Chapter 20

"Hey Charles, what's up?"
"Hey, Briareos, thanks for stopping by."

"Yeah no problem. Sorry I couldn't get your calls, my system isn't working well right now."
The older man shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry. I knew I would reach you sooner or later, you're a reliable comrade."

He laughed in his dark voice. "Don't say it like this. All of our comrades are reliable."
The other man slightly shook his head and closed and opened some folders on his connective board.

"Well, you're one of the old ones. You know war, you know desperation. There a few of us left. Those youngsters nowadays…Tz."

He liked Charles. He had served at the European border and fought against Russia before he had been captured and tortured for information. Afterwards he had been sent to a labor camp in Siberia, where he had spent three years before the Russian Regime had collapsed. Later he had made it to Olympus due to his skills and some luck on his side.

Briareos understood what the older man meant. It wasn't the fault of the youngsters, but they would never understand what the elders had seen, experienced.

All of the elders hoped that the youngsters would never understand.

"So." He said, keeping track of their conversation. "Tell me why am I here. Sounded pretty urgent."

The other one scratched his neck. "I talked already with Ries this morning. You know there will be a mission tomorrow?"
"Yes, heard about it, some minor task, no big deal, but Ries and I weren't called in."
"Yeah, you are now. We needed to switch some parts up and Lance said you'd be happy about getting back to the real stuff. Although I'm a little bit worried if your system isn't at its best."
"Don't make it sound like I'm addicted to missions and don't worry. It will work by tomorrow."
"Well, if you say so. And yes, you kind of are addicted to work. Despite your days off and this long break you still hold the record for the most absolved missions."

"Thanks for reminding me of my lacking social life."
Both of them laughed.

"Okay, pal. Here is your information." He opened a small file Charles handed him.

"Ries and Lance are already waiting for you in the small conference room."
Briareos nodded and turned towards the door, but then he paused.

"Say, if I gave you some information, would you be able to track somebody down?"

The operative raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Well, it depends. If it's a bioroid no problem, if not it might be difficult."

"So it will be difficult and we're not talking about an Olympus' resident."

The other one sighed heavily. "Fine. Give me all you got and I see what I can do."

"Thanks Charles, you'll get all the information by tomorrow."

"Yeah, make sure to give them to me before you leave for the mission. I'll be here by five."
"Well, I promise I won't."

The other one grinned and he laughed swiftly.

He left and went down to the conference room.

Yesterday had been a tough day for him. After he had found the little box, it had been difficult for him to keep concentrating. Luckily he did have some free time to go training, although Ries had shown up much later.

He had fought for hours, afterwards went downstairs, dripping of sweat, and spent the afternoon at the shooting gallery, before he had taken a shower and went back to the lab.

His body was still sweating like he was constantly sitting in a steam sauna, but it wasn't as heavy anymore, moved better to his will.

But as he enjoyed that his body was regaining its strength, his worry grew slowly as well. Within a few days the dangerous part of his secret mission would start. He was waiting for it, waiting for it to begin, but he was getting nervous as well.

Considering that it had been a good idea of Lance to enter him in this mission. He wasn't the Commander for no reason. He knew exactly that Briareos' wellness program usually consisted out of missions and playing with new weapons.

Downstairs his partner and superior greeted him.

"Nah, look who's giving us the honor." Ries teased. "You're really up to something, aren't you Briareos?"
"What makes you think that?" He replied calm and sat down, opening the folder and picking up the small usb-stick. Why should he waste important time to read all that stuff, if he could know all he needed in less than a second?

"Well, if someone like you, who even has a strict schedule when it comes to food and sleeping, shows up late for training or leaves early, something's definitely off. And I mean everyone heard about you and Deunan fi…" "We're not here for some nice little chitchat, Ries!"
Lance was obviously annoyed.

"You have less than twenty hours to get the tactic into your brain and…" "Already inside." Briareos interrupted and pointed up his finger, where he had plugged in the USB-stick in.

"Stop joking around." Lance said as calm as ever. "You have less time than the other teams and Briareos is still not at his best."

Ries friendly poked the cyborg's shoulder and leaned against his back.

"That's why I want you, Brady, to watch his back."

"Please, don't call me by my first name Lance, you know how I hate it. And of course I watch him, he's my partner."
But as Lance folded his arms both other men became serious.

"Listen you two. I have direct order from Nike. Briareos' safe return is of higher priority than the success of the mission."

Now Ries and Briareos shared a confused glance.

Although Briareos knew why he needed to return, he wondered why Nike even allowed him to go on a mission, if she doubted his survival qualities that much.

"Uiui, stop joking around Lance." Ries said, raising an eyebrow. "We're not talking about a high-classed dangerous MTC, this is some simple daily work. Why does Nike make such a fuss about it?"
"Not your or my business. I'm just passing on her order."

With those words the Commander left.

"So?" Ries asked and turned towards him, grabbing his own file from the desk but keeping his eyes on Briareos. "What kind of mission is it?"
He tilted his head a little bit. "It's really nothing special, sounds almost boring. It's about securing some…"
"I don't mean this one." Ries interrupted and put the file down. "I'm talking about the reason Nike wants me to babysit you."

"I wouldn't think about it too much. She's probably just worried that Olympus' national treasure, the one and only Hecatonchires could get broken, again."

Ries laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry your highness. Didn't know you were such a big fish. Forgive me for being just a mere human."

"Oh, shut up!" He laughed as well. "Poke your nose back into those papers. I don't have all day waiting for you to read the file."

Ries shrugged it off but stopped asking.

Few hours later they left the room for some minor exercising.

They had to be in early the next day, together with the other teams so it would be for the best if they did not overstrain themselves.

What Ries didn't know was that Briareos wasn't planning on going home afterwards.

He would go to the lab again and probably spent his whole night there.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" He could hear her annoyed voice and see her puffed cheeks in the little window of his screen.

"Because I'm listening to the radio link, which you should as well and which you could if you would shut up."

The young blonde mumbled something under her breath but stayed silent.

They had left the camp one day ago and made good progress. They would cover half of their distance by early sunrise. But this had been the easy part. As soon as the first village was in sight they had to leave their landmates behind and go the rest by foot.

This would be the difficult part. A black stranger with a young, white woman, both of them armed would certainly be suspicious, but they had no other way.

The distance of roughly forty miles wasn't bothering him very much. Without any incidents they could easily make it within the planned days. It actually had taken them quite long for the first sixty miles, he wanted to make it by evening and now it was already dark. But still he should be grateful for not walking all hundred miles. After all those landmates were great fighting machines but not the best travelling companions.

Deunan had enjoyed their trip so far, but after hours of flying in the same position, always looking straight ahead and not really able to move much, her mood had dropped.

He could understand that this wasn't really a comfy way to travel, but well, they weren't on vacation.

But he had other problems. Shortly after they had left the base he had been informed that the radio link had been broken and would be repaired. This wasn't much to worry about as long as they weren't in danger.

The real issue was that it had been fixed almost half an hour ago and now multiple information and fragments of messages were transmitted. He was surprised about the sheer amount of messages. This meant something had happened in the camp while they had been gone and he tried to figure out what, while he was listening to the bits of pieces.

Somewhere in-between he heard Carl talking, which worried him even more, not only because his old friend sounded like he was mad enough to fly over from the US himself. Something must have happened.

"Deunan, I want you to watch the surroundings better. Don't lose concentration just because we have been in the air for so long. Our landing spot must be close."
Her landmate in front of him gave him a thumps-up sign to show that she had understood.

He turned his screen into a smart board, his surrounding environment became background.
Due to this he was able to use the system of his landmate like any other computer system. He activated the tap-proof communication system and waited.

After few seconds Branson – O'Brian's closest assistant - picked up.

Surprised the other man met his view.

"Oh Briareos. Are you alright? Didn't expect you calling."
Well, if that wasn't a professional salutation.

"Hey Branson. No it's all good, but what happened at the camp? The radio only gives me pieces of information and I don't understand anything. Do we need to return? What's the matter? Where's the Captain?"
The other man sighed.

"No, don't worry. Nothing really too serious. We manage."
"So how come I can hear Carl Knute's voice over the link although he's supposed to be non-active?"
He could see the other man swallow.

Sometimes Briareos forgot how much impression his deep voice combined with his physical features and his background story had.

It was one thing to intimidate youngsters and newbies, but sometimes he forgot that also the older ones saw him as the dangerous miracle kid. The boy of a killing machine, who wouldn't listen to no one but Carl Knute.
Although those days were long gone, most of the older ones remembered, and when he recalled correctly, Branson had entered their force when he had been around eleven or twelve, he wasn't sure, but obviously Branson was scared that he, Knute's watchdog, would become angry.

"So?" He repeated calmly.

"Well, to make it short. Some of the youngsters here were supposed to fill up the normal soldiers ranks undercover, but one of them blew it on purpose within the first ten hours. The thing is some of them are on patrol right now with other common soldiers – like they were supposed to be – and we try now to withdraw them as soon as possible."
Briareos was actually really surprised. He knew of the strategy that the first unit of them was supposed to go undercover in order to strengthen their military and getting secret information from the front. It was dangerous and risky, but usually, as long as nobody knew who they actually were, it was not much of a problem. But it was of highest importance to stay incognito, because as soon as the enemy would know that the ESWAT took action, all of their missions would be in danger. Especially this one of him and Deunan.

"Who would purposely blow their cover? This sounds almost like treason."
"It would be, if he weren't there himself, but this way it's only a misdemeanor, according to Knute."
"Why is he involved? He's isn't supposed to be working. He's sick."
"Don't tell me. He came back in active service this morning, after he heard of your mission and Watson put him directly in charge over our assignment from abroad."

He wanted to continue, but Briareos silent him with one headshaking.

They were there. He had no time left for a little chitchat.

It was good to know that they weren't as secret anymore as supposed – he had his own guess on who couldn't keep their mouth shut – but this meant they had to be even more carefully.

"Okay, thanks for the briefing. We made the first sixty miles and will send the landmates back on autopilot. I will reach out as soon as we fulfilled our mission or failed."
He didn't wait for the other one to reply, but ended the call.

"You listened?" He asked, as the screen became his visual field again.

"Sure did." Deunan answered, her face in the left corner of his screen way more collected than usually. "That was Hades, right? He blew the cover, on purpose, right?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Probably, although I really hope not. The soldier, who did this, is not only responsible for blowing the cover of twenty soldiers, but is also risking their very own deaths. Not even talking about endangering every other mission."
"Like this here."
"Yeah, well. Our surviving rate is already quite low; I don't think this will affect it much."
Deunan laughed slowly.

"Let's get down." He ordered and she followed.

"I'm surprised you're not even asking about your father." He said after a moment, while they came closer and closer to the ground.

"Oh, to be honest, I'm not half as surprised about his return as you are."

He didn't reply as they landed almost softly on the hard ground.

In the far distant he could see a silver lining. They had about two hours before the sun would rise. Better than nothing.

In silence both of them got out of their vehicles, collected the items they needed for their travel and entered the coordinates for the autopilot. Of course the landmates wouldn't fly exactly to the camp, but close enough to be picked up again. They were too valuable to be lost forgotten in the dessert, and as a trace they were too dangerous.

He put on his coat and shouldered his backpack, it was much smaller and lighter than the usual equipment, making him look less than a soldier and more like a commoner.

Deunan shouldered hers as well and grinned at him, still stretching her legs.

"Okay, we should be able to reach the village by late morning. If it's save enough we stay there for a short rest to buy some supplies before we continue, okay?"
She nodded. They had talked about this already several times. They would make it, the first two or three villages weren't troublesome, only normal villagers, weary and poor maybe however untrained and no real threats, but then they would reach a territory controlled by Russia. This would be the real dangerous part.

He nodded shortly.

"Are you ready?"
She already started walking.

"Always."

With a sigh he loosened the muscles of his shoulders, which was unnecessary, because these artificial muscles couldn't become stiff.

This was by far one of the most boring missions he had ever been on.

Early this morning he had been able to leave the lab, driving over to the apartment he shared with Deunan, who had not been there, to pick up more of his stuff, before driving to work.

He remembered the blonde's look, when she had entered the preparation room and had seen him there as well.

He had tried to ignore her eyes. Emotions weren't welcomed on a mission, but as all of them were getting ready, he had noted that she wanted to talk with him.

Luckily Ries took his babysitter-function way too serious and pulled him away for some minor confab, probably really just to save him from Deunan.

It was no secret that they had more than a fight.

The blonde's words about breaking up with him had been heard by too many to be ignored.

Nobody talked about it, at least not when he was around, but he could feel the silent recognition from his comrades. He knew what the rumors said, although nobody told him.

He could picture how it must look.

He had gotten hurt severe during a MTC while protecting Deunan, who was now teamed up with a newbie, shouting at him every time they met.

It had to seem like broken trust, like a broken relationship, but none of them knew the truth.

Not that he would tell them.

He didn't care about their thoughts and worries, didn't bother for their gossip.

But he did care about Deunan, he did care about what she thought and if he was totally honest, it was more than bothersome to watch her work with that newbie Wataru.

Of course it had been his decision to team her up, to prepare her to have another partner than him. And Wataru was exactly what Deunan needed. He was smart, fast-minded and extremely focused. He would learn in weeks what others usually learned over years. But he was a newbie nonetheless, making mistakes, being sloppy sometimes and not always careful enough.

In order for Deunan to survive with Wataru, not only she had to watch her own back more carefully, she also had to teach him her ways, to train him to become better, to show him how the job had to be done.

In order to survive she had to give orders, had to explain what she was thinking. All her life she had worked together with him, who had trained her, who had known her since she had been a baby. Now she was the one in charge, the one who had to take care of others.

So yes, it had been his idea and his decision, and it would help her grow, would help her to become even better, to become even better than what Carl had seen in her, but it still pained him to watch when Wataru took too long to close up to Deunan – three seconds to slow, enough for an enemy to shoot her multiple times – or when she needed to turn around to tell him something and he looked at her instead of the surrounding behind her – there where countless ways this could lead to danger – it was really difficult for him to watch them without acting.

He sighed silently and turned for Ries, who obviously had noted his look and winked at him grinning widely.

It was not like this mission put any of them in danger, the most dangerous part was to not kill yourself while unlocking your weapon, it was almost impossible for Deunan to get hurt, almost impossible for Wataru to make a mistake fatal enough to endanger her.

But still, still it was his Deunan and it had been his decision. What if, what if the almost impossible did happen? He would never forgive himself, he would never…

"Stop worrying, Briareos."

He looked up, Ries grinned at him.

"She'll be alright. That Wataru-kiddo is a good boy. Although he's still half-baked he'll take good care of her, don't you worry."

He shook his head halfway. "Sure, I know that." After all I chose him. He added in his thoughts.

In silence they continued their way and Ries was right of course.

They completed the mission without anything happening, pure boredom, almost annoying for somebody like him.

Usually Deunan would be at his side, complaining about how missions like that were a waste of her talent and he would agree. Usually he would ask Lance why he would use some of his best soldiers for some child's play.

But today he was only grateful, only glad that she was safe and sound, that nothing had happened to her.

By now Briareos was back in the lab, watching doctors and scientists work around them, with him, talking to him.

He didn't care. He had seen her glance when he had left, had seen how much she had longed for him at that moment.

But he had left her behind at the operation room, left her behind with the other soldiers laughing about that ridiculous mission.

He sighed deeply.

"Well I had hoped you wouldn't be so blue after all I had to do to convince Nike to let you join the mission."

He looked up, commander Lance leaned against the tall glass tube and glanced down at him.

"But all you do is sighing half of the time and ignoring everybody around you."

The older man knocked against the thick glass.

"Shouldn't you be filled with joy and excitement? I mean, look at it. Doesn't it look fabulous? It's growing great, all the… oh whatever. Actually I have no clue, but the guys in white over there are almost crying about its development, so I guess it's going good."

Lance smirked crookedly.

"But you're still not happy. Even though everything is going exactly as you wanted, you're not satisfied."

"I never wanted Deunan to react like this."

Lance laughed drily.

"No, probably not. But admit it, you expected her outbreak, didn't you?"

He nodded silently, almost denying it to himself.

"And still you were ready to proceed. You stuck to your plan and now you're bearing the consequences. Quite the soldier you are. But I really wonder if it's worth it."
"What? Are you doubting this operation here?"
"Of course I do, but that's not what I mean, Briareos. I wonder what you want to achieve by keeping Deunan out of this. Wouldn't it be much easier for the both of you if she knew? She would probably even understand why you assigned Wataru as her new partner. She wouldn't yell at you anymore. And most importantly she would support you. I bet she's much better company than I am, when you're sitting here for hours and hours. If you want I can talk to Nike and make it…"
"Lance." His voice was soft, almost too soft for his artificial voice system to catch it. "You will not tell her and neither will I."

His commander shook his head and squatted down.

"Then tell me my old friend, what do you expect from this? Why do you put your relationship on the line?" The older one asked and looked up at him.

"Isn't it obvious?" He replied. "The moment she knows, she will hope and fear, she will try to help me and stop at the same time. But she will lose focus, all day she will only brood about this operation. She will worry so much over me, that she will lose concentration on her daily work. And then mistakes can happen. If Wataru makes one it's fine, she can watch herself. But if she makes one I'm not sure if anybody except me is able to react fast enough to save her. So she cannot ever lose concentration, never lose focus, not as long as I'm not there."

Lance tilted his head. "But what if you die? How do you expect her to cope that?"
He laughed lowly. "Oh, she's been there, done that. Remember sixteen years ago she had to think of me as dead. It was impossible to survive, she knew that. I would have died if it wouldn't have been for that Wilder. She will mourn, she will grieve, but she will be aware that there is nobody to watch her back, so she will be careful."

The other one got up again, folding his arms and biting his lip.

"Well, I'm not really convinced by this, honestly. But as long as it makes sense for you, I will stay low."

He swiftly scratched his chin. "Fine, I have to go now, Nike is waiting. But don't worry I got your room ready and make sure to pass by before I leave."

"Lance." The tall man turned around. "Can I ask you for another favor?"

The Commander lifted an eyebrow.

"I think it's better for me to be repelled from future missions if possible."
"What?"

"Yes, of course I will gladly help any mission my skills and my body are needed for but for anything less, for daily work like today, I would like to be withdrawn."
"Are you fucking kidding me? After all I did to convince Nike to let you train and work. Do you know how difficult it is for Charles to keep up with your schedule? You said you wanted to work, you said you needed it to keep your peace of mind. So why the hell do you demand such nonsense?!"

"Because like I just told you it's crucial to lose focus in our work. Our concentration is the difference between life and death. Today I noticed that it's impossible for me to be on a mission with Deunan without protecting her. My mind was not set. I've failed my job today."
Lance breathed heavily.

"One day you will kill me for sure." He groaned. "Fine! Fine! For all I care. After all your medical condition is still not back on top and Ries surely won't mind to spend some weeks as back-up."

"Thank you Co…"
"But I'm telling you, Briareos."

The other one had turned towards him again and wagged his finger.

"I'm trying to be considerate because of this operation here. But I dare you to bring all your private issues to work after this here is over. I don't care if you and Deunan split up for good or live happily ever after, but for heaven's sake after this mission I want you to be the operative I know again. No drama, no break-ups, and no freaking gossip! If I wanted my workplace to be a soap opera I would have become a damn actor. And no favors, no bending rules, no blind… oh dammit, now I'll be late for Nike."
Lance hissed something under his breath and rushed away, not even waiting for him to respond.

Briareos laughed softly.

Lance was a good man, sometimes a little bit moody, but he could trust him.

And Lance was a smart man, it wasn't all about Deunan, or maybe it was.

But the real reason why he didn't tell her about this operation was that he was too scared of failing. What if he failed, maybe she could cope it, bury her hopes and forget what had happened.

But he would never be able to do that. He would never forgive himself if he failed and returned alive.

So he knew where he drew the line.

He would either return alive and successful or dying while trying, there was no in-between.

He wasn't in for the halfway anymore.