A/N:Ey up folks, chapter 1 is here. Take a read through, hopefully you enjoy, feel free to review, but try and keep it civil please!
Mute felt a small bead of sweat dripping down his forehead as his fingers furiously typed on a small yellow box's keyboard. He heard gunshots behind him, followed by a cry and then a thud.
"Zofia is down! We need that diffuser disarmed now, Mute!"
He tried to ignore IQ's prompts, instead focusing on the next line of code. But he knew, no matter how quickly he typed, he wasn't going to make it. More bullets embedded themselves into the walls around him, but the vibrations remained long after the rounds had ricocheted off their reinforcements. It took Mute a second to realise it wasn't the deadly maelstrom of 9mm, 7.62, 5.56 and .308 rounds flying in his direction, but instead his mobile phone. In his peripherals, he saw IQ take a knee, before removing her phone and fumbling with the controls before turning it off. Shortly after, she was domed by a round from Thermite's 556XI, collapsing "dead" where she was crouched.
Time seemed to slow, as more and more holes appeared in the walls surrounding Mute and the bomb. His vision narrowed, focused solely on the keyboard and the words on the screen. But then...
"Time expired, attackers defused the bomb"
Mute didn't move. He couldn't understand what had just happened, despite the words clearly being there in front of him, reflecting off of his visor. His phone began ringing again. He ignored it. Instead, he lifted the VR visor and swiftly replaced it with his gas mask, his real gas mask. Before the rest of the Operators had a chance to say a word to him, he marched out of the sim room, heading for the SAS barracks.
Mark's brain was working overtime. He had failed. He wasn't supposed to fail. Mark R. Chandar was not supposed to fail. Yet, that's what he did. That's exactly what he did. He failed his team, he failed his superiors, and he failed himself. Thanks to him, entire towns of civilians had just been gassed as the Bioweapon rolled down the mountainsides from the chalet in which it was released, choking away the lifeline of the countless virtual alpine settlers. Except to him, they weren't just virtual.
Reaching the SAS barracks, he looked at the door which was adorned with the iconic winged dagger, alongside 4 names. After letting his eyes linger on his own name, he pushed open the door before another wave of self-doubt overtook him. Inside, James "Smoke" Porter was relishing in his free time, having just returned from an Op in Ibiza. Mark tried to avoid eye contact, instead making a break for his room in the back right corner. But alas, he was not getting away that easily, as James stuck a foot in the doorway, preventing it from being opened
"Oh no no Markie. You, my good friend, have a debriefing to attend"
James couldn't help but smile at the blank expression he got in return from the gas mask in front of him, before shrugging
"Came straight from the old man, messaged ahead saying you stormed out of the sim room"
"I'd hardly call it storming."
Mark curtly replied, before attempting to push James out of the way. It was a future attempt. Everyone in Rainbow knew that James was a QCB master, and also one of the only people who could spar hand to hand with Caveira for any extended period of time. As if to add insult to injury, James then held up a small detonator, his finger hovering over the button
"Mike said to make sure you didn't lock yourself away again, God knows what you did this time, so I took the liberty of placing some of my toxic babes in choice places around your room"
James shot him a beaming smile, to which Mark had to restrain himself from punching
"Bullshit. You wouldn't waste them on me."
"You wanna take that risk? By all means go inside!"
In a surprising turn of events, James stepped back the whole way, allowing Mark full access to his room. But his finger still delicately rested on the detonator…
Mark turned on his heel in a perfect example of an about turn, before stalking out of the barracks, making sure to slam the door behind him, eliciting a chuckle from the bioengineer still inside
However, he had no intention of going to a debriefing. Mark took a detour to avoid the sim room, arriving instead at the workshop where he parked his arse on a chair at one of the six central workstations. Reaching up above, he opened a cupboard and brought down 3 Moni jammers. Thankful that he had the workshop to himself, Mark began deconstructing one of the Monis with the intent of increasing its tolerance of electricity, to hopefully prevent any issues regarding proximity to Bandit's batteries. However, this notion was quickly shot down as the door slowly and quietly opened, before a small metal ball with a Union Flag on it rolled across the concrete floor. A blue pulse erupted from it, turning off all the lights in the workshop.
Mark, unaware of the true cause of the outage, went to flick the light switch back on, grumbling to himself as he walked
"I swear if it's Dominic playing pranks again I'm gonna break that wankers toe…"
But before Mark reached the other end of the room, the lights reignited, bathing the room in their white glow as every single piece of tech connected to the internet in that room began vibrating, hard. Speakers, tablets, PDA's, anything that an Op had left at their table was vibrating. Then, whilst Mark was distracted, a pair of Operators ran into the room, one of whom grabbed Mark in a choke hold, before slowly lowering him to the ground as he began to struggle against his attacker. The other Op began to giggle, before moving in front of Mark and punching the air victoriously
"I guess Six was right. A Hammer and a Scalpel really do work well together"
Mark suddenly froze at the sound of that voice. Her voice. But then his attacker, upon feeling his captive tense up, released him and offered a hand back onto his feet
"Come on now Markie, what's all this about? Grace here saw you storm out of the sim room before anyone even got a chance to speak to you. I know you don't exactly like socialising, but you can't just skip debriefings, even the sim ones"
Mark stood, accepting Mike Baker's hand as he looked up at arguably the most experienced member of the whole Rainbow team. Next to him stood Grace Nam, callsign Dokkaebi, outfitted in her usual purple, black and green 707th SMB uniform. Mark fumbled over his words, struggling to form a coherent sentence
"Erm, well… I didn't think there was any point in me going to it"
He pulled his thoughts together and tried not to look like a primary school student in front of Grace
"I failed the mission, nothing more to say."
Mike scoffed at the younger SAS trooper
"Oh shut yer gob, you didn't fail. Vigil snuck past your entire team to plant that diffuser and there physically wasn't enough time for you, nor anyone else, to disarm it"
Grace spoke up from across the room at Mark's workbench,
"Don't be so hard on yourself Markie, we all know how Chul is. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, focus on what you did well. I'll bet you 3 chocolate muffins Chul wasn't expecting you to drop him from behind"
He froze up again. She'd just called him Markie. That confused him. Only the rest of the SAS called him that. He felt a nudge in his arm and looked up to see Mike waving a hand in front of his face
"Markie, you alright? Come on, take yer bloody mask off"
Mark, still lost in his thoughts, and Grace's eyes, began to panic as Mike unclipped the straps of his gas mask and began lifting it away from his face. Quickly snatching it back, he replaced the gas mask and moved over to his workbench where he grabbed 3 of his Monis, before speed-walking back towards the SAS barracks, taking great care not to brush against Grace
"Mate, if yer going back to the barracks, I'll just get Seamus to drag you back here kicking and screaming if needs must"
Mark stopped dead in his tracks before turning to look Mike in the eye through his visor
"I'm not a baby, old man."
With that, he left the room he took the second detour of the day, heading towards the hangar turned armoury. As he approached, he heard the sound of a pair of Tornado aircraft lifting off from the runway. He loved the noise of the Tonkas, it calming him down slightly as he punched his code into the keypad that guarded the entrance to his personal armoury cage. Taking a seat, he snuck his earphones under his mask and continued his work on the Moni jammers.
Grace turned and waved to Mike as she left the workshop. Making her way upstairs to the shared 707th and SAT barracks, she opened the door into the rather interesting common room the 4 of them shared. It was a strange mix of Korean and Japanese styling, however most of the Korean decorations came from her. Chul was not exactly one to focus on form rather than function. And speaking of Chul, he was sprawled out on the couch, idly browsing his phone. Taking a seat across the room from him in one of the armchairs, Grace detached her tablet from her armour and silently connected to Chul's phone, observing what came up on his screen. He was scrolling through eBay, looking at different bicycles and trying to find one cheap enough. Grace let out a small chuckle to herself. A few taps on her own screen and a vibration could be heard across the common room, followed by a sigh.
"Give me back my phone, Nam."
Grace let out a small giggle, before shooting him as innocent a smile as she could muster
"I don't have your phone, Kyung"
She received a pillow to the face in response
"You know what I mean."
Grace couldn't help herself, and started laughing hysterically
"The big bad scary Vigil, relegated to throwing pillows across a room. Oh how the mighty have fallen"
Another sigh escaped the, for once, unmasked operator
"What do you want from me, Nam?"
She unfolded her legs and leant forwards, replacing her tablet to its position on her chest, looking across the Chul
"You weren't expecting Mark to be where he was today, did you?"
He raised an eyebrow at her
"Is that what this is about? Come to gloat that I got shot and you survived the round?"
"No no, not at all! Well, maybe a little, but that's besides the point. He still surprised you, didn't he?"
For the third time in their short conversation, Chul sighed
"If it'll get you off my back, yes he did, Nam. I expected him to be with the rest of their squad holding off Eliza, Dominic, Jack and yourself. But he held back, covering off the second bomb site."
Grace smiled, jumping to her feet
"Perfect, thank you Kyung!"
Quickly, she ducked inside her room and replaced her armour to it's spot on her wall, before throwing on a pinkish crop top and denim dungarees. Almost running out of her room, she made her way downstairs to the canteen where she picked out 3 chocolate muffins, before taking a seat at one of the tables. Taking out her pink and white phone, she filtered the Logic Bomb app to only show the phone's of the SAS members of Rainbow, whilst leaving every other operator on the screen opaque. James was in the greenhouse with Liu, probably working on his toxic babes seeing as they were the only two ops who knew what was in that stuff, Seamus was in the garage by the motor pool, Grace guessed he was repairing one of the MRAPs that the two GEO operators decided to use as a battering ram on their last operation, and Mike was at the killing house, no doubt running through another scenario with the recruits. But Mark however, was nowhere to be seen. Grace looked up from her phone as she heard a pair of chairs being moved across from her. Taking their seats were Yumiko Imagawa and Jack Estrada, both smiling at her
"Hey Grace!"
Jack gave her a wave, before eyeing the trio of muffins sitting on the table
"Bit greedy don't you think?"
He swiftly received a jab to the side from Yumi
"Be nice"
Grace chuckled before shrugging
"It's fine Yumi, they're not all for me"
Jack raised an eyebrow at her
"Then why are you sitting here all alone without anything else to eat at tea time?"
Another jab found its way to his ribcage
"I said be nice"
His eyes dropped, before planting a kiss on her cheek
"Sorry babe"
Across from them, Grace was making gagging noises whilst pretending to shove a finger down her throat, eliciting a pair of laughs from the couple
"Okay Grace, so who are they for then?"
Yumi actually was intrigued at who could have done something good enough to warrant a supply drop of muffins from her cheeky Korean friend
"Well, they're actually for Mark but--"
"Oooooooooo"
Grace's face turned luminescent red as she realised how that sounded
"No no no, it's not cause I like him, I mean, I do like him, but not like that"
Yumi just laughed at her
"Somebody's got a crush on the quiet boy"
"No! No I don't, I just made a bet with him earlier. He caught Chul napping, so I owe him 3 chocolate muffins. Speaking of, have you seen him? I can't find him on my Logic Bomb"
Jack spoke up, but not after first looking at Yumi for permission, making Grace chuckle
"Saw him stalking off down to the armoury. I assume he's working on his jammers if you can't pick up his phone signal."
"Alright, thank you guys, I'll go pay him a visit then"
As she stood up to leave, Yumi just had to make another comment
"Don't forget to wear protection"
Grace didn't reply, merely putting up two fingers at her Japanese friend as she walked off
Mark looked up from his Moni jammers, casting his eyes across the hangar where a figure was walking towards his cage, silhouetted against the sunset casting an orange glow across the runway. The smaller figure suggested it wasn't Seamus coming to drag him somewhere like Mike had threatened, but he still couldn't make out who it was. It was only when the person arrived at his cage that he noticed the pair of twin braids and promptly had a heart attack. Grace politely knocked on the side of the cage before calling out
"Hey Markie, am I okay to come in?"
Mark put down the Moni he was working on and took out his earphones from under his mask
"Sorry, say again? I had my earphones in"
She smiled, for some reason finding his reaction cute, and then subsequently being concerned that Yumi might have had a spot on take on her feelings for Mark
"Hello Markie! Am I okay to come inside?"
"Erm, yeah, sure, the code is 1102"
Grace entered the code with her free hand and swung the door open, giving her a clearer view of the inside of the cage. Everything was very well-kept, all neat and tidy. His MP5-K and M590A1 were resting on the rifle racks - ironic, seeing as neither were rifles - and his two sidearms, a P226 and an SMG-11 were held up nicely by two pins in a weapon board each
"So, why 1102?"
Mark held his tongue, not wanting to reveal exactly what two of those numbers meant
"Eh, 1102 was my dorm room at SIGINT HQ"
He lied through his teeth before noticing Grace's hands were full, piquing his interest
"What've you got there, Grace?
She sent a beaming smile his way before offering one of the muffins to him
"Remember the bet I made in the workshop?"
"Yeah, why?"
Mark lied again, although in fairness, he had been lost in her eyes when she made the bet. He sincerely hoped to himself that lying to her wouldn't become a habit of his
"Well, Chul had absolutely no clue you were there, nor did he expect you to be when you put one in his back. So I brought you the muffins!"
She knew that it was a sort of childish thing to do, to be betting with muffins, but Grace wanted to show Mark that he was being to harsh on himself for a mistake in a sim run of all things
On the other side of the cage, Mark felt a small twinge of pride that he had managed to catch the shadow himself napping, and also thought it was hella cute of Grace to have actually brought him muffins. Not that he would eat them there, as that would require him to take his mask off
"Thank you Grace, I really didn't think that I'd got him by surprise"
"See, stop being so hard on yourself you stupid Brit!"
After a millisecond of hesitation, she moved forwards before taking Mark into an embrace, giving him a tight squeeze as she hugged him. It was only a short hug, but Mark quite literally melted. Grace moved back before waving and moving back towards the door
"Anyways, gotta run, Yumi and Elena want to see me. Bye Markie!"
And with that, she took her exit, jogging back across the hangar and, quite literally, into the sunset as it finally dipped beneath the horizon, plunging the runway into darkness.
"So, let me get this straight, what you're saying is your crush of several years brought you muffins, wanted to check if you were okay, and then gave you hug… and you did fuck all afterwards?"
James was shaking his head as he rested upside down on one of the armchairs in the SAS common room
"Erm… yeah…"
Mark replied from behind his mask, quietly
"So why didn' yo-- MIKE! Can you please put this dunce through the resistance to interrogation course again? Hopefully he's as good at talking to interrogators as he is women"
Mike had barely even made it through the door and he had already had a pillow thrown at him
"James, was it really necessary to lob a pillow at me 'ed? And which dunce are you on about, I live with 3 of em"
Mark had to chuckle at that, mainly cause of the offended look on James' face
"Yes it was, I'm on about Mark, and thank you I'll take that as a compliment"
"Come on then Markie, which lass have you been chatting up?"
A muffled Scottish voice sounded from the bathroom
"Not even close to chatting up"
Mark turned red as he settled in for a night of grilling from his fellow SAS troopers
"Well… Grace ca--"
"Ooh, Grace is involved? Now I'm properly interested"
Mike interrupted before spinning on his heel and facing Mark, giving him his full attention
"Hmph, well, Grace came down to my cage and gave me some muffins cause of that bet she mentioned in the workbench…"
He gestured over to the one remaining muffin on the sidetable
"...Have it if ya want. Anyways, she was telling me to stop being so hard on myself, called me a stupid Brit…"
"Yep, sounds like Grace"
"...and then decided to give me a hug before running off"
Mike blinked at him twice
"And you didn't make a move when she did? Mate, you've liked this lass for God only knows how long and she, quite literally, falls into your arms and you di'nt do owt?"
"Be quiet old man, ain't you divorced? What do you know?"
Mark quickly realised his mistake and moved to take his mask off. Once his face was exposed, he looked at Mike
"Erm, I'm sorry mate, that was uncalled for"
Luckily for him, Mike chuckled it off
"Damn right it was. Either way, you should go get that lass. We do scenarios together fairly regularly thanks to her little meeting with Six. Can't say I mind, she's interesting to say the least. But what she doesn't do, is shut up about a certain SAS trooper sat right in front of me"
"Wait, really?"
"No Mark, I'm just saying it for the good of me health. Yes really! She's always going on about how she loves the challenge of trying to get past yer bleedin jammers, although she wishes you'd spend a bit more time with her in the workshop instead of hiding away in yer cage or yer room"
"Great, she only wants to spend time with me to work on the gadgets. Although it's not like I'd know what to do if we weren't working on tech. I can't talk to lasses for the life of me"
"Alright then Markie, tell you what. You need a distraction. And seeing as Six still wants us training on the daily, we'll get you up early, crack 'a dawn, and do a quick scenario in the actual Killing House. None of that virtual reality shite you youngsters are always banging on about. Then, rest of the day you can just chill and do whatever you like to do *that doesn't involve working on anything*. I'll take yer bloody jammers if have to"
Mark replaced his mask, before standing up and making his way over to his bedroom
"Sounds like a plan"
Mark walked out into the light drizzle that had blessed Hereford with its presence yet again. It was 0700, and he honestly just wanted to get this scenario over and done with. He planned to spend the rest of the day in the communal rec room, for once trying to interact with people other than those in his own barracks. He turned the corner to find Mike waiting patiently by the entrance to the Killing House. As he approached however, a fully kitted out Grace jumped at him with finger guns drawn from the doorway, giving him the shock of his life. Mike laughed at his reaction, before giving them the rundown
"Grace, it's the same sim you and me been working through. Make sure Markie's behaving, and I'll be back to check on yous two at 1100! Enjoy!"
He turned and began to walk away, leaning in to Mark's ear as he walked past, whispering
"Go get her lad"
"I hate you."
A/N: So, that's chapter 1. I'm aiming to get to 80k words total before I wrap up the story, so theres gonna be a few sub-plots as we follow the antics of my personal favourite couples in Rainbow.Also, cookie for anyone who can figure out why Markie's code is 1102.Thanks for reading, please review, and hopefully it won't be too long of a wait for chapter 2 - RogueCarbon