February 16th, 2023 (A few hours before start of ToC)
SrA. Derrick "Loki" Castellano
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Derrick braced himself against the wall outside the giant stadium and began to take deep breaths. This was it. After about 2 months of keeping this a secret to everyone he knew, he was finally here at the Stadium for the Tournament of Champions. It hadn't been an easy few months mainly because he had to lie to Meghan (and his parents) on numerous occasions. He didn't like doing that to his family. Blackbeard had also mentioned via text that he was chewed out by Meghan for "slipping up" about Rainbow. It was extremely lucky for Derrick that even after all of that, no one had caught wind of this plan. Meghan was completely in the dark and, according to Blackbeard, she was present in the stands. For the first time in his life, Derrick was nervous. Normally, he enjoyed being the center of attention even if he didn't always try to make the situation all about him. This time it was going to be different. He and another guy were about to be the center of attention whether they liked it or not.
First of all, the guard at the front didn't believe him when he said that he was a participant in the tournament. Derrick couldn't get a read on the guy's face because he was wearing a full mask and goggles.
"Castellano? US Air Force Special Reconnaissance? You aren't on the list pal. Go to the fan entrance like everyone else," the guy said and handed Derrick his military ID back to him. He had been about to protest when another American, who had been passing by the entrance (perhaps on the lookout for him) walked over. The guy was wearing dark combat fatigues with a black vest and what looked like athletic tape around both of his hands. He was also wearing a helmet and goggles.
"Derrick, right? Meghan's brother?" the guy asked Derrick who nodded. The guy held his hand out and Derrick shook it. "Name's Jordan, but call me Thermite. I'm one of your teammates. He's clear Recruit." Thermite said the last thing to the guy that looked at Derrick's ID who looked confused but waved Derrick through anyway. Derrick and Thermite began to walk throughout the facility. Derrick had taken the time to look around the place. He noticed a couple of other Special Forces soldiers milling about in either the workout area or cafeteria. Many of them had noticed him, the new guy. A woman with a skull painted on her face was glaring at him with malicious intent before a woman in a full face mask and a vest that read GIGN had placed a hand on her shoulder. A guy in a motorcycle helmet and aviators had waved cherrily to him and Thermite as he passed.
"How many of you guys are there?" Derrick asked as a guy in a suit walked by him.
"About 60. Bunch of Recruits as well," Thermite responded.
"Is Megs on a team or whatever? I uh...kinda don't wanna shoot her…" Derrick said.
"I believe she chose to sit this one out. Along with Ash, Mira, Zero, IQ, Frost, Ela and a couple more" Thermite answered. Derrick had no idea who those people (except he remembered the name "Ash") were but nodded in response and continued to follow Thermite. Thermite eventually led him to a room containing 3 other people. Derrick noticed Blackbeard adjusting his rifle and 2 others speaking German in the corner. One of them was extremely jacked and had his long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Derrick caught a few words of their conversation as he knew German. The bigger guy was asking about the rules and what he should expect and the smaller guy was telling him that he had nothing to worry about as they used nonlethal rounds and explosives. Thermite turned to Derrick,
"Blackbeard says you possess something that could help us win rather easily," he said and folded his arms. Derrick nodded and pointed to his T.R.I.K. Projector mounted on his arm and shoulder. Getting that bad boy through customs was a bit of a bitch but he had managed. Someone named Alvarez had told the customs office in America and Greece that Derrick was coming through.
"Ok...what exactly does it do?" Thermite asked. Blackbeard looked over.
"Trust me Trace, shit's amazing. Derrick said he developed it himself when he was in college," Blackbeard responded. This was true. Derrick had developed his T.R.I.K. Projector for his senior project in Mechanical Engineering. He'd gotten the idea while watching some sci fi movie and he'd always liked reading about Norse mythology so he started development on "Project Jotunn" in his senior year. The Air Force had been extremely impressed with it and that's what got Derrick his spot in the Special Reconnaissance branch. His only request was that he was the only one who could use it until he retired. He'd used it a few times and became one of the top infiltrators in the Air Force. Derrick pulled up the image of Blackbeard on the screen and entered a few commands. Then he clenched his fist and his "form" began to change into that of Blackbeard once more, this time his sunglasses were dark blue. Thermite and the other 2 guys in the room gasped in amazement.
"Holy…" Thermite said.
"Jesus Christus…" The bigger German guy said.
"Oh mein Gott…." The other said.
"Like I said, out-fucking-standing. Oh right, Derrick, these guys are Elias and Lukas. Blitz and, I believe you said Amp? Yes Amp. Lukas is the other recruit I mentioned to you. His sister is also a Rainbow operator so you guys have something in common," Blackbeard said, clapping Lukas on the shoulder. Derrick thought Lukas looked like someone right out of an 80s hair band...wait a second...this guy looked familiar.
"I know you Lukas, you played in that 80s and 90s cover band from the Boston area for a while in the late 00s right? Uh...Time Warp or something? Talk about a career change huh," Derrick said as he changed back into himself. Lukas grinned.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you remembered that. So your sister is in Rainbow too?" he asked. Derrick noted that he spoke English quite well. He must have been doing so since he was young.
"Indeed. One Meghan Castellano. 4.0 GPA, multiple awards, former Olympic breaststroke hopeful and target of many, MANY practical jokes done by yours truly," Derrick said and took a mock bow. The other German guy, Blitz, laughed.
"I like you already Derrick. Lukas's sister is pretty much the same," he said.
"Is she now?" Derrick said to Lukas while doing an impression of Captain Davy Jones because he couldn't help himself.
"Oh yeah. She was obsessed over her grades in school. Even got into...I think the place was called mit," Lukas said.
"Mit? Oh, you mean M.I.T.?" Derrick asked. He had noticed that the other 3 guys had left him and Lukas to speak amongst themselves. That was fine. Derrick liked Lukas already.
"Yes! That's it!" Lukas said, snapping his fingers. "She and I are really close too. She still obsesses over my safety among other things,"
"Hey man, don't worry about it. She just really cares about you. Megs often calls me a clown but I know she'd absolutely lose it if I were to get hurt somehow. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Rainbow had a few undercover people in the Air Force keeping an eye on me for her," Derrick said. He thought he had seen Thermite look over and smirk at that last comment.
"Pretty similar situation with me. Whenever the GSG9 gets involved with BKA affairs, my sister is usually there," Lukas said.
"So, why did you pick the name Amp?" Derrick asked, leaning up against the wall. Lukas took one of the objects off of his belt and held it out. Derrick thought it looked a bit like a standard impact grenade but more oval shaped and with the inscription "Seelen der Verdammten" etched on the side.
"Souls of the Damned?" Derrick asked, reading the inscription. Lukas started.
"Sprichst du Deutsch?" Lukas asked in German.
"I do, pretty well actually. Anyway, what does it do?" he asked, still studying the grenade.
"It's pretty much a sonic grenade. I press the button at the top and charge up the level and duration of the scream. Green for low, blue for medium and red for long," Lukas explained in English before reattaching the grenade to his belt.
"Dude, please tell me it's a Judas Priest scream," Derrick said hopefully. Lukas grinned again.
"80s metal guy too?" he asked.
"My boy, pop a squat and I will tell you why 80s metal is the best fucking genre of music EVER," Derrick said. For the following hours before the first match began, Derrick and Lukas became fast friends. They shared multiple interests from music to old cartoons they watched as kids to jokes they pulled on their family members. Blackbeard eventually gave Derrick the lowdown on the tournament. There were 3 teams. 3 attacking teams and 3 defending. Depending on how well each team performed, they were given a score. The top attacking team was then placed against the top defending team for the final round. First to 4 rounds win unless the score ties at 3, then it goes into overtime for 3 rounds and the first team to win 2 will win the match.
"The first team will not know what you 2 can do. Derrick, I want you to sneak in somehow with that device of yours. The rest of us will split into 2 teams. Lukas and Elias and myself and Jordan. Once or if they catch onto you guys, we'll change tactics. Get ready, they're about to call us"
February 16th, 2023
SrA. Derrick "Loki" Castellano
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Derrick and his teammates stood near the entrance to the middle of the stadium where he could see a large structure in the middle which apparently was dubbed the "killhouse." He and Lukas were standing off to the side in the shadows as part of Operation: Surprise Megs (and Monika, Lukas's sister). Derrick himself was still extremely nervous. Blackbeard hadn't mentioned that the tournament was open to the public and he could hear the roar of the crowd from where he and Lukas were standing. Derrick peeked around the corner and his heart fell into his stomach. There she was. Meghan was sitting directly across from where he would enter. She was talking to a blonde haired woman in a green sweatsuit with headphones around her neck. Derrick also spotted his...well, crush, Tina sitting behind Meghan and she was engaged in the conversation as well. He knew it was Tina because he recognized her eyes even at this distance.
"Oh come the fuck on man," Derrick said shakily. Lukas peeked too and Derrick heard him inhale sharply.
"Lemme guess, the woman in the green sweatsuit is your sister?" he asked Lukas. Lukas nodded.
"I knew she was going to be here but I didn't think it was going to be right in front of us when we entered...oh boy. This was a bad idea I should have told her…" Lukas said. Derrick could sense him begin to panic.
"Luke, relax. Think about how happy she's gonna be when you help us win," Derrick said quadruple checking the magazine in his M4 Carbine and the ones on his vest to make sure the rounds were not actual bullets. The non-lethal ammo was still high ballistic and would definitely hurt and, depending where he shot, would hurt a lot. Thermite told Derrick that the rounds would emit white smoke upon contact and that headshots were "instant kills." He himself was wearing standard combat fatigues sans helmet. There was something called a SIM-SUIT which served as his outer layer of clothing underneath his combat gear. Apparently the SIM-SUIT "provided real-time telemetry of all contact the Operator receives and calculates its simulated damage, providing near-instantaneous feedback." He was told that once the suit had reached it's damage limit, he was to remain immoblie and someone would tell him when he could move to the designated area where "eliminated" operators gathered. The sunglasses Meghan gave him were currently clutched in his shaking hand. Those weren't as high tech but Derrick told himself that they made him look even more devilishly handsome than he already was.
"That's what I like to hear, Loki!" Blitz said before he pulled his mask up over his mouth. Right, codenames. Gotta remember that, Derrick said to himself as he heard a voice from overhead.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. Welcome to the 2022 Tournament of Champions!" it said and Derrick heard the crowd roar in approval. Thinking quickly, he pulled Lukas and himself back into the shadowy corner lest Meghan and Monika (and Tina) see the pair of them. The announcer began to rattle off what Blackbeard had told Derrick earlier. Derrick and Lukas were busy fighting down their nerves.
"And now, it's my honor to introduce you to our first operator. A Navy SEALs veteran and newly appointed Captain for the tournament. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...BLACKBEARD!" Blackbeard made his way onto the grass to general cheering and applause from the crowd and some kind of rock music playing over the speakers.
"Next up, another veteran Operator. This time of the GSG9. His team actually won the title 2 years ago. Please welcome BLITZ!" Blitz made his way onto the grass but not before he had winked at Lukas. Thermite walked over to Derrick and Lukas.
"Deep breaths guys. You'll be fine. Stick to BB's plan and we got this in the bag."
"Next up, this guy is part of a previous year's championship team. It makes sense as to why Blackbeard recruited him as he is a respected member of the FBI SWAT. Please welcome back, THERMITE." Thermite gave Derrick and Lukas the thumbs up before he too walked onto the grass.
"Ready?" Derrick said to Lukas.
"Y-yeah," Lukas responded. Derrick put his sunglasses on.
"I'm gonna make you proud to call me your brother Megs," he said to himself as he heard the announcer speak once again. Surprisingly, he heard the beginning of "Halls of Valhalla" by Judas Priest before he heard the announcer's voice.
"And now, in an unexpected move by Captain Blackbeard, we have yet another newcomer to the scene. I have been told that he is an astounding helicopter pilot and operator for the US Air Force," Derrick peeked around the corner again and saw that Meghan's face had gone blank and she was mouthing the words "no fucking way." Tina also seemed surprised. That made Derrick even more nervous. Meghan went into complete and utter shock when the announcer continued with "He happens to be the younger brother of another Navy SEAL in attendance," Derrick stepped out from the shadows in full view as the song went into the opening guitar riff. He looked and then pointed at Meghan who had noticed him standing there. He couldn't tell if she was happy or pissed. He could definitely tell he was being called a lot of variations of "you son of a bitch" though.
"Please give a warm welcome to...LOKI!" Derrick walked forward as Rob Halford screamed "Valhalla!" on the music track. It was as if he left his nerves back in the shadowy area with his new buddy Lukas. The whole crowd was cheering for him. Derrick unsheathed one of his knives and started to show off a little with a couple of knife tricks. As he got to his other teammates, he looked right at Meghan and started to lip sync along with the song as Meghan's initial shock turned into excitement. He clearly saw her call him a jerk before going back to cheering. Outstanding. The Operation was a success. Derrick had also seen Tina cheering for him as well and moving the hair out of her face as if she was flirting with him. Yeah, this was a good idea. He looked up and noticed a viewing area where he could see 3 people, 2 of which were standing. 2 of them were women, one with her red hair tied in a single braid and the other with shorter brown hair. Derrick figured one of those women was Ash so he decided to be on his best behavior...to an extent. The excitement had died down for him and now it was Lukas's turn. Derrick saw that Blitz had his mask down and was grinning broadly in the direction of Meghan and Tina but Derrick saw that he was actually looking at Monika. Monika was looking at him in confusion before she glanced at Derrick and then to Meghan. Something in her mind clicked and she quickly put her hands over her mouth as the announcer spoke again over the opening riff of Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes to Midnight"
"And for the final member of Team Blackbeard, he is also the brother of someone in attendance. A frequent collaborator with his fellow teammate on counterterrorism operations in his home country of Germany. He says he gained his alias when he was in primary school. Please put your hands together for the one, the only….AMP!" Derrick clearly heard Monika scream before uttering many incoherent squeals of joy. Lukas made his way towards the rest of his team. When he got there, he nodded in Monika's direction and she pretty much lost all control before a green haired woman that Derrick had just noticed began to help her calm down. Derrick saw that the green haired woman had eyes only for Lukas. Derrick and Lukas began to look at the killhouse, judging where the best places of entry would be as the announcer introduced the defending team; Warden, Caviera (the skull lady Derrick saw earlier), Lesion, Alibi and team captain Vigil. Someone came over and handed Derrick's team 2 drones each to use as recon before they were to enter the building.
"Defenders, to the mat," a different announcer said and Derrick watched as the other team made their way to the killhouse but not before that Caveira woman pointed at Derrick and drew her finger across her throat and smirked at Meghan. Oh...so you wanna be a cocky bitch eh? Fine! Derrick thought to himself as he readied his drone. One last glance at Meghan told him that her and Caveira had some tension between them because Meghan looked murderous and right before Derrick let his drone go, he distinctly heard Meghan say (by reading her lips)
"Kick her fucking ass Derrick." With pleasure Big Sis.
The drone phase kicked off pretty ok. Derrick found out that the drone could jump and scan for hostiles. He found the guy he was looking for pretty quickly. Warden was in the first floor showers and IDed his location for his teammates. IDing Warden and any other team member also allowed Derrick to upload his likeness to the T.R.I.K. Projector so he could impersonate and infiltrate. Hopefully the kink wouldn't be noticed by anyone. Team Blackbeard found the bomb and only 2 of the drones got destroyed. Derrick used his to follow Warden for a little bit before the guy had stopped near a boarded up window and began to hold an angle on it. Perfect. Derrick put the phone/drone controller back into his pocket and tapped a few commands on the screen mounted to his left arm. His teammates had already split off into 2 teams with Blackbeard and Thermite repelling up the side of the building and Amp and Blitz going through the front door. Derrick then glanced toward Meghan once again, who was looking confused as to why he was not moving, and then clenched his fist. Instantly the advanced holographics activated and Derrick became 99.5% Warden. The only thing that was different was that his tie was purple and not blue. Everyone in the crowd gasped (Meghan was flabbergasted) and then cheered as Derrick/Warden "adjusted his tie" and made his way to the window to where the real Warden was hiding out. Derrick glanced at the observation deck where Ash and that other woman was. Ash was speechless and the other woman was equally as surprised. Once he got there, Derrick checked his drone again to see if Warden was still there. He was. Perfect. Derrick readied his "shotgun" (in reality it was just his M4 disguised as a shotgun) and knocked on the wooden barrier. Instantly the wooden wall was blown apart. Warden must have been waiting for someone to try this window. Derrick swung around and was face to face with the real Warden.
"Well this is embarrassing, one of us is gonna have to change," Derrick said sarcastically. Warden only had time for his jaw to fall open before Derrick shot him in the head. Warden dropped to the ground and Derrick entered the building, chuckling to himself. He started to make his way to the bomb site as best as he could, checking corners and other angles. Soon enough he ran into Cav and she wasn't happy for some reason.
"Answer your fucking comm when we ask for you!" she yelled. Derrick, who didn't know how Warden sounded, just pointed to his ear as if to say "bad comm." Cav rolled her eyes and started to walk away but not before catching a few rounds in the back. She didn't "die" immediately, but she was in fact downed. Derrick heard her begin to yell in Portuguese before he stood over her and deactivated his Warden disguise.
"You fell for that? You absolute class clown!" he said. Cav's eyes widened in shock before Derrick drew his own finger across his throat and shot her in the head.
"2 down, who's still up? Sound off," Derrick whispered into his comm.
"Copy," he heard Amp say but that was it. Apparently the more experienced ops were KOed.
"Oh boy, just you and me Skywalker. Where are you?" Derrick said moving away from this position.
"Near the bomb site and oh shit…" Amp responded before Derrick began to hear gun fire. He also heard someone nearby. Derrick turned and fired one shot right into Vigil's forehead. Vigil apparently had been trying to sneak up on him.
"3 down Amp, are you still alright?" Derrick said, now sprinting through the halls. No response.
"Dammit,"
"1 minute left," Derrick heard the announcer say. He needed a plan and fast. Oh wait… that Vigil guy. Derrick looked at the list of operators his team scanned at the beginning and Vigil was on it. Someone must have scanned him stealthily. Derrick became Vigil but with a gray mask instead of black. It'd have to do. On his way to the bomb site, he stepped over the defuser. He decided to leave it there as holding that would be a dead giveaway and instead made his way to the bombsite...where the final 2 opfor were currently hiding. The female one had noticed him enter and said
"Vigil there's one left, have you seen him, what's the plan?" she said in an Italian accent. Good to know. Derrick could do one of those in a high pitched voice. The other guy in the room, who was on his phone, said
"I got eyes on the defuser via cam. That last guy's going to have to get it to win." Neither of these people knew that Vigil wasn't actually Vigil.
"Vigil, what's the plan?" she asked again before taking a bullet to the head.
"Hey! What's the matter wit- oh my god…" the other guy said as Derrick turned off his Vigil disguise and shot him in the head as well.
"Attackers win! Make your way to the starting area for round 2!" Derrick made his way outside to see his teammates cheering for him.
"Dude...did you just fucking ace on your first ever round against highly trained CTU Operators?" Thermite asked as Blackbeard clapped Derrick on the back.
"They didn't see me coming I guess," Derrick responded and looked toward Meghan again. She was smiling at him and clapping with everyone else. Hope I made you proud Big Sis, he thought to himself and gave Meghan (and Tina) a 2 fingered salute as he heard "Defenders, to the mat."
February 16th, 2023
Oberstabsgefreiter Lukas "Amp" Weiss
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Lukas had liked Derrick from the moment they had started talking about music and their childhoods. He was also vastly impressed with his combat and infiltration skills as he watched him impersonate Vigil after Lesion had taken him out the previous round. As he had made his way to the area where the "killed" operators waited, he could hear that woman with the skull yelling at the dude in the suit and her team captain, Vigil. Eventually it got to the point where Vigil had to physically restrain her when she saw Derrick walk out of the kill house without so much as a scratch on him. The following round went just as good as the first for Team Blackbeard. All 5 survived and Lukas had managed to clock Alibi in the head as she peeked around a corner. They lost round 3, but only barely. Derrick just missed the round winning shot on Warden and Warden got him with his shotgun. They won round 4 in about 30 seconds thanks to Blitz but lost round 5. Round 6 was where it got interesting. Lukas had been off on his own scanning for any roamers as he heard Derrick yell in pain a few rooms over.
"Man down!" Lukas heard on his comm as he ran to Loki's location. He readied his sonic grenade and peeked into the room to see Cav holding a knife to Loki's throat and saying
"You won't fool me with that again cabrón!" Lukas chucked his grenade right at Cav's head and it went off. Cav clutched her ears in agony before taking a "bullet" to the back of her head and she dropped. Lukas went over to Loki and helped him up.
"You good dude?" Lukas asked.
"Yeah, thanks man. Should have tried a different approach. She was waiting for me right under the window," Loki said, massaging his throat.
"Amp report," Blackbeard said.
"Cav was attempting to interrogate Loki, I got her," Lukas responded as Loki assumed the form of the Italian woman, Alibi.
"I'll flank, keep me in your sight-" BANG! Loki dropped "dead" and Lukas dove for cover. As he scrambled to hide himself, he thought he heard two voices speaking over the gunfire. Lukas took a quick peek and saw that Vigil and Warden were currently pinning him down. Luckily he had another sonic grenade. He pulled it out and held the button until the lights turned red. Lukas chucked the grenade in their direction and he heard Warden shout
"GRENADE! MOVE!" before the piercing scream echoed throughout the room and surrounding hallway. Lukas and his teammates had special comms tools that blocked most of the ear splitting sound so to him, it sounded like he was listening to an mp3 player at ¾ full volume. Not to Warden and Vigil though. They were holding onto their ears in sheer agony as Lukas emptied 2 rounds into their heads. It reminded him of when he saved the little girl around Christmas. He had sent little Corinna a Christmas gift as well.
"Amp, status," Blackbeard said.
"Loki is out but so are Warden and Vigil, AH FUCK!" Lukas said as he stepped onto one of Lesion's traps. He stopped to pull the needle out of his boot as Lesion came into view and raised his gun. Lukas was faster. His heart began to race...he had just taken out 4 members of the opposing team pretty much by himself.
"I'm fine. Lesion's out too. Who's left?"
"Just you and me," Blackbeard responded. "I think I have Alibi on B site. She's hiding right behind the reinforced wall. I can hear her moving."
"Hold position, I'm coming," Lukas responded. He arrived next to Blackbeard within a minute who was holding an angle on the doorway. Lukas took out his final grenade (he had more, but was only allowed to have 3 each round) and primed it to level 2. He threw it at the reinforced wall and it went off. It had the intended effect that he wanted it too. The reinforced wall began to shake and lose integrity as the heavy metal soundwaves reverberated around the room. Lukas took a guess as to where Alibi was crouching and fired off a burst. His guess was correct as he heard her body hit the ground. Blackbeard was looking at Lukas in amazement before he said
"MY MAN!"
"Team Blackbeard wins!" the announcer said. Lukas and Blackbeard exited the building to cheers from the crowd and their teammates. It just now hit Lukas that he had aced for the win as well. How did he know that? Because Monika had apparently fainted in her chair and Derrick's sister, Meghan, was trying to wake her up. Meghan looked over toward Lukas, who pointed to Monika and then pinched his own nose with 2 fingers. Confused, Meghan tried this and Monika woke up. She was delirious for a second before she remembered what just happened and began cheering again. Lukas also noticed the cute green haired woman sitting next to Monika had flashed him a smile as well. He sincerely hoped that he wasn't blushing as he and Derrick gave each other bro hugs.
"My guy...did that just fucking happen?" Derrick asked him.
"I think so. Where do we go now Captain?" Lukas asked Blackbeard.
"We watch the others. Then we face the other 2 defending teams. After that is the Final Round between the best attacking team vs the best defending. We could face those guys again so be prepared if that does happen. In the meantime, we sit over here. Trace and Kotz, we might need to watch Cav. She looks pissed at Derrick and Lukas. Where's Twitch? Ah...there she is, good. She'll calm Cav down." Lukas and the others walked into another room to observe the next match which consisted of Flores, Nomad, Finka, Lion and captain Glaz going up against Kapkan, Rook, Echo, Oryx and captain Maestro. Derrick clapped Lukas on the back.
"Nice going out there man, we scored pretty high even though we lost 2 rounds," he said. Lukas grinned.
"So...your sister's pretty protective of you huh? I saw that she kind of passed out of nerves or something," Derrick continued.
"What? Oh yeah. That started to happen every so often after a concert I went to was attacked by terrorists,"
"Shut the front door, the Powerwolf concert in like...2015ish?" Derrick responded.
"Yes, that's the one. It was around the 3rd song when the shooting began. I was there with a few friends and we made it out OK but I went back in to help the others. I escorted a good amount of people out before I got shot in the shoulder. The guy grabbed me and held me hostage for the arriving GSG9. Monika was among them. She shouted my name and the dude holding me fired another shot into my shoulder, deducing that I was important to her,"
"Ja, I was there too. I was leading the other team around back with Jäger. We could hear Monika scream even from the back room," Blitz added. Blackbeard and Thermite were busy watching the ongoing match, making notes on potential tactics to use.
"Guy had the gun against my temple at that point and he was ready to fire before he must have been distracted by Blitz and I managed to tackle him to the ground, pretty much fucking up my shoulder. The guy got up and was just about to shoot me but Monika was quicker. She grabbed me and took me outside and chewed me out for a bit while patching my shoulder,"
"Jesus," Derrick said as Team Glaz won Round 3. Lukas moved his right shoulder in a circle.
"It's ok now but you should have seen how mad she was at me...but I think she was more mad at herself. Anyway, then Bandit said he had a contact at the BKA and put in a good word for me. Monika again was hesitant but eventually she gave in," Lukas finished.
"Damn," Derrick said, leaning up against the wall and turned his attention to the video screens. Lukas stared forward for a bit, the memory of that event fresh in his mind. He could almost hear Monika yelling at him with tears in her eyes.
"YOU WERE SAFE OUTSIDE! WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WERE YOU DOING?!"
"I couldn't let them die like that!"
"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! IF I HAD TO BURY YOU…."
"Mon...hey, look at me. Don't think like that," Lukas was taken back to the present when Derrick had suddenly yelled" OHHH!" after Team Maestro managed to win the final round. You're not gonna lose me Monika, Lukas thought to himself as he looked toward the video screens.
February 16th, 2023
Oberstabsgefreiter Lukas "Amp" Weiss
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Team Blackbeard turned out to be an unstoppable force. Lukas and the others had managed to beat both Team Maestro and Team Tachanka (consisting of Tachanka, Thunderbird, Mozzie, Aruni and Smoke) and qualified for the final round against Team Vigil once more. This was going to be quite the challenge as they were expecting Derrick to impersonate one of them as he had done so successfully before. Derrick however had yet more tricks up his sleeve. He and Lukas were in a squad while Blitz was off on his own. Derrick pulled out his phone and aimed his hand at one of the cameras they were currently out of the visible range of.
"What are you doing," Lukas whispered, covering Loki's back as he worked. Loki simply grinned.
"Playing a false video. That way any one on cams won't see us coming. Watch," Loki walked right into the camera's line of sight and waved. Nothing happened. Loki gestured to the room nearby. Lukas peeked around the corner and saw that Vigil was currently monitoring cameras. Lukas whistled and then dispatched Vigil while Loki shot an unsuspecting Warden.
"Tango down," Lukas said and gave Loki a high five. Lukas was then informed that they had won round 1. Later he found out that Blitz had taken out the other 3 members by himself while Thermite and Blackbeard had planted the defuser. Unfortunately, Team Vigil retaliated and in a rather big way. They had managed to win the following 3 rounds dispatching Loki usually first or second. They had caught onto his tactics. Thankfully, Team Blackbeard had also retaliated and sent the final match into overtime. It came down to Round 9. The team that won this round would secure the win in the tournament. Before the round began, Lukas turned to Derrick.
"Idea, how about you climb up to the roof? There is no way they'd expect you to go up that way," Derrick nodded.
"Good plan. I'll wait up there for further instructions," Lukas went off on his own when the round started. His heart was racing. Monika was watching him intently and even from his position on the field, he could see that her nails had left imprints on her face. Derrick's sister also looked extremely nervous along with the Asian woman behind her that he had caught Derrick making goo-goo eyes at a few times. The cute green haired woman was still eyeing him with great interest and Lukas gave her the "finger gun" before he hopped in a window.
"Tango down." Thermite's voice said in his comm. 5v4. Then Thermite yelled in pain. 4v4. Lukas turned a corner and walked right into Warden. Lukas rammed his shoulder into him as he raised his shotgun to fire. Warden's gun was knocked from his hand but he had also managed to knock Lukas's gun aside as well. Lukas and Warden began to brawl. Even though Warden was smaller than he was, Lukas still had to deal with the fact that Warden was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Soon enough, Lukas got under Warden's defenses and overpowered him. Lukas drew his side arm and shot him in the head.
"Who's left,"
"Me," Loki's voice responded. That was all. Lukas glanced outside and saw that there were 2 attackers left and 3 defenders.
"Get in the building and we'll meet up near the site," Lukas said, making his way upstairs but checking every corner for signs of Cav.
"Where are you buddy? I- AHH!" Loki said and Lukas heard silenced gunfire. Dammit. Cav got to him first. Luckily he had heard Loki hit the ground a few rooms over. He peeked around the corner and saw Cav pressing her knife to Loki's neck again.
"Where is your friend little Loki?!"
"Th-there," Loki said, smirking and pointing right at Lukas who had his gun raised. Lukas fired. 2v2. Lukas ran over to help Loki up before Loki suddenly yelled,
"LUKE TURN!" Lukas did so to see Vigil begin to raise his gun. Without even thinking, Lukas grabbed a sonic grenade, primed it and then threw it at the defender. Vigil, however, had been ready and covered his ears. Unfortunately for Vigil, that gave Lukas enough time to get Derrick up. Loki took out his side arm and shot Vigil through the soft wall. 2v1. This was it. It was all down to the last defender.
"Who's left?" Loki asked, massaging his shoulder.
"Gotta be Alibi," Lukas said, noticing one of Alibi's holograms in the corner of the room where the "bomb" was.
"1 minute remaining," the announcer said. Lukas shot and destroyed the hologram. Loki seemed to have read Lukas's mind and he took the form of Alibi (his hat was a brighter red) and stood right where the hologram used to be. Luckily, Loki had picked up the defuser and tossed it to Lukas who primed it. Lukas stood in the other corner and watched the defuser start to tick down. Alibi entered the room and did a sweep before she spotted Lukas and fired. Lukas dove out of the room but not before he heard his new best friend say,
"E' tutto finito" followed by a single shot.
"ATTACKERS WIN!" They had done it. Team Blackbeard was victorious. Lukas soon found himself on the roof of the killhouse with his teammates. Blackbeard had his rifle held high in the air and had a large grin on his face. Thermite was clapping Derrick on the back while Blitz did the same to Lukas. Lukas however turned to where Monika was sitting. As he expected, she was on her feet cheering just as loud as Meghan was. He saw Meghan roll her eyes and he turned to see Derrick striking a bodybuilder-like pose with one arm curled upward and the other held straight out away from him. Lukas also noticed that the Asian woman behind Meghan looked like she had inhaled sharply when Derrick flexed. Lukas then turned to see the cute green haired woman return his "finger gun" from earlier as she flashed him a smile and clapped along with everyone else. Lukas himself smiled as well as he raised his fist into the air in celebration. Perhaps, this whole thing had been a good idea after all.
After Mission Report:
Team Blackbeard wins the Tournament of Champions 2023.
