"I was taken in at a young age and put into a secret program. There were lots of other kids and teens that were "enrolled," in the academy with me as well. We didn't have any names, just numbers assigned to us. I was number seven. They erased our memories of our former lives, our childhoods, wiped the slate clean. We were basically born there. All I remember was waking up in an empty, white room with no food or water. It felt as though I hadn't had any in days, I'm guessing during that time they were messing around with my head. Waking up in that room was my first memory. I don't remember anything else prior. That's as far as my memory takes me. A lot of my memories are actually still lost to me, still blurry. Some days, even some weeks would go by in a flash, as if our lives were fast forwarded. After these sped up moments, I'd wake up in a bed in the infirmary covered in wounds. I must've been sent on some mission or something. We all trained as hard as we could, fearing that if we didn't, they'd hurt us. Our suspicions were correct. If you were older than sixteen, if you failed a test, or your grades weren't satisfactory, once the lights shut off for bed time, we'd wake up in the morning to one of our own missing. There were a hundred in the beginning, all around 13-14 when we started. Four years in, that number had reduced to the size of an average classroom, twenty. By the end of it, just one, and that was me. Once I had finished my training, they had revealed everything to me, well, almost everything. They had told me what my purpose was, who they were, where I came from, blah, blah, blah. had it been two years earlier, I wouldn't have believed them, especially when they said that the other students were taken back to their homes. But they had injected into me some chemical agent that eliminated all human emotion and turned me into a machine that did EXACTLY what it was told. Looking back, had a certain woman not taken interest in me, I would not have been able to pass their program. She helped mentor me and train me after hours, give me an edge over everyone else. Whatever she saw in me, whatever she planned, it backfired for her when I made my escape. Four years of service to these fucks, but one day, when I was supposed to take my weekly dose of that mind controlling shit, I seemed to have been given some sort of antidote. I came to my senses immediately and escaped. But not before I destroyed everything in that facility. While I was in their service, they had talked about developing a group of terrorists to distract the world from their clandestine operations, at the time they didn't have a name yet, but I know now they're these White Masks. If I could describe to you what we're dealing with, it be with an ice berg. The tip of this ice berg is the White Mask, destructive, obvious, and infamous. Below that would be their new chemical agent they've been using to gas people with, like the university. Around the middle would have been the program I was in, and whoever headed that experiment would have been lower in the ice berg. And at the very bottom, under the water and hidden from everything and everyone else, is the leader of the entire thing, known only as, "the Planter." And this isn't the limit of my knowledge, it's the limit of everyone's. The only thing we know about the Planter is the name, and that's it, and some don't even know that. It's probably classified, though I didn't care when I tore through the facility and found mentions of it. While Rainbow and everyone else were dealing with the White Masks, this organization continued its hidden operations, completely under the radar. This organization has no name, no records, but they exist, and I was in it. that's basically the sum of it. Now, do I have to listen to your French accent some more or is this satisfactory to you?" Walker finally finished.
"Hmph, maybe, though I may have dozed off a bit and need you to repeat it." she grinned.
"Fuck you."
Twitch's radio turned on with a voice saying, "Twitch, if you're out there and you've found Walker, and, of course, when you're done making out with the asshat, we need you in the conference room with Walker."
"I'll bring him by." she replied, "right?"
Walker shrugged his shoulders.
In the conference room, several operators sat around a long table, with Ash standing at the very front, leaning against the table with her hands, looking at some papers in front of her.
She sighed and facepalmed, "Alright, before we actually get to the important shit, which one of you suggested to, quote, "Ban Twitch drone?""
The room, consisting of Kaid, Jager, Mute, Bandit, Valkyrie, and Kapkan, all looked at each other and rubbed the back of their necks.
Ash shook her head and continued, "Speaking of, Twitch should be here any minute now with Walker, are there any questions about what we are about to discuss?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"That isn't about Twitch's drone..."
they all put their hands down.
Twitch and Walker opened the door into the conference room and everybody turned to face them.
"Twitch, you're here, now we can discuss some pressing matters at hand. Walker, please, take a seat."
"It's okay, I don't need one. I'll just sit down, if that's okay." he said.
Valkyrie spoke up, "You should be grateful you're even in the same room as us. Someone who's a sarcastic shithead like you doesn't belong here, if I were in charge you would have been locked up with the other terrorists."
Walker sat down, ignoring the dumb blonde's comment.
Ash looked at Twitch with a worried expression on her face, then shook her head and started the meeting. Twitch sat next to Walker and put her elbows on the table, hands clasped together, attentively listening to Ash as she began speaking.
"First off, another good year of competition for all of us, well done everybody, you all did well in the games."
Walker leaned next to Twitch and whispered, "... What the fuck is she talking about?"
Twitch continued looking at Ash while she spoke, but moved her head closer to Walker and answered, "We did a sort of tournament not too long ago to compete with one another. One team is tasked with defending an objective inside a building, while the other is tasked with breaching into it. It's good practice as well."
Walker's eyes widened in surprise. He shook his head in confusion, but brushed it aside and continued listening to Ash.
"We were hit hard in this recent attack, it was unexpected, for all of us, but thankfully no one on our side was killed. That is the reason for this meeting today."
Walker mumbled, "Huh, I for sure thought it was going to be about your shock drone, Twitch."
Twitch furrowed her brows and slowly shook her head.
"We should always be ready to defend our friends and allies, we should always be prepared for the worst. The intel we've received about the White Masks, their purpose, their motives, and how they're really just a front, has the upper ups scrambling for solutions. Thanks to Walker, we were able to take the wool off our eyes and see the real issues at hand. While we'll still focus on eliminating these terrorists, we'll divert some resources and manpower to investigating their leaders and whoever is in charge of this mysterious organization that's responsible for creating this sub group of terrorists. which is why..." Ash paused and sighed.
Everyone leaned in.
She continued, "Which is why Walker will now be a fully fledged Rainbow operative."
Everybody started groaning and bickering among one another.
"Are you kidding me?" Valkyrie slammed the table and stood up, "who's idea was this? That son of a bitch there is not to be trusted, we don't even know if he's telling the truth or not! He could be sending us on a wild goose chase! Making up some bullshit about a shadow organization, some Illuminati type shit, and saying how the White Masks are nothing more than a distraction! He's obviously just trying to get some pressure off those bastards because he is one!"
"Sit down, Valk." Ash said.
"No, I won't, not this time."
"It's okay, I agree with her." Walker stood up.
The room went silent.
"What?" Ash, Twitch, and Valkyrie said at the same time.
"I don't want me being a part of Rainbow either, I actually want to get work done and not play fucking paintball in a football stadium while terrorists blow innocents up to pieces or gas them like cockroaches. I'd rather not be on a team so diverse that I have to work with a brainless fuck who's specialty is running through walls. Anyone can do that, I can do that. Just give me a few attempts and I'd be dumb enough to keep doing it. Or what about Wamai? I see him walking around with his fucking flippers, no one's going to question that? Or what about the GSG 9? I'm looking at you Jager, why do you guys walk around wearing outfits like you're still living in the mid 2000s listening to Linkin' Park while wearing Kevlar vests over your sweaters and running with pink tennis shoes? You guys can't even look the part, let alone even understand the fact that you all look like you play weekly on an air soft team. Oh, wait, you do. And don't think I'm not going to pit you with the "special forces," Valkyrie. How many of those cameras do you shove up your ass a day to have an attitude like that? I look at this room, which is not even one percent of the total forces of Rainbow, hopefully, and see complete weakness. You guys are armed with peashooters that couldn't kill a summer ant, let alone a paramilitary soldier who's whole purpose is to cause as much chaos as possible, which, obviously, you guys have completely forgotten about while you play in a big Nerf war. And can we talk about that? You guys are supposed to be the best of the best each country's military or police force have to offer, and yet you banter around like fucking celebrities coked up on their own fame for the whole world to see, rather than remain clandestine and strategic. Very professional, truly."
"That is enough, Walker!" Ash said sternly.
"Walker! Please, what is the matter with you!?" Twitch got up and put her hand on his shoulder.
"The matter? The matter? I've seen one of you sons of bitches walking around in a Pickle Rick outfit in some photo gallery down the hall. That's the matter! Maybe my IQ isn't high enough to understand the complexity of your shit, maybe that's it."
"I didn't make the decision, Walker, believe me. If I did, you wouldn't be having a temper tantrum right now. And this little rant right here? it won't help you form a bond with your fellow soldiers."
Walker stood there and glared at Ash, before saying, "Soldiers, don't wear costumes into battle. I've been a quiet loner all my life, crazy, right? Me being quiet? and I liked it that way too, but you guys are really pushing my buttons here, you guys only know a side of me I never show to anyone because no one before was able to bring it out. Disobedience, and trust me when I say, my whole existence up until a few years ago was nothing but being a good dog and listening to master. I'm leaving, and you can try to stop me, but I still won't help you."
"Like. I. Said. Asshole. I didn't make the decision."
"Then let me talk to the one that did."
Ash and Walker stared at one another intently.
Ash pulled out her phone, "Harry? Our new friend wants to talk."
