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ute opened his eyes to see his squad leader above him staring back at him; gunshots were all he could hear at first as they rang through the building, and the air smelled of gunpowder. His squad leader grabbed his uniform, shaking him a bit as he yelled."Stay with me, Mark!" Thatcher yelled at Mute, hoping whatever Doc had done was enough to keep Mute alive, at least long enough till he could get proper care. As he did, Mute sprang up, grabbing his MP5K and pushing himself into cover."What did I say? I'm the best in the business." Doc boasted as a bullet whizzed by his head just then. He ducked down further, raised his MP5 above the desk he was behind, and opened fire. "I don't mean to alarm you, Thatcher, but I believed we were pinned!" Doc yelled at him."Not yet," Thatcher responded; he looked over to his left and nodded to Sledge. Sledge looked behind him and studied the wall, then nodded back at him in agreement with the plan. Sledge put his gun on his back, took out his hammer, and wailed on the wall. After about three strikes, it had fallen, revealing the room next to them. The squad quickly retreated into the newly renovated room.The team would move from room to room clearing them until they found a safe spot to regroup. Tired, beaten, and injured, they took the moment to get their bearings. Twitch would lean against the wall and slowly slide down to sit. She looked at him mute; despite being shot several times, he kept his gas mask on. Thatcher would keep watch with Sledge as Doc tended to Mute's wounds."Blood is like a good meal. It is always better in than out." Doc would joke while tending to the last few grazings he couldn't in the middle of the battle. Mute chuckled a bit, he had heard the joke so many times but it still was funny to him"Good thinking back there; thought they had us for sure," Twitch commented to Thatcher, and she turned to Mute. "You know, after studying for a while, I could've patched you up better than he did," she jested, Doc laughing a little at her joke."Just got lucky; those bastards got lucky as well," Thatcher responded, still concerned about the mission but also about his teammate. The mission was important, as the Keres legion had been two steps ahead the whole time, but if they got their intel, it could be the turning point for Rainbow in the fight against them. However, his team came first, and despite being unable to see Mute's face, he could tell he was hurt badly. Mute could tell what Thatcher was thinking at the moment as well."Mike, I'll make it just fine. I'm brill." Mute reassured Thatcher, despite being still skeptical; he trusted his teammates first, knowing that was the only way they were going to make it out of there alive."Just remember, we don't need heroes out there," Thatcher respondedThe team would hold their position for a little longer before deciding to move out; the whole building was silent, and the Keres legion was still looking for them, as stomping could be heard echoing throughout the building. Twitch pulled up a map of the complex on her arm screen and gestured to move forward. Thatcher kept an eye out for cams the whole way through, the Keres legion outnumbered them tenfold. About halfway to the server room, they heard the footsteps getting closer, sounding almost as if it was the whole army. Thatcher signaled for them to duck into a nearby room. As the group looked for hiding spots, they spotted some desks and hid behind them, the footsteps got louder and louder. Finally, they arrived at their room."Sweep the area! They were seen somewhere around here." One of the soldiers yelled out. Two soldiers walked into their room, slowly pacing to where the group was hiding. Sledge aimed his gun up to where the soldier would walk by; Thatcher gestured to him to hold steady and not engage.With every step closer, the group grew more nervous; the soldiers outnumbered the group immensely. Holding their breaths, the soldiers were about to round the corners; Thatcher readied his pistol to take the other out."Hey, we found where they were hiding out; come on." A soldier popped into the room to grab the other two; Sledge lowered his gun down a bit as the soldier jogged away from their position. A collective sigh from the group was felt, but Thatcher still signaled for the group to stay quiet.They got up slowly and walked over to the entrance of the door, Doc leading the way, was about to go through it when Thatcher grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the side. Doc was confused and almost yelled at Thatcher. But after getting his bearings, he looked to see there was a laser sight trained on the door frame. If Thatcher had done that a few seconds later, Doc would've been dead.Thatcher screwed a silencer onto his pistol, looked at where the dot was coming from, pressed the gun against the wall, and shot. A second later a body would flop down, with blood coming from the soldier's head."Fucking laser sights," Thatcher commented, stepping over the soldier's lifeless body on the floor. The group followed him, making the rest of their way towards the server room. The path was surprisingly clear, the group figuring that they had passed under the radar after hiding from the sweep the soldiers had performed. There were more of them than expected; someone had to have given them a warning that Thatcher's squad was coming.Twitch would tap Thatcher's shoulder, giving him a signal that the server room was just up ahead. Thatcher would then lead the group to the room beside it. Securing the door so they wouldn't be snuck up on."Drone them out," Thatcher told Twitch. She smiled and laid her drone down and drove it through the small gap below the door. Scouting out and reporting back the whole room to the squad. If she wasn't in her current situation, she would be talking about her recent updates to the drones"Sixteen hostels at least, maybe more, minimal cover in the room, only a few desks," she reported back to Thatcher as he devised a plan. Looked over to Sledge, who already knew what Thatcher's course of action was going to be."Thirty seconds?" Thatcher said to Mute and Sledge, and they both nodded in agreement with Sledge reading his hammer for the second wall today. Doc looked over in confusion; Twitch looked up, also unsure what the meaning of thirty seconds was. Thatcher looked back at them, seeing the confusion on their faces. He smiled a bit, as it was one of his favorites."Thirty seconds means thirty seconds in and out. We go in hard, fast, and strong; it means being fully committed." Thatcher informed them, and with the two agreeing to the plan, they circled the wall. Sledge wound up his hammer and crashed down the wall.Thatcher threw in his EMP grenade, disabling the lights and sights of the enemy; he would then round the corner of the hole and shoot two in the head, clean shots. Mute rushed into the room, running to the right of it; despite being hurt, he still managed to get three of them by surprise, taking them all out as well with accuracy. Doc would get to the left side, shooting two soldiers and punching another one to the ground, knocking away his gun and pinning him. Twitch would push forward with Sledge cleaning up the rest of the soldiers. Within 30 seconds they had full control of the room."This one will be good for Caveira; maybe for once we'll be the ones a few steps ahead," Doc stated as he hoisted the soldier he had beaten to the ground. Thatcher was skeptical of this effort; even with Caveira's techniques, the Keres soldiers hadn't given much, if anything, up, nothing like the white masks."Twitch, are you able to secure the data to the hard drive?" Thatcher asked Twitch as she went over to the server's main control. She smirked and laughed a little."Oh please, we used to have a system like this back at Harford base; it's no problem at all," Twitcher responded; a few seconds later, she was ready to move out and handed the drive over to Thatcher, who put it in his bag."You sure you want to bring him, Doc?" Thatcher asked, knowing the efforts wouldn't be worth much if anything at all. Despite Thatcher's question, Doc nodded back immediately."It is a great thing to have another's life in your hands. It is also a terrible thing," Doc would respond back to Thatcher. Thatcher rolled his eyes under his mask, and Doc could tell. Ever since the white masks, Doc had tried to rehabilitate hostels with varying degrees of success.Just before they were ready to move out, the room turned red and an alarm blared; the squad, without hesitation, started moving towards their exit. They knew it was only a matter of time before this happened, but now they were unsure they had the time to make it to the evac.
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“Let's move!” Thatcher shouted as he turned around and looked down the hall. They were nearing the exit to the parking lot but were behind schedule. Thatcher noticed Doc in the back, still dragging the hostage he had taken.“Doc, you need to cut him loose. We don’t have time!” Thatcher yelled over the blaring alarms. Doc's eyes interlocked with Thatcher's; Doc would not leave him behind. After a moment, the two understood and kept moving.The squad finally made it to the door with Sledge leading the way and burst outside, the sun blinding them as they made their way out. There was no sign of the Keres legion, but the place would crawl with them in a few minutes. Thatcher signaled for them to stop and to stay low. The longer the Keres legion didn't know they were there, the better. The group crouched down and went through the parking lot, thinking they had escaped.“Shit!” Mute cried out in pain, gripping his shoulder and collapsing into a car, blood soaking his shoulder once again. Doc handed the hostage off to Twitch and ran over quickly to examine him.“His stitches are ripped; he’ll bleed out here if I don't patch him up now,” Doc whispered over to Thatcher as he tore Mute's uniform open, exposing the wound. Thatcher panicked, as there was no time to spare. The Keres building towered over the parking lot, giving them an angle over the parking lot that would be detrimental for the whole squad. Thatcher gripped his radio in fear.“Come in, Thunderbird. Do you hear me?” Thatcher asked quietly into his radio, hoping she could pick them up from the parking lot. Mute didn’t look like he would make it to the rendezvous.“This is Thunderbird. I hear you loud and clear. What’s up?” The radio cracked back at Thatcher.“Mute’s hurt badly. I'm not sure if we’ll be able to make it to the rendezvous. Is it possible for you to fly the bird over here?” Thatcher answered, hoping somehow Thunderbird could make it there in time.“I would like to make it out of this alive, Thatcher. We went through this. I can't get close unless those ADS systems are down.” Thunderbird responded, annoyed that Mute's life was being put in her hands after telling Thatcher before the mission. She was as close to the building as she could be.“I understand that, but Mark is wounded, and we're about to be—” A bullet flew by Thatcher's head, the sound deafening Thunderbird over the radio, causing her to rip off her headset.“Fuck!” Thatcher yelled as he dove behind cover, checking around him to make sure the squad was safe. They all pressed against the cars, hoping they could withstand the onslaught of bullets from the building. Sledge tossed a grenade over, trying to get the soldiers on the balcony but missing his throw, causing the cars to blow up near where they had come out moments earlier.“Mike, you need to get out of here,” Mute yelled over to him, the two locking eyes. Thatcher knew what Mute was trying to do; he shook his head at the remark.“Mike, I can distract them; that intel will give us the crucial edge we need against the Keres Legion.” Mute protested as more bullets were being fired, and the soldiers closed in. Still, Thatcher would not lose another friend today.The squad would pop out and try to take down the soldiers one by one, but their numbers were too great, with them barely making a dent in their forces. Twitch and Sledge both got graced by bullets. It seemed like it was the end of the squad. Meanwhile, Thunderbird was doing her best to get a hold of Rainbow.“Come in, Six, I need imminent backup; someone pick up, damn it!” Thunderbird yelled into the radio for the seventh time, but still no response came through. She threw open her helicopter door, grabbed her gun, and was about to sprint to the battleground to help when the radio finally cracked with a response.“This is Six; stand down. Thunderbird aid is en route,” an unfamiliar voice of a woman came from the radio. She paused for a moment, unsure if it was another trick. She climbed back into the helicopter, grabbed the radio, and responded.“Who is this?” She demanded“All will make sense once you get back to base. Just stay in your helicopter and await orders,” the voice responded calmly. Thunderbird sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then she raised the radio back up to her mouth.“And if I don’t?” Thunderbird responded.“This is Director of Operations Eliza Cohen. Listen to Six and stand down, Mina.” The radio answered, and Thunderbird threw down the radio and looked out the window, angry but unable to defy Ash’s direct order, hearing the gunshots echo, hoping the squad was still safe.The sound of another, much larger helicopter flying overhead interrupted them. Thunderbird looked out the window, watching it as it flew into the war zone. She hopped out and tried to signal them to stop until she saw the logo on the side of the helicopter and was confused.“I don’t mean to alarm you, Thatcher, but they are closing in, and I'm down to my last mag!” Doc yelled at Thatcher, who was trying to devise a plan. The situation seemed hopeless as the soldiers got closer. Peeking out from the cars would be suicide. Thatcher's radio on the ground cracked with static.“Long time no see, mate. This reminds me of when my uni burned down.” A familiar, snarky London accent blared through the radio. Sledge looked at Thatcher in confusion. Thatcher shook his head in disbelief, looking up to see a helicopter flying towards them.“Please tell me that is not who I think it is,” Twitch commented.The helicopter shot a missile toward the building, blowing up the soldiers and raining fire down on the ADS systems. Rubble pelted the squad while the ground shook, but stopping the shooting was worth it in the end. The helicopter turned to reveal the Night Haven logo as a rappel rope dropped, Smoke sliding down it.“Now it reminds me of when uni burned down; you're going to want to put these on,” Smoke said, extending out gas masks to Doc, Twitch, and their hostage. Twitch took hers and put the other one in the hostage. Doc looked Smoke in the eye and hesitated.“Come on, Doc, we're on the same side here.” Smoke said, laughing under his gas mask. Doc quickly swiped it out of Smoke's hand and put it over his face, scolding Smoke the whole time. Smoke chuckled.“Let my beauties rain!” Smoke yelled at the pilot. The helicopter deployed hundreds of smoke canisters around the building, all detonating. The air turned yellow with the smoke, the soldiers coughing their lungs out; Doc looked around, mortified.He ran up to Smoke and punched him, knocking him to the ground. Thatcher and Sledge grabbed Doc, holding him back.“This is unjust, an unnecessary move, you monster!” Doc yelled, and Thatcher and Sledge struggled to hold him back. The two had gone at it several times before Smoke left for Nighthaven; however, Smoke had never done something to this degree. Smoke chuckled as he picked himself off the ground.“You said once, ‘Sometimes the only way to save a life is to take one.’ Well, what do you think I just did?” Smoke responded, mocking Doc. Doc had finally calmed down and shook off Sledge and Thatcher.“What is the meaning of this, Porter?” Thatcher demanded, standing in front of Doc, looking Smoke dead in the eye.“There has been a change of plans concerning your and my organizations. I'll tell you all about it on the way back,” Smoke responded, extending his hand to Thatcher as a sign of forgiveness. Thatcher stared down at the hand and walked past him, looking back at the squad and Smoke.“The hostage, Mark, and Seamus will ride with you back to base; we’re hitching a ride with Mina,” Thatcher ordered. He had still not forgiven Smoke for what he did that fateful night, leaving Rainbow for Nighthaven.“If anything happens to that hostage, Smoke, I'll have your head for it,” Doc said, handing the hostage to Smoke. Sledge retrieved Mute from Twitch and hoisted him into the helicopter.The squad split up, with Doc hesitant to leave Mute with Smoke. After all, anything could worsen Mute's condition. But he departed with Thatcher still. He would kill them if he stayed with Smoke before they were halfway back to base.
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After patching up their wounds, the group walked through the remnants of the battle; no words were said between the group, processing what Smoke meant when he said there was a matter concerning the two organizations. Doc's rage slowly built up as they walked through the remnants of the battle, corpses from the Keres Legion still lying around.“How do we know we can trust Smoke?” Doc asked Thatcher as they walked back to the helicopter; Thatcher didn’t respond, momentarily, taking off his mask while they walked.“I’ve known Porter for a long time; I can tell when he's lying and telling the truth. Trust me, after all, he saved our lives back there.” Thatcher responded; Doc didn’t respond at first, still processing what had just happened.“You know, if the press gets word of that, Rainbow will be in worse trouble than it already is,” Doc commented. Thatcher just kept walking; he knew he couldn’t justify Smoke's actions, and Doc was not one to back down when arguing about morals. Twitch stayed silent for the same reason. Finally, they made their way back to the helicopter.“Glad to see you back, boss. Is that who I think it was?” Thunderbird asked, leaning against her helicopter. Thatcher nodded. “Just so you know, I would've come into the field to help, but Eliza told me to stand down and follow the orders of some random lady I’ve never heard of before.” Thatcher raised his eyebrow. Is this what Smoke could’ve been talking about? He thought to himself.“Where following Nighthaven back to base, take us home, Mina,” Thatcher ordered; she looked at him confused.“So, are you just supposed to trust them blindly?”“They just saved our bloody lives; I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” Thatcher responded, and Thunderbird rolled her eyes and hopped into the pilot's seat, preparing for takeoff. The others took their seats in the helicopter; Doc looked Thatcher straight in the eyes, echoing what Thunderbird had asked, but he dismissed it. Despite everything Smoke had done, he still trusted him to a certain extent. Thatcher's radio crackled after they took off.“This is Sledge, you hear me, Thatcher?” Thatcher reached for his radio and responded,“Hear you loud and clear. What's going on?”“I just wanted you to know that Mute's condition is improving. Finka was also on the helicopter, and it looks like he’ll make it to home base.” The whole helicopter felt relieved by the news, except Doc, who stared angrily at the radio. Thatcher's eyes met his, and they engaged in a staring contest. Thatcher realized he was going to be in for a long flight. He turned off his radio.“Gustave, is there something you need to get off your mind?” Thatcher said, still looking him in the eye. Doc took off his helmet, breaking eye contact. He laughed for a moment and then looked Thatcher back in the eye.“Where do we draw the line, Mike? He betrayed us, he fought against us, he just killed a hundred lives, and who knows how many innocent people got hurt from the chemicals he deployed, or those open wounds we had? What will that cause, Mike?” Doc responded, disgusted with how willingly Thatcher could trust Smoke again; visibly, anger flooded Thatcher's face, as he held back lunging across the helicopter at Doc.“Gustave, we all have to make compromises. I’ve known Porter for a long time. He means well. If he meant to hurt us, he would have done it there,” Thatcher defended. Doc's face was shocked at Thatcher's faith in Smoke's actions.“Oh, compromises, that's how you want to put it!”“Gustave, leave it alone.” Twitch chimed in, having heard enough of the two fighting.“No compromises. Let's go back to that. So, like when he left Rainbow, he left us all compromised, our full details for him just to tell everyone at Nighthaven or whatever ‘private military’ group he joined in the meantime. Or how he compromises the many, many laws about chemical warfare. Why do you think he told no one what's in those canisters? It's because any sane human would stop him!” Doc yelled across the helicopter; Thatcher was left speechless at what Doc had said, and Twitch put her arm on Doc, trying to calm him down as he hung his head.“Gustave, I think you’ve mistaken my actions. Sometimes, to beat the ones who are fighting dirty, fight dirty. I'm sorry, but I wasn’t given any options. If Porter hadn’t shown up, we wouldn’t be here right now, and Rainbow has already lost too many,” Thatcher responded, trying to keep calm, looking directly at Doc, who fell silent.The rest of the ride back to their temporary HQ was silent. With tension already high, no one said a word. After a few hours, they finally made it. Thunderbird's radio went off with a familiar voice.“This is Rainbow Air Traffic Control Tower; please identify yourself.” Jager's voice came through on the radio. Thunderbird laughed a bit, thinking Jager took his job too seriously; after all, the radar could identify their helicopters as friendly.“Jager, it’s Mina. We’re back from the mission.” Thunderbird responded, hoping he would just let them in.“Ah, Mina. It's good to hear from you. I'm going to need that access code we agreed on.” He responded instantly. Thunderbird groaned. She had just let him in saying nothing, so why couldn’t he repay her with the same service?“Jager, it’s me. Lower the defense system, please. We’ve been through this before,” Thunderbird responded, annoyed. A moment of silence passed, and no response was received.“Jager, can you do it?”“Not until you give me the code.”As she slumped into her seat, annoyed, Thatcher knocked on the helicopter, signaling her to stop and hurry. She opened a compartment of the helicopter and took out a piece of paper, slamming it shut in anger.“Is the code Alpha, Charlie, Oscar, Golf?” She asked, reading off the paper, hoping it wasn’t the old code they used.“Is it?” Jager asked, teasing her a bit; she threw down the paper and put her radio close to her face.“Yes, it is, Jager. Now let me in!” She yelled.“Ahh, now you remember. Welcome back, Thunderbird!” Jager said, laughing a bit towards the end. She shook her head in disbelief. The helicopter swooped in to land on the landing pad; it turned off as Doc forced open the door, leaving as fast as possible. Thatcher and Twitch looked at each other; she rolled her eyes and followed him to calm him down. Thatcher looked around to see Ash waiting for him; he walked over, maintaining eye contact with her the whole time.“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” he said as he walked up to her, neither breaking eye contact. She didn’t say a word and walked towards her office as Thatcher followed. They walked into her office, and she sat down at her desk. Thatcher stayed standing, still bleeding a bit from his wounds.“Do you need to go to the med bay before we do this?” Ash asked, noticing the wound; Thatcher looked at it and then back at her, not saying a word in response. She gestured to him to say what he wanted to.“Why was Porter there? Why did you tell Mina not to assist us? Why is Nighthaven involved with Rainbow again? I disagree with Gustave a lot, but going down the path of chemical warfare is not morally correct. How can we even trust them, Eliza?!” Thatcher responded, angry at the events she could unfold. Eliza sat there momentarily, looking away from Thatcher, then looked back.“Wasn’t my call, Mike.” She responded. Thatcher looked at her, confused.“It was mine,” a voice said from behind Thatcher. He shot around and looked at her, and Arnot, the previous director of Rainbow, walked in.