Chapter 1: An Unexpected Meeting
Eliza 'Ash' Cohen sat in the rapidly moving armoured car, fidgeting with her R4-C to keep her distracted from the freezing temperatures of the russian winter seeping through the gaps. Shivering slightly, she let out a frosted breath that she didn't know she was having as she looked around at the other occupants of the car. Monika 'IQ' Weiss sat opposite of Eliza and looked just as bad, if not worse than how the FBI breacher felt. The german was practically shivering almost cartoonishly with her teeth chattering to add to the comedic value. 'You alright, Monika?" Eliza asked with a smirk gracing her lips while earning a glare from the blonde operator. To the right of Eliza sat her partner from the FBI Jordan 'Thermite' Trace who was just sitting there, withstanding the cold better than her and Monika. "How are you not cold?" Monika ask with a baffled look on her face "I'm not. I'm actually freezing my balls off at the moment" he replied casually, earning a couple of laughs from everyone in the room "Seriously though. You should be asking him that" Jordan added as he nodded to the only russian in the car. The team's sniper sat there, with a small smile gracing his lips as he enjoyed the cold, bitter feeling of his homelands weather "You get use to it after a while. For me it was twelve years" Timur 'Glaz"Glazkov explained
"We're getting close to the drop point, listen closely" said the eldest of the five opertors, Mike 'Thatcher' Baker as he stood up, grabbing a handle embedded into the ceiling. "First off. Sorry I couldn't brief you back at HQ but this op has a very small window of opportunity so we needed to leave ASAP" he said with an almost apologetic tone, key word almost. "Secondly Here's the briefing. An HVT was spotted inside a russian cafe by the docks. Now this is not our normal 'hostage grab' scenarios, this is actually an assassination mission. The target is believed to be a known associate of the White Mask as well as a member of their 'inner circle'. Take him out and we deal a massive blow to the White Mask. Questions?". There were quiet murmurs throughout the vehicle before Jordon raised his hand "Who's the target, and what's their security like?" he asked, voicing what everyone was thinking "Glad you ask. The target is a neurologist from Abstergo Industries that goes by the name of Adrian Pierce. As for his security detail it was rumoured that he has Black Mask units closeby" Mike stated. The rumbling vehicle was filled with a dreadful silence as the operators let that information sink in "You're shitting me? Black masks are protecting a labrat? He must be a really valuable asset then" Monika said with disbelief in her voice "He is. His skills in neurology helped engineer the gas used in the university attack" Mike quickly replied, seeing all of the shocked reactions of the operators in the room.
The armoured car grinded to a halt, signalling the end of their journey to the cafe. "Alright we're here. Gear up and switch comm frequency to our secure channel. Once we're out of this car use codenames only. We're breaching in five" Thatcher said as he squeezed his head into his signature gas mask and grabbed his AR33 with a suppressor, angled grip and a red dot. With a quick check to see that it's loaded the old brit left the vehicle, closing the door with a quiet slam. That was the squads cue to load up. In an almost unanimous motion the remaining for operators stood from their seats and reached up into the racks above to grab the mods for their chosen weapons. As Eliza attached a suppressor and red dot sight to her AR she made her way to the door before stopping near her seat. Eliza reached with her left hand under her vest and shirt and pulled out a single, silver necklace. Studying the necklace she rubs her thumb on the symbol of what looks like an arrow head with a curved bottom and reminisces on the few memories she has on her mother when she was given this necklace by her before giving it a quick kiss and putting it back under her shirt. "Watch over me, mom" she whispered to herself but Jordon was just within range to hear what she said "Lucky Charm?" he asked as he attached his ACOG to his AR "Family Heirloom. Given to me by my mother before she died. It's all I have left of her" Eliza replied somberly as she left the armoured car
Minutes flew by as the old brit stood there, watching the front of the cafe with a watchful eye from the side, looking for possible entry points. One by one the operators filed out and crouched behind the old SAS operator "What's the situation?" Ash asked. Thatcher pointed to the front door "The front door is weakly barricaded, broken boards and such. However the third floor corner has reinforced barricades on the windows, metal ones so Thermite can place a charge there and create an Opening for Glaz" he explained. "What about number of hostiles?" Glaz asked "every entry point is jammed, no drones in or out" he said with an irritating whisper "But you have EMP grenades. Couldn't you use those?" IQ asked with confused curiosity "I'm on my last one, I already chucked two in and my drone still couldn't go far". With a sigh Thatcher kept watching the building, studying it for anymore weak points. "Send me and IQ in. We can deal with anyone in there" Ash suggested with a nod of her head to the rear door, over by a garage. "A pincer attack. Good thinking kid" Thatcher complimented with a hard pat on Ashs' shoulder, making her stumble slightly from her crouched position. "Go. we'll get into position" Thatcher said as he motioned his head for the male percentage of the team to follow him "Alright IQ, Let's go" Ash said as she turned to the german who was holding her AUG with a suppressor and reflex sight.
The two operators quietly breached the lightly barricaded door and walked stealthily inside, guns raised and pointed at every angle in the halway, the stairs leading up on their right and T-section further down the hallway. "Clear" Ash whispered as she and IQ walked in. IQ flipped open her Electronic scanner and looked all over the room, scanning everything within a fifteen meter radius "No electronics" she whispered as she closed her scanner and grabbed her AR that was strapped to her back. "Our best bet at locating the HVT will be that fortified section on the third floor" Ash whispered as she moved to the stairs quietly. IQ nodded and followed close behind while keeping an eye on their rear flank. "Thatcher, this is Ash, We're moving onto the second floor. Over" she whispered into her air piece "Copy that. There are jammers near the reinforced windows so we need yo t-" he said before a hail of gunfire was heard both in the mic and above the two operators inside "Dammit! Thermite! Glaz! Pull back!" he ordered "Ash, IQ, you both need to finish the mission. We have gunners on the roof and they forced us back. Over and out" he finished before his line went silent. "Dammit" muttered Ash under her breath before turning to her german squad mate "Let's sweep this floor before moving up to the next" she said before stepping into a hallway. Ash and IQ split off with Ash splitting right into what looks like a dinning room and IQ walking left into a library of some sorts.
Ash crept through the dining room , checking every corner carefully while also trying to hear the smallest sounds that would be emitted in the dark building. With every step she took the floor will creak slightly, making her wince and prays that she does not alert the enemy. Eliza saw the gap in the fireplace into the other room and decided to see where it led. Crouching low, she crept her way into the next ro=om and she saw two trains, one in the centre and one to her right being pressed against the wall. This room is also clear of hostiles. "Where is everyone?" she wondered as she looked around once more both relieved and concerned that she hasn't seen or heard anyone. Ash but a finger to her ear piece "IQ. My area is clear, how's yours going?" she asked but a reply never came "IQ?" she asked again, concern filling her voice and spreading on her face. Worried, Ash quickly crept to where she last saw IQ. The library. The silence was worrisome and the lack of communication to her teammate only worsened it and soon she began fearing for the worse "Monika you getter have faulty equipment" She thought as she peeked past the doorframe leading towards the library. And then she saw her. There was IQ, lying face down, with her AUG far out of reach and unmasked. Ash rushed over to her fallen ally and pressed two fingers to the base of her jaw and released a sigh of relief to see that her friend was still breathing. "Thank god you're alright" she whispered "But not you" called out a masculine voice, making Ash react quickly as she spun around and made a move to her holstered sidearm. However before she could raise it a hand grabbed her wrist and made a quick jab to her throat. With Ash dazed and choking slightly from the sudden force to her throat the attacker grabbed shoulder and gave her a hard punch in the gut before using his leg to kick her off balance and force her to the ground. Ash quickly recovered and rolled out of the way of the attackers' stomp. Standing up, Ash pulled out a combat knife and turned to face her attacker. A large man stood between her and the Prone form of IQ and he was the definition of muscle. He towered over Ash at a staggering 6'11", bald head and muscles in a black shirt that seems to small, he wore a black military vest that had multiple pockets and straps, camo pants and a pair of combat boots. But the most offsetting feature about him was the pure black mask covering his face with only the eye holes to cut the pure black shape. "You shouldn't have come here, Rainbow" he said in a low as he started his slow walk towards the FBI agent reaching over his back as he pulled out a machete from its sheath. "...shit" Ash muttered with disbelief as her guard lowered as the towering man edged closer to her but quickly raised her guard again to prepare for the fight of her life. Before she was clobbered on the back of her head and as she fell, her world slowly turned black.
"...ou mean that she's one of them!? I was told they don't know about me being here yet!" yelled a voice behind Eliza, followed by quick pacing, as she slowly drifted back into, feeling the dull but painful throbbing in her head. She tried to move a hand to soothe the pain but found out that her hands were bound behind her. Startled by this she shot up to look at herself and found that she was sitting in an uncomfortable metal chair with her arms bound behind her and her legs tied to the legs of the chair. She tested the restraints by giving them a yank but this caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Sir. She's awake" one of the Black Mask grunts said. Eliza looked around and saw she was in a spacious, and rather cozy looking, room. A piano up on a platform lay in one corner with a christmas tree nearby while the other corner has two couches and a couple of chairs surrounding a coffee table. This earned a response from someone pacing behind her "Good, good. Continue security of the perimeter" they said. The owner of the foot steps walked quickly to stand in front of Eliza, giving her a good view of his person. He was a rather small man, standing at about 5'7" with neatly cut black hair a white jacket, black pants, white sneakers and a pair of glasses decorating his clean shaven face. "Now that you're awake I need you to answer a question" he said rather quickly, with an agitated and restless look adorning his face "He's gonna ask about Rainbow" she thought. He quickly walked towards the bound operator and held out something in his hand, her necklace. "Where did you get this?" he asked forcefully, earning a glare from Eliza "I'm not telling you shit" she replied. The man groaned in frustration as he walked away from her and started to pace in circles, wiping his face in the process as he let out a frustrated sigh. "She can't be one of them, she still has the ring finger. Initiate probably? No, no, they're not like that. Relative? No, they forbade fraternization since the revolution. Then WHAT!?" he mumbled quietly as he paced before screaming out in frustration and threw the necklace on the floor. Another grunt walked up to the pacing man and gave a quick salute "Sir. Rainbow's making a move again" he said "I don't give a shit about Rainbow!" he yelled out, causing everyone in the room to stop working and look at their superior. "Mr Pierce you need to calm down before you make a mistake" said the large man from before."That's Adrian? Our target?" Eliza thought as she studied her supposed target with a watchful eye. Adrian moved to a nearby chair and sat down, his hands slightly shaking as the covered his worried ridden face, before turning to the grunt "Find out what she knows" he whispered. When he looked up at everyone in the room and saw that no one moved he stood up and screamed "Now! Find it out now!" and with that outburst everyone scrambled to their assigned positions, except for the large man. Adrian looked at the large man with an almost hateful glare "That means you too, Dominic" he said with an authoritative tone "I am your bodyguard, not your lackey. I only answer to the grandmaster" the now named Dominic said with a disinterested tone of voice, causing Adrian to huff out with defeat before slumping down into the chair. Adrian sat there with his head in his hands and his leg tapping rather furiously on the ground as he is clearly thinking, but about what is anyone's guess.
Dominic stared at his scared 'superior' and gave a huff of disdain before walking in front of Eliza and stared down at her bound form. Eliza saw the black boots of her attacker and looked up at him with anger in her eyes. "You are angry. That is good but who you are angry at is my question. At us for capturing you or at yourself for being captured. Which is it I wonder" he said as he grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it against the brown wood to sit in front of the bound FBI agent. Dominic slowly sat down in the comfy looking leather seat and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees "Where did you get the pendant?" he asked softly. Eliza looked down to the ground, purposefully avoiding eye contact with the brute "It was my mothers' She gave it to me before she died" Eliza answered somberly "I'm sorry to hear of your mothers' passing" Dominic said as he lifted one of his large hands to his mask and took it off. "Why do you care?" she asked distastefully and full of venom "Contrary to popular belief. The White Mask is not the crazed psycho killers everyone makes them out to be. They only ever wanted true order in this word. To form a balance" Dominic replied "We do mourn who we kill. We check the pockets of every deceased person caused by our attacks. We write down their names and we pray for their safe passing while begging for forgiveness". Eliza looked up with disbelief as Dominic spoke "That is bullshit if I ever heard any". Dominic looked passively at Eliza, his face a neutral enigma and not betraying his emotions "Who are the other operators?" he asked. Eliza was about to make a snarky remark but kept her mouth closed as she glared daggers at Dominic. "I will not make this easy if you do not tell me what I want to know," he added to which Eliza responded by spitting in his face. Dominic slowly wiped a hand across his face before looking at his hand with that passive still look on his face "Now that's just childish" he said before standing quickly, causing his chair to fall backwards and delivered a powerful right hook to Eliza, making her grunt in pain and surprise. "Bring me my hammer" Dominic ordered with his monotone voice while his eyes never left Eliza's as she looked up with a small amount of fear in her eyes. That fear was quenched quickly and replaced with anger as she gritted her teeth. That was until she saw the hammer.
Monika was not having a good day. First she woke up at two in the morning because of a sudden, high priority operation. Then she was travelling in a cramped armoured car in the middle of the russian winter with said car having no form of insulation and very little heating. Then she infiltrated the cafe with Eliza before getting hit on the back of her head. And now she was sitting in what she presumed to be an empty freezer with two soldiers with black masks watching her with raised rifles and shotguns. She was already formulating on her escape when another black mask soldier walked into the freezer room and rested near the original two guards. The guard that entered starting to talk to the others in what Monika is assuming to be french, if her time with Emmanuella helped her with anything. However before she could hear anything a pain-filled yell echoed through the walls, causing the three guards to look at each other with masked confusion. Monika saw this as an opportunity to strike and so she leapt at the two guards but before she could reach them the guard with the AR turned around and hit her in the head with the buttstock of his rifle. Monikas' head recoiled back and before she could recover, the guard with the shotgun ran towards her and pinned her on the wall, using the length of his shotguns' barrel and pressing it against her neck while the third ran forward and punched he in the gut. Winded, lightly strangled and dazed, Monika body went limp as the shotgun was removed from her neck and she collapsed to the ground. Taking in much needed breaths. Before the trio can continue their assault a fourth black mask grunt poked his head in "Bring her to the boss" they said as they disappeared from the trio's sight.
"Bring out the GSG9 agent". Eliza's head snapped up as a look of shock was plastered all over her beaten, bloodied and bruised face as she witnessed two Black Mask soldiers drag out her german comrade. Eliza saw that Monika had a bloodied nose and was breathing heavily "What did you do, you bastards?" Eliza whispered. "I have no knowledge of what happened but it does not hinder our progress" Dominic said with his usual monotone voice as he studied the winded operator. Dominic reached behind his person and slowly pulled out a glistening, silver Desert Eagle "I think you know what happens next," he said before walking to Monika, glaring daggers at the slowly approaching man "You going to kill me if she doesn't comply? How original" taunted Monika while struggling to get out of her captors grip. Dominic chuckles at the remark "It's true that i will kill you. But it won't be through the head" he replied with a smug grin gracing his face "It will be through the lungs" he added as he used his thumb to pull the hammer back on his pistol. Eliza and Monika both shared a look of terror between one another as Dominic pressed the barrel of the silver hand cannon against Monikas' chest "I heard that once the lung gets punctured then blood starts to flood it. Slowly filling all of the empty space and cutting of air, it'll be like drowning in a way" Dominic explained with a low and dry tone before grabbing a handful of Monikas' hair, making her wince uncomfortably "It will be a slow death" he added. Dominic snapped his head towards Eliza with that dull look in his eyes "Talk" he ordered. Eliza looked towards her comrade and saw Monika mouthing out "No" while trying to pry her golden hair out of the Brutes' meaty hand. Eliza looked down with shut eyes, tears are forming from her eyes and threatening to fall down her face "I'm sorry, Monika" she thought before glaring up at Dominic with newly founded hatred "Go fuck yourself" she barely whispered. Dominic just looked disappointed with the response he got "A shame really," he said as his finger hooked itself round the trigger, readeying to fire directly into the blondes' chest. Before a yell of pain gave him pause.
Looking towards the nearby doorway he saw one of the Black Mask soldiers limped his way in and stopped at the door way, clutching his bloodied arm and still donned in a featureless black mask that was now cracked and broken. "Sir! They're her-!" the soldiers started to yell before his throat was impaled by a knife thrown out of view of every person in the room. "Oh shit, oh god, oh shit, not now...I-i need more time!" Adrian said with a panicked tone as he shot up from his seat and ran to the corner farthest from the door the now dead Black Mask soldier died in, Adrian slumped himself on the ground and cradled his body as he was quivering with fear. Dominic stared at the dead soldier before basically throwing Monikas hair to the ground, making her grunt in slight pain and discomfort. "Form up! Aim at that door!" he ordered, aiming his gleaming pistol at the mouth of the door, followed up by the remaining twelve soldiers still in the room. Minutes flew past as the group stood their, awaiting for the offenders to show themselves, Monika crawled her way to Eliza and was starting to try and untie her as the guards remained focus on the door and Adrian sat with his head between his knees. "Ash, are you okay?" Monika whispered, tugging and pulling on the restraints that held the FBI agent in place "I don't know, but you need to hide" Eliza whispered back as blood dripped out of her mouth. Before Monika could respond, all of the lights in the building suddenly went out and darkness engulfed the room "Tac-lights, on" whispered Dominic. Soon bright cones of light emitted from the under barrel of every soldier in the room and aimed at the same doorway as the dead soldier. "What's happening?" Monika whispered to her bound comrade with curious and weary tone "I don't know" responded the FBI agent before both Rainbow Operators snapped to the doorway as the sound of rolling metal filled the room. Twelve beams of light followed the sound to a pair of grey, metallic balls rolling towards them, with lit fuses. Dominics eyes widen in realization of what they were but before he could warn the others the metallic balls exploded and quickly shrouded the room in a cloud of blinding smoke. Everyone present in the room started coughing violently, except Dominic whom covered his mouth the moment the smoke bombs exploded. Eliza looked up and could only see the beams of light and some shadows close by that showed the obscure forms of Black Mask soldiers. One by one, yells of pain filled the room and the thuds of heavy objects or bodies accompany the sounds soon after.
Soon the room became deadly silent, no one dared to move a muscle as the smoke slowly disappeared the remaining survivors bore witness to the aftermath of the quick battle in the room. Twelve bodies and broken or tipped over furniture were strewn all over the room with small pools of blood dotting the dark wooden floor. "AHHH!" Adrian screamed. Eliza, Monika, and Dominic snapped their heads to the neurologist crawling away with fear from a new figure. The assailant. This man was garbed in a simple, white, hooded coat that ended just above his knees, black pants adorned his legs and a pair of combat boots protected his feet. Stunned by the sudden appearance of the man, the trio remained where they were and stared as the man flicked his wrist up and thrusts it into Adrian's throat, earning a surprise, pain-filled yelp. The hooded man held Adrian's head gently as he laid the dead scientist on the ground before retracting is hand and straightening his wrist.
"Why you little-" Dominic said before his radio exploded to life with radio chatter [Sir! Rainbow operatives have breached the second floor! We need to evacuate you, now!] a soldier on the radio said. Dominic grunted with frustration as a scowl forms on his face before pointing a threatening finger to the hooded man "This ain't over, assassin!" he howled with rage as he turned and ran, his heavy steps still echoing the further he got. The newly named assassin audibly scoffed before turning to the bound FBI agent and the GSG9 agent aiming one of the dead soldiers rifles at him, her hands were rock steady as she sat on the ground and her gaze unwavering. "Who are you?" demanded the blonde causing the assassin to turn his head to the german "Someone who just saved your neck" he said. The man started to walk towards Eliza and drew a knife from a sheath on his back. Monika squeezed the trigger but instead of hearing the loud bang of the rifle she heard an audible click, signaling that the gun is empty. "The soldiers were never really the brightest" the man said as he knelt down in front of Eliza and used his dagger to slowly saw away at the restraints "My most sincere apologies. I should've arrived sooner rather than later" he added. Both Eliza and Monika noted that he had an English accent "It's...It's alright I suppose" Eliza mumbled near incoherently before the man placed a firm, but gentle hand on her shoulder "Don't talk too much" he whispered. The man let out a sigh of relief after finally cutting through the bonds that held Eliza to the chair. He stood up and placed the dagger back in his sheath, exposing the blue shirt underneath and a harness stretched from his left shoulder to his right hip and shoulder guard held together by a pin of some kind. Eliza looked closely at the pin and noticed an insignia. The same insignia on the pendant her mother gave her. "Well, you two best rest up. Your comrades will be here any second so I must take my leave. Get well you two!" he said as he sprinted towards the door where he came from "Wait…" Eliza called out through bloodied lips, the man stopped just before the mouth of the doorway "Who...are you?" Eliza asked. The man just stood there unmoing, even as the thundering steps of her fellow Rainbow operators approach rapidly "My name doesn't matter right now. But I hope we meet again under better circumstances, Miss Cohen" he said before sprinting off down the hallway which was soon followed by the snapping of barricaded windows and the shattering of glass. Eliza and Monika just sat there in shock, the man knew her...How? Even as her comrades ran in and rushed to their beaten forms Eliza just sat there and stared at the doorway, her mouth agape with shock. Who was that man? What was his relationship with that symbol? Or her mother? These are the questions that flood Eliza's mind as fatigue finally swept over body and slowly forced her heavy eyelids to close.
Work in progress but feel free to leave any constructive criticism or reviews.