"Okay, from the top…"
"SHIT!"
"ASS!"
"FUCK!"
"HAMBURGERS!"
"Fuze, hamburgers is not a curse word," Tachanka gave critique, "It is something we call the Americans, yes?"
"But doesn't most instances of this condition have only benign words?" Fuze stood his ground.
"While that may or may not be true, we need to put our backs into it. Kapkan, flail more excessively! Glaz, make that shuddering believable!" Tachanka continued, having his claps echo in his tiny room, "Okay, again, from the top-"
"Tachanka, dear what are you doing?" Finka burst into the room, jaw dropped.
"Ah, Finka!" Tachanka bellowed a greeting, "Have you heard about what happened about the Spetznaz?" He motioned to give a bear hug, but was rebuffed by the younger woman.
"No, I have not but this is not acceptable," Finka's jaw hadn't lowered, pitch increasing, "First Doc loses his mind, but now this?"
"Love, we are just trying to show that our brothers and sisters back home need the money."
"By deceit? What is going on here?" She still stood, shocked.
"Oh…" The man's voice went monotone at the realization, "Love… We have received bad news. The Spetsnaz is losing funding from the UN."
"That makes no sense…"
"We're all aware here, Finka," Kapkan spoke up, "But yes, it's happening."
"What is your plan here?" Finka asked, "Are you going to deceive the UN by by doing a charade of a poor excuse of Tourette's syndrome?"
"Well… yes." Tachanka was blunt, "But we are proving a point."
"What kind of point?"
"Well, the UN has a soft spot for the disabled. And if we make light of the fact that we have the disabled in our ranks, maybe they'll retract their decision. It's not wrong, is it?"
"Technically, you are not wrong," Finka put her fingers on her chin, and whispered in Tachanka's ear, "I am one of them."
"See?" Tachanka whispered back, "And we'll posture ourselves as such, so you don't have to."
"…Fair enough," She blushed, "It's not the most moral decision, but speaking of morals, Lion's been injured."
It was CQC practice in the boxing area and Lion and Bandit were duking it out. Bandit was incredibly ferocious today, taking more punches than usual. Lion dodged back and forth and landed a few on the other. Bandit didn't care, as he shook them off and kept punching.
"What's up your ass?" Lion chuckled, dodging in rhythm.
"You're awfully slow," Bandit tersely replied.
"Oh, come on," The atoner chuckled some more, "What is it? You can tell me."
"You already know."
"No, really I don't."
"No."
"Please?"
"I will not."
"Pleeeeease?"
"NO." Bandit gave an undercut to the atoner's shit-eating face, causing him to collapse onto the floor, giving a loud, dry, echoing smack, "You already know." He came in closer to his face, and then unceremoniously walked away.
"I don't think he's breathing," Sledge casually said, checking Lion's face, "Oh, wait, there it is."
"Well I did my part," The German walked away, wiping the sweat off his brow. He then turned to Blitz, who was on the bench, unmoving, "I'm… sorry, Elias."
"I don't need your fucking pity," Blitz droned, monotone.
"Hey, hey," Bandit gave a mild pat on the shoulder, "You'll get through this. On the bright side, at least I saw it loud and clear. God knows what schisse you'd do if you saw it."
"That doctor's gonna pay…" Blitz started with a growl.
"It's unfortunate, but he's going to be the one to heal Lion here," IQ joined in, wearing her green dance uniform.
"Good."
"Greetings, brahtan!" Tachanka burst into the room, with the rest of the Spetznaz following him.
"Ooooh Lion's fucked up," Fuze laughed. Glaz took out his sketchbook, went into the ring, and started to sketch out Lion's form.
"…Pugilism," Kapkan scoffed.
"Where is the doctor; he should be coming any time soon?" Tachanka asked.
"My question exactly," Sledge agreed.
At Mute's notification, Doc rushed out of his office. Lab coat and medical bag in hand, he went towards the boxing room. Mute then locked the door behind him. Doc then asked everyone to clear out of the way, hopping into the ring. As much as his relationship with Lion was rocky, he wouldn't neglect him. He started to check his vitals: blood pressure, pulse, breathing, heart rate, and eyes. Seeing that it was all normal, he started to drag Lion out of the ring.
Only for him to suddenly wake up and give him an uppercut. Doc landed on his back, swearing all the way down.
"Merde! Of course you'd fake it!" He looked up at Lion, who was now standing up and pounding a fist into his palm.
"I've been waiting for this day, Gustave!" Lion cackled, now picking Doc up and holding him up by the arms, "I swear the day you slip will be the best day of my life, and here it is!" He broke into an evil laugh, "Anyone care to take a swing?" There was a glint in his eye as Doc struggled to get out, but Lion's strength restrained him.
"Me first!" Blitz got up and undid his jacket, revealing a wifebeater and sweatpants. He turned to Doc, "What kind of logic do you have to sleep with Rook? The Rook I'm with? Did you think fucking him would solve your problems?"
Doc's eyes widened and he stared wordlessly at Blitz, "I needed him. I'm sorry."
"THE HELL HE DOESN'T!" Blitz snapped, letting out a barrage of punches, "HE WAS MY FUCKING BOYFRIEND AND YOU FUCKED HIM! YOU FORCED YOURSELF ON HIM! Yet you think you're hot shit because you're a rich doctor who did Doctors Without Borders. Doubly so that you're Rook's best friend. Well guess fucking what? YOU AREN'T! You fucking aren't… You act like you're the savior of Team Rainbow. WELL BULL FUCKING SHIT!" He then gave a variation of Bandit's uppercut and a swift kick in the groin, voice starting to break as he inhaled, "You're not fucking sorry, and all these mistakes, they just pile up… And worst of all, Rook was so open and so kind. He doesn't let me love him anymore. You ruined your best friend. You sir, are a shit altruist…"
Blitz turned his back and walked to a dark corner of the room, suppressing his sobs. Bandit and IQ joined him, soothing him.
"Well, who wants to go next?" Lion bellowed.
"Me," Tachanka said, getting into the now bloody and beaten Doc, "You caused Lera to almost die. That makes me angry," He gave a direct gut punch, causing the doctor's eyes to snap open and his mouth to cough blood. The Russian walked away.
"…I think you were too harsh with him," Glaz followed him, "I don't feel like drawing anymore."
"Nyet," Tachanka disagreed, "After all the shit he did, it was coming."
"Infidelity is pretty shit," Kapkan added, "Even though Blitz will be fucked for even breaking fraternization policy. I'm surprised you didn't do more."
"I think it's fitting."
Twitch emerged from the shadows, unmasked. Everyone started to whisper, shocked. She blew the stray strands of hair out of her face and walked towards Doc, head held high. Holding his chin, she looked up at him. His eyes were near death. Hers were warm with pity and contempt. She let go of his chin and knelt down to his level.
"Gus," Twitch began.
"…Emmanuelle?" Doc weakly replied. His eyes fluttered, "Are you angry?"
"Not really," Her warm smile made it sincere, however, "Mira and I fixed it."
"…I'm… sorry," Doc started to cough, "…I was being selfish. I felt neglected."
"…That's the thing. I looked up to you as a paragon of ethics. We all did. It's not that you were deprived of whatever that was. It's not how you casually let all these mistakes pile up on your person. You taught us all that all life is precious and everyone has inalienable rights. In effect, it's you. I don't know what's wrong with you and I'm afraid to guess, but… it's all you: you shooting a child, you swapping Finka's medication with said child's, and now you having sex with Rook even though he's with Blitz. I know this is a tired sentiment from your conscious, or whatever's left of it and from the rest of us at Team Rainbow, but…" Twitch put a palm up to her head, leading into a deep sigh of consequences, "You need help. Professional help. World class help. Because that's what you are to us. World class. It's still in there somewhere, you just need to find it." She stood up and walked away. Her head was buried in her hands.
Somewhere in the dark and the empty space between the operators, there was a jiggle of the lock. The jiggling went faster and faster. Until it fully stopped.
A blanket of light emerged from the door.
"What the hell is going on?"
The entirety of Rainbow Six was in the debriefing room. Six was at the main podium while Doc was at the left podium. Doc was taken immediately to the hospital, with Finka as the residing physician. After a few hours of rest and treatment, he sat up bandaged with an eyepatch. Everyone else sat in chairs facing them, with those in the gym at the front.
"Is everyone present?" Six called to order. A flurry of whispers, chair squeaks, and cell phone noises filled the room.
It all came to a hold as Vigil and Echo rushed into the back, holding hands.
"I see everyone is here," Six continued, "So we'll proceed with the hearing." She cleared her throat, shuffling documents in hand, "Today, we are all here to discuss the elephant in the room. Starting with today's events." Blitz shook in his seat, "From witnesses in the boxing area, we have a beating of our doctor, Gustave Kateb. Callsign Twitch, would you give your account please?" Twitch got up to the right podium.
She had bags under her eyes and her hair was messy. With a heavy sigh, she began her testimony, "Apparently Lion, Tachanka, Bandit, Mute, and Blitz had planned on this. Bandit and Lion were having a boxing match and Bandit knocked out Lion. Mute asked for medical help and Doc came. He then locked the door. Lion apparently faked being unconscious and hit and restrained Gustave. He then offered him to anyone who wanted to punch him. Blitz came in with a flurry of punches while Tachanka punched him once. I talked to him only about his issues. He came in my scrapbook… I don't want to talk about it any further-" She started to hyperventilate and ran back to her seat. Mira held her as she broke down.
"A clear witness account. Before we let the men plead guilty, I want to know what drove this premeditated beating," Six replied, "This month has been rough on all of us. Mute, I'll let you come first." Mute took his place on the podium.
"If you want to know my motive," Mute mumbled through the mask, "Doc shot a child. Who the fuck shoots a child?"
"For your information, that was already fixed! The child is alive and healthy," Doc defended himself.
"It doesn't matter Doc! That's unacceptable at any angle!" Mute countered, "The media would kill us quick if they learned. That's a goddamn liability-"
"Enough, Mute!" Six cut him off, "Do you plead guilty?"
"Yes!" Mute curtly answered, "It's a violation I'd take." He threw his hands up in the air and sat down.
"Lion, you're next."
"You see, mademoiselle," Lion took Mute's place, starting with a haughty air, "I do not have the best relationship with ze doctor here. So I was willing to aid in this beating of justice-"
"Lion, NO!" Rook interrupted, "Doc's actions don't excuse yours, Lion!"
"Shut it, fuck toy!" Lion hurled the insult loudly. Rook sat down heavily in a huff, arms crossed and fuming.
"Language!" Six intercepted, "Of course you're guilty, Lion. Sit down."
"At least I own my sins," Lion walked off, tagging in Tachanka on the podium.
"…And what is it this time, Tachanka?"
"…He swapped Finka's medication for the child's. He's the reason why she froze in Mosul. I'll take whatever charge," Tachanka sat down. Bandit went up next.
"What is your issue here Bandit?"
"I…" Bandit stammered, eyes on the ground, "I witnessed infidelity and felt incredibly offended on Blitz's part. I felt like I had to do something. Why are you punishing us, Six?"
"…I understand the host of issues that Doc has stirred up, but in this environment, mob justice isn't the solution," Six gave a heavy sigh, "I'm conflicted, but regulations are regulations. Blitz, you're up next."
Bandit walked off the podium, only to have it filled by Blitz. "I know Rook and I are a violation of the fraternization policy. But it's so goddamn obvious. You even see it." Blitz breathed through clenched teeth, "It's not right that Gustave here had his way with Rook. It's not fucking right."
"Elias, I'm sorry but it isn't like that," Rook interrupted again, "As Twitch said, he's not completely bad."
"You didn't have to cheat, Julien!" Blitz yelled back, "It hurt to see you and Doc in the same bed after I come back from Munich."
"There was some issues that I solved wrong, yes-"
"THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU DO IT RIGHT?"
"ENOUGH!" Six moderated with an iron fist, "All of you are guilty. Lion, Tachanka, Bandit, and Mute for a count of premeditated assault. Blitz for premeditated assault and a fraternization violation. And Doc… Where do I begin with you? Sexual misdemeanor, fraternization violation, assault, and negligence!"
People burst into a gossipy whirlwind, with them whispering to each other.
Six put a swift end to it with a few pounds from her gavel. People went silent. "As I was saying, as severe as these counts are, they don't take away from your abilities as operators or your accomplishments. You are still valuable. However, the punishments need to be served. Lion, Tachanka, Bandit, and Mute have kitchen and janitorial duties for three weeks. Blitz, you have kitchen and janitorial duties for four plus house arrest for the first week. Doc, you have kitchen and janitorial duties under house arrest for six weeks. You are only allowed to practice within the halls of Herefordshire and even then, you will be monitored by a medic. You are all dismissed."
A/N: This was originally part of a bigger chapter so I split it for dramatic effect. R&R!
