost and Soap
 * SoapRoach refers to the ship between Soap and Roach