Operator Tina Lin 'Frost' Tsang took a deep breath in, oxygen flowing over the black fabric mask as she looked squarely at what was to be her new commanding officer. The lady sat in the leather desk chair before them, seated behind the mahogany desk that had on top of it an advanced computer and reams of administration equipment, merely looked back with a serious complexion and folded arms.
Aurelia Arnot was the head woman of the famed anti-terrorist organisation, Team Rainbow. Strict and stern, and responsible for an organisation that held international prestige and responsibly in their operations, she was just the right leader for the unit. She showed she cared for her operators, despite the way she spoke, and how much it really concerned her of terrorist activities - the operators under her command knew she cared, and that was enough.
"Well, operators, you've learned everything there is to know now." Aurelia stated in a crisp voice, which gained a more friendlier tone as she spoke. "All that's left to do now is to welcome the JTF2 division of Canada a welcome into Team Rainbow."
"Thank you, ma'am." A man beside Frost greeted, the heavy drawl in his tone making the Chinese-Canadian woman turn to look to her right to see her fellow Canadian. A man of tall stature, and with a bearded, haggard complexion to his face, he looked like a true Canadian. The man was known as 'Buck', or his first name of Sebastien, but the female operator hadn't cared to find out more as they didn't know each other anyway, being from two different sections of JTF2.
In contrast, the only typical Canadian stereotype Tina abided by was that she liked maple syrup.
Frost merely gave a nod to her commanding officer's statement, her persona living up to her operator name as she just gazed at the woman at the desk, who merely contemplatively stared back for a second before going to her paperwork. The brief introduction talk to the military unit was firmly over.
"Your respective dorms are within the gender-oriented blocks. Merely ask for a free key from the reception desk to the buildings, any room of your own choosing as we've plenty to spare, and then feel free to relax for the week." Aurelia looked up for a moment from the sheet of paper she was perusing as she said her final words of the day to them. "That's also the reason you won't be getting a tour, I'm afraid. Team Rainbow is awfully low on numbers, and this week alone we're on a big recruitment drive for people like yourselves. So, take the week off, and once again, thank you, and good luck operators."
A quick salute to their commanding officer, and the Canadian operators soon found themselves outside the door to the office, which smoothly slid shut with the minimum of noise. Frost, meanwhile, took one glance at Buck; before then turning around and beginning to stride off. It wasn't that she was trying to be rude, but she never had been a hugely social person. Standing around and making small talk wasn't something she was too comfortable with, as shown by the fact that she had no idea what to do with this sudden granted week off.
Sebastien meanwhile, looked at the diminishing figure of his fellow operator with a raised eyebrow at being given the proverbial icy shoulder after their eyes had met, before shrugging. They would both be busy for the day settling in anyway.
FEMALE DORM BLOCK.
Having collected a key in the same manner of speaking that she had used with everyone else that day, Tina crested the last step of the flight of stairs she had taken to get up there, and stepped onto the landing to stand still for a moment, before exhaling. A heavy, clear plastic box was being clutched in her arms which contained some of the items she was going to put in her room, having dragged it all the way up four storeys of stairs in one go. The key, that the Canadian woman had learnt in the harsh terrain when training in her home country, was all in the breathing exercises as she then lightly inhaled and continued forth.
A few paces down a velvet-red carpeted hallway, brightly lit by the strip lighting above her head, had her in front of one of just seven doors within that corridor, and stopped outside the first pair to evaluate the numbers upon them. Brown eyes overlooked the door numbered '14' on her first glance, as she then put down the large plastic box - rattling slightly not because of how lightly she tried to put it down, but because there wasn't a lot of room in there to rattle against. It was all she needed - the room had been promised to be fully furnished, and besides, she'd never been one for a lot of personal effects. As a consequence, she had jam packed all her items that she'd brought with her into three, large plastic boxes for ease of not taking up a lot of space. But it meant that she could only carry one box at a time due to their sheer weight - having to carry it by balancing it on top of her arms rather than by the handles to stop it from being too much to take up the stairs.
"Having trouble?" Came a heavy-toned, slightly high-pitched feminine voice from behind her as Frost paused in taking the key from out of her pocket from where she stooped over the box; blinking a little in surprise, before scowling somewhat for being taken by surprise. Twisting her head to look behind her, her masked visage fell upon another resident upon the same floor as her - and met an identical look on the face of the person behind her.
The first thing she saw was the masked visage of another operator, which in turn made Frost look a little more in surprise at the woman before her. Standing up fully, Tina stayed quiet for a moment as she tried to process what to say to what was evidently one of her new neighbours, since the other operator now crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway to evaluate her. Responding in kind, Tina took the chance to delay her response by evaluating the newcomer.
The woman was a clear light blonde, the hair managed in such a way that it fell evenly down the sides and back of her head, and cut down to a short length so it only just covered the entirety of her ears. Light blue eyes twinkled over the top of the mask, signalling to Tina the personality of a more outgoing woman before her, being framed against a lightly tanned skin colour that contrasted against the jet black fabric mask which covered the entirety of the jaw, mouth and nose of the woman. Her body language matched the expression in her eyes, a relaxed slack in her frame as she leaned against the wooden doorframe and just casually watching Frost from her vantage point. Swathed in a causal, dark green sports outfit that had a white stripe going down the left side and was evidently a size too large from the way it hung slightly off her body, it seemed to match her personality well.
She was also a very tall woman, forcing Frost to shift her eyes upwards slightly from under the beanie she was wearing to meet the light blue gaze her new neighbour sent her way. If the Chinese-Canadian had to guess, she was just breaching the six foot four height mark, making her taller than even the vast majority of men she had come across. Not only that, but the tanned skin clearly showed off something else as well - a clearly athletic body that was kept in very good shape, a good definition of muscle framing the arms that were crossed together as the woman slumped against the doorway.
"No, no trouble." Came out Tina's voice for quite literally the first time that day, making the blonde opposite her tilt her head slightly at melodiously clear, lightly-toned voice that came out through her own mask. "Thank you."
Correcting her head to properly look upon the smaller, clearly Canadian woman from the large red and white flag emblem on her left arm of her military uniform, the blonde took that time to analyse her for a second time. The body language of the also Asian-looking woman was somewhat stiff, as well as unsure - pointing to a more reclusive personality that didn't mean she was uncomfortable around other people per se, but rather perhaps found trying to entertain a conversation more awkward than others. The more guarded expression in the chocolate brown eyes of the Chinese-Canadian certainly meant it would be a more difficult time earning the trust of the woman before her than others, something which made the blonde smile a bit more widely as she began to relish the new challenge. What sort of neighbour would she be otherwise?
The appearance was certainly something that appealed to her too. In the way that her mask contrasted against her own face, the new operator before her took it a higher level - the dark black very clearly stood out against the creamy, porcelain skin. A black beanie covered the top of her head, allowing a light black curtain of hair to fall down through it that was cut shorter than her own, coming halfway to her ears as it was obviously managed better than her own blonde hair in her casual state - meticulously brushed to make it as straight as possible. It looked longer on her than it would on somebody else, somewhat because of its carefully managed style, and primarily because of the shorter stature of the woman - around five foot four, a whole head shorter than the blonde woman. Much to her amusement as she looked down.
It seemed the Canadian also felt more comfortable in her military uniform, clearly made for the colder climate of Canada - as it was made up of a thick, insulated material with a hardened polymer on the outside and a fur-like covering inside. It was adorned with an arctic-like forest camouflage scheme of white, grey and little bits of black that would meld well with snow, as the camo scheme extended from the black combat boots up to the collar she kept up around her neck. Tactical webbing lay unbuckled across her torso, providing some form of storage and protection as well as protective pads around her kneecaps and elbows, giving a hint into her combat mentality - someone who liked to go prone a lot. Possibly ambush.
It seemed that the Canadian had deemed the short exchange over, as she turned back to the door and withdrew a key from a pocket in the webbing she wore, and then smoothly inserting it into the lock and turning it with a singular hand flourish. It was a shame for the shorter woman then, that the blonde had not deemed it over, instead picking up the box to help her as Frost whirled her head around at the sound.
"What are you doing?" She asked after just a second of looking at, to her, the strange motion of a stranger just picking up her belongings.
"Helping you." Came the short response, and a light-hearted airy chuckle following it as scrutiny appeared on the face of the Canadian.
"I didn't ask for your help." A stubborn tone filtered into the statement.
Another chuckle came from the woman this time as the scrutiny deepened on Tina's face, finding it ever more strange that this woman was finding it funny to the moderately rude statement she had made that usually made others back off. Indeed, the woman had lowered the mask covering her face to show off a mouth of grinning white teeth to show off her high spirits.
"I know." The tall, sports-attire adorned woman returned with a matter-of-factly, knowing chirpy voice as she just looked down to the smaller woman with a bemused look in her blue eyes. "That still doesn't stop me from helping you, does it?"
The light-hearted tone to the blonde's tone stayed Frost's annoyance from being pronounced further, as she instead settled for just another stubborn statement. "Yes, well, I have only three boxes to take up here. I can manage them perfectly well myself." Tina responded with her own matter-of-fact voice, albeit with a more stubborn edge.
However, it turned out to be the wrong thing to say, as the blonde took the chance to win the enjoyable mini challenge she had stumbled onto simply by being in her room at the right time. "All the better to finish it off quickly, with some help then, no?" The question was stated smoothly - but obviously in a rhetorical fashion as she merely nudged towards the now open door. "Come on, it'll take only one more trip for the two of us after this box is in."
Seeing that the absurdly tall woman, to her much shorter perspective, was just digging her heels in the face of her quite stubborn statements, she just sighed and took what was now the easier route laid out before her. "Fine." She sighed, and pushed open the door fully to allow the two to step in and observe what would be the Chinese-Canadian's new home.
It was a very large room, meant to be a bedroom and living room rolled up into one with a section of wall in the corner for a small bathroom, and a worktop in the other corner containing a sink, fridge and oven top. Not a fully stocked kitchen by any means, but merely something to suffice for making a small meal in privacy - the main cafeteria on the base handled the rest. The floor was a cyan, soft carpet that contrasted nicely against the magnolia painted walls - a window set into the wall allowing the view of a green space of the area outside.
Without further ado, the blonde deposited the crammed box onto the double bed set against the wall, before looking over to the new operator with a soft smile set into her face. "You know, I never got the name of both my latest teammate on missions and neighbour."
Tina broke her gaze away from looking at the plants outside to look straight into the blonde's blue ones. "Neither did I." She responded back.
A singular chortle came out of that, making Frost look strangely to the woman who found her personality humorous instead of being snubbed like Sebastien often felt like, to the extent that despite being countrymen in the same organisation, they didn't speak outside of missions. So for her to receive this reaction, was frankly quite strange.
"Fair enough." The blonde stated, before sitting on the bed and putting her hands together as she looked to Tina. "I'm Monika Weiss, part of the GSG9 unit that was sent here." She briefly explained, before then shrugging and raising her voice with a bit more elation in it. "Otherwise known as IQ on missions!"
Tina took that in for a brief moment, before huffing slightly from behind her mask and folding her arms, drawing the German's humour as she answered the now-named Monika. "Tina Lin Tsang of the JTF2 organisation." She answered concisely, focusing on IQ's happy expression with a regarding look of her own. "Or Frost."
A clap from the German was the form of response she got, as Monika stood back up again and held out a hand. "Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Tina!" She cheerily greeted now that the introduction was out of the way, making the named woman raise an eyebrow at the use of her first name by someone who just seconds ago had been a stranger. "Welcome to Team Rainbow!"
"I... suppose." Frost responded quieter than the exuberant German, taking a moment to think on how to respond before just settling for a polite response. "Thank you."
A grin overcame the German's face, showing white teeth for a second before Monika pointed to the door. "No problem." She replied. "Wanna get the rest of your stuff?"
Having accepted by this point that the German was not going to leave her to her own, unsocial devices, Tina merely gave a nod and went back through the door into the corridor. "You look like you could handle both boxes at once anyway." She commented, hands now by her sides as she analytically gazed at the deemed strange German operator.
The grin remained on the German's face at the comment, flexing her arm slightly to tense the powerful exposed muscle lining the right arm as she closed the door with it. "I most definitely can if it was like that first box. The result of years of having the best tutelage in the field of close combat and military expertise within my unit." She proudly stated with a closed eyes smile, tilting her head slightly to allow her blonde hair to slant across her face and dangle before looking back to Tina literally slightly below her vision. "You gotta maintain it every day. I was gonna head to the gym shortly after you turned up."
The reaction to Monika's actions was hidden by the mask to the Canadian's face, her eyes certainly giving nothing away as the analytical gaze within did not cease. "Well, I shouldn't hold you up then." She spoke out instead, making the German operator raise an eyebrow now. "Thank you for the help."
The stare continued for a second, before an actual melodious laugh sounded from the German, a light-pitched and humour-filled piece of laughter instead of the previous short chuckles. Gathering herself after a few moments, IQ looked back down to Frost with her grin returning and a resolute twinkle in her eye. "Nice try." Was all she said, before patting the shoulder of the petite woman. "But not every day has to be a workout day."
Tina merely regarded the operator before her for a second, before the understanding she'd gained of the personality of Monika thus far pointed out there was no point in being stubborn - only having been proven when the German disregarded all efforts with taking a singular box into her room. "Fine." She let out as she crossed her arms.
Another laughter sounded, as for some reason the blonde operator saw fit to pat her on the head this time, making Frost so confused on how to feel that she just eyeballed Monika with some disbelief. "Good." Was all IQ simply stated with a cheery tone.
Another huff came from behind the mask, before the thinking on the operator spurred another question in her mind as she looked to the two other rooms in the corridor. "So who are the other neighbours?" Frost questioned with a bored-like tone.
Monika gave a hum as she looked to the doors that had been gestured at, before giggling slightly and looking back down. "There's nobody else." She answered with a chirpy tone, making the Canadian raise an eyebrow at the fact that there was an entire corridor just for the two of them.
"It's just the two of us?" Tina asked with some disbelief. "But there's four other rooms here!"
"Yep!" Came another giggle from the big German. "But the two next to our rooms are just storage rooms. One used for a lot of cleaning supplies, the other has just a couple of crates in it - trust me, I looked when I got bored. Then, as you'll notice if you look a little harder - the two doors beyond those are different - a fire exit, and the doors to the lift-"
"Wait, a lift?" Tina dropped her slightly cold personality for a moment as she indeed looked towards the metal doors to the now noticeable lift, interrupting Monika as some annoyance crossed her eyes. "If I'd have known that..."
Another bit of laughter made her look back to the tall blonde, who actually put her hand to her mouth to try and hold back the peals of laughter at the frustration adorning Tina's face, who looked even more annoyed then at that. This made IQ use her free hand to wave it in a conciliatory manner as the other was stayed in front of her mouth until she calmed down. "Sorry, sorry..." She trailed off slightly at a slight hiccup of laughter, before speaking again in a still heavily amused, lightly-pitched voice that contained the vestiges of laughter. "But you have to admit that is a bit funny."
Frost's eyes just regarded IQ as her eyes uncrossed themselves from their annoyed glance as her mask covered the rest of the expression, before she spoke. "Either way-" She started, getting over the topic. "-it is helpful now to know that, thank you. It can be used for the other two boxes."
The waving hand quickly made a gesture of a stopping action, making Tina look to Monika as the blonde spoke an objection. "Hold up, that's no way to do things like that!" She exclaimed with exuberance, before pointing her thumb to the stairs. "Besides, you wanted me to go do my exercise, right? Then let's take the stairs!"
Knowing full well from even just the past ten minutes of conversation, Frost didn't question a single thing as she just turned around and began walking to the stairs. "Fine." Was all she said in the face of such a situation again, making the German smile, before hastening forth to join her fellow operator on the stairs.
Somehow only joining her on the floor below theirs despite her bigger stature and hurried pace, IQ remarked on the quick nature of new neighbour and spoke up. "You know, I was meaning to ask anyway." The blonde said. "Why did you choose the very top floor?" A healthy amount of curiosity filled her tone.
Frost cast a half-lidded gaze at her more energetic counterpart, and decided to give her a response. She could at least entertain a conversation that wasn't on topics she had no idea of or wasn't prepared to deal with, especially since her new neighbour was doing most of the questioning anyway. "Rather simple actually." She let out with a neutral tone. "I am not that much of a social person. So when I asked for the quietest part of the block they had, I was pretty much instantly given that room key - and now I know why." Tina explained, before looking at Monika seriously. "Which is why I will give you my only apology now for any of my rudeness or rigid statements."
A chuckle in the form of a more placating manner came her way this time, as Monika gave her another eye-smile. "Oh, don't apologise! You'll make me feel bad when you haven't done anything!" The blonde spoke with a resolute tone.
Giving a shrug, Frost just nodded to that. "OK then." She spoke, before reversing the topic back onto the lively operator. "Why were you in the quietest part of the building?" She looked out the edge of right eye in a considering gaze, her growing suspicions deepening as the German faltered somewhat.
It was quickly recovered though, as IQ put a bound in her step and looked to the Canadian with a smile. "It has a great rooftop garden, that I simply adore! It-"
She quietened down as Frost immediately halted in the stairs, stopping beside her as a troubled frown came over her, before becoming shocked as the smaller woman turned around and glared at her. It wasn't a look of the previous annoyance that had come over the woman and made her eyes look almost crossed and creased in the emotion, but rather this was a pointed stare of hate-filled frustration that made Monika simply recoil a bit.
"You know." Frost stated with a clarity-filled, neutral voice that defied all of the mannerisms IQ had got used to over the time they had been talking - no crossed arms, eyes or slightly admonishing tone. Instead, it was an actual pointed glare, complete with a tense body language and clarity-ridden voice showing in its own way that the woman knew exactly what she was talking about. "I hate it when people lie to me, and themselves."
The German faltered again, despite the height difference as the pointed glare just brought back the fears of the blonde woman that she'd tried to keep buried. Somehow, in the way the Canadian merely stood, it was like Frost knew all about her.
"Don't think I haven't picked up the signs. I have worked alongside many people and organisations in my time in the military, including psychology from the search and rescue - I know when someone is lying to me." Tina stated with a little anger in her voice, before turning back and beginning to stride back down the stairs. "The biggest offence though, is that you're lying to yourself."
It seemed that something snapped within the blonde then, as quicker than Frost had ever seen someone move within her entire career of military service, Monika had picked her up by the webbing and backed her against the wall of the stairwell. Rage blazed within the eyes of the German at the words that had been thrown at her, making her feel uncomfortable to the extent that she countermanded with her own anger.
"What do you know?!" She exclaimed angrily, tightening her grip as Frost's hands rose up and gripped the clenched fists in the preparation of a clear technique to throw off an opponent.
"The fact that you responded in such a manner means I know plenty, as only the truth would make you feel as such - not the lies you recently fed me, and have been feeding yourself for probably a long time." Tina's voice was still spoken with clarity, an edge of conviction filling it as she continued her dialogue. "But you want to know? Very well then. Nobody puts on such a personality when meeting a random stranger such as I, particularly in the context of them being a new long-term figure such as being neighbours - your body language does not match up to the personality."
"So what?!" The blonde woman snarled, mouth actually being drawn back to match the aggressive tone as she moved her body closer to force Tina back further. "They all know that here, that I fake it! Don't feel special in spotting that!"
"But do they notice the mannerisms?" Tina countered to that, still clutching on with a voice unwavering. The blonde woman would not hurt her - the situation was in her control, despite what any onlooker might say. "You deliberately pointed out the stairs in an act of spending more time with me. Me, a figure who has never met you before - which only points out that as I do not know you, I cannot have judged you yet. You wanted to spend more time with a stranger, most likely because you have been judged in some way by everyone else you know. It all points to the same - you are suffering from a sort of social setting that has made you deceitful to yourself, perhaps even desperate."
Monika's grip has loosened little by little over the course of Tina's speech, the most the Canadian woman had said to her at all that day, and it clearly had a massive effect on the emotional state of the taller woman. It wasn't that anything Frost had said was particularly hurtful, but rather personal - to the extent that it had initially felt like an attack, making the blonde woman snap in the first place.
"You wouldn't wear that mask otherwise." Frost stated softly, the edge of conviction being lost from her voice - but none of the clarity.
The lips of the German trembled slightly at that, before as quick as a flash, IQ let go of Frost and hurriedly pulled up her mask to cover her now quivering expression entirely - and rubbing the corner of her eyes with the palm of her hand as she said just one last thing. "Well, now you know." Monika let out just as softly, her tone now filled with a deep-rooted tiredness. The expression in her eyes had very much lost their twinkle, now containing sadness - and regret.
It was clear that the blonde woman regretted snapping as she did, and Tina could only guess how she felt. A possible chance in making a friend in someone who had something likely in common, or at the very least was her neighbour, gone. She should know.
But it didn't matter what either thought or planned there, as the exchange was forcibly ended by Monika turning around and striding off - her body language showing off a tiredness that would've made her movements slow, but filled with a regret that hastened her actions to escape the situation. After just a second of taking the steps three at a time, the blonde woman was already out of sight back up to their floor - before Tina sighed.
She too, regretted doing that. But she just couldn't have stood by to experience that again, the sheer ease of which the German had snapped after only fifteen minutes of dialogue showed the extent of it.
So, the Canadian turned too, and began to descend the stairs. She'd take both boxes, and go in the lift.
TEN MINUTES LATER.
A knock occurred on the door to room fifteen, and then silence resumed for a few moments as it remained untouched. Only for the knocking to return - with heavier force.
It swung open on the fourth knock as Monika finally had enough of the incessant noise, eyes slightly reddened but mostly having pulled herself back into her shell by the time the constant knocking had occurred on her door. Eyes roaming the corridor for a second from above the black fabric mask now pulled taut on her nose, her sight landed on the source of the knocking pretty quickly - and widened just as quickly.
Stood there, was Tina. Still swathed in her military uniform, it was apparent that she had quickly moved her items into her room all the whilst thinking on the subject Monika had been trying to get over - and here she was.
She never got a chance to talk as Frost spoke up first, unlike the previous time. "You know, the leader of Rainbow told me they couldn't provide tours because of the lack of manpower, but you look free to me." Tina let out with a deliberate bored-like tone, an eyebrow raising nonchalantly as she then posed a question. "Want to give me the tour?"
Monika couldn't help but blink a bit at that, confusion creasing her face for a second before she realised what it was - a chance not gone. She smiled a bit.
LATER.
The tour had lasted well over an hour and forty minutes, despite the fact that it should have taken no more than twenty, before they found themselves at the bar, as to be expected on a British military installation. And as to be expected of a German, Monika had ordered her favourite beer right away to the table Frost was sitting at before the Canadian woman had even had a chance to peruse the choices what was available.
"If I might so recommend-" Monika stated with a heavy Germanic accent as she pointed to the drinks menu Tina was clutching, making brown eyes disengage from staring into light blue ones to regard the lines of writing the German's finger pointed to. "-try this beer out. It is a favourite for both me and the GSG9 squad."
Giving a grunt, Tina just put down the menu and shook her head. "I don't care for a heavy drink right now." She responded, making the German cock her head a bit. "I'll go with a cider."
Given how they were the only two operators sat in the bar at midday of all times, the alcohol arrived very quickly and they were soon just sitting down and sipping, Frost somewhat mentally preparing herself for a true conversation that IQ seemed more excited about.
"So, when did you get the invitation to join the unit?" The blonde woman asked, peering over the edge of the glass of drink she had just taken a swig from.
A quick flicker of the eyes upward in thought above the mask before settling back onto her was made, as Tina then spoke. "Just over a month ago."
Monika raised an eyebrow at that, some curiosity clearly shown in her expression. "That's a bit soon for making a whole career change into a unit like this, don't you think?"
Tina raised an eyebrow of her own in response, some pondering about the curiosity displayed in her tone and language. "Not really." She replied. "I have the qualifications, and besides, Canada is a very safe country compared to others. I help more people and do a lot more by doing this - it wasn't too hard to think about."
With a small shrug, IQ just conceded to that. "I guess so." She said. "But what qualifications would those be?"
"A spell in the air force, graduated top of an officer's course with a degree in science and mechanical engineering, served a tour with a CQB unit including in the Search and Rescue side of things; before joining JTF2." Frost rattled off neutrally as if going through a checklist, as IQ looked on with an impressed expression. Pulling down the mask slightly and taking a swig of the cider right from the bottle, ignoring the glass provided, the fabric was back on the Canadian's face before the operator just opposite her even got a look. "Yourself?" She merely redirected the topic.
The German held up her glass with a tilt towards Tina at that, before taking a long drink before responding. "I can't say my own has been as decorated as yours. I just took a long time getting good in my field of electronics, even took a whole degree in it at MIT, before I joined a special police branch called the BPOL for a couple of years. Managed to get promoted a few times, transferred to GSG9, and et voila as our GIGN comrades would say - got attached to the those being moved to Rainbow."
A small hum came from the woman opposite her, as she spoke. "It certainly sounds impressive." Tina idly commented, missing the appreciative look on Monika's face that had bloomed there. "Don't doubt yourself so much."
"Ah." Was all the German said, not quite sure what to say. "Right."
Seeing the slight indecision in the blonde's eyes and taking a seconds bemusement from it, Tina moved on with asking her what she had first posed. "When did you join Rainbow then?"
"Just over a year ago." Monika responded with a nonchalant tone. "I've been here ever since the unit's reactivation."
Another hum came with that response, this time with a raised pitch to signal an expression of slight inspiration. "In a unit like this, since its beginning again? See, you've done well."
A smile overcame the German's face as she held out a small thumbs up at the professionally spoken praise. "Thanks!"
Looking up from her cider, Frost merely gave a small nod to that, her own expression lost to the mask covering her face. She merely mused on how easy it had been to cheer up the operator opposite her.
THE NEXT DAY.
"Sorry I forgot to show you the range yesterday." IQ stated in a chirpy way that showed she wasn't sorry in the slightest. "But let's have a competition now, eh?"
"Competition?" Tina remarked with a half-lidded expression, her eyes giving off a look of thought. "In what way?"
A small smirk came onto the German's face as she heard that, proceeding with the challenge she was laying down. Opening up the metal case she had requisitioned from her room for this explicit purpose, Tina leaned in slightly to see that laid amongst a nestle of specifically moulded protective foam, lay two pistols.
"The P12." Monika announced, with some pride in her voice which alerted the Canadian to the fact that she was obviously familiar - and skilled with usage of the weapon. "A standard issue with the German unit. I want to use the pistol for just a short little competition in seeing who can shoot all eight rounds in the magazine the most accurate."
Picking up one of the pistols out of the foam casing, Frost took a moment to observe the solid, metallic black weapon, obviously well cared for from the reflective sheen on the steel of it. Looking over it, Tina observed how the barrel was perhaps slightly longer than what seemed to be an actual standard, before reaching forth with her left hand to grasp the slider on the top of the weapon. Pulling it back, she was a bit surprised with the sheer heaviness of which it slid back, expecting such a weapon to be lighter - before suddenly whipping the pistol round to gaze at the bottom of the grip, making IQ pause; a bit confused as she saw Frost stare scrutinisingly at the pistol.
"This is your own weapon, isn't it?" Tina asked aloud as her eyes glanced to the blonde woman, her expression showing that the question was somewhat rhetorical as if she knew right away. Monika nodded nonetheless, making a bit of satisfaction enter the Canadian's face. "I thought so. It is clearly a custom-made weapon." Tilting the weapon to look at the side of it, she gave a nod. "It is lacking a lot of the serial numbers, and it has a few noticeable modifications, tailored." Her eyes once more locked onto blue ones, unblinking as she delivered the final verdict. "Tailored to someone of your bigger stature and strength, which is quite impressive really. You've even upped the calibre of the weapon than what the standard issue chambers, given the stiffness of the slider and reworking of the inner components. You told me you did electrical engineering, not weapons crafting."
A peal of laugher came from the German as she closed her eyes as she did so, pulling down the mask to get better access to oxygen from the assessment of the heavily modified pistol. Frost once more tilted her head slightly as the blonde yet again confused her, not so sure what to find funny about her observation of the P12 pistol she was holding, nor her comments. It took a minute, but IQ got herself under control, looking down to the Canadian with a wide grin.
"Yep." She cheerily stated. "You didn't tell me you were good at it, either."
"Certainly not as good as this." Tina responded, eyes flicking back to the modified pistol. "But I did tell you - I told you that I took mechanical engineering as a part of a degree in an officer's course. Of course part of it would be focused upon weaponry."
"Ah." Monika let out, before just plucking the other pistol out of the box to move on with the topic. "How about we just get on with that competition?"
A slightly bemused expression entered Frost's eyes as she just nodded, and then following after Monika as they exited the small locker room they'd been in, and entering a very large room that acted as the underground firing range of the base. A grey brick wall, with a metre-by-metre window set at intervals along it acted as the divider between the 'safe zone' and the wide open space beyond it, where a set of mechanical, standard circular targets lay all along the floor and walls in white lanes extending from the windows.
Monika stepped up the lane marked '2', one of only two booked lanes that had a green light aside it as Tina stepped up to the window on her right. Observing what lay before her, it was merely a wooden ledge with a couple of metal magazines and ear defenders placed atop it, chambered with already loaded live ammunition. Looking round, she saw Frost place one of her magazines in a front pocket of the webbing she wore and hold the other one in her hand in preparation, before she turned to the man on the other side of her who was watching them. Sat at a desk with a couple of computer screens on it, he was in control of the range as she gave a thumbs up, and received a nod in return.
"This is a short, booked session of only sixteen bullets for each individual, shot in two rounds of eight bullets." The man announced into the microphone he had to alert the entire range - which currently consisted of only three people. "Participants are reminded to stick to safety protocol at all times, including the ceasing of all weapons handling upon the appearance of the emergency blue light or the sounding of two tones with the buzzer. Should you for any reason need to stop weapons activities, switch the safety of your weapon to on and then place it down on the ledge to allow me visual clearance to see you have stopped. You may begin upon the singular tone of the buzzer."
A couple of seconds passed, before a loud, buzzing claxon suddenly sounded across the entire underground area, stopping as suddenly as it came before IQ's hands were already picking up one of the magazines, slotting it into the weapon and slamming back the slider in one, fluent experienced motion. A small smirk came to her lips as she saw Frost more clumsily pull back the stiff slider, despite having started before her with the magazine already in hand, before closing one eye and stilling her breathing as she pointed the barrel of the pistol down range. Aligning the the points of reference up to the centre of the circular target, her finger uncurled from beyond the trigger guard, and pulled it back in a smooth motion.
The loud crack that split open the stillness of the atmosphere around them, as well as the bright flash of the muzzle from the gun on her left had been experienced too many times by Tina to put her off now. Instead, she too controlled her breathing and aimed the weapon in a precise fashion down range, choosing to act a little different by squeezing the trigger faster.
The loud retorts and muzzle flashes ended after only a minute of firing, making the claxon sound twice as IQ swiftly placed her pistol with care down on the ledge, and inhaling the smell of cordite into her nose. "Reload." Came the crackling voice over the speakers, allowing them five seconds of time before fresh targets on each lane swung down from the ceiling this time with the accompanied singular buzz of the claxon.
Frost opened fire this time first, as Monika joined her just a second after.
The buzzer sounded so quickly to Tina, that it was as if the man pushed it as soon as she'd put the gun down - which it probably was. Scooping it back up as she knew whose it was, she joined IQ at walking up the man at the desk who was clicking open a few programs before turning around the computer screen to show four boxes off for the four targets they'd shot at. Just like that, the man turned back to what he'd been doing before and didn't speak again.
"Looks like I win!" Monika announced happily with an eye-smile, as Frost continued looking at the scores for a second, to validate that Monika really had been much more accurate than her in the hit-points upon the target.
Brown eyes met blue as Tina spoke up. "Congratulations." She simply remarked, but it succeeded in making Monika's smile widen.
"Well, c'mon!" Monika exclaimed as she made a gesture with her hand as she began to walk out of the range with a fast pace. "I've got a better competition for us to do!"
"What?" Frost let out in surprise, having got used to Monika's 'challenges' by now, but was still taken by surprise by the sheer energy of the woman.
Nothing was told to her as the weapons were quickly stowed back into the case, and rather than take them back to the room which was in the dorm building a fair distance away from where they were now, they just went upstairs to right above the range. Upon entering the big hall, Frost took a moment to survey before sending a half-lidded gaze towards IQ.
"Ah." Tina let out as she eyed the raised platform in the middle of the room. "I should've guessed given your gym routine and love for challenges."
It was a boxing ring. A raised platform covered in navy blue mats with a padded fence around it, and three rows of ascending seating covering the three sides of the hall that wasn't the entrance. As they stepped in, it was just them that were occupying the big hall space.
"Yep, you should've." IQ responded with a happy tone as she leapt up onto the platform and vaulted the padded fence in one go, before turning around and slumping down onto it to address Frost. "I'm the champion, I'll have you know!"
"They do tournaments here?" Frost inquired with some interest.
"Every month." Monika replied with a nod of the head, pointing to a board on the wall which was clearly a ranking list, marked with the operator codenames in a numbered checklist. "See? I'm on the top." It was indeed, with the bold letters of 'IQ' sitting in the number one spot.
"Right. Congrats." Tina repeated herself from earlier, before looking back to the taller woman and making a remark. "I hope you're not expecting a great challenge then. I may be CQB operator, but that doesn't mean my hand-to-hand is my strong point."
A pair of fingerless fabric gloves were thrown at her, as the German just smirked once more. "Of course not." She spoke. "But every operator at Rainbow has to fight in an urban environment, requiring at least a good set of hand-to-hand skill. I never said you had to beat me, I just wish to see how good yours is."
Swiping the gloves out of the air, Frost looked to her for a second, a masked expression gazing at a smirking unmasked one before in just a couple of seconds Tina had already thrown her webbing onto an empty chair. The military tunic followed soon after, the shorter Canadian woman now in only a black, sleeveless sports shirt.
"I suppose I don't have anything better to do." Frost simply remarked as she took the stairs, slipping on the gloves as she did so before entering the boxing ring - and immediately tilting her head left as a punch was thrown her way. It certainly wasn't as fast as Tina would've expected such a hit from IQ, but it had particularly come at a surprise when she wasn't ready. Only her reflexes had allowed her to dodge like that. "But that seems a bit early, no?"
The smirk remained on the blonde's face as she withdrew her fist and settled into a loose stance. "It's how I've stayed champion." IQ responded. "Keeping on the offence."
Nothing more was said, as they sized each other up for a moment, before Frost too put up a guard in front of her face, and just in time as Monika stamped her left leg forward to propel more energy into a right hook thrown at the torso. This had given enough time for Tina to dodge left though, as she responded with a left hook of her own that did strike true to Monika's left shoulder. All that was heard from the blonde woman though was a grunt, as she lashed out with a left punch, further driving Tina left before Monika pulled a finishing move - driving her angled left shoulder right into the Canadian to send her sprawling to the mats below.
Only for an arm to seize her on the way down, and pull her back up before her torso even hit the ground, making Tina breathe in suddenly at the unexpected movements and the close proximity, before Monika clapped her on the shoulder. "Twenty-five seconds." Monika stated boisterously. "Don't worry, you lasted longer than Doc did."
Taking a step back, Tina spoke. "That was brutal. I'll admit, I didn't expect any of that, despite what you'd said." She admitted, getting a thumbs up in response from IQ. "Has anybody lasted a good while against you?"
"Yeah. Seamus, or Sledge from the SAS. He's the rank beneath me, and lasted the longest at one hundred and forty seven seconds." Monika informed her, making Frost nod to her.
"Show me a few moves then." Tina requested, before curling her own fist inwards as she motioned IQ forwards. "I won't last solidly against you a fight, but if you don't try too hard, then I think I should do better."
A challenging smile came over the German as she too, settled into another stance. "Oh, you're on." She stated in response.
The strikes came slower this time, deliberately coordinated by the blonde woman to be noticeable by a less skilful opponent but still aimed at critical areas so as to still simulate a proper fight and force the opponent to take defensive measures. Frost definitely observed this as she had spent the past minute managing to deflect the slower punches, which at their lesser speed contained less power - so could be deflected and blocked by someone with less physical strength like her. As she did when she blocked a blow from the left with a deflective elbow, and then countered with her free hand right into the left ribs of her sparring partner.
Only for Monika to swipe her own hand down and parry it, and then use the momentum to continue forth in a left hook right for Tina's shoulder. However, surprise filtered onto the German's face as she didn't expect her opponent to just simply duck her punch, dodging downwards before swerving anti-clockwise, transferring that momentum to another hit of her own. As such, Monika in her current mind state of taking it easier on her opponent was surprised by the sudden quick dodging motion of her opponent, and couldn't dodge in time to stop Tina's right-hand punch right into her torso. There was enough force within the strike that it made Monika have to pitch her left leg back to stabilise her wobbling stance, the impact making the German wheeze out a bit of air both from shock and the projection of power to the area containing the lungs and heart.
"Wow." Monika commented as soon as she sucked in a replacement batch of air. "To think you wanted me to go so easy on you... I didn't expect that."
Tina's head tilted a bit in a nodding to the side motion to show off a gesture of slight achievement. "Agility." She commented in response. "You seem to have a flaw with agility, if you could not perceive such an action occurring. Besides, I never said to take it so easy."
A more cocky smirk made its way onto Monika's face as she clearly began to relish the upcoming time in the spar further. "Then allow me to step it up."
Sure enough, the Canadian operator noticed that not only had the overall flow of the battle now sped up, but there was a multitude of other factors that had also seemingly sharpened up from where the German had taken it easy on her for the past ten minutes. A variety of them could be predicted by anyone, as the aggressiveness of the fight stepped up with more strikes towards critical areas (not lethal, as it was a spar, but it would hurt) and the concentration of IQ 'stepped up' - as Frost began to struggle. What she had not noticed before, and did now was that the guard of her sparring opponent had tightened, not allowing a singular strike to land now as instead of taking it easy, now had cranked it up to a level where she was wasn't dominating, but rather pushing Frost beyond her standard.
This continued for the next two hours. Both operators would press each other, one bigger woman having a better time as she would be the only one to actually land strikes, as they worked around the ring and continued attempts on one another. Frost was certainly trying, struggling even as she had yet to land a singular hit on the blonde woman ever since she had stopped 'taking it easy', but neither had she made it too easy - using her somewhat superior agility to stay away from the majority of the strikes. For to block them now was too much - the strength of her sparring opponent just had too great a margin between them that even a block of such a punch made her wince - and it made her in slight awe to know that this still wasn't the woman's full strength.
It showed as she was basically dripping with sweat at this point. She had always had good stamina, a requirement for such a job, but it was now being run ragged after two solid hours of dancing around the same place and engaging in mock fighting. Being pushed constantly by IQ had her falling back on the breathing exercises she knew just to stay in the game as long as she had, and even that had her inhalations being sucked in at a deeper pace and a slight quivering in each lungful. Her black sports top was clinging to her body from the coating of sweating that glistened on her skin and hair, which certainly amused her opponent.
Speaking of which, IQ was fairing better. Having spent years participating in the sport, she knew how to pace herself in a spar - especially as she was the one setting the pace for a partner who would, by now, soon by too physically tired to continue. Her skin didn't glisten like her partner's did, but her hair certainly had a sheen of sweat in it too - as she decided to go for bigger strikes to try and end this now in a more explosive fashion.
And giving Frost just the change in battle she had been seeking.
Having not once ducked after the initial lucky strike, Tina had planned to utilise that success in a repeat fashion - but only after some time had passed. Aware that the German would've been on the lookout for any such attempts again, she instead allowed time to pass and make her opponent arrange her guard to be top heavy over the course of the two hours. So as soon as the punch swung her way extended itself further than usual and shifted the entire stance of the blonde, she took her chance to duck once more.
Swerving downwards and away from the extended punch, Tina transferred the momentum in her legs to tilt forwards, and ram her shoulder right against the stomach of her opponent.
Only for Monika to have always kept in mind that she was using her agility against her, and using the time that Tina took to tilt forwards and try and land a debilitating blow that would drive the air solidly from her lungs, to react. Twisting quickly on her heel, Monika had already swung her left pelvis around so that the shoulder strike landed much more ineffectually upon her hips, before using the pivoted left leg to lash out with. Quickly reversing the direction of movement, Tina was completely unprepared to defend against a solid sweep of the leg to collide with her chest and send her backwards.
It was Frost that lost some of her breath as she collided with the padded fence of the ring, taking in a deep, raking breath as her attempt had backfired so badly upon her by someone much more experienced. Taking a moment to slump upon it, she watched as the German relaxed, bringing the leg down slowly and allowing a small smile to play on her face.
"Do you give up, Tina?" Monika asked with a cheerful tone, knowing full well she had basically won this.
Only for Tina's eyes to narrow as she heard that, in turn making the German operator's smile widen as she saw a spark arise within that expression - and getting the reaction she wanted as Tina just charged forward off of the railings. Except this time, she truly ended the fight as she the now very tired Canadian just try and strike low again, this time with an extended punch - and reacted accordingly. Side-stepping the attempt completely, Monika's left hand shot out to roughly grip the extended arm as the her right hand formed a solid fist - which swung upwards at a sharp angle with a a very precise aim.
The punch halted itself just a couple of inches away from connecting with the bottom of Tina's jaw, making the Canadian breath in rather alarmingly as the reality of the super-fast upper cutting motion only caught up to her after it had been halted. It had been so quick in her peripheral vision that she'd only caught the motion when it had stopped right beneath her chin. There would've been no stopping that as Frost let in a sharp inhalation in slight intimidation through the mask, aware of the blood pounding in her ears through her elevated heart rate as she just watched the fist stop solidly beneath her face. There was no doubt to the winner now, as given the German's strength that eclipsed any other person she'd seen before, that if Monika had literally not pulled her punch then her jaw would've experienced a sharp, hot and blistering pain. To the extent that if it had been fully powered, Tina had no doubt it would've fractured her jaw at least.
"You know what?" Frost let out rhetorically as she looked up to the heavily amused, and now slightly domineering German operator who stood tall and proud over her. "I admit you're the strongest operator. You clearly are - I give up now."
The Canadian operator held her hand out for Monika to shake, who did take hold of it - but used it to pull the now shocked Tina against her into a one-armed hug using the other available limb. Surprised, Tina didn't resist however as she felt the German lean in to whisper into her ear, the hot breath from their workout being blown onto her left ear and tickling the hairs on her head. What she didn't see was the smirk on Monika's face as she took the deliberate chance to pull Frost in close, as some of the sweat from the dripping blonde hair even splashed onto Frost's t-shirt and face.
"Nein." She breathed into Tina's ear, before pulling back after that moment of close contact so then the Canadian didn't formulate an idea of what she had just done deliberately, her smirk widening slightly at the thought of that. "I know full well you can do better than that." She spoke louder this time, locking smirking eyes with the still-surprised Tina. "You're an ambush operator. I pegged that since you even moved in, meaning that you aren't utilising the full range of your close combat abilities as you rely on supporting elements." She explained, her smirk becoming more challenging as the Canadian operator gathered herself before nodding in agreement to IQ's words. "So, we're going to have another round. One where you can do better."
Tina studied the smirking German for a second, seeing the way she was hardly out of breath - carefully controlling each inhalation and exhalation so as not to be deprived of oxygen at any point, signalling her mastery of close combat. Honestly, Tina was pretty sure that the only reason Monika was sweating even somewhat like she was, was due to prolonging the session and pulling her punches - unlike her who had tried her hardest and ended up flooded with sweat.
She was about to respond to Monika's statements when they finally noticed the figure standing by the door to the hall containing the entire set-up. Having stepped in just in time to see the final uppercut being halted right underneath Tina's chin, the man seemed to take this action with an emotion akin to extreme disbelief and shock.
"Dominic?" IQ spoke aloud, staring at her fellow GSG9 operator. It was a dark-haired man, much shorter than IQ was - just bigger than Frost was as he wore a black standard German military uniform, complete with the tactical pouches and slot for Kevlar armour sheeting, with an obvious personalised yellow stripe down the side of each arm. Monika took a step around Tina as she moved to address her fellow comrade. "I wonder what you're doing here. What's the surprise occasion?"
The named Dominic's eyes were wide, filled with both disbelief and surprise at what he'd seen - for it went against the personality of the woman he knew. "It's a surprise because you never pull your punches!" He exclaimed, making Tina look to her sparring partner with a considering gaze and then back to the man as IQ just continued to stare at the operator code-named Bandit. "Never, not for anyone. What's your occasion?"
A narrowed eye look entered the face of the blonde operator as she considered those words, knowing that her less than favourable relations with the rest of the GSG9 squad was the cause to be regarded in such a fashion. "Really, Dominic?" She let out with a questioning tone. "What I do in my time is my business."
It seemed that the operator thought this somewhat fallacious, however, as he quipped his thoughts. "Literally everyone has seen what you can do though, Monika."
For some reason though, the GSG9 female counterpart did not take her fellow countryman's words with the amusement she had always taken Frost's words in within a similar context. "Dominic, I do not appreciate that in the slightest." IQ let out with a frown, a serious edge in her tone as her Germanic accent became heavier and more pronounced as she addressed the GSG9 operative before her. "Do we perhaps need another round in the ring so then you can learn to appreciate what another person does with their time?"
It seemed though, that Bandit had learned his lesson from the mentioned previous 'round in the ring', as he rapidly shook his head with widened eyes once more - a memory obviously having ben struck. "Nein!" He spoke out in fluent German, switching to his home language as he hurriedly tried to placate his angry comrade. "I get it, I won't comment anymore on what you do!"
IQ eyeballed her fellow German with a still-angry gaze, having got fed up of the comments the man could make about anything, or what anyone did with his slightly childish personality. He was a great comrade to have in a firefight, but there was only so long one could tolerate a stream of either childish, sarcastic or joking comments in such a manner. The tall stature of the muscled woman, combined with the extra height of the stage for spars, meant that her frustrated gaze was all the more intimidating to the jabbering German. "Good." She eventually let out after a few moments of the man's fearful jabbers to her angry gaze, also dipping into her native language and leaving Tina fairly confused to the slightly aggressive, and differently pitched exchange of foreign dialect before her.
Especially when IQ took a step forth and jabbed a finger at the man, making sure she had Bandit's undivided attention, who looked slightly scared now at his fellow German's furious expression, whose scowl had deepened and tensed in further anger at what she said next. "And if I find out that you have sold any of your filthy, fucking poison to my new friend here, I will not only find you and make you regret it, but I will break you. Is that understood?" She snarled into his face in an aggressive tone, who now just rapidly nodded his head in a moment of true fright in the face of her wrathful anger only amplified by the assertive-sounding nature of the German language. "Good." She repeated once more to stop Bandit from saying a word, taking a step back to then finalise the encounter.
Staring at him now and having lost some of her anger in the fact that she felt she had satisfactorily got her point across, she gazed at her fellow GSG9 operator with a more neutral expression before pointing to the exit. "I want to hear that you've cleaned up your act from now on, Dominic." She lectured him, making sure to firmly state her final words. "And then, we can have a friendly and civil relationship. Now, fuck off."
The man may have been in slight fear at IQ's anger, but he did stand fast then as he instead held his arms open somewhat to make a point of his own. "But me and Marius were going to-"
"I SAID, FUCK OFF DOMINIC!" Monika fully turned on her fellow countryman now and let her resurging anger be known as she roared out that sentence in an impassioned stream of German. She'd always had a short temper, and in front of her now new and only friend, she had snapped to a bigger extent than she should have. "I don't care what you and Jäger want! I want you, to get out before I lose what self control I have in dealing with you right now! I am not in the mood!"
Bandit was through the door before she'd even uttered the last sentence, leaving his fellow squadmate to stand there with a heaving chest, trying to get over her anger with deep breaths that she was now beginning to pace. It was not quite under control yet though, as a couple of fingers touched her arm to get her attention - and made her whirl around with true annoyance in her eyes to glare at whoever was now there. Frost saw the heated glare turn on her, having heard the entire aggressive dialect turn into outraged shouting at the end, and couldn't help but flinch slightly in her own exhausted and confused state.
Seeing her new friend wince at the look on her face as soon as she had actually identified who had tried to get her attention after the heat of the moment made Monika lose every bit of rage she had. Letting out a sigh, and having shown a portion of her anger however unwillingly to Tina for a second time now, guilt started to pool in the recesses of her stomach as she sighed. "I'm sorry, Tina-" She began with, switching back to English, but was cut off by the Chinese-Canadian shaking her head.
"Don't be." Frost stated in response, cutting her off before the blonde woman brought herself down further with her own words. "I have no idea what that was about, and I'm not going to ask." She spoke, pausing for a moment to let the German know that that was all that was going to become of the incident right before her. "But what we do need to do is change and rest for a bit - wanna head back to our rooms?"
IQ didn't smile again, but the appreciation she felt at that certainly showed on her face as she nodded. "I'd like that."
MONIKA'S ROOM.
The first thing Tina saw when she entered the room was the workbench that took over an entire corner of the quite spacious accommodation. Where the mini kitchen was set in her room, it seemed the German had completely renovated her own living quarters over the year she'd been her, keeping only the fridge which had been moved into the living room section as the worktop had instead become a heavy-duty desk. A number of tools lay scattered on the workbench, amongst a variety of spare electronic equipment and parts, with a switched off yet open-lid laptop sitting on the right side of the workbench. On top of the laptop sat a cardboard box, which the blonde woman grabbed.
"And here it is." IQ announced as she plopped down onto the sofa in her room, inviting Frost to sit next to her as she put the carboard box she was carrying onto her lap. "What makes me IQ."
Tina sat down onto the sofa next to the taller blonde as she too gazed to the carboard box, before commenting. "This is the device you've spent three years working on?" She inquired.
"Well, the device didn't take three years to build, of course." Monika responded with a sarcastic, humorous tone, drawing a gaze from the Canadian. "But yeah, what with all the theory that had to go into it, the research I had to do and waiting around for special parts, it took a heck of a long time."
Picking up the box and rattling it slightly, Monika added onto the last statements. "This is what I like to call the mark three version, meaning it took me three complete re-builds and overhauls of the device to finally slim it down yet still contain all the power it needs to be combat-worthy." Putting it down, she gave off a small joking smile. "You know what they say - three times the charm!"
She got a response in the form of a gaze going to the box, then back to her before Tina responded. "Literally, I guess." She simply replied.
IQ looked back to her for a moment for giving such a simplistic statement, before shrugging and opening up the box. Reaching in and yanking out a rectangular device, Frost observed that it looked quite like a miniature laptop. It was a solid metal device, something from the material which Tina could instantly recognise as heavy and dense - and yet the actual walls of the device looked thin. It was the inside components of the tool that made it so undoubtedly heavy.
"The mark three spectre scanner!" IQ announced with pride in her voice, holding it up to give it a once-over before handing it right to Tina for her to have a closer look. "What do you think?"
The Canadian didn't reply right away as she instead picked up the weighty apparatus she had ben handed, and observed it with a careful eye. It wasn't heavy in the sense of a person would tire themselves out using it, but it still held enough mass that it provided a little drag on arm movements, as if one was swimming. It was quite like a laptop, with a clearly fold-down lid, that was obviously strapped to the arm given the rigorous, midnight blue straps beneath the device.
The actual device itself was quite thin, but the steel and complicated machinery within made it weigh the couple of kilograms that it did, despite it being just thirty centimetres across and having a depth of just five. Tina was very impressed, ergo hiding it behind a mask, at the premise of such a device being as small as it was with such potential and weight, but her expertise allowed her to see clearly why - it was made of solid steel. It had been made with sleek, rounded edges and the lid itself had been made with two big grooves within it to form a pattern - a rounded strip of metal only a millimetre raised above the rest ran around the edge of the lid to then in the middle of each side, meet downwards to surround a small camera set into the middle of it. Only a singular, small hinge connected the lid to the bottom of the small machine, and the entire thing had been spray painted a jet black.
Frost didn't give her judgement just yet as she gazed up to IQ, and instead posed a question. "Can I put it on?" She simply asked.
Blinking slightly at not hearing a proper answer yet, Monika perked up nonetheless at the clear interest in her work as she nodded with an eye-smile. "Yes, please do!" She replied.
Reaching forth, she helped Tina put the scanner onto her arm as it went onto the front side of the left arm as it was designed for Monika's right handed weapon loadout, sitting flat against the arm if it was held up somewhere in front of the face at a level, ninety degree flat elevation. Taking the straps and tightening it with her own hands to make it fit Tina's smaller arm than it had been adjusted for, then reaching back and relaying a simple instruction.
"Just flick it open." Monika stated with a cheery voice, letting out a small giggle as Tina looked to her questioningly. "Just flick your left arm forwards and the lid will pop open."
Understanding more now, Frost complied as she quickly rotated the forearm the scanner was strapped to forwards in a slight jerking motion, and being surprised with the sheer ease of which the lid suddenly sprang open. It obviously had a latch in the hinge mechanism, as it stayed open at a ninety degree angle from its base, even when Tina reached forth and tested it with a slight push down.
"It's meant to respond to a sudden flicking motion either up or down." IQ explained, as she then reached forth and forcibly pushed down on the lid to close it. "It takes a bit more force otherwise to open or close it, but otherwise it's meant to respond to a sudden movement - it helps a lot in combat. Don't worry either way - that's partly why the lid is made of a heavy metal! It's meant to take the abuse."
Tina merely gave an approving nod as she used the fingers of her right hand to test that, prying open the lid somewhat with a bit of brute force, and then pushing against the spring-loaded pressure that kept the lid either up or down to slam it open. Observing it, Frost saw that the screen was well polished, a reflective dark display that she could see herself in that took up the entirety of the inner side of the lid. The base of the now exposed inside was sparse in comparison - the left side of the base holding a few buttons and a couple of switches, as the entire right side was merely a screwed on cover that covered up the delicate electronics beneath it.
"...And flick it on." IQ said aloud as she reached forth and flicked a switch set into the left side of the base, and then tapping a button on the top of it - to which the display instantly reacted. The CPU within it was obviously powerful, as it was pretty much an instant transmission to a live feed from the camera set in the front of the lid with no loading time. Tina's eyebrows rose at the perfect picture quality of it, a high definition motion display of the wall of Monika's room before them. "Yeah, it acts like a normal camera too, complete with recording, zoom and other such qualities." Monika relayed with pride. "It can also have other modes of display." Stretching a finger forward, she tapped a yellow button on it. This time, the entire display turned black-and white, still with the crystal clear resolution but with a now darkened outlook - as the wall itself disappeared and showed highlighted outlines of objects instead in white.
"Metal. It's currently detecting the metal around us on the display." Monika explained then, getting an impressed look from Tina as she then looked back to the display to trace the outlines of metal pipes in the walls, as well as the components in the television on the table in front of them.
"But how does that work?" The Canadian asked with a lot of curiosity in her tone this time, still admiring the complex machine that allowed her to see a glimpse into what was like another world. The scanner truly was living up to all the hype that IQ had boasted about in the bar and at breakfast.
"A little more simpler than one might think." Monika responded with a smile to the positively-received curiosity, now feeling quite proud of what was obviously a good outlook on her invention. "Electromagnetic conduction. It allows one to see that which the electromagnetic forces can interact with metals and other such objects around us, regardless of walls and other such covers. Think of it like being able to see things like an X-ray, but instead of using radiation, you've got your own metal detector with a camera."
"This is..." Tina stated aloud, truly impressed by the most complex piece of slim machinery she'd ever seen, and could appreciate with her own knowledgeable expertise that she had. She trailed off, however, as Monika's smile showed that there was still yet more to the scanner.
"That's not everything such a concept is capable of, and I did it." IQ boasted a little with very clear pride in her voice now. "Wait 'til you see this." She jabbed a blue button with her finger this time.
Just like the colour of the button, the screen changed the main tint of colour being shown on the display once more this time to slight cyan tint - but this seemed to only sharpen the clarity of it with the return of colour. The now even further sharpened resolution of the display showed the world in a brightened, slight cyan perspective that made the mute vanilla wall she was pointing it at that bit more lively to look at somehow.
The true features of the changed display came in when Frost swept the camera over the television, and making the entire scanner shudder slightly as an inbuilt vibrator caused it silently buzz against the skin of her arm. Her eyes analysed the entire picture of the screen, which from around the outside of the television showed a normal, albeit slightly blueish, sharpened picture of reality, but completely changed when focused on the active and muted television. It had become an entire spectrum of greens, yellows, reds and blues against a backdrop of black.
"The device has a predictive algorithm within it, which took me the most amount of time to build and develop actually." IQ explained as she pointed to the spectrum of differing colours the electronic item had become on the display. "It picks up when electricity is coursing through something, and automatically overlays the insides of the electronic device it's scanning in an easy-to-see fashion. Look, the actual backdrop of the device turns black, as the two alternating currents are both red and green, whilst power sources like batteries or high-voltage areas like capacitators turn yellow. Vital areas like CPUs and such turn blue."
Brown eyes had widened considerably at what IQ had managed to achieve as she looked back to the device, somewhat ecstatic to scan other items as she swung it to the clock on the wall to make the scanner vibrate again, and flare it up in a variety of rainbow colours. IQ watched with appreciation in her eyes as someone showed such enthusiasm in what she built, and seeing how Frost had even stopped her normal personality of being simple, analytical and neutral at life to just appreciate what was given to her.
"Where can I get one?" Tina's voice asked with amusement as she shook Monika from her thoughts with the snap of the device flicking closed. Registering what she'd said, IQ just began to laugh at the enthusiastic look in the Canadian's eyes, which actually turned into a slight eye-smile at the sight of the humour the GSG9 operator seemed to take from her words.
"I'm afraid it's all hand-made by myself." Monika replied, a smile on her face. "That costs thousands to just get the components, I'll have you know. It is quite pricy."
"That's a shame." Frost responded as she undid the straps, taking a moment to observe it with some thought and then handed it back to the blonde woman.
Taking it back, IQ took a moment too to look over it before turning to the woman beside her and posing her earlier question. "So, now that you've had a proper look... what do you really think?" Though the earlier reception of it had been positive, she had been waiting for the end to get a proper bit of feedback from her friend on what was quite possibly, her life's work. Not even the actual military unit had yet to look over it much yet, given its incomplete state much of last year and the lack of proper experts on site in the face of the recruitment drive currently ongoing.
Flicking her eyes back to the device Monika was grasping, Tina spent a second mulling over her observations before responding. "Well, it's obviously built for you." She started out with the technical side of the talk. "It's weight has been factored in with the premise of someone who can handle it with no problem for yourself, the components of it certainly seem up to a military-grade standard-"
"Hey!" Monika interrupted her, getting a short chuckle from the operator beside her. "Enough with the sarcasm!"
"Alright." Frost stated simply, before giving a singular clap. "I don't think I can really say much more than this - I'm impressed."
"Impressed?" The German questioned, spurring her on.
"Really impressed." Tina admitted. "It's truly the most complex machine I've ever laid eyes on with the expertise and practical application combat knowledge that I have. Not only is it more than practical for the battlefield as a scanning tool, but you've managed to fit such components inside a slim machine with a great amount of skill. It's the best piece of equipment that I could think of for urban environments like we've all been trained for. You have done an amazing job."
Of course, she hadn't seen too many contraptions like this as her area of expertise wasn't electrical engineering or computer components and coding, but she still knew enough in the field as well as there was plenty of overlap with what was her expertise that she knew a great invention when she saw it. And the idea of a scanner including a metal detector, given the form of a camera to virtually see into the world of it all was a great one.
"Oh." Monika let out, glad that her mask was now covering her expression somewhat. It wasn't that she didn't want to hide her gratefulness, but she was also feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise. "Thank you." Was all she had to say.
Amusement danced in the eyes of Frost as she saw that. "You're welcome." She responded.
Turning around, Monika gave a cough as she then picked up her scanner. Putting the device back in the cardboard box, IQ then slid the it under the table in front of her to save for the application of the modifications she had spoken about for another day. Before then turning back to the woman next to her with a smile. "Well, that's that explanation of my abilities over with." She stated in a cheerful tone. "Speaking of which though, what about yours?"
Frost looked to Monika for a second with a thoughtful expression in her eyes, before an amused glint entered them which caught the German off-guard a little. "You wanted a proper fight of my CBQ abilities from earlier, right?"
"Yes, I remember...?" Monika trailed off slightly, remembering full well what she had said earlier, but unsure of how that fit into the current context of the conversation, before it clicked.
Tina beat her to the punch though. "Well, I will show you tomorrow." She simply stated, before posing a question. "How do you book one of the urban training houses you showed me?"
IQ's eyes widened a bit at that, forming a further piece of context at that. If she had heard all of what her scanner device could do, and she still seemed so confident in going ahead with an urban drill especially after she had stressed it was even meant for urban environments, then it was possible that whatever she had in store couldn't be picked up by it. "What main ability got you here?" The German asked with a bit of suspicion.
The way Frost's eyes glanced at her, it was as if she was smirking behind the mask of hers. "Like I said." She stated. "Tomorrow."
It was as the German smirked back, that Tina properly realised what she'd done - invite someone of her own volition to partake in another meet-up, something she hadn't done in a few years at least. She was actually enjoying the time she was now spending with her new friend.
THE NEXT DAY - URBAN CLEARING TRAINING AREA.
Monika merely grasped the P12 she had brought along for the scenario, cleaning the gun out of a reflexive action now as she done daily for the past year. Inserting the barrel piece back into the actual chamber of the gun and properly securing it back in place, she pulled back the slider to prime the weapon. Performing a basic operations check, she slowly pulled back the trigger to hear the hammer correctly slam against metal in the gun, before counting to five and then releasing the trigger slowly whilst exhaling to hear it click once more. Satisfied that the gun was in its correct functioning order, it was a simple matter of twirling it in her hand and slamming it back into the holster on her leg after applying the safety.
"Satisfied?" Came a sudden voice from behind her, making the blonde woman jump minutely in her chair before whirling around to see the analytical expression in Frost's eyes right behind her. Letting out another exhalation, IQ regarded the Canadian with an annoyed look of her own for sneaking up on her like that, her own blue eyes more easily meeting brown due to the reduced height difference in her seat.
The Canadian was dressed in her usual get-up of her military uniform, seemingly comfortable to spend so long in it. Monika could understand the practicalities of it, with the UK being in general being colder than the rest of Europe for winter gear as well as the other technical aspects like storage, but it didn't exactly make for good casual clothes. Herself, on the other hand, had changed - into a much different style of uniform, for unlike her Canadian counterpart, she seemed to go much more casual, even on ops. A plain grey zip-top kept her warm in the cool English autumn breezes as bulletproof vest had been strapped down over the top of it. Black in colour, it was clearly emblazoned with 'GSG9' in white on the back of it as a series of pouches containing her equipment adorned the front. A pair of light blue jeans completed the get-up.
"Yep." She let out, before tossing back a question. "Got everything you need?"
A nod was the only answer she received as Tina just rustled the backpack that was slung over her left shoulder. With a grunt, Monika stood up from out of the chair now that Frost had arrived and merely waved to her left, past the empty check-in post they were currently sitting in to the entrance to the training area. Surrounded by a large brick wall, the first glimpse Tina got of it was when they rounded the check-in post and stood in front of the archway entrance.
"Alright. This is the urban training centre, very useful for Team Rainbow as we mainly engage in such environments." Monika explained as she merely gestured past the entrance, to where there was indeed the complete build-up of the average suburban residential street, albeit shortened with only five houses on each side. It was a tarmac road merely going up the middle as brick houses stood each side of it, but the difference between it and a normal street was the little things - any civilian could tell it was soulless. The houses weren't painted, but bare brick - no garden furniture adorned what could be seen of the back gardens or front spaces, and the only public infrastructure seen was the street lighting, currently turned off in the noon sun.
"What's the scenario?" Frost merely questioned, the singular crucial question to her that she would glean all the context she needed from it.
"A dug-in defender who was quickly spotted on the streets with their weaponry - authorities were hastily called, but civilians ran away before any more details could be gleaned." IQ made up the scenario off the top of her head from previous runs in the training area. "Henceforth, you have five minutes to pick a building and set up a defence within it. It's my job to go into the training area after five minutes have passed, identify your location, and deal with you. It's your job to mount a successful defence."
"Done." Was the last response she got before the Canadian turned towards the entrance and began striding in, getting Monika to blink at the abrupt start before turning away herself. The blonde already had a destination in mind to start the scenario with, only stopping back by the check-in post to grab her own equipment bag. Only needing one thing out of it as she unzipped it, IQ tugged out a black helmet from within the depths of the large bag and held it. Unlike the American operators who preferred steel helmets that protected the top of the head, she had taken out a less-standard issue helmet that was much more encompassing in the protection of the entire skull. It wrapped around the whole of the skull and hid her hair completely from view, even only letting half of the bottom neck be exposed as her window to the world could even be protected by a shatterproof raised ballistic shield atop the helmet, alongside an attached optic addition.
With a smirk, she merely rotated it in her hand and slid it on.
It was five minutes later that Monika stepped outside of the very end house on the left of the street, and gave a brief once-over of the house with the scanner on her left wrist. Wires glowed within the house that were all connected to the mains power loop of the military base, but otherwise the house was mostly free of electrical input - barring several devices. Three of them were set into the corners of ceilings, like cameras - which would mean the remaining smartphone device would be the receiver of the cameras. Flicking closed the spectre scanner as she now had a definitive point in mind to work her way towards, Monika took out the P12 pistol from her pocket.
Sliding out a magazine of blank rounds from her own pouch, she slammed it into the gun and cocked it before holding it steady in her hands, now stooping slightly lower as she made her way to the left side of the property silently. She hadn't fully packed for a house clearing scenario, having not got equipment such as a grappling hook, but for a training simulation she had more than enough.
IQ had already decided not to go through the doorways. Although it was part of the typical logic game of how Tina would expect her to go through a window instead of the doorway as it was too obvious, most of the time you never went through a door alone - only as a team. Doorways were obvious in themselves, but their main fault was how much more space they offered than other breaching points like breakable walls and windows. There was more space for traps, or firing opportunities, and as such the German operator had already selected a window on the ground floor to break into.
Flattening herself on the wall beside it, another sweeping glance through her scanner still revealed that there was only one working electrical device downstairs - and so IQ could only assume the ambush would be sprung upstairs. Often times from the missions she'd been on, the ambush was initiated with the opponents nearby - and from the look of the still actively receiving phone upstairs, that was upstairs. It made sense that the ambush wouldn't be downstairs, as she could breach from any point downstairs and outmanoeuvre any possible trap, but the upstairs had only one access point. The stairs, which was what the camera in the downstairs hallway was watching.
She'd be noticed, but if he moved right, then Tina would still have little idea of when she would specifically be there. Tina knew she had the scanner, and was probably just utilising them as a way to pace her progress of when she took them out - but once she took them out, then the German would have flexibility.
The butt of the P12 pistol caved in the flimsy wooden barricade set across the breaching point, before flipping right over the window ledge to land in a crouch upon the padded floor, pistol extended forth to be ready to engage, but it was unnecessary. The room was completely empty. Walking swiftly but as silently as possible over the wooden floor, she stopped again at the doorway, scanning the hallway once with shrewd eyes before getting a second opinion with her spectre scanner. She had only one thing in mind at the moment, and that was the coloured emission of the camera just on the other side of the doorframe that was causing the vibrator in the scanner on her wrist to silently pulsate.
Flicking the combat knife from the strapped holster on her combat vest, she merely angled it and put the tip of it against the wall to line it up with the scanner image that was seeing through the wall - before ramming it through said wall with the palm of her hand. Given her very high amounts of physical strength, it shot cleanly through the wall - which caused the highlighted area of activity in her scanner's image to cease immediately, before catching the camera as it fell off the wall itself.
Withdrawing her hand back from the doorway and getting into a bit more cover, IQ found herself slightly intrigued by the more unconventional camera. It was a smooth spherical shape, with the hardened back of it glinting a navy blue in the light shining through the breach point she'd made, as the front half was an obvious tough glass in which a pair of lens could be seen. Rotating it slightly, she noticed how some of the hardened back area was quite sticky, an area deliberately meant for attaching it to the wall, before then just pocketing it. She went to move off once more. Though her scanner vibrated at a couple of suspicious objects in the hallway as the algorithm picked them up on the metal detector, IQ quickly dismissed them as one of them was a lamp; going to move off to the stairs - before suddenly halting as the light of her scanner illuminated the floor.
Flipping down both the small ballistic shield and optic goggle additions over her face in one go, night vision bloomed into life to send the entirety of the house into a neon green shade, enabling her to see exactly what dark shape she had spotted. There, sat directly on the floor in a narrowed section of hallway between two door frames leading to the stairs, was a padded, black rubber mat. It was small, only perhaps one and a half times longer than the length of her boot, but the light showed clearly the painted silver lines on some of it. She knew instantly what it signified - a trap, most likely designed to incapacitate. Studying it a little more, she saw perfectly why Frost had been confident now, for there was no metal in it for her scanner to pick up. Granted, a few well-known trap set-ups didn't, but they were often a lot more obvious than a thin mat on the floor.
It blended very well into the darkness of the house, shaded such a colour of black that it seemed to camouflage itself by absorbing the light of its surroundings - and IQ knew the only reason she's seen it was the glint of silver in the light of her scanner atop the mat. With narrowed eyes, Monika knew that Tina deserved more credit than the simple mat portrayed - the silver was deliberately painted on. In an actual scenario, most operators would've already lost their foot as even the most alert soldiers always missed something. It was a wonder how many more mats she'd encounter.
Stepping carefully over it, she now kept half an eye on her scanner, making sure to double-check every now and again on the unmoving phone's electronic signature, and the other half of her eye on the surroundings using the light of said device. Sure enough, another mat awaited her right at the base of the stairs, obviously a more opportunistic placement as it was wedged right up against the bottom step, and would only trigger upon those who didn't have large striding patterns.
Creeping up the stairs, Monika narrowed her eyes in on the electronic emissions given off the by the device in the room at the very end of the upstairs hallway, and the cameras within the hallway. Cresting the stairs with just the top of her head, and seeing that half of the hallway was clear, she took a bit of a risk from where she was - darting forth over the top step in just a single stride. With her taller stature, she made it to the corner of the hallway in just anther step. Through the light of her night vision goggles, the camera set into the wall that her scanner had picked up was ripped cleanly from the wall in one go, before being shoved into a pouch of the tactical vest where its transmissions would be of use to no one.
Seeing the third camera further down the hallway in the very opposite corner, she worked her way carefully down it. She'd evaluate the actual layout of the inevitable ambush before her when she reached the relevant section of hallway - which took her right up to the doorframe of the room her opponent seemed to be in. Roaming her eyes over the doorway and floor, she evaluated what to do as she didn't have the necessary equipment to breach through the wall in the neighbouring room, and darting forth to get at the camera to stop Tina being alerted to any movements to other rooms might spring the ambush.
"I'd stop right there if I were you." A feminine tone spoke out softly from the gloomy darkness, making Monika stop instantaneously in both the cover and darkness that the doorway to the room provided. She knew she'd be spotted on the cameras, but it was all about not letting Tina know her next move by taking them out that had been her goal.
"I know you're in this room, Tina. You should've shut your phone off." IQ responded in the same level of tone and pitch that Frost had spoken to her with. Sure enough, when her eyes darted back to the scanner and hefted it up a bit more to scan through the plasterboard of the wall, the metallic and electronic components of Tina's smartphone showed up in a bright array of differing colours. "I told you I can see electricity."
An audible hum came out from the room, before a response followed it. "The question is what are you going to do about it?"
Monika's grip on the barrel of the P12 became tighter as she replied, pressing herself more into cover as she did so. "You should know by now." She stated aloud. "Win."
A short, light-toned chuckle came from the other side of the doorway as Monika finally heard Tina laugh, and smiled slightly at it. "Nobody ever checks exactly where they put their feet whenever they breach into a building, be it silently, or especially in a noisy scenario."
IQ frowned at that and the sheer change in topic in the face of the end of the combat scenario, before her thoughts became more jarred at the comment as she understood. The padded texture she had landed on when she breached. "You mean I would've supposedly died when I came in-"
She was interrupted as Frost corrected her. "Not died. My traps aren't meant to kill. But to completely debilitate, and perhaps die then if the major bleeding isn't halted within the average of a minute." The statement coming through the gloomy inside of the urban training infrastructure chilled IQ somewhat as although she was no stranger to violence, it didn't make the thought of a supposed debilitating trap, on the floor, any more appealing. "And before you ask, allow me to show you."
A stone was tossed suddenly into the doorway, drawing the immediate attention of Monika as her P12 pistol barrel swung upwards fully as it did so to aim at an arced downward angle. This was just in time to see it land on a darkened rectangular shape sprawled over the inside of the doorway, lit up suddenly by Monika's wrist action and scanner where previously she hadn't let it light up inside the room. The German had only time to widen her eyes fully at the trap in front of her, before it triggered from even the smallest pressure given to it by the landing of the small stone striking the top of it.
In well under a second, the restraining mechanism of the welcome mat sprang apart under the designed failure of the system to react to even the lightest pressures, and the two giant, metal prongs of the trap revealed their teeth. Shooting out of the rubber that encased the entirety of the trap, the two metal ends clamped together with a huge pressurised force that was more than enough to not only cave bone and flesh in, but to shred and grip such material so as to keep a really tight hold on an enemy unaware of its location. In this case, it had nothing to grip as the two metal ends slammed together and joined the zig-zagging, acutely sharpened teeth in synchronous harmony.
The loud retort of the metallic ringing was muffled however, as Monika reacted to the split-second activation of the trap by discharging two blank rounds within her P12 pistol. The yellow flashes of the ignited gunpowder showed the trap just before the ends sprang together, and afterward in its standing, upright position held firmly together by the great force in the mechanism of the trap.
IQ realised her heart was now firmly above the controlled and resting heartbeat rate that she had entered the house with, having been spooked by the activation of the trap she hadn't seen until it was literally shown to her. Indeed, she was now further taken by surprise as a large barrel shape placed against the small of her back - having realised what happened as her head whirled around to view her opponent in the corner of her eye. Frost stood there, body still partly on the other side of the doorway of the opposite room she'd checked as both of her hands gripped a large weapon - a rectangular, pump-actioned modern shotgun with a large barrel firmly now digging into the spinal region of her lower back.
"That would've been your second time that you would've potentially lost in a combat situation." Tina commented from behind her mask after a second of holding the position like it was. "Surrender, Monika Weiss, or my super ninety here will make it a third time."
The stare-off continued for a couple of seconds as the more experienced of the two operators tried to think of a legitimate way out of the current predicament without utilising the fact that it was just a simulation and the shotgun wasn't actually loaded. But, it wasn't to be as the trap had been too well executed - Frost had gotten the drop on her to the literal point of touching her with a gun. So, with a sigh, she merely flicked closed the spectre scanner and clasped it shut, holstering the P12 onto her leg and then turning around slowly with her hands raised. "Yep. You win." She stated in a so-so way.
Tina merely raised an eyebrow at that, before taking her right hand off the grip and trigger guard completely, leaving the weapon to come down to her side with her left hand as she then used the free hand to hold it out. Seeing that, Monika brought her own left hand out and seized Tina's, her strong grip squeezing it slightly as she put her conviction and congratulations into it - not receiving a single change in expression from the woman before her in response.
"Ambush is my territory." Frost merely surmised as they dropped their hands. "As is close combat and clearing for you. This scenario was in my favour, as was our boxing match in yours. Neither of these will determine who is the better of us - only true combat will."
"You said it." IQ replied, before her eyes fell on the activated trap and asked the burning question. "But the thing I really want to ask right now, is how did that trap not show up on my scanner? It looks to be full of metal."
A moment passed, before Tina nodded her head and looked to the aforementioned object, before kneeling next to the sprung trap. "This, is my welcome mat." She announced, and Monika could for the first time hear the pride clear in her voice. "It is my greatest creation." With a theatrical flick of her hand, she took out a multitool from a pouch in her webbing and spun it into position in the palm of her hand with an exaggerated sleight of hand.
"I certainly didn't use electricity in any aspect except my phone to lure you into a room - instead, you mentioned how your device picked up even metal parts within anything. That would be too obvious." Frost continued in a round-about fashion as she moved the shotgun in her hand to lean against the wall, then bending down to examine the sprung trap. "So I, too, was eager to finally test out my device against what is the best combat scanning tool I've ever seen."
Frost turned her head to see that IQ seemed a little touched at the high praise for her mark three spectre scanner, smirking a bit behind the mask as she took the multitool and once again with a sleight of hand, merely flicked open the thinnest knife attachment on it.
"I'm glad to say it passed, as I'm sure from what you said that the only welcome mat replicas you saw were those you observed with your own eyes." Tina concluded as she dug the knife into the central mechanism of the trap, into a specific slot that was just the right size for the multitool attachment. "And you certainly didn't see the real thing coming, if those shots were anything to go by."
That pique Monika's interest, as she voiced her intrigue in a specific fashion this time to cajole Tina into answering specifically. "How did you make the metal parts hidden from my scanner? I'd understand if it was only in very small amounts, but that mat there certainly shouldn't have been hidden from my scanner."
Frost slammed the two prongs of the trap back into their housing grooves within the rubber, before then taking out the multitool, selecting the screwdriver attachment and inserting it into another slot in the mechanism - twisting it to activate the safety. Once that had been done, she then deigned her friend with an answer as she ran her hand along the grooves of the rubber containing the sharp ends of the welcome mat in a pointing fashion. "It's the rubber." She pointed out simply, the electrical expert beside her instantly getting the message that the metal was being shielded against her device. "The material's made and coated in special components, like silicone. The theory was that it should be extremely difficult for even a heavy-duty hospital scanner to pick it up, and given how it worked against your scanner, it'll certainly work in every capability I need it to."
With that, Tina merely grasped both ends of the mat, and to IQ's slight astonishment, folded the entire thing together to instantly halve the total area it took up - and despite the metal within it, she then transferred it to one hand. With a simple, long-practiced flourish, her free hand pulled up the top of her webbing on her back before merely sliding the folded welcome mat length-ways down between her military tunic and webbing to hold it in place. And from what Monika saw, there was two other welcome mats already sitting there.
"That's quite the invention you've got there." IQ praised, clasping Tina's shoulder to convey her impressed state. "That looks to be completely undetectable in the right conditions."
A regarding look was just sent her way, which spoke volumes of the amount of obviousness there had been within that specific trait she'd mentioned. "It was designed to be that way." Frost simply stated.
Monika merely met the gaze with one that showed she didn't care, before changing the topic. "There is another thing I'd like to know, however." She stated as she looked to the room on the left that Tina had previously emerged from to flank behind her. "Your voice sounded like it came from the room on the right, and your phone was certainly in there - yet there was no other device in there like a recorder to emulate your voice with. Plus, I know for a fact that there's no doorway connecting the two rooms, I've been here before. How did you do it?"
Tina glanced to the blonde with an entertained expression, before pulling out a handheld torch from a pouch and flicking it on. "There is now." She merely replied as she shined the light over a crudely made hole in the dividing wall between the two rooms, some debris scattered across the floorboards as there was exposed wall panels and plasterboard. "I took an axe to it in just a couple of minutes."
IQ couldn't help but show some shock at that, having never been trained in such a level of urban warfare in the realm of defence and ambushes - she was an operator they used mostly for attack, after all. "You did all of this in five minutes?" She asked, impressed as she thought back over what had happened throughout it all - the placement of several of the cameras and welcome mats downstairs, rearranging much of the furniture and even the interior design from what she'd seen. Though not sounding like a lot, it was a bigger task for Frost given how she had to cover every point of entry versus IQ who only had to enter through one.
"Yep." Came the simple response, in a tone of slight emulation of the German who said that quite a lot. "Plus, however long it took you to find out that it was this particular house. Not long, I'm sure with that scanner of yours, but the length of the street means I still would've gained at least two minutes."
A small smirk made its way onto the German's face as she responded. "You had five and a half minutes, then." She corrected her. "I got into the electrical box near the entrance to the training area, it told me that this is the only house in the entire street that had drawn upon electricity. I knew right away where you were."
A frowning expression was visible on the face of the Canadian woman as she pointed out an earlier statement. "But I didn't use any electricity, given all you've said about it." Tina answered. "I even said the only electrical device I used was my phone to lure you into targeting that room."
A mirrored facial appearance overcame Monika as she pulled out the earlier spherical, glass device into her hand, as Tina clearly saw it was some kind of camera with the lens built into the transparent side. "I thought this was some camera you'd requisitioned, and you'd used the lights or something... That this was how you knew I was there..." She thought aloud, before locking eyes with brown ones as the most likely answer popped into her head. "But, it's clear that someone else was here."
Quiet filtered into the conversation as Frost merely continued to gaze up at the much taller woman, before a grunt came from her. "I did not detect them, and since that is a camera it is obvious they waited until I was upstairs and away - they knew where we were, at least in the waiting periods of this." She surmised.
Monika looked slight infuriated at the thought for some reason, piquing Tina's curiosity at the display of small anger as the German just agreed with her. "Yeah." She sounded out with a firm voice. "Whoever it was must be good at infiltration."
"Most operators here would be." Tina stated. "But you are still better as shown from the device itself - that can be thrown into position, so whoever 'infiltrated' merely threw it quietly rather than risk my attention. You managed to get right up to the doorway of the room before I noticed you from my position in the hole in the wall, as to be expected somewhat in an environment like this; and I am better than the both of you." She spoke like it was a clear fact, before shrugging. "But if you think about it, it does not matter. They did not interfere, and I personally do not care to go investigating such a trivial matter."
Anger was still clear on Monika's face, but it was being replaced by though as she just acceded to that. "I'll just stick it in the report. You're right." She stated. "Not like we could do much about it."
"Exactly." Tina responded, before yanking back up the shotgun from where it leant against the wall, and instead leant its weight against her shoulder. "Now, if you don't mind, I have the welcome mat replicas downstairs to collect."
Taking a step out of the way, the blonde woman merely gestured towards the stairs. "I spotted a couple of them, I'll grab them and you can get the others."
An amused glint entered Tina's eyes as she went past the taller operator. "That's hardly fair, is it?" She quipped sarcastically as she reached the stairs. "There is, after all, ten of them."
"Wait, ten?" IQ questioned. "How come I only saw two?"
"Because only four of them were set in positions like doorways or exposed floors." Frost accurately rattled off as she spoke it like it was a mere consultation of fact and memory. "A trade-off, if you will. They're easier to spot in such positions, but that also means that they're more likely to catch someone in a higher traffic area. The rest are in positions where someone would take cover. You didn't see half of them based on the simple premise of you only covered half the house before going up the stairs." She whisked one off of the top of the stairs, and examined the roll-up replica of her designed traps. "See? This is one of them. You triggered the pressure pad on it. In such a position, it means you weren't paying attention."
Tina looked back to the German as she rolled it up. "Unconscious states of mind that the human brain falls into - that is the small details an ambusher can exploit. You likely swept the floors of the hallways and normal rooms, but you didn't do the stairs."
Monika frowned at the implication of actually having set off two replica traps, making it a possible three times she would've lost, or died in a real-world scenario. "Yes, well, in my defence, my scanner usually picks up such traps."
"As ingenious as your device is, Miss Weiss." Tina replied, a tone of clear disapproval entering it which made IQ pay close attention. "It shows that you pay far too much attention to it. I'm sure in an engagement your not just staring at it, but when you are utilising it, your perception of your surroundings become dulled. Don't argue, I have evidence." She finished as she merely branded the welcome mat replica at the German operator before quickly rolling it up and shoving it in the rucksack she had grabbed.
"...Very well." Monika merely responded, somewhat put out now. She had counted herself as someone who had a decent amount of experience in operations, and yet she had fallen for the traps. Twice, when she counted herself an expert in detecting such set-ups and devices.
"Hey, you did sort-of well." Tina's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as the Canadian began descending the stairs. "The last time I did one of these, the clearing squad triggered six of the traps - only counting the welcome mats and replicas. Besides, don't forget what I said - take it on board that you perhaps rely on that device too much from our little demonstration here, but this also doesn't prove who's better. More that we have our own specialisations."
Feeling a bit better at her words, the German just decided to descend the stairs too, passing the Canadian in the hall from where she was rolling up the welcome mat replica that Monika had side-stepped. "You know what - I'm not gonna be much help here." She stated, getting a flicker of brown eyes in her direction, showing she had the woman's full attention despite her continued actions. "I'll be outside and let you get on with it." A hum was the only answer she received from the partially reclusive trapping operator, as she then walked outside.
It would seem, however, that the mysterious infiltrator was there with them, switching off a mobile phone as the blonde looked to see a fellow blonde staring back. Monika had a good look at the woman standing before her as she recognised instantly that of the US Navy SEAL emblem on her chest, a khaki green head cowl covering much of her hair as she gazed back at the German. On the slightly taller side for a female too, it was almost as if she'd met her match, before IQ snorted. Initial observations aside, she could already tell she could beat the woman in close combat, much like she had with Tina.
"Hello." The Navy SEAL operator raised a hand in greeting.
However, it seemed Monika was less inclined to be polite as her eyes narrowed, especially regarding that the person before her was the one that had intruded on their training session. "Who are you?" She firmly questioned.
Green eyes held a curious gaze at the more firm blue ones, before the woman responded. "Meghan." She spoke, arms now folded as she leant further back against the brick wall. "Or Valkyrie. And you...?"
It was common for the operators of their base to introduce both their actual names and mission code names, given how one would be used often on missions, and the other often on missions. But it seemed IQ didn't quite want to play ball as her eyes remained narrowed at the American operator, suspicion evident in her face.
"What do you want?" She questioned in the same firm manner, drawing a raised eyebrow from Valkyrie for the sheer disregard of her own question.
"To be honest, I saw you two enter when me and another operator are booked here to train. Since my partner isn't here yet, I just got curious, and set up a few cameras in the house you two were in." Meghan admitted to the German, who now glared at her.
"So you were spying on us." Monika stated in an annoyed tone as she pulled out one of the broken spheres from her vest's pouches, drawing the American's eyes to it before darting back.
"That's right." Valkyrie admitted. "Though I was only curious on what a couple of my future teammates could do." Silence reigned for a little while as Monika continued to look at her suspiciously with slight anger clear in the way her eyes were taut above the mask, and she didn't know what to say. In the end, she just decided to be blunt to provoke them into saying something. "If I were you, I'd pay more attention of your surroundings. I didn't see quite what you were doing, but it looks like your friend got quite the drop on you." A shrug from her showed how little she actually cared for any of it, as well as her reaction to the anger now swirling in Monika's eyes. It seemed the German had a short temper. "All in all, maybe you could've done a bit better."
It seemed the American was being a bit vindictive in the face of Monika's rude attitude, but before she could respond in what would undoubtedly be a scathing retort, Tina had opened the door and stepped out. Her rucksack was slung over her shoulder as she put on an analytical expression to the somewhat tense atmosphere, eyeing the indifferent SEAL operator and the angry GSG9 operator.
"Ah." Frost let out as her masked gaze fell upon the American operator. "So they're your cameras."
It wasn't a questioning phrase, but a statement. One that Meghan responded to anyway. "Indeed they are." She answered, the American accent clear in her voice. "And if you don't mind, I'd like them back. They're easy to repair, but hard to replace." It was clear that she was just expecting IQ to hand them back, as she held out a hand right for the sphere clutched in her hands.
That wasn't how Monika decided to cooperate, however, as she roughly shoved the broken device back into the pouch of her vest and folded her arms right over her chest. "No, I don't think so." She stated firmly as the hardened glint in her focused eyes on the American operator dared her to demand for them, or try something. "They'll make for a good basis on how to improve my own technology."
Valkyrie said nothing as her eyes levelled a narrow glare at the German in turn, before just huffing slightly. She wasn't stupid - the height difference between them showed who was the more physically adept, and she didn't want to cause trouble on only her first day of transfer, no matter if it was a little dispute where she just demanded it back. She had been the one spying in the end, and though she had more of the devices, it was costly to replace.
However, it was Tina that moved the conversation along. "So, how many of my traps did you spot?" She merely questioned.
"Traps?" It slipped out before the American operator actually thought about her statement, but nonetheless still carried across what she was thinking. "Is that what happened upstairs?"
"That's it." Frost answered, before walking onwards a bit and stopping just to the side of the slightly cocky American, and facing her seriously. "If I were you, I'd pay a little more attention to those cameras, or you'd have realised what exactly was going on, and that IQ was actually scanning her surroundings. All in all, I feel you could've done a bit better." With her piece said, Tina moved off down the street of the training area to exit it - leaving behind a stunned Valkyrie who clearly had not expected her own words being thrown back in her face.
A seconds thinking passed before Valkyrie shouted out to her. "So you were listening the whole time?"
All the answer she got was the index and middle finger of the right hand coming away from the forehead to the side in a mock-like salute, in a gesture that showed she was correct without the Canadian even turning around. Monika had brightened up at her friend's words, showing off an amused glint from the expression in her eyes above her own mask before moving off to join her friend. The satisfaction in her eyes was all the response she needed.
END OF THE WEEK, MONIKA'S ROOM.
The two were once more enjoying a drink. Unlike Monika who could handle several beers without a problem, it seemed Tina was a much more lighter alcoholic as she stuck to the type of cider and other similar drinks. Both were currently sat upon the sofa of Monika's room, the German curled up completely in the right corner of the sofa as Tina sat more normally on the left side, just sipping from her drink occasionally.
They were just sat in front of a TV show, an action-drama program that Monika seemed to like as Tina privately found it boring - but she didn't complain. It wasn't in her nature to, as she had at first found the invitation a bit awkward. Spending time alone with a friend hadn't been something she'd done in years, the only times she had come close to socialising over the course of her career was hanging out quietly in the midst of other acquaintances in the officer's room. But, as she had learnt over the course of the week, IQ could be very insistent.
So, Frost sat there, evaluating their friendship that seemed to have sprung up. It was perhaps a bit unfair given the blonde woman's drive to include her in some form of activity each and every day for the past week, something she had just gone along with, but it was a comfortable pattern that had been established. Tina would engage with Monika whenever she did something, the only exception being when she had felt to organise the training simulation to show off her own invention, and that was how they had spent their time. The blonde woman was much more livelier than she'd ever be, but she had warmed up to it.
The ironic thing was that she had had a hand in initiating this, for someone who was comfortable in just going along with the flow. Frost didn't know what had inspired her to knock back upon IQ's door at the start of the week to ask for that tour, perhaps some form of guilt from breaching into personal matters or a spark of inspiration that wanted to do something differently, but she had done it. It didn't matter now, for things had gone nicely over the past week - she had hardly spoken to anyone else, but she didn't need anything else. She was comfortable with this established pattern.
"Operations start again tomorrow." Monika's voice cut through her thoughts, making her simply look right with a sideways glance. "Now that the recruitment drive throughout this week is largely over, they're going to start missions back up for the operators here. This'll likely be the only time in years you'll see all the operators in one place."
That got more of Tina's curiosity as she turned her head properly to view Monika, giving a hum in though before voicing a question. "How do missions usually work for Team Rainbow?"
Monika lowered the mask from her face as she often did when she was both happy with the company she was with and was thinking, Tina noted. The blonde woman answered the question. "Since it's an international unit, we get deployed to help other military units across the world. The actual work varies, so long as it's serious stuff - from gang work to actual anti-terrorist activities. It could be a solo operator leading a team for just three days, to a whole deployment of a five-man team on a three month stint." IQ took a swig of her alcohol as she then tilted her drink towards Frost. "You'll know when the phone starts buzzing. That software they had you download onto your phone, it useful for all sorts -keeping track of your location, calling for help, and sending you alerts of mission updates. We might get one each tomorrow."
A nod from Tina showed that her answer had satisfied the shorter woman's curiosity on that topic, as she moved on. "Do operators get to choose who they want on missions?"
"Eh." Monika let out with a shrug. "Half the time. If it's a serious deployment, or at short notice, then no - those are specifically tailored for who's best for what job. If it's more routine, then yes, usually fellow operators get to request a partner or two to take along on missions. That's sort-of the whole reasoning behind it, allowing other internationals to conduct operations elsewhere means they get further experience, which they can then go onto share to others in other missions."
Frost looked thoughtful, before giving another nod. "That's nice." She simply stated back in response.
IQ looked put out by the short ending to the conversation, before silently just turning back to the TV and having another drink of her alcohol. There was no point in perhaps continuing to push a singular conversation, especially around a woman that had just started being her friend and possibly wasn't that comfortable around her yet. But, that didn't mean she'd give up trying the next day.
"So what missions have you been on?" Came a feminine voice cutting through her thoughts this time, the tone of it being instantly recognisable to her from hearing the clear and controlled way it was always spoken in. Just how Frost almost always handled herself.
Monika turned back to see brown eyes gazing into her own, before going to answer the clear interest displayed in her own exploits. "Well, I usually am deployed in Europe for shorter missions mostly. Quite a few solo missions, but I have been on longer operations with other operators. There was a particular three month long case in Germany I was deployed to because I know how the system works over there, I went along with Sledge, you saw him at the bar remember-"
Just like that, Frost had simply used the mannerisms of the blonde woman's nature against her to keep her happy, even with something as simple as sustaining a conversation. The conversation flowed for a further two hours as the two operators exchanged further stories of their military careers than they had at the bar, getting to know each other better.
Monika looked over in slight surprise soon after at the sudden noise that had startled her somewhat, before seeing exactly what caused it - Tina had fallen asleep against her arm. Smiling slightly, IQ saw how significant act this was - a clear sign that her actions that week had finally made the Canadian comfortable around her. So, without further ado, she merely curled her own body toward Frost slightly and put her arm around the shoulders of the petite woman.
As IQ picked up her open can of drink and took a sip with the other hand whilst resuming watching the telly, she did it all absent-mindedly. For even though she saw clearly the drama playing on the TV and tasted the sweet flavour of the alcohol drink, she instead focused her senses on the person in her arm. She could clearly feel the warm, smooth feeling of Tina's exposed arm that rubbed glossily against her own hand through the small movements of deep, sleeping breathing; and hear the small inhalations and exhalations of the woman's breaths through the mask that she still wore in her sleep.
They had become firm friends in only a week.
