10th May, 2027
Supposed Fallen Outpost
San Francisco, CA. America
I have good news and bad news. Good news is that Derrick and I managed to find out who attacked Meghan and Monika's house. Bad news is that they are in a heavily guarded outpost. Derrick and I were camped out on a ridge overlooking the facility. We were each equipped with high powered sniper rifles. Our objective was to provide overwatch for the 2 man squad that was infiltrating the building consisting of Sledge and Nomad.
"Alpha 1 to Overwatch, what's the sitrep?" Sledge's voice crackled in my ear.
"5 hostiles on the perimeter. No visual on primary target," I responded, moving my scope between each of the posted guards outside the building. Our primary target was the person codenamed "Bane." He was one of those people that Monika had gathered intel on a few days ago. Apparently he was highly skilled in chemical warfare. That too had reminded me of someone from my past. Someone I had killed when I was operating as Fenrir. That guy's name was Venom and he had released the gas during Operation: Shining God back in Washington. How did Rainbow find out that Bane was the person behind the attack on Meghan and Monika's place? You seem to forget who my best friend is and what he does. Derrick had come back from that intel gathering session absolutely fuming.
"THAT BASTARD PLANNED TO GAS THEM LUKE. FUCKING GAS THEM!" he had shouted at me as I attempted to calm him down. I had no success but Tina achieved what I couldn't (Zoey was with Cindy and Ken).
"Sweetie, yelling about it will get us nowhere. Did he say where his stronghold is?" Tina asked him gently while holding onto his shoulder. Derrick had nodded and told Eliza, Jordan and Elena about the place we were currently assaulting. I turned to Derrick and I could see determination in his eyes even under the ghillie suit and mask he was wearing.
"Loki, we need him alive, remember?" I said.
"I know," he answered, a little agitated. Don't get me wrong, I was still a little pissed myself. Meghan was fine but according to Monika, her being attacked triggered quite the panic attack that not even she could handle. Derrick had to calm Meghan down via a phone call and then took Zoey to see her at the base infirmary. Meghan seeing Zoey helped her regain her sense of safety and made her realize she had fought off 3 men by herself. Derrick says Zoey cuddled up to her Auntie and said "Megs!" for the first time other than just "Egg!" Speaking of babies, Ela's pregnancy was still going as smooth as it was before. Plus everyone was still buying the bait that we were just having a son rather than twins. Monika was especially excited to be closer to her new nephew (and unbeknownst to her, her niece as well). Both Monika and I have had roles in our other nieces' and nephews' lives but now that Monika and I were based in the US, it would be much easier for her to see me and my kids. I'm more Rainbow than BKA now and I'm fine with that actually. I don't hate America as much as some other Europeans do for some reason. Healthcare could be better though.
"Loki, Amp. What is the sitrep?" Ash's voice rang in my earpiece.
"Eyes on 5 hostile forces. No visual on primary target," Loki responded. I glanced toward him for a second. His voice sounded like it did back in Portland when he was experiencing extreme PTSD.
"Copy. You are clear to engage. Do it quietly. Sledge and Nomad will be waiting for your go ahead," Ash said. Pretty much as soon as she stopped speaking, I heard Derrick's silenced rifle fire and one of the perimeter guards drop. I barely had time to shoot the guy next to him before he raised an alarm.
"Dude, will you relax?" I whispered while pulling the bolt back and the spent cartridge came flying out.
"Right…right sorry. I forgot. Meghan is important to you too," he said and adjusted his aim. He was right. Essentially, Derrick and I were…not really "brothers-in law" but like…almost? I have no idea. Meghan is my sister in law and Monika is his. All I know is that we're best buds and Ela and I are known as Uncle Lukas and Auntie Ela to Zoey. Probably going to do the same thing when Tobi-
"Amp, take the guy on the left. He's smoking. I'll take his pal sneaking up on Nomad," Derrick said more calmly than before. "Estimate…100m and no wind. Adjust accordingly." I put the scope of the rifle to my eye and scanned for the target. I quickly located him smoking a cigarette behind a car and…
"Dude…gross…" I said out loud before pulling the trigger. My shot connected and the guy thankfully fell forward so I didn't have to see what he was doing.
"Problem Amp?" Ash's voice asked.
"Negative. One of the guards was pleasuring himself. Like out in the open," I responded and pulled the bolt back on the sniper. Suddenly, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something was coming. No…a LOT of things were approaching our position on this hill.
"Loki, don't move," I whispered.
"Yep…I hear them too. Sledge, going silent for a sec. Multiple enemies approaching…with trucks I think," Derrick said into his comm.
"Copy. I took out the last perimeter guard. Heading inside now. Nomad, check corners," Sledge responded. I flicked the safety on my rifle and then slowly moved it under my chest and stomach. Unfortunately the hot part of the barrel scraped against my thigh and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain. The small group of enemies were quickly approaching and I could now begin to hear what they were talking about. Plus I confirmed that there was no truck. I must have misheard that. Good.
"Yeah, Bane's here. Why would he not be?"
"Rainbow knows about the attack he planned on the lesbo's home. Still don't know why we didn't use the gas. That butch one really can throw a punch."
"And she kicked you in the balls."
"SHUT UP! Lucky muff diving little…GAK!"
"Ay yo! WHAT THE FUCK!" I slowly turned my head to see that Derrick had thrown a knife into the neck of the guy spouting homophobic slurs while his comrade tried to save him. It was no good. That guy was straight up dead. Good. Derrick gave me a nod and both of us rose and moved toward the remaining men. Derrick readied another knife and I was priming a sonic grenade to full power. It was time for a field test of this new upgrade. This one was different from the one Monika had helped me with. I called this the "Jet Protocol V1." Yeah, I still need to workshop the name but what this does is act as an incredibly lethal sonic grenade as opposed to my regular stunning variation. Those within its small area of effect would be subjected to about 150 dB in about 5 seconds. For comparison, that's the sound of a jet taking off if you were standing 25m from it. I chucked the grenade at the 2 other guards and instructed Derrick to cover his ears. It barely helped plus we were just outside of the grenade's radius. The sound that was emitted from my grenade was enough to cause blood to leak from the guards' ears and for them to fall over dead. Huh…must have caused an aneurysm or something. Note to self, lower decibel level to about 100-120. I turned my earpiece back on to hear that my attack had not gone unnoticed.
"AMP! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Sledge shouted in my earpiece. "THIS WAS A COVERT OP WAS IT NOT?!" Derrick was also looking at me with a stunned expression. I now just realized what I had done. My grenades weren't exactly quiet, you know. Sure Derrick and I caught most of the blast (it also helped that we were wearing ear protection) but there was no way in hell that didn't echo across the stronghold.
"I…I didn't think that one though did I?" I asked Derrick. He was digging in his ear with his finger.
"No. No you did not," he responded.
"Amp, Loki, what happened?" Ash's voice rang in my ear.
"Sonic grenade field test. Good news, it worked. Bad news, I believe we are compromised. Sledge, what's the situation?" Derrick called as he laid back down and grabbed his sniper.
"They definitely heard that noise," Nomad responded. "Only about 4 of them. They seem to be mobilizing to go outside towards you guys. 2 more are guarding a door. That's got to be where Bane is hiding."
"Copy, Rob Halford and I will take out the stragglers," Derrick said and cocked the bolt on his sniper. I decided to speak what was on my mind
"Hey man…how…how can you still eliminate hostiles when you have a wife and kid," I asked. It was a burning question I had been thinking about for a while. My job at Rainbow is incredibly dangerous and I've been shot at and injured a fair few times. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I were to actually die and leave Ela with 2 babies on her own.
"Helps when the ones we're shooting at are actual terrorists threatening to harm innocents. I think about it this way. Would my target shoot someone I love without thinking twice? If yes, goodbye," Derrick responded as he dropped one of the guards that was isolated from his fellows. "Put a pin in this convo alright Big Guy? We still need that target."
"Right," I said and took out 2 guards with one shot. I felt a pang of guilt because I had just ended the life of someone's child. What if someone had done that to Tobais? Or Izabela?...Or Ela? Dammit, FOCUS Lukas! Finish the mission!
"Loki, Amp, target knows we're here. He took off running," Ash's voice crackled in my ear again. "We need him."
"Copy, I see him…FUCK!" Derrick shouted. "Amp, take the shot! Hit his leg or something!" With my mind still on Ela, I aimed my scope at the fleeing Bane. Now that I got a clear and full viewing of him, an old memory flashed in my mind. Me holding a White Mask who was missing one of his legs I had blown off with a sniper rifle. The running Bane looked almost identical to the man from my memory, except he had more red and black in his attire. That man was in fact Venom.
"Skywalker, he's getting away! I don't have a shot!" Derrick shouted at me. Clearing the memories from my mind, I took a breath, held it, lined up my shot and fired. Bane now resembled the long deceased Venom, right down to the missing leg that I had blown off with a sniper rifle.
10th May, 2027
R6 San Francisco Branch Interrogation Room
San Francisco, CA. America
Eliza was currently holding Derrick back from charging into the interrogation room and beating Bane senseless.
"Let me go! Let me GO so I can kill him with my BARE HANDS!" Derrick growled. Eliza was quickly losing her grip on him so I stepped in. Derrick was a strong man but he wasn't quite as strong as me.
"Derrick, we need information. That outpost is literally all we had for right now," Eliza said, rubbing her wrists.
"Oh yeah?! I suppose we're going to ask him nicely to give us that information and why HE WANTED TO GAS MY SISTER?!" Derrick shouted.
"Novel idea, but I hear you love your mommy a lot more," Bane's voice taunted through the door before he apparently got punched in the gut. Derrick lunged for the handle but I managed to keep my hold on him.
"Der-wick," a new voice said but I recognized it. One person on the planet was allowed to call Derrick Castellano "Der-wick" and it wasn't his wife. Plus I know hearing it always calmed him down. Meghan's lower leg was wrapped in bandages and she still had a slight limp. She walked over to Derrick and touched his shoulder. She nodded at me as well and I let go of him. Derrick didn't move but he still looked angry.
"I'm fine," Meghan said. "You know I can handle myself. We need you to calm down alright?" Derrick attempted to but I could tell he was about to lose it.
"Call Tina," Meghan said.
"But…you…panic attack," Derrick began.
"Derrick, call her. Talk with her about what happened, then come back," Meghan ordered. Derrick took out his phone and dialed Tina's number. I heard her voice answer almost immediately.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"I…we…we found the FUCKING asshole…" Derrick began before getting another comforting touch from Meghan. "Hang on a sec, I need to go somewhere private." Derrick walked down the hall and out of sight still talking with Tina. Meghan watched him before turning to us.
"Mon's off today. She's at home writing before you ask," Meghan said. I of course knew that. Monika was getting back to writing her science fiction. Sometimes she liked to insert me as the loveable sidekick to the heroine.
"Any luck with this guy?" Meghan asked Eliza and I. Eliza shook her head.
"I've got nothing out of him. Hell, I don't think Alex is getting anything out of him either," Eliza said, punching the wall. At that moment, a large Russian man opened the door and exited. This man was Alexsandr "Tachanka" Senaviev. He was tall but not as tall as I was but he still towered over Meghan and Eliza. Half the time, this guy didn't know what the words "long sleeved shirt" meant. This time, he was just wearing pants and some, I guess "tactical suspenders" along with his helmet. He was visiting our base for a few weeks as he had heard of my and Derricks shenanigans around here. Plus he was pretty good at interrogating terrorists. I mean, have you seen how scary he looks? In reality though, he's a nice guy. His comrade Fuze though…
"I get nothing out of man known as Bane," Alex said in his Russian accent. Hearing him talk reminded me of something he had said before an excursion mission during the Chimera Parasite situation. "I have only one plan…BRINGING MY LMG!"
"Thanks for the help Alexsandr," Eliza said. Alex shook his head.
"Nyet. You call me Alex or Tachanka," he responded. "Now, I heard that Funny Helicopter Pilot is on edge. I take him to get McRib. Be back in 30 minutes." Alex proceeded to walk towards Derrick, who had been making his way back to us, picked him up and carried him off. Meghan and I chuckled.
"Guy really likes the McRib doesn't he?" Meghan said to me. I nodded. I saw him eat like 10 of those the other day. Like in a row.
"Dammit I'm all out of ideas!" Eliza exclaimed.
"No. You aren't," I said, coming up with the idea on the spot. "Do you still have my old gear?"
"Like from Portland? Or your BKA stuff?" Eliza asked.
"No. Not from when I was officially authorized to use deadly force," I said. "A different time." This Bane guy had to know Venom. I'm sure of it. And I was not operating as Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss at the time when I killed Venom.
I found myself looking at the old wolf-like helmet I wore during my solo crusade to avenge Derrick. It was still intact and surprisingly not filthy either. I wonder if it still fit. I lifted it over my head and heard the familiar whine of the LED screen booting up. I saw Meghan and Eliza recoil slightly.
"Wow…it's like stepping into the past," Meghan said before I saw her falter a little. Wearing this must have reminded her of darker times in her life. Eliza handed me the old chest armor as well. That still fit too. As did the pants. I looked toward Eliza again
"Play along," I whispered to her. Eliza looked confused before I spoke in my old Fenrir voice right near the door.
"What do you need from him Commander?" I asked. I saw Meghan flinch. Oh yeah…she, Ela and Monika had cornered me one night and I had to use a flashbang to get away. From the other side of the door, I heard Bane's whistling stop and I thought I heard him say "No…no way…"
"Anything useful. You don't have to be gentle either. Considering you aren't under my command…Fenrir," Eliza said, barely stopping a smile from forming. Bane let out an "eep" of fear. I smirked from under the mask and mimed kicking in the door. Meghan and Eliza nodded. Still smirking, I raised my boot and gave the door a mighty kick. It blasted inward with a smash and I quickly walked over to the table and slammed both of my hands on it.
"NO! YOU'RE DEAD! THEY TOLD ME YOU WERE DEAD!" Bane shouted in fear and tried to stand up. He must have forgotten that his leg was gone (the wound was medically wrapped) and fell over. I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and threw him back in the chair.
"Talk," I growled.
"What do you want?!" Bane begged.
"Information,"
"Then use the FUCKING Internet." Bold move chief. Unfortunately, I was not in the mood for cheekiness so I kicked him and the chair over. Before he could retaliate, I walked over, pulled off his mask and was just able to stop him from biting down on the cyanide capsule in his mouth.
"No. I said talk. Not die," I ordered and shoved him towards the wall.
"YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" Bane shouted and lunged at me. I parried and locked his arm behind his back. Wait…Venom was Bane's brother? Huh…checks out I guess.
"Your brother was a terrorist and so are you. I do not like terrorists. Therefore, I do not like you. You have just under a minute to give me something useful or I break your arm," I snarled.
"Alright…alright FINE! We've been getting intel on Rainbow from someone. Goes by the codename 'Sekh.' They gave us the address for the dyke's house. My team jumped the gun before I got there," Bane blubbered. My eyes widened in fear and anger. I needed to know if anyone else was in danger…like Derrick…or me.
"How many other addresses were given to you?!" I snarled back and increased the pressure on his arm.
"I don't know! I swear to God!" he whimpered. I turned him around, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"SWEAR TO ME!" I yelled. "WHAT OTHER ADDRESSES DO YOU HAVE!"
"Someone named Cohen and Trace. Cohen being a high priority target! That's where I was supposed to go next. We've been tracking Cohen for a while. Thought we had an ID at a party on New Years but 2 little girls spotted our recon guy. That's all we have. We'd been planning the assault for months," Bane choked before he eventually lost consciousness. Dammit. I put his unconscious body back in the chair and walked out of the room. I noticed Derrick had come back and he was eating a McChicken.
"You get all that?" I asked Eliza. She nodded.
"Derrick, can you and some of the other tech people start to increase cybersecurity aroun- WHAT THE FUCK?!" Eliza suddenly shouted. I turned around to see Jordan being wheeled in on a stretcher. Oh boy, Bane's team must have jumped the gun on attack number 2. Jordan looked a little bloody but pretty much ok for the most part
"Jordan! Babe, speak to me!" Eliza pleaded as she ran over.
"I'm fine. Bastards got the drop on me. They are very untrained but incredibly bloodthirsty," I heard Jordan answer.
"They know where we live," Eliza said and turned back to face Derrick and Meghan. Derrick finished his sandwich before saying "Oh yeah, Monika and I can easily set up a program that feeds false info. Weird how this hacker was able to access your file above ours Eliza. Yours has got to be the most password protected. C'mon Megs, I've got some ideas already. You can help. You're good with surveillance." Derrick and Meghan walked off in the direction of the lab. I checked my watch. It was mid afternoon. I should be getting off soon.
"Go home Lukas. Good work today. Ela's been blowing up my phone all day about you," Eliza said while caressing Jordan's shoulder.
"How is she doing by the way," Jordan said through winces of pain.
"Fine for the most part," I said. "Being as she's having tw- uh I mean a son within a few months." Fuck. FUCK! I messed up! Dammit! There goes surprising everyone. Eliza had in fact noticed my slip up.
"Tw-twins?!" she whispered. I nodded.
"Please don't tell anyone. Derrick and Tina know but DON'T tell Monika or Zofia. Please," I begged. Eliza looked at Jordan with a wistful gaze before turning back to me.
"Of course we won't Lukas. That's wonderful though! I'll see if Six can get you some more paternity leave to help her for the first few weeks," Eliza said.
"Thanks Eliza," I said and motioned to the still unconscious Bane. "What about him?"
"I was just attacked by his boys and Eliza thinks I'm rather cute," Jordan began. "Bane's about to learn what happens when you harm those Eliza Cohen loves. Plus, we might have to shack up with Eliza's sister after this and I know she's not happy about that."
10th May, 2027
Our House
San Francisco, CA. America
I was back home within 45 minutes of leaving the base. Ela was snoozing on the couch in front of the TV. It looked like she fell asleep watching the Food Network. She's been having a lot more of an appetite than usual. Must be a pregnancy thing. Most of the time, I just listen to what she's craving and get it for her. Derrick told me he did the same for Tina. Once he told me about Tina's craving for a Whopper with peanut butter on it. She apparently ate the whole thing with no complaints. Ela had also had one of those weird food combo cravings too such as onion bagels with honey on them. I walked over to my snoozing wife and heard that familiar light snoring sound she made whenever she slept on her side. She was also wrapped in a blanket. I silently sat down on the couch next to her head and started eating the take out I had picked up on the way home. Ela moaned a little before I heard her say "Nuggies?" in a tired voice.
"Yes. I got you some chicken nuggets," I said "With barbeque and hot sauce." I put the 8 piece box of nuggets next to Ela's head and her eyes opened almost at once.
"This seat taken?" I asked between bites of my own dinner. She sat up, took the nugget box and began to eat them after leaning her head against my shoulder.
"Did you get that bastard?" she asked me between bites.
"Yes," I answered a little more harshly than I intended. Ela noticed.
"What happened? And don't lie," she ordered. I proceeded to tell her about the mission and about my question to Derrick about still being able to engage the enemy when he had a little girl at home.
"It's never easy. You and I both know that," she said. "Talk with Zofia about it too. That's what I've been doing for…wait, what's that on your face?" I just realized she had been studying my face before her eyes widened. Uh oh…I must still have a little residue from the Fenrir helmet on my face. I know for a fact Ela hates when people bring that up in her presence. I guess it was the first time in her life she had felt actually scared to lose someone she really cared about. This was before she had mended things with Zoifa of course.
"Why the fuck were you wearing that again?!" Ela ordered.
"Needed to get the guy to talk. Eliza was right there. Don't worry. Oh and speaking of Eliza, I had a bit of a slip up and she knows about the twins," I said finishing off my sandwich. Ela huffed. The tell tale sign she was annoyed at me. This was usually followed by a sentence in Polish.
"Kocham cię, ale jesteś idiotą," she muttered. Unfortunately for her, I know more things about her native tongue than she does mine. She said she loved me but called me stupid as well.
"Rude but I love you too," I said and put my hand on her stomach. Suddenly, I felt something that felt like movement and I looked towards my wife who was smirking.
"Get him Tobey," she teased.
"Turn the boy against his father will you? Fine! I see how it is!" I joked back and got up off the couch. "I need some music to clear my head. Text me if you need me." I proceeded to walk towards the basement door.
"Play something happy for once. Please?" Ela's voice from behind me asked. I turned to see her giving me what can only be described as "puppy dog eyes." I grinned.
"You got it," I said. I walked down into my man cave and looked at my guitars trying to decide what to play. My eyes lingered on my bass guitar. I decided to play that as I hadn't got a lot of bass practice as I used to thanks to Derrick. Derrick was skilled, but he hadn't gone to music school like me. Hate to be that guy but yes, I was better than he was at the bass. I don't think he cares all that much. I picked it up off its stand, plugged it in and plucked the E string.
"Oof, that is way out of tune. Where's my tuner," I muttered to myself. From upstairs, I was able to hear Ela say "Oh Daddy's gonna play the bass for us." I ran through the songs I knew in my head as I tuned the various strings. For some reason, my mind kept landing on my mom listening to music whenever she cooked dinner. I have a vivid memory of walking in on her when I was 3 years old where she was singing along to what was playing on the stereo. Knowing her, it was probably Phil Collins. Hang on…I know some Phil Collins songs. What's that one where he goes "how many times do I have to say I'm sorry" or something. A quick search on my phone told me the actual song name (Something Happened on the Way to Heaven) as well as the tabs for it. Time to see if my old sight reading abilities still worked! I connected my phone to the portable speaker I had set up on my desk and pressed play on the track. Turns out this bass line was pretty intricate but extremely groovy. When the chorus kicked in, something in my memory clicked as I now remembered that this song was one of my mom's favorites. The song ended a few minutes later and I still had a small smile on my face. Then I felt my phone buzz. It was from Ela.
Engel - "Me and the babies loved that song :) "
Me - "I do take requests."
Engel - "Do you know the one Derrick and his mom danced to at his wedding?"
Me - "Why yes I do! Sailing by Christopher Cross! A classic! Weird, who knew Ms. I Hate Rules likes a lot of American soft rock music.
Engel - "Tell anyone and I will divorce you."
Me - "Liar"
Engel - "You're right. I love you too much."
I proceeded to play Sailing and a few others before rejoining Ela on the couch upstairs. It looked like she hadn't moved in the past hour and she had dozed off again. I sat back down next to her and she immediately placed her head against my shoulder and murmured "Mine." I kissed the top of her head and placed my hand against her stomach again. I felt the movement of one of my children and this time it almost felt like one of them was pressing their hand against mine. After experiencing this moment, I completely forgot I had once again donned the armor and helmet of the infamous Portland vigilante of 2023, Fenrir.
