The first part of this initiation was a simple outdoor range. Wyatt found his way to the firing line and would await a signal from Thatcher. The British operator was nearby on a mic giving instructions.
"Testing, testing" the old man goes. "Aight, I'm sure you've done this type of shit before lad. Just show us what you got, no worries am I right?" he says through the mic. "Load in a magazine once you're ready, and standby until my next orders" he tells Rainbow's new initiate.
Just like ordered, Wyatt grabbed a 30 round magazine from his tactical vest. Once inserted into the magazine weld, Wyatt pulled the bolt to the rear and watch it fly back to the front after the moment of letting going. He kept the rifle pointed to the ground, but was already in a stance to raise it and fire. If Wyatt had to guess, the target in front of him was about a hundred yards. Shouldn't be a problem at all.
"Weapons up!" the British operator ordered through the mic. "Contact" upon hearing the command, Wyatt immediately aimed and fired shots. Two in the chest, and one in the head. He then lowered his weapon to await Thather's next command.
Nearby, the FBI was watching their new recruit. "Wow, he's fast" Jordan commented before looking over at Eliza.
The woman smirked as she crossed her arms. "I don't know. I'd say I'm faster" she boasted.
Jordan sighed before a smile formed on his face. "Must everything be about you?"
Thatcher forgot to turn the mic off, so everybody ended up hearing a few mumbles through the speakers. "What's that? You and a few others want a go? Well alright." It appears somebody contacted Thatcher through COMMS. Wyatt didn't remember a call being expected. Then again, this might be a last second change of plans. "Oi, erm... what's your name. Either way, we're gonna have a bit of a competition to make this interesting" Thatcher announced.
Everybody was on standby for a while before a few operators showed up at the range. One was a woodland cammied soldier with a beanie. The Russian flag was stitched onto his uniform. The other was German and had a more casual apparel, but for some reason wore a pilot helmet. Wyatt wouldn't see the helmet as effective but if that's what the operator wears, its what the operator wears.
"This the new guy?" the German asked. "I'd like to see what he's got" he adds on, his German accent as plain as day.
The Russian shrugged. "I'm a pretty good shot. Think you can take me" he challenges Wyatt.
The Ghost operator chuckles. "I'd be ashamed of myself to decline such an offer."
"Aight lads. Enough yapping and get to a spot. I'm turning on the other targets" he interrupted the trash talk. Down the range, more targets popped up. Each operator had probably half a dozen each to fire at.
"Oh man. This just got interesting" Eliza said to her fellow FBI coworker.
"You wanna place bets?" Jordan joked. Eliza didn't see it as very funny. She was however very interested to see how well Wyatt holds himself against the two original operators. "So that's a no huh?" Jordan said with disappointment. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say our sniper is going to win this one."
"Cease fire, cease fire!" the order was announced through the intercom by Thatcher's voice. "All shooters, unload."
The three operators did as command. The Russian had a smirk forming behind his bandanna while the German pilot groaned out of annoyance.
"I win. As always" the Russian claimed followed by a laughter.
Wyatt chuckled before shrugging. "Hey. I didn't get last though" Wyatt teased the German while glancing over him. That caused the foreign operator to growl before retaliating.
"Shove it" the German angrily replied before setting his gear aside and storming out of the range.
Meanwhile, Jordan laughed in the back while Eliza gazed with a cold stare while keeping her arms crossed. She'd sigh after coming up with a conclusion. "I guess he's good. Nobody ever beats Glaz in the range."
When Jordan regained his composure, he'd respond to his FBI coworker. "That's true. From what we got about the Ghost operators, their specialization varies. One thing for sure is that they live up to their name" Jordan pointed out. "Caveira and him would work well. They've already worked together before, but unfortunately we had to sweep that entire story under the rug" Jordan nervously said.
The two FBI operators watched as Wyatt and the Russian sniper, Glaz interacted. "He seems to be good at making friends" Eliza commented. Glaz seemed to be enjoying his conversation with the former Ghost operator. Though, they couldn't hear at all what the two were talking about.
Thatcher soon came into the scene. "That was some nice shooting" he complimented Wyatt. "Though, it's easy to shoot stationary targets. I hope you don't mind staying a little longer to run through one of my favorite obstacles" the old man offered with a sly smile on his face.
Wyatt raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. "Hm... I'm a bit interested to be honest."
"Wait... is he thinking of-" Eliza was quickly interrupted.
"Yeah... he's throw poor little Wyatt to the wolves" Jordan confirmed. "I'll be honest though, I am a bit interested. Wyatt and his squad had to adapt quickly on their second tour in Bolivia. Their helicopter crashed and they were both outgunned and outnumbered. Even with outdated gear, they managed to take down the leaders of that mercenary group."
The amount of information that Jordan remembered off the top of his head took in Eliza's curiosity. "You've been reading his files?" she asked.
Jordan snickered. "Well, the newer operators we've received have normally came in pairs. He showed up alone though. I wanted to know what made him so special." Jordan moved away from his current position. "Well, let's head over to the other course. We're about to see what he's really made of."
Almost an hour had past since the match between the operators took place. Thatcher had taken Wyatt into a hangar where the obstacle course was held. There were a few workers there to help out with the set up. Wyatt was quickly given enough gear to run through this course. Really, all he needed was a tactical vest which could hold a handful of magazines and flashbangs alongside a holster with a simple M9 handgun.
"Alright. Just like before, we'll let you pick which rifle you want to start out with" Thatcher would say over the intercom. Wyatt had to look around for the SAS operator until the old man was spotted at a wooden balcony with a few other spectators. Of course the two FBI agents were up there, but Glaz also wanted to watch. Looks like Wyatt will have to give them a show.
Before receiving the green light to start the course, Wyatt still had to choose a primary weapon. The armorer in the hangar had laid out the weapons that Team Rainbow uses. Wyatt had looked into the course before he geared up. It looks to be close-quarters, so the former Ghost operator thought to use an SMG. Out of the options available, Wyatt went with the FBI's UMP45. He'd prefer that it had some attachments, but it appears that the stock variant will have to do.
Once all the magazines were in his pouches, Wyatt would begin this practice operation. He'd climb up a wooden ladder which led to a platform above the obstacle. Wyatt remained still until he heard the intercom begin to speak again. "Alright lad, listen well. We're simulating the infiltration of an enemy cargo ship. You see the rope on the edge of the platform? You'll rappel down and begin the assault. I'll be your COMMs, guiding you through the ship. What you do is completely up to you" the SAS operator informs.
"Looks like he's adjusted his gear to the current situation" Glaz pointed out. Though, both Jordan and Eliza had witnessed that too.
Wyatt had received the orders to begin, but was immediately given locations of hostile units. "You've got tangos in the Captain's deck" Thatcher informed the new operator as he landed. Without hesitation, Wyatt pulled the clip of a flashbang and tossed it in with his left hand. The moment the flash of light filled up the room, Wyatt popped out of hiding and fired two shots at each wooden targets. He was a bit surprised to see that they'd automatically fall to the ground when hit. "Good! Take the staircase within the cabin!" Thatcher ordered.
The idea was for Wyatt to go through the doorway like a normal person. Instead, the Ghost went through the window and made his way to the doorway. Wyatt prevented himself from being lazy though. He'd keep the weapon aimed and peeked before entering. It's a good thing he did, otherwise the wooden target would have "shot" him first. A single shot to the head was all that was needed before Wyatt advanced downstairs.
"Hostiles in the room in front" Thatcher quickly warned. There was no worries though. Wyatt prepped another grenade and threw another flashbang through the doorway. It flew across a hallway before landing in its destination and detonating. Immediately afterwards, Wyatt breached in and took out two wooden targets. "Go through the doorway to your left" Thatcher dispatched the next instructions. Wyatt turned to his left, but before entering the doorway, noticed two drawings of figures. In other words, targets that needed to go down. Wyatt quickly fired off two shots to both their chest before advancing through the room. There was only one doorway, meaning that was where he had to go.
"Another room with hostiles across the doorway" Thatcher spoke through the intercom. Wyatt prepped his last flash grenade and threw it in. Just like the previous drills, he peeked in after the 'bang' and finished off the targets in the room. "Good! Go through the exit on your right." Wyatt did as ordered. "Sprint to the finish line!" Thatcher gave the last order. Wyatt was somewhat short of breath after the CQC drill. Though, he did end up making in such a short amount of time.
"Damn! That's definitely going in the Top 10" Thatcher announced in excitement. "Well done lad!"
Glaz couldn't help but clap his hands. "He's good" he'd look at Jordan and Eliza. "I'll look forward to working with him." And with that, the Russian sniper took his leave.
It was back to paperwork for the next few hours. For Six at least. Wyatt had done everything he needed to do. Ghost Recon agreed to send his primary and secondary loadout to Hereford Base. Unfortunately, the drone he got was of lesser quality than the one he got in Bolivia. Apparently they thought it was unnecessary, but in reality, Wyatt knew that the damn organization was just being greedy. He was a tad bit annoyed. He was hoping that the gadget he would have gotten to use with Rainbow was the proto-type camouflage he got from Silent Spade, or that weird infrared tech they found in a crashed aircraft within one of the jungles. Wyatt will at least take what he can get. He'll look over the drone he receives whenever it arrives. The Ghost remembered that Twitch was not only very into drones, but also skilled with their handiwork. Considering that the two are already well acquainted, perhaps she will assist in his gear check.
Wyatt found his way into the team's lounge. There, he noticed a few others all in civilian gear. Considering that Wyatt had read a lot of files, he knew that these people were all operators.
Two of them played pool together. One man with a thin beard and mustache wore red flannel and a black beanie. Meanwhile, the other one was of African descent and had a tight black t-shirt with FBI on the back of it. They both took notice of Wyatt entering the room. "Oh? You the new guy?" the FBI agent asked.
Wyatt nodded, but before saying anything back, he turned his head to look at the operators. They didn't seem to pay much attention to him. Two sat at a couch next to each other. One blonde female with a hoodie read a book while another one who dressed in a nice collared shirt looked like he was playing a game on his phone. Wyatt took a closer look and noticed how young he was. Definitely a guy that hasn't even reached his mid twenties. If Rainbow is accepting people this young, then he better be very skilled. Wyatt looked at the last person who was watching TV. It looked like something on the Discovery channel. She was hard to see from Wyatt's position, but what was noticeable was the brunette bob cut and what Wyatt thought looked to be of Asian descent.
"Why don't the three of you say hello? That's supposed to be 'Wraith' according to Six" the one in the flannel invited the three over into the conversation.
The blonde woman seemingly groaned before glancing over. The young one continued playing his game. The Asian however seemed more enthusiastic and fully turned around.
"Oh, hey there" she greeted. Her accent definitely didn't feel like she was Asian. She clearly grew up speaking English.
The FBI agent walked up to Wyatt to properly introduce himself. "Sorry about the awkwardness. You'll learn how weird the other operators can be." The blonde growled which only made the FBI agent chuckle. "Anyways," the man extended his arm which was quickly shaken by Wyatt. "Miles 'Castle' Campell. I'm sure you met Jordan and Eliza already, just as planned."
Wyatt nodded as he put his hand back at his side. "The name is Wyatt. I should have kept my old callsign, but they changed it to Wraith. Apparently it fits me more."
"Wraiths are a type of Ghosts I guess" the man in the flannel interrupted. "I'm Sébastien. You can just call me Buck though" the man offered. He'd point at the Asian girl. "Frost and I are with Joint Task Force 2."
Miles was waiting for the remaining two to introduce themselves, but it appears that he'd have to do it for them. "Monika is the blonde one over there. Her callsign is 'IQ' since well, she's probably the smartest out of all of us." Monika snickered at the compliment. "That one over there" Miles pointed at the one playing his game. "We call him Mute. Obviously, there's a reason for that" Miles joked, but the young man was ignoring.
"Don't worry. The guy will communicate during operations" Buck jumped in. "He might be the youngest in the team, but don't underestimate him. He's both smart and a pretty good shot."
"I would assume by now that everyone here is a good shot" Wyatt joked. "I had a shootout with Glaz and some guy with a pilot helmet. Glaz I don't think missed a shot. The other one... well, he's got a bit of an attitude" Wyatt pointed out.
Buck was over at the pool table laughing. "Uh oh" he'd look over at Monika who had a bit of an embarrassed look on her face.
"Did he cause trouble?" she asked with a bit of concern. There was definitely an accent in her voice compared to the others in the room.
Wyatt only shook his head. "No. He just pouted cause he was last place."
Monika groaned before cursing in German. "He's like that. Don't worry, he should forget about it tomorrow" she promised while continuing to read her book.
As she quickly retreated from the conversation, Wyatt examined her for a bit. He had noticed the language she spoke which led to his conclusion. "You're GSG 9?" Wyatt asked. A simple nod from the woman was all he needed.
"Well, it was nice meeting you all. I'll need to unpack in my quarters now. I was just exploring a bit of the base" Wyatt explained himself. And with that, the others would bid their farewell.
With Wyatt now out of the room, the remaining five conversed.
"He seems nice" Frost commented.
"Jordan and Eliza had already told me a bit about him. Apparently Thatcher was freaking out about the man's score from the CQC course" Miles said.
That apparently got Mute's attention. "Really now? The old man was impressed for once?" There seemed to be annoyance in his British voice.
Monika laughed. "Don't worry. He'll open up to you eventually" she tried to comfort the young operator.
"I highly doubt it" Mute murmured.
"He's the oldest and you're the youngest. He's obviously going to mess with you the most" Buck laughed.
Mute, now flustered, went back to his game. The other four continued to talk as Miles and Buck went back to their pool game. One thing was certain though. They all were looking forward to working with Wraith.
I wonder how many of you understood where Thatcher's obstacle course came from