Even with quick elevators it still took time to travel nearly twenty floors. And that was when you could get one of the fortress inclusive elevators, which wasn't common, but not uncommon either. Rauf had ridden the all fortress service elevators a few times in his life, and he wasn't some young billy goat. But he also moved around within the same three levels most of his life and had no need to use them. So that meant he had to catch an elevator at his area take it down to the novice training halls, get off, and then get on another one. Normally this worked out very well as Rauf usually didn't go lower than floor twenty-two. Or at least when he didn't want to get down to the Nursery and then he didn't go nearly as often as Altair. He was just busy, it happened when you were an instructor. He was always working.
Neither Altair nor Sef begrudged him that though. It wasn't like he was a field operative and when he was home he could just laze about willy nilly like Altair did between his missions. No, not any more. Now he had work every day and even with his level of patience he sometimes just wanted to throw his students down a flight of stairs.
He waited for another of the tri-level elevators to become available. To be honest the elevator system still confused Rauf, and he'd grown up with it. It still was sort of amazing though that there were eleven elevators on each floor, and only seven serviced the entire fortress, the others only went between specific floors. He'd gotten on the wrong one more than once and had been annoyed to find himself going to an entire different level instead of just another floor. Altair claimed to have never gotten them mixed up. Rauf knew that was a bald faced lie though.
The elevator dinged and Rauf went in. He pressed one of the six buttons on the side, that went to the different levels in the fortress, from there you had to get off this elevator and either catch an all service elevator, or one that serviced that level. As he said, it was confusing. Rauf should have just walked.
A moment later though the doors were opening with a gentle ding to the Nursery. Rauf left the elevator and it was immediately being called to another level. He signed in at the front where a nice nurse smiled at him with golden eyes, no doubt checking him out with her Eagle Eyes. He didn't know how support worked but he didn't want to either. So he just smiled back and entered the children's area.
The Nursery was two parts. One was the fraternal area where the AWCs and the babies were cared for until they were about two years old. And then there was the larger part of the nursery, for toddlers and small children until they were eight when they were sent up two levels to the novice halls where they started their training. The Nursery constantly had a population of one-hundred and sixty children to two-hundred children, and most of the fortress knew all their children by name, because children were rare and special.
Rauf entered the nursery and looked around. The front area was a big play room filled with toys and stuffed animals and covered in a soft rug. One part of the floor was touch sensitive and he saw children drawing on it. Others were playing with the infinite numbers of toys. It was here, really, where the Order's unity started. No child was without a friend or play mate as they were all one.
Many of them were darker skinned as well after the fall of the Near East fortress that had actually put Rauf's own parents here. The fortress was still trying to reach an equilibrium in skin tone, as eventually it all evened out, they were all family and the color of one's skin was inconsequential, or the build of their bodies, or their height.
Society liked to think they lived in a utopia. There were only small clusters of war, the plague had wiped out most people who had been poor and starving (unfortunate but true). They'd been the fodder for their blitzing wars after the Collapse where they'd all tried to kill each other thinking another country had sabotaged them. Those were all gone now and there was very little to fight over, though Colorado was another story in itself and he wasn't even going to think of Utah. He still had nightmares about that. Altair had told him horror stories, and he'd watched feeds from helmet cams after the missions had been completed. It was terrible and terrifying.
But though society like to think itself a utopia it was not. There was still strife and people were still shunned and cast aside based on color, creed, sex, sexual preference, and every manner of thing, just like before the Collapse. The Order was a utopia. No one wanted for anything and here no one was left aside, no one was different because they were all different, and different was good. Different meant an interesting combination of genes that would show itself in interesting ways as the child grew older. To be different in the Order was to excel.
Rauf glanced over the children but decided the one he wanted wasn't here. So he moved towards the sleeping rooms filled with bunk beds, all the sheets cheerful and different, the walls a calming yellow color. The rooms were labeled on the door frames but Rauf knew where he was going.
He opened one of the doors and looked in. He smiled. "You better not be shrinking your lessons," he said as a way to announce himself.
The two boys laying on their bellies on the floor, playing on the touch sensitive floor, some sort of game, looked up sharply. "Baba!" Sef cried and leapt right to his feet, ran over to him and jumped on him. In five seconds he had the little boy clinging to him, legs wrapped around his waist. "Baba baba baba baba baba baba-
"Yes Sef, I'm here. Calm down," Rauf laughed and pried his son off him to hold him properly. He was getting big and Rauf wasn't getting any taller. He'd inherited Altair's height it seemed. All the better, being short was no fun, in the Order or society. It made reaching things difficult and having to use a chair to reach a shelf was always a bit embarrassing. "And you," he look at Darim sternly.
"Classes are over Rauf," he chirped from where he was laying. "I promise I'm not skipping," he added.
"Do I believe you?" he knew that the different novice levels stopped lessons at different times during the day. Rauf only knew the older novice times though since he taught only ninth or tenth level. Any less and it was a waste of his skill.
"I promise," Darim said and gave him the same look Altair did when he was lying.
"Get to class," Rauf said and pointed out the door. With a groan Darim picked himself up off the floor and slouched out of the room. "Don't make me tell your father," he added.
"He skipped all the time though," Darim pouted.
"He was also a prodigy," Rauf reminded him. "Are you?" Darim said nothing, "Go," and he shooed Darim away.
"Is dad coming home soon?" Darim asked. "He is coming home right?" he added.
"He's fine. He'll be coming home when he comes home. Now go you have class," Rauf said sternly.
"Yes Rauf," Darim sighed a long sigh and left the bedroom.
"You have such a disobedient brother Sef," Rauf told his son, his other hand not helping to hold him up on his hip. "Don't be like him."
"I won't baba," Sef promised. "I'll be like you instead."
Rauf chuckled, "Yes. A very good idea," he agreed.
"And baba, baba, look, look," he tugged on Rauf's shirt urgently as Rauf left the room.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I can doooo— this!" Sef cried and his eyes turned gold. Rauf stopped in his tracks.
"Oh my," Rauf said. It was rare, very rare, for children to start showing EVs until they hit puberty. There were exceptions of course, Altair had been. A few others had been as well. Sef was only six. He didn't know how early Altair had been able to do it, but he'd had several by the time most boys were getting their first EV. "What do I look like?" he asked.
"You're all funny a blue colored," Sef giggled.
"Ah," Rauf nodded, of course, Classic. "Don't show anyone but me and your daddy this Sef," he said.
"Why?"
"Just don't. Okay? Now put it away."
"Ooookay," Sef sighed. "But isn't that neat?! I can do it like you and daddy and Darim do," he said excitedly.
Rauf chuckled, "Yes. It is very neat," he said as they went out to the main room. The Eagle Vision was the one thing that made them less than a utopia. Children who had it early were sent into training early, were trained harder, were expected more of. Most parents didn't want that for their children since so much was already expected of them. Even Altair had kept his hidden until other boys had started to show their first EV. Not to mention it was one of the few things that separated Assassins, how many EVs you had. Adults knew not to be envious, but Rauf knew as a teenager that many kids in his class were jealous of him. He had ten EVs, which was quite a few, the most most field operatives had as the other three were nearly strictly support based and he had no use for them, even though he'd been tested for them just like all the others. He did not want that for Sef, and neither would Altair. So they'd be kept a secret for now.
"Baba," Sef said as they walked around the back of the main nurse desk.
"Yes, Sef?" he asked, entering the paternal care area. He passed by the large wall window of sleeping babies from last year's season, sleeping in color coordinated basinets of red and blue. He saw one that held two babies; twins. A near impossible thing in the fortress, and even in society, though you could request twins or triplets at a Child Bank. There was no such thing in the Order. One child per AWC, at least usually. Obviously they couldn't control everything and sometimes twins happened.
"Am I really going to be a big brother?"
Rauf chuckled, "Yes Sef."
"Like Darim?"
"Yes Sef," he smiled fondly at his boy.
"When?"
"In a few months."
Sef frowned deeply at him, "I wanna be a big brother now," he said.
Rauf laughed, "I'm sorry Sef but your little sibling has to grow first before you can see them. See," he said as they entered the AWC room. It had been two months since the start of the season though not many people were down here. Altair was down here a lot Rauf knew that. He wasn't quite sure why but he seemed to both seek comfort here and offer it to the unborn here. During the year Sef had been down here Altair had been down here constantly, eventually dragging Rauf down as well, though he himself had had no interest in having children before Altair. Now he had Sef and didn't know what he'd do if anything happened to their son.
"My little brother's in there?" Sef pointed.
"Or sister," Rauf said, not until late in the season would they know what gender it was though they be able to tell soon. Gender didn't matter though, Assassins were simply happy to have children. Most just had one in their life, like Rauf would probably only ever have Sef, and he was okay with that. Altair had three children, which was pretty much unheard of. Only a few other people in the fortress had more than two, including the Mentor's brother, Giovanni, who had four. Four children. Everyone knew it was both favoritism and the fact that all the man's children were exceptional. Except the latest one who was small and sickly. No more children for Giovanni.
"What's their name?" Sef asked.
"I don't know," Rauf said. "Your daddy and the one he was joined with haven't decided yet," it would be interesting to see what sort of name Altair and Malik could agree upon to be quite honest, since they agreed on nothing.
"Oh. Which one?" Sef asked, looking at the line of AWCs.
Rauf walked up to the line of tubes. Altair had shown him which one, but it had been a bit ago, he didn't remember. But they were labeled with the two parents so it wasn't difficult to find. "This one," Rauf said, stopping in front of one and hefted his son a bit. Children were heavy and Rauf wasn't getting any younger or taller, soon he wouldn't be able to pick Sef up. As it was the boy was half his height.
Sef reached out and pressed his hand to the glass. "Hello baby," Sef said. "I'm Sef, your big brother," and Rauf smiled as Sef talked to the AWC like it could talk back. It was cute.
Another couple entered, they stood in front of theirs few a few moments, spoke briefly and then one of the woman left in a huge huff. The other woman ran after her, Rauf watched with half interest. By this point he'd just transferred Sef to his shoulders because it was easier to hold him like that as he had strong shoulders. Sef was still talking. Rauf didn't know where he got his chattering from since Altair was a quiet man, and Rauf, while friendly, didn't talk idly like Sef could.
The door opened again and Rauf looked, only with slight interest and his brows went up. It was Malik. Rauf would honestly recognize Malik from anywhere, just because he'd never heard so much hate for a man as he did last month when Altair had been told of his forced joining. Rauf, truthfully, didn't know much about Malik, as he hadn't Altair until their joining, as the man was three years younger than him and worked in a totally different part of the fortress. All he knew about Malik was what Altair told him and he knew everything that came out of Altair's mouth about Malik was stained with dislike, so he took very little of it seriously.
Malik walked the AWCs like he'd never been there before, reading the plaques, looking for his, though Rauf was standing in front of it. In fact, he didn't even read Rauf's, assuming it was his and thus not his. Rauf snorted to himself when Malik walked around him to read the rest of the line and then looked very confused as to why he couldn't find his name.
"You're looking for this one," Rauf said, pointing at the AWC his son was still talking to.
"Excuse me?" Malik asked, looking at him.
"You're Malik right?"
"…Yes," he said as if not quite sure of it himself.
"This one is yours," Rauf said. "Sef, shush," he added to his son.
"But baba, I was just getting to the good bit," Sef whined. He honestly didn't know what Sef had been talking about. Probably some dream he had.
"Later," he tutted as Malik came towards him. Rauf stepped away from the AWC as Sef lay on his head, arms hanging on either side of his face.
Malik stood in front of his AWC and then turned to him, "What are you doing in front of my AWC?" he asked, slightly accusing, as if Rauf could damage it. Ha! As if.
"I'm Rauf," he said, there was no recognition. Not a surprise, they had different jobs, a different circle of friends, really the only thing they had in common was they'd been joined with Altair and both resonated well with him.
"Who? And how do you know me?" Malik asked, dark brows forming a single line over his eyes.
Rauf smiled a little, one that showed through his beard. "I'm an instructor," he said, "and Altair's partner."
Malik's face turned to dislike instantly, "I see," Malik said in contempt.
"No, apparently not," Rauf said, actually insulted he was being judged solely for who he shared a bed with. "I was hoping to think better of you. All Altair tells me is that you're a awful human being," he said it without malice, but clearly so Malik would get what he was getting at. "Is he right?"
Malik blinked at him, clearly not having expected such a rebuke. Then he seemed to shift, an internal perception of Rauf changing so he wasn't just 'the man Altair slept with' and was now 'the man who puts up with Altair'. "No," Malik said. "Forgive me, it's been a very stressful week," he sighed a little.
"Yes. Delta going down," Rauf agreed solemnly.
"More dealing with Alpha," Malik sighed, "I'm in support," he elaborated.
"Ah-" oh, well. "You led Alpha?"
"Yes. And their commander—" he pantomimed strangling someone, "if I ever find out who he really is I'm going to actually throttle him."
"I see," Rauf said slowly. Funny that. The man Malik wanted to hurt was the man he was joined with. Somehow he wasn't surprised in the slightest. They didn't even know the other had been on the other end of their comm and had been abrasive to one another. Though to be fair Altair was Alpha-one and support could be very annoying. "He is Alpha-one," he reminded Malik.
Malik snorted, unimpressed, "I could have been in Alpha if I hadn't opened the proper EVs," he said.
"Really?" he didn't know that.
"Yeah. Or, I could have tried out for Alpha," Malik said, "Charlie would have suited me better."
"Well Charlie is nothing to scoff at," Rauf said, not when most field agents were slotted into Echo and below. "But you're in support," he said, "just as prestigious," especially for a man. Most support and tech were women, they tended to unlock those EVs and men didn't. They were harder to do so for both genders, no one was quite sure why, it was the general consensus that it was because women had been sight than men did and were less likely to be color blind or have distorted vision.
"You'd be surprised how boring," Malik said.
"I don't believe that," Rauf scoffed.
"A lot of it is just sitting around waiting for who you're leading to enter the hot zone," Malik said.
"Ah," Rauf nodded. Then with a grunt Rauf pulled Sef off his shoulders, his boy was too heavy.
"Is he yours?" Malik asked, as sometimes partners helped with their partner's child even if they had none of their own.
"He is," Rauf said and gently ran his hand through Sef's hair.
"With Altair?" and there was a weird edge to Malik's voice.
"Yes," Rauf said as if he was wondering why Malik would ask such a stupid question. "His name is Sef. Sef, say hello."
"Hello," and Sef waved at Malik in the bright manner only children could. Malik smiled slightly at the little boy. "Do you know my daddy?"
"Yes," Malik said.
"He's great, isn't he?"
Malik's face was interesting. Clearly he wasn't that much of an awful person to tell a child no their father was actually an awful person. "So some would have us believe," Malik said. Rauf laughed.
"Excuse us," Rauf said. "I didn't mean to interrupt your time here," because really, he had. Normally people didn't visit AWCs that weren't theirs. But he'd promised Altair he'd come visit it while he was on his mission, so he had.
"No, it's fine, really," Malik said. "Are you doing anything?"
"Just visiting my son," Rauf said ruffling Sef's hair affectionately, "and coming here like Altair asked."
"He asked?"
"Yes. If he couldn't come he asked me to. He said you didn't come here very often."
"Oh."
"Why? Was there something you needed?"
"Dinner's soon. Care to join me?"
"You know I am with someone," and they both had a laugh at that.
"I can clearly see you're the much better half of Sef's parentage," Malik said. "And you put up with Altair, surely you have some hints on how to not want to punch him in the face on sight."
"He does tend to do that doesn't he?" Rauf agreed, though had never wanted to do it himself. He knew plenty of others, especially in society, who would take one look at Altair and it could start a fight. There was something dangerous about Altair to those people that just triggered the flight or fight response in humans. "Sure," he said. "Just let me take Sef back. "Floor twenty-nine?"
"Thirty," Malik said.
Rauf gave him a little of a look, "Are you sure you're not trying to get into my pants?" he asked, since floor twenty-nine was much more casual, thirty was not.
Malik rolled his eyes, "I'm having dinner with a couple, don't think so much," he said.
"Ah. Very well then. I'll meet you up there. Come on Sef."
"Bye bye," Sef said, waving as Rauf gently pulled him away. Malik waved and managed to smile a little at the boy. Then they left Malik in the AWC room.
—
Altair sat, watching Desmond eat. He was eleven years old but ate like a sixteen year old. It was like he had a bottomless stomach, or two hollow legs that the food just fell into. Altair had eaten already. Munahid was sitting next to him, trying not to look on in actual horror. Munahid had no children though, he didn't understand that not only could they put away the food but they didn't do so neatly.
Desmond stopped as he ate and looked at Munahid then at Altair. "Why's he looking at me like that?"
"Because you eat like you've never seen food in your life," Altair said bluntly. "Honestly where are you good eating habits?"
"Uh… sorry?" Desmond asked. "There are good eating habits?"
Altair rolled his eyes, "What, were you raised in a cage or something?"
"Yes, actually," and both Altair and Munahid stared at him. "It was a very nice cage though," and then he went back to eating. "None of the food there looked like this or tasted like this."
"Wait, back track. You were locked up?" Munahid asked.
"I said it was a cage, I didn't say I was locked up," Desmond said, mouth full.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Altair said automatically. Sef still talked with his mouth full and he'd been to the Nursery enough times during meals to have just developed the habit. But then Sef was seemingly always talking. Darim had never had that problem, but then he was much more Altair than his brother. Though Sef wasn't his baba either. He didn't know where Sef had come from and he was half sure that they'd labeled the wrong AWC during that season. Not that it mattered, he still loved Sef.
"But you're talking to me. How am I supposed to eat and-
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Altair cut him off. Munahid chuckled. Desmond sulked and finished chewing. "Now, cage, explain," he ordered.
"Why?"
"Because you were kept in a cage."
"Not a little one," Desmond said. "It was bigger than the bureau."
"That's not a cage," Munahid said.
"It was if you couldn't leave," Desmond said and took another bite of his noodles.
"Semantics," Altair said. "So you going to tell us anything else? Like where you came from?"
"No," Desmond said around his noodles. "It's a secret."
"Is he always like this?" Munahid asked.
"Yes," Altair groaned and rubbed his head. It hadn't even been a week, but Altair had learned nothing real from Desmond. The kid was cryptic and he knew how to talk, and tell Altair something and not actually tell Altair anything.
"He's annoying," Munahid said.
"You're telling me!" Altair cried. Desmond just giggled. "Uhg," he was so done with Desmond at this point.
Behind them the door opened. The two men turned and looked, "Alpha-one?" they asked carefully.
Altair and Munahid traded looks, "That's me," Altair said.
"You're being called by the bureau leader."
"For what?"
"Work."
"Great," Altair sighed. "Okay. Keep an eye on him Munahid."
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"Keep him out of trouble and don't let him talk you into anything. Damn kid could convince a wall to suddenly sprout a door," Desmond smirked at that. Altair sent him a look and he followed the man who'd gotten him.
"They're downstairs," he said.
"Right," he nodded. Unlike the fortress bureaus were built top to bottom and not bottom to top so the bureau leader was in the bottom basement. So Altair got in the elevator and went down, the man with him as you needed a key card to access the basements from the elevator or the stairs.
The elevator opened and Altair walked down to the bureau leader's office. He knocked and was let in. "Sir, you wanted to see me?" he asked.
"Hello one," they said and motioned for him to sit. He did. "We have a mission for you."
"Okay."
"It's… rather dangerous."
Altair was silent for a moment, "You know I'm Alpha-one right? I don't get missions unless they are 'actually dangerous', sir," and the bureau leader seemed amused by that. "What am I doing?"
"We're sending you to Utah-
"What?" he interrupted. "Sir, Utah's a no fly zone. We pulled out of there years ago."
"Yes, we did," he agreed. "But we need to know what's going on in the interior. You're Alpha-one-
"Charlie is much better suited for espionage than I am, sir," Altair couldn't help it. He really didn't want to go to Utah. It was dangerous there. It was a religious military state and the mormons didn't like people who weren't mormons. Altair was an atheist. They'd kill him if they ever knew.
"This isn't espionage one. This is a tracking mission."
Altair blinked, "What?"
He brought up a holographic map of the capital of Utah; Salt Lake City. "We're getting a transmission from just outside the city. Small, barely there, but on our frequency," which was saying something. Tracking beacons were at a frequency normal people and machines couldn't detect. You could only see the signal through the sixth EV, and that was only if you had a machine that could pick up such transmissions. "We don't know who or what it is. But it's clearly something we made. Your mission is to get in there, find it, and then get out."
"What do I do with what I find?" Altair asked.
"We'll decide that when you find it," the bureau leader said.
"How long as it been active?"
"Two days. I sent it back to the fortress. They know you're here. You're on it."
He frowned, "If I'm going into Utah I refuse to go alone," he said. Normally Altair worked best alone, or with his unit.
"You can't bring all of Alpha with you."
"Then one or two. I need someone to watch my back against those mormons," he said.
The bureau leader's mouth became thin a moment. "Fine. Who?"
"Eleven, and nine," he said. "Nine speaks Utarian and if something goes sideways eleven can patch us up."
"Fine. I'll authorize this," he nodded. "You're going in with minimal armaments. No suits, no helmets. All we'll have on you in a ear piece."
"Okay," Altair said, but he didn't like it. He hated going into the field unarmored. It made him nervous.
"You leave in three hours. Tell your men and get ready to go."
"Sir."
"You're dismissed one," he said. Altair stood, saluted, and then left the office.
—
Finding nine was easy, Haytham hung around three- Christopher- and five- Ehan- mostly. They were in the upper recreational floors playing pool. Ehan was smoking and Chris was helping Haytham actually not suck at pool.
"Hey Altair," Ehan said around his cigarette. In the past cigarettes had been extremely dangerous and toxic. Since the Collapse new laws had been put in place to make sure that nearly everything in cigarettes was both organic and non addictive. They couldn't have their tiny special population killing itself on cigarettes. They came in and out of style and right now were out, sales the lowest they'd been in a century. Ehan was one of the only people Altair knew who smoked.
"Nine," he said and Haytham elbowed Chris in the gut, and not just because it looked like Chris might have grabbed his ass. Chris played grab ass with everyone though. He straightened as Chris bent over the pool table.
"Yes, sir?" Haytham said, pool cue in a ready position in his hand like a spear.
"We're going to Utah," he said.
Haytham paled, "We are?"
"Yes."
"The God be damned," Haytham swore.
"Where's eleven?" Altair continued.
"Where do you think?" Chris asked, having gotten his wind back. Altair rolled his eyes. "Those two are in their twenties right? Are we really sure they aren't actually like… fourteen or something."
"You're just bitter because the girls think you're a creep," Haytham rolled his eyes at Chris.
"Enough," Altair said flatly. "We have three. Nine, get your gear together. We're going in naked."
"Shit," Haytham growled.
"I know. I don't like it either. A bird is going to fly us to the border, we're driving to Salt Lake."
"Damnit damnit," Haytham wasn't happy.
"I'll brief you both on the trip. Now get your shit together," and then he left the three there.
—
Feeling like the dad he was Altair banged on the door. "Oi, you two," he called through the door. He was met by dead silence, which was funny since not a second ago there had been noise. "Seven get off him I need eleven," he called again.
"How important is this?" Diyari called.
"Important enough that if you aren't out here in the next ten seconds with underwear on I am coming in there," Altair threatened.
Not even ten seconds passed and Diyari slid out of the room. If the light sheen of sweat on his skin didn't give away what he'd just been doing the way his hair was all tangled most certainly did. "Yes, sir?" Diyari asked, trying to not look incredibly embarrassed about standing in front of his commanding officer in briefs.
Altair didn't even notice. "You, me, and nine are going to Utah."
"What?" Diyari's eyes got huge.
"Yeah. I know. I don't like it either. We leave in three hours. I'll brief you and nine on the way to the drop off. So finish up, pack your gear and get ready to go."
Diyari took a deep breath, "I see."
"Also, we're going nude."
"Fuck," Diyari looked skyward miserably.
"Yeah. I know. That's what I thought. But tough shit, we're Alpha and need to deal with it."
"Okay. So the roof in three hours?"
"You got it."
Diyari nodded, "How much gear should I bring?"
"Some sort of kit. I don't know what the situation in Utah will be like. Just be prepared for anything," he saw Diyari mentally cataloguing everything he had and would need for this mission.
"Okay. I can do that. Uh… see you in three hours."
"Make sure you can walk," Altair pointed at him sternly.
"Shut up," Diyari said, but his face was bright red. Then he opened the door and went back inside. Altair was leaving as he heard Jari say through the door, 'you've got to be kidding me!'
—
He'd put this off to the end. Honestly the mission to the Rockies hadn't been dangerous. Utah was dangerous though. He sat at a terminal and after a moment hooked himself in. The terminal flickered and he sank into it.
A moment later he was where he needed to be. It was late at the fortress, as where they were was an hour behind. He made sure to buzz the terminal a lot, making noise. Several moments passed and Altair frowned. What if he wasn't in? Then the terminal was properly switched on. This wasn't like the terminals support used, these were personal terminals, like computers society used, though on its own network, independent of society. "Hello?" asked the tired voice.
Altair tweaked the inside of the terminal, clearly he'd woken Rauf up, and now felt bad for that. "Hey," he said so his voice transmitted over the speakers and a second later he had the cameras turned on. So now he could see Rauf's face and Rauf could see his visual.
"Altair? You know what time it is right?" and Rauf rubbed his eyes.
"I know, sorry. I was putting the call off. I didn't mean to wake you," he said. Rauf yawned, he had one of their blankets over his shoulders and tugged it closer around him.
"What is it?"
Altair hesitated, "I…"
"Altair?" Rauf asked, becoming a bit more awake. "What's wrong?"
"I'm going on a mission, to Utah-
"No," Rauf cut him off.
"What?"
"No. You aren't going to Utah," he said like a child about to throw a tantrum.
Altair just chuckled, "I don't want to, but I am."
"No," Rauf just said again.
"Nine and eleven are coming with me," he assured Rauf.
"It's still dangerous," Rauf said in a small voice.
"I know. But they'll watch my back."
"And you theirs, right?"
"Right," Altair nodded.
There was a long silence, "This call better not be what I think it is," Rauf said.
"It is," Altair said.
Rauf looked away, "I don't want to hear it."
"You don't want to hear the last thing I might say to you?" Altair asked. Because it was Utah. Even before the borders had closed Utah was a place a lot of people had died. Even for someone like Altair a mission to Utah was dangerous.
Rauf looked at him sadly, "I want to pretend that you're not going," he said, "and that really that last time you talked to me was before you left for the Rockies."
Altair smiled, "Yeah, that was nice," he agreed. There were really few things someone could like more than sex before a mission. He didn't doubt Diyari had gotten all of his gear together as quickly as possible before going back to bed. "You check on my baby?" he asked.
"Yes," Rauf nodded. "I took Sef. He's really excited about being a big brother."
Altair smiled, "That's good."
"Also your son was skipping lessons again," and Altair knew he meant Darim. Sef was their son, Darim was Altair's.
Altair groaned, "Again? I am going to have a word with him when I get back."
"You better," Rauf told him firmly, more to the point that Altair better be back.
"I will. He can't be skipping his lessons."
"No he can't," Rauf agreed. "Also, Sef unlocked Classic."
"He did?"
"Yeah."
"When?"
"He showed me today when I went down to the Nursery."
"Just Classic?"
"As far as I know."
"He's six, right?"
"Yes Altair," Rauf rolled his eyes, Rauf knew Altair knew how old their son was.
"I was five."
"What?" his confusion was plain on his face.
"I unlocked Classic when I was five. Zoom when I was seven."
"Well, maybe he is your son then. Sometimes I wonder since he's so much better at talking to people than you," Rauf teased. Altair smiled lightly. "How long is this mission supposed to take?"
"Unclear. I'm in Marcusville, we're driving from the border to Salt Lake."
"So a few days?"
"Yeah. That's the hope," Altair nodded.
"Be home soon," Rauf said. "The boys miss you."
"Do you miss me too?"
"I'm not going to answer that," Rauf said hotly. Altair laughed a little. Of course Rauf missed him. "Just come home. I don't care what you have to do. You come home, got it?"
"Yes, sir," and he saluted Rauf.
"That's right one," Rauf said with a slight smile.
"Alpha always does as ordered," Altair promised. He brought up a clock. "I need to go. Heli's coming in a few minutes and I need to be up there with my men."
"Okay," Rauf said quietly.
"Hey," Altair said, "I'll be home soon," he promised.
"If you aren't I'm going to let Malik at you."
"Uhg, please don't… wait, Malik?"
"I met him today too. He's a lot nicer than you make him out to be," Altair just growled. "I also think he was hitting on me a bit."
"I'm going to murder him," Altair threatened.
Rauf laughed a little, "Easy there. I thought you had a mission?"
"I'm considering canceling it now to make sure Malik backs the fuck off," Altair wasn't happy. God damn that guy. If Malik was flirting with Rauf it was only to get at Altair because if it was in any way related to him he did it out of spite. Not to mention he and Rauf had been together for almost seven years. He wasn't going to let Malik just show up and be an asshole about the whole thing.
"Incentive you make sure you get home?"
"Like I needed another reason," Altair grumbled.
"I'll be waiting," Rauf promised.
Altair took a deep breath, he needed to not stress about what Malik was doing. He wasn't going to magically convince Rauf to leave him after all. "Okay," Altair nodded. "Tell the boys I'll be home soon. I love you."
Rauf always smiled when he said that, just like he did now. "I love you too," he said.
"Go back to bed," Altair said. "I'm sorry I woke you."
"You've woken me for a lot less," Rauf said idly.
"Hey!" Rauf just laughed.
"Goodnight," Rauf said.
"Goodnight," Altair mimicked. Rauf leaned forward and kissed the screen. "See you in a few days." Rauf said nothing, just smiled and turned off his terminal.
Altair slid back into his own skin. He disconnected from the terminal and slid the ear piece in place. "Alpha-one-
"I swear to the God support," Altair snarled. "I am so not in the mood right now."
"Get your ass up to the roof before you make everyone late again."
"Support," nine chimed in.
"Yes nine?" asked the nice support. Why did they have to have these same two supports.
"Shut the fuck up," Haytham wasn't happy. Both he and Diyari knew what Altair had been doing. Honestly he didn't doubt if Jari was on the roof with them.
"Excuse me?" cranky asked, scandalized and shocked. Field agents didn't speak to support like that.
"I said shut the fuck up you stupid desk jockey. We're about to be sent into hostile territory and one was just saying goodbye to his partner. So kindly fuck off. He's not late, because one is never late as he's the leader and nothing happens until he's here. Got it?"
"Not to mention we don't usually have you two as support," Diyari chimed in. "I don't think you understand how we work. And it isn't on your shitty time table. So lay off, we know what we're doing."
There was silence from support. "Thanks," Altair told his men, meaning it.
"He was starting to piss me off something fierce," Haytham growled. "Needs to get that stick out of his ass. Poor bastard probably also needs to get laid since no one who has regular sex is that fucking annoying all the time."
"Amen," Diyari said.
"You're my prime example," Haytham told Diyari. Diyari just laughed.
"Almost there. You guys boarded?"
"Yes, sir. Waiting for you."
"Jari leave?"
"No," Diyari said.
"Tell him to leave," Altair said. "Last thing I want is the last time he sees you being as you leave in a heli."
"Don't say shit like that," Haytham said.
"It's a very real possibility that we could all die," Altair told them both. "You're both just kids, so listen to an old man and tell him to leave."
There was radio silence, "He's gone," Haytham said as Altair got out of the elevator.
"Good," and he actually passed Jari as he went onto the roof. Seven didn't even look at him. He got onto the roof and picked his bag of gear up from the concrete and went to the heli with the open back. Altair climbed in and put his bag away before going up to the pilot. "Hello," he said.
"Alpha-one," they said professionally, so unlike Hellhound.
"What's our call sign?"
"Blue Jay," he said, "I'm Egg, this is Nest," he pointed at his male navigator.
"Close us up and get us out of here then Egg," Altair said.
"Roger that."
"If we need evac do we call you?"
"Negative. Tell support, they'll decide if evacs will be sent."
Altair cursed silently, "Right. Well, lets get a move on then," and he patted Egg's helmet and then went back and sat across from his men. He buckled in.
"One," eleven said.
"Yes, eleven?"
"You'll get us out of there right?"
Altair looked at them both, "Like every mission, the goal is to come home," and then the heli lifted off. "So I'll try my damnedest to make sure we do."
"That's all I ask," Diyari said. He looked like he had something else to say.
"Out with it eleven," he said sternly.
Diyari swallowed, "Well, I… really want to get home, sir."
"We all do-
"I have a baby this season, sir."
They both stared at Diyari. "You do?" Haytham asked, "Since when?"
"We petitioned for one," Diyari said.
Altair rubbed his face. "Eleven, why didn't you tell me? I would have let you stay if I knew you'd been joined this season."
"We didn't want to make a big deal out of it," Diyari said with a frown. "And I know you have a baby this season too, sir. Why should I get to stay and you don't?"
"Because I've gotten to watch my first child grow up is why," Altair did his best not to be angry. He was, a little bit. Not at Diyari, more at himself, for not knowing.
"We'll come home though," Haytham said. "We'll come home and I'm going to tell everyone."
"That's another reason we didn't say," Diyari sighed and gave Haytham a look.
"We'll get home," Altair said firmly.
"I know," Diyari nodded. "I know you'll get us home, sir."
"The God willing," Altair said.
"He seems to like you though," Haytham put in. "You get out of more close calls than anyone. If anyone'll get us out of Utah, it's you, one."
"Thanks," Altair nodded. "Now, speaking of, you need to be briefed." They nodded. Altair pulled a, small, thin tablet from his bag of gear. "This is what we need to do."
