February 16th, 2023
SrA. Derrick "Loki" Castellano
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Derrick basked in the cheers from the crowd for several minutes before he and the others made their way onto the field to where several other operators were standing including Caveira. Derrick flinched when he saw the look on her face but she held her hand out to him. Derrick shook it.
"Nice job new guy," she said and walked off.
"I think she likes you Derrick," Lukas said, shaking hands with the Russian sniper named Glaz.
"Doubt it," Derrick answered as the French woman named Twitch joined Caveira's side. Derrick had noticed that some other people (they must be on Team Rainbow) not in combat fatigues were also on the field. He was just wondering where Meghan had gotten to when
"OI! JACKASS!" a very familiar female voice shouted at him. Derrick turned to see Meghan, Tina and Monika making their way towards him and Lukas. Derrick and Lukas exchanged glances, then Derrick pushed Lukas forward and made to run in the opposite direction but he pretty much ran right into a red haired woman in an FBI cap.
"My bad ma'am. Trying to escape the crazy fans. You know how it is," Derrick said quickly as he heard Lukas grunt. He guessed that Monika had thrown herself at him. The red haired woman steadied herself before straightening up and looking Derrick in the face.
"That was quite a display of skills there uh, Derrick is it?" she said. Derrick heard footsteps behind him followed by the sensation of someone giving him a hug from behind.
"Uh yeah, you know Meghan right?" Derrick said, correctly guessing that his big sister had just arrived to congratulate him. The red haired woman smiled.
"I do. I understand that she speaks highly of you. Name's Eliza Cohen," she said.
"I assume that you are the one called 'Ash' right? Look about what Blackbeard did, part of his plan to keep me and Cool Hand Lukas over there on the downlow," Derrick said, putting his arm around Meghan. He could hear her breathing heavily as if she was holding back tears of joy.
"I understand why. It was a pretty good way for everyone to adapt to ever changing situations. Six informed me earlier today that this Tournament was to be a test to see if you and Lukas were fit to join Rainbow," Ash said. Derrick had to stop himself from making some kind of dumbass comment or have his jaw fall open. "What other skills do you possess? Your file states that you are a helicopter pilot and infiltration expert."
"I can vouch for his infiltration skills. He assisted Rainbow inadvertently once. Remember that intel we got on that shipment of poison gas a few years ago? We collaborated with the US Air Force and Derrick was the man they sent to help us," Tina told Ash. Derrick had not noticed that she was next to him.
"Hang on...that's what that was?" Derrick said, looking at Tina. It was the first time he had seen her up close since that mission and he thought that she was just as pretty. Mainly because he could see her entire face this time rather than just her beautiful brown eyes. Her black hair was shoulder length and she was wearing a beige sweater with blue jeans. A red flannel was tied around her waist and she was grinning at him.
"Now I see what you meant by a happy go lucky American pilot Tseng. Derrick, did they not tell you why you were gathering that info?" Ash asked.
"Not fully apparently. All Tina told me was to grab some manifest for someone named Cohen...oh…" Derrick said, realizing who "Cohen" was now. Tina continued to grin at him. Ash did too.
"Dummy," Meghan told him.
"Oh so I'm a dummy am I? Are you hearing this?! She's mean to me!" Derrick said to Tina who chuckled. Meghan rolled her eyes as per usual. Lukas and Monika had made their way over. Derrick thought Monika was rather cute too but he kept that information to himself and intended to keep it that way forever. Besides, the pretty Canadian lady had smiled at him. He had a liking for women of Asian descent.
"Mr. Weiss, I was just explaining to your buddy here that Six was using this year's tournament as a test to see if you're fit to join Rainbow alongside your sister here. Bandit, Blitz and Jäger have vouched for you as you have assisted them in the past, recently too in fact," Ash told him. Lukas looked from Ash to Derrick.
"Don't look at me man, I didn't study either," he said.
"Safe to say that each of you passed. Six will want to perform a psych evaluation each of you later, plus you'll want to see Mira to perform a device evaluation. Take a few hours to cool off, perhaps grab some food and relax. I think I can get Six to assign you guys to one of the new Facilities in the US, that is if Lukas and Monika are fine with working out of the US for a bit. Might even be a good idea to get Zofia and Ela to work alongside you too. Congratulations Derrick, Lukas," Ash said and shook hands again. Monika squealed and hugged Lukas tightly while speaking rapid German. Derrick caught a few phrases like "proud of you" and "love you little bro." Derrick turned to Meghan who looked up into his face and then proceeded to hug him as well.
"I didn't expect that to happen so fast. This Six person must like me or something. Hope I made you proud Megs," Derrick said. Meghan smiled at him and not because she was humoring him, it was because she was genuinely proud of him.
"You did little bro. You did."
Derrick later found himself sitting with Lukas, Monika and Meghan at a table in the cafeteria. Tina had gone off to talk to that Sebastien guy along with another woman with Native American tattoos and another woman with a head scarf. Derrick had been impressed with the food selection in the cafe. He had decided to go classic and grabbed a club sandwich, potato chips and some seltzer water with lemon. Lukas had grabbed a cheeseburger, a chef salad and a glass of water. Meghan sat next to Derrick while Monika and Lukas occupied the other side.
"This is your younger brother right? He is the one you mention from time to time?" Monika asked.
"Yes. Derrick Joseph Castellano. Senior Airman for the US Air Force and Professional Clown," Meghan answered, patting Derrick's shoulder. Derrick smirked. Tina walked over and sat on Monika's other side (right across from Derrick) with a bowl of soup. Derrick inhaled sharply as she joined them but he regained his composure. Plus he needed to make the pretty lady laugh.
"Two can play this game, Janey. Say, has Meghan ever told you guys about Christmas in about...2017ish where she and I had a bit of an argument over who painted the Mona Lisa. Monika, Lukas tells me that you are quite smart, state who painted that if you please," Derrick said as Meghan's eyes widened in horror.
"Leonardo DiVinci," Monika answered.
"Leonardo DiVinci, that's right. BUT according to my inebriated sister here, she was INSISTENT that it was Leonardo DiCaprio. Now Luke, who is he?" Derrick continued.
"The guy from the movies. The boat movie, he was in that right?...Titanic?" Lukas answered. Derrick could tell that Monika and Lukas were enjoying this tale about Meghan. Meghan, however, was holding her head in her hands in embarrassment.
"Right again! And here's where it gets good. Meghan tells me and I quote, 'SHUT UP DERRICK YOU DON'T KNOW, I'M A NAVY SEAL!'" Derrick said as Tina, Lukas and Monika began to laugh. Meghan looked up at Derrick with a look that clearly said "jerk" but eventually smiled.
"Gets better," Derrick said and smiled wickedly and pulled out his phone. He then played a video of Meghan, clearly drunk, arguing with Derrick about the Mona Lisa's artist and yelling exactly what Derrick had said a minute ago. Monika and Lukas continued laughing. Tina had noticed Derrick's phone wallpaper, a photo of him and Meghan in front of a chopper, and she smiled again. Meghan saw it too and she gave Derrick a one armed hug.
"Never leave home without it. All time favorite drunk Meghan moment and she has had some good ones," Derrick said, putting his phone away and patting Meghan on the shoulder.
"Reminds me of the time where you argued with dad about who the hottest Spice Girl was. You used to secretly love those girls. Them and Aqua," Monika said to Lukas in German. Lukas turned red.
"Derrick speaks German," Lukas muttered in English, turning to face Derrick, who, as usual, had a grin on his face.
"Wunderbar," he said.
"You speak German? I didn't know that," Meghan said, looking at Derrick intently.
"Yeah, I started teaching myself when I was in my last year of high school while you joined the Navy. I used to test myself by watching old Power Rangers episodes in German and see if I could understand what they were saying...that and hitting on the foreign exchange students with GREAT success," Derrick told her. He saw that Tina's eyes narrowed a bit at the last comment. Could she be jealous that those girls got to be with him before she had?
"Aw man, I remember Power Rangers," Lukas said, trying to get Derrick's mind off the fact that he used to like the Spice Girls.
"Of course you do," Meghan said, rolling her eyes. Derrick jabbed a finger at her.
"She doesn't believe me when I say every straight guy our age's first crush was..."
"The Pink Ranger," Lukas finished for him and nodded.
"MY MAN! UP TOP!" Derrick said and high-fived Lukas. Monika, Tina and Meghan exchanged glances that clearly read "boys."
"Castellano," a voice from behind Derrick said. Instinctively Derrick and Meghan turned to face a woman in blue and black colored pants and sleeveless top. She had a beige do-rag on her head along with some sunglasses. "Not you blondie," she continued as Meghan pulled an annoyed face.
"And you are?" Derrick asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Jaimini Kalimohan Shah. Codename Kali. Leader of NIGHTHAVEN," she said confidently. Then her eyes narrowed in recognition.
"Oh THAT'S what I thought. I'm glad I caught you, see I just got off the phone with the marching band about 10 minutes ago and they informed me that they're going to be a little late if that's ok with you," Derrick said without missing a beat. Meghan and Monika gasped. Tina smirked. Kali scowled at him before the scowl turned into a look of utter rage
"Answer me this Kali, is using my commanding officer as bait a requirement, princess?" Derrick said as he turned back into himself. This time he got the reaction he wanted from Kali, she was pissed. Kali attempted to punch Derrick in the face but Derrick was ready and caught her fist in his hand.
"Impressive!" Derrick exclaimed, imitating the Green Goblin and threw Kali back a few feet. The entire cafeteria went silent and turned to watch Derrick and Kali. Lukas rose too in an effort to help his friend. Derrick meanwhile had assumed the fighting stance of Bruce Lee.
"YOU! I REMEMBER YOU!" Kali exclaimed.
"Probably. I am rather handsome," he said.
"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH! YOU RUINED ME!" Kali spat at him.
"Did I? Hmm...yep, don't care. Now run along, I hear the Temple of Doom is looking for you," Derrick said and sat back down next to Meghan. Kali went to punch Derrick again but Lukas intervened this time. Her punch simply bounced off Lukas's chest with a smacking sound.
"Ow." Lukas said sarcastically. Derrick noticed the green haired woman from earlier, who was sitting nearby, biting her bottom lip. Kali left the cafeteria muttering what sounded like curses in her native tongue but not before giving Monika and the green haired woman filthy looks.
"How the hell did you just do all of that?" Meghan asked Derrick as he went back to eating. "Plus, what the hell did she mean by 'you ruined her'?"
"Ran into Ash again when I was looking for the john. She told me to watch out for Kali. Also said something about a Civil War that happened between you people last year" Derrick said. The statement he had just said was a bit of a lie. He already knew of Kali for various reasons. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Monika and the green haired woman shift in their seats a little. Meghan caught Derrick's eye and told him not to bring that up again with one look. "Mainly, she told me to avoid Kali and or report it to someone if I saw her in the facility. Apparently, she's not even allowed in here but slipped through. As for using teammates as bait, Young Skywalker and I were watching some of the footage from previous tournaments in between matches and saw Kali use Ash as bait. I guess Ash punched her in the face afterwards too. Rightfully so if you ask me. Cocky little..." Derrick said, glancing over his shoulder at Kali's back. Lukas sat back down too, looking pretty grumpy and muttering curse words in German. He was calling Kali rather naughty things that Derrick didn't feel like repeating...that and Monika had hit Lukas on the shoulder because she heard him.
"Yo Derrick mate, Six is ready for ya. Top floor, where the commentator usually sits," the guy in the aviators said to Derrick. Guy had an Australian accent too. Derrick gulped and turned to his friends and sister but it was Tina who spoke.
"You'll be OK Derrick. He's just going to ask you a few background questions and get a read on your personality," she said gently. That made Derrick feel a lot better but he still looked at his big sister for comfort. Meghan patted his shoulder again with a smile on her face. Derrick figured she knew that he had a crush on Tina.
"Right, ok." he said and got up from the table. On his way out he thought, thought, he saw Tina checking out his good side.
February 16th, 2023
SrA. Derrick "Loki" Castellano
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Derrick stood outside the door to the commentator's booth. He was just about to knock when a female voice called his name from behind him.
"Castellano? There you are. I was looking for you but your sister said you just left the cafe." Derrick turned to see the other woman he had seen in the observation deck earlier. She too sported a shorter wavy hair style much like Tina's but this woman's hair color was brown rather than black. She was wearing grey camo, black boots and yellow gloves. There was what looked like war paint or machine grease along her face but Derrick figured it was war paint. Meghan usually wore some under her eyes.
"Whatever it was, I was framed." Derrick told her quickly. The woman smiled and called him a clown in Spanish. Derrick knew a good amount of Spanish too but that was only because he happened to be fluent in Italian as well as German.
"Why does everyone keep calling me a clown? What, am I wearing big red shoes or something?" he said, not being able to stop himself. The woman, still smiling, held out her hand and Derrick shook it (goodness, he was doing a lot of that today).
"Name's Elena Alvarez. Mira," she told him.
"So you were the one that got me through customs. Thanks for that. Dude at JFK was a real dick," Derrick said. Mira grinned.
"Glad I caught you. I wanted to know more about that device you apparently developed yourself. It's really impressive. Oh, I'm the head of Rainbow R&D as well. I'm sure Miss KickInTheDoor told you that we needed a device evaluation too," Mira said. Derrick figured that "Miss KickInTheDoor" must have been Ash and frowned. He liked Ash...not like that though. Those feelings were for Tina.
"Uh yeah, here. Keep that safe for me. I'll see you in the lab later and I can show you how it works. You won't be able to get it to work yourself. It only works for me. I specifically designed it that way so the assholes don't get their hands on it. That or douchebag private military people named after Hindu gods," Derrick said and removed the TRIK device from his left arm. It looked like the top part of a full arm length glove along with a large shoulder pad which was where the advanced holographic tech was housed. Mira took it from Derrick gingerly.
"Fantastic. Welcome to the team, Loki right? I'll see you within 30 minutes," Mira said excitedly and walked off. Derrick turned back to the door and knocked on it.
"Come in Derrick," a male voice answered. Taking a deep breath, Derrick opened the door and stepped inside.
Derrick walked into what was once a standard commentators booth but now it was filled with monitors and various other surveillance equipment. Derrick could see that the feeds were showing him live footage of the interior and exterior of the killhouse. The man called Six was an Indian man wearing glasses and sporting black facial hair. He was dressed rather casually in a red shirt under a white and black zip up sweatshirt and blue jeans.
"And there he is, the God of Mischief himself. Loki." Six said and motioned for Derrick to sit down. Derrick did so.
"Quite the show you and Lukas put on there Derrick. I'll admit Blackbeard's idea was risky but I'm glad it worked out for the best. You should have seen Mira's face when you turned into Warden for the first time. You also made Ash smile many times with your humorous comments. Yes, we could hear all of you communicate." Six told him. Derrick recognized him as the voice that told him if he was out during the tournament.
"That's me sir, the funny guy," Derrick said rather sheepishly. Six leaned forward.
"It's alright Derrick, and please for the love of Odin, call me Harry. I just need to get a read on your personality and how well you work with others. Oh and speaking of you being the 'funny guy', a few of us saw your interview after you saved those kids back in December. Meghan happened to be in the room and shouted your name when she saw you on TV talking to the reporter," Harry told him and pulled up the exact video on one of the monitors. Derrick looked at the screen to see that he was identified as "SrA. D. Castellano. US Air Force Helicopter Pilot. Savior of Levi (10) and Abigail (5) Cohen." Derrick's eyes widened when he read the last name of the kids he saved.
"C-Cohen?" he stammered. Harry grinned.
"Yes. Cohen. Like Eliza Cohen. Those 2 are her niece and nephew. She has been telling me that her niece constantly asks her if she knows the Funny Man that does all the voices. How did you accomplish that by the way?" Harry asked.
"Well, I got the call early that morning and I took a fellow airman as an extra set of eyes and we set off in a chopper within 30 minutes. I was the one who saw a pink snow suit from above. I figured that it was them as it matched the description given to me. I told the guy I was with to set down the chopper in a clearing and I went to go get the 2 terrified kids. The older one, Levi, was very thankful and told me that his sister wasn't responding. So I ran over and told her that I was sent by her mom to find her and Levi. She looked at me, understandably scared, so I started cracking jokes in an effort to lighten her mood. That seemed to work and I led both kids to the helicopter where my colleague was waiting. Then we flew back to the base and the kids' parents came to pick them up," Derrick said. Harry leaned forward and nodded.
"I see, so you tend to defuse situations with humor?"
"When it calls for it. I usually keep my mouth shut whenever shit hits the fan really bad though,"
"Like when you saved Master Sergent Williamson from the White Masks?"
"Yes. I even surprised myself with how quiet I was," Derrick said, remembering how badly Williamson was injured but he still got him to safety anyway.
"So tell me about you and Meghan. Are you 2 close? Because you seemed to be. I saw you point at her and start lip syncing to her earlier,"
"Very. She's my big sister. She's always been there for me whenever I needed her...Like that one time in high school…" Derrick began before he felt a lump in his throat. He hadn't talked about that in years.
"It's alright if you don't want to tell me," Harry said quickly but Derrick continued anyway.
"I was seeing this girl right? For about a few months. She was really into me apparently. We had gone out on a few dates and I scored a double if you know what I mean. Anyway, one day as I was going to meet her after school, I saw her kissing another dude. My former best friend at the time. I was crushed because I found out later that he wasn't the only of my former friends she was kissing. Anyway, she saw me and just laughed. Unfortunately for her, Meghan happened to be nearby and this girl had just crushed the heart of her baby brother so Meghan was PISSED. I didn't get to see what exactly happened but she told me later on the hill I used to hang out on that she punched that girl in the face so hard it broke her nose. Megs got suspended for a week and the girl left school shortly after that. After that experience, I never had friends but rather acquaintances. Meghan is probably my closest friend to be honest,"
"How about Lukas? I saw you two getting along quite well. As for Kali and Wamai, they actually aren't supposed to be in this facility. Your little skirmish brought that to my attention and the situation was dealt with. There was a little fiasco last year but that's water under the bridge. Let's talk about your teammate, Lukas." Before answering, Derrick thought Harry gave him the smallest and indiscriminate wink.
"Oh yeah, he's cool. We share a lot of similar interests from music, TV, movies etc and we even have overprotective big sisters too. He's probably the closest thing I've had to a friend in a long time,"
"How about Specialist Tseng? Tina?" Harry asked with a mischievous smile on his face. Uh oh. He knew.
"Uh well...I collaborated with her and some other guy a few years back in Canada. I helped them retrieve some kind of shipment manifest on poison gas," Derrick said quickly.
"I see, but she seems to like you too. Rumor is that she didn't just call you a 'happy go lucky American pilot' but a 'really handsome American pilot'," Harry said, still grinning.
"I uh...thought relationships are frowned upon in CTUs like this. Too much drama right?" Derrick said, looking away from Harry's face.
"Yes and no. While it's better that it doesn't happen at all, we're all human. Contrary to what Hibana and Pulse will tell you, I know about their 'secret' relationship. If you can work well together and keep all the drama out of the field and at work, it's perfectly fine," Harry said. Derrick felt a large weight being lifted off his chest.
"What did you go to school for? Mechanical Engineering I'm guessing. Probably a focus on computer programming and science too. I heard you talking to Mira outside. Again, you should have seen her when you imitated Warden. Never seen her that awestruck in my time as Rainbow's Director."
"Yeah. Joined the Air Force right out of high school like Megs did 'cept you know she went to the Navy. Served for about 4-5 years and then I took some time to go to college where I worked on computers and other mechanical contraptions. Took a few acting electives too. I developed my TRIK device for my senior project. I've fine tuned it over the years. The Air Force was amazed with its features and they recruited me to the Special Reconnaissance division. There's a clause in my recruitment that states that I'm the only one allowed to use it until I retire."
"And does TRIK stand for anything?"
"Transformative Replicating Identity Knockoff,"
"So you've really embraced the Loki name before Rainbow it seems,"
"I suppose,"
"Blackbeard tells me that you wanted to prove yourself to Meghan and I believe you have done so. I feel that I've gotten all I need Derrick. You seem like you'd be a valuable asset to any team given your experience and mechanical knowledge. There is a Facility much like this one near your old base in Oregon. I've been thinking of assigning you, Meghan, Craig, Jordan, Monika, your new buddy Lukas, Zofia, Ela, Elena, Eliza and Tina to that one so we can monitor the White Masks on the West Coast. Sound good?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, do I have to sleep there every night? My place is actually nearby the base I was stationed at coincidently. Plus I shared a bathroom with Meghan for like 18 years and it's not something I want to do again,"
"Whenever you aren't on duty, yes. You don't have to always be at the base. Send Lukas to me when you see him. Welcome to Rainbow Derrick,"
"Thanks Harry," Derrick said. He got up, shook Harry's hand and left to go find Lukas.
February 16th, 2023
Oberstabsgefreiter Lukas "Amp" Weiss
The Stadium
Elis, Greece
Lukas was able to find the commentator's area pretty easily. Derrick had found him in the lab with Monika and Meghan. Before he left to speak with Six, he had seen Derrick pull an absolute classic prank on a dozing Meghan (shaving cream on the hand and tickling her nose) while disguised as some guy apparently named Pulse. On his way there, he ran into the cute green haired woman he'd seen a few times and she introduced herself to him in English.
"Hey, I'm Ela. Nice work out there Lukas. Don't worry about Six. He's alright," Lukas had to fight some internal jitters as she spoke to him. Lukas had a thing for women with non German accents and Ela spoke with a Polish one.
"Thanks," Lukas managed to say. At least it wasn't something outrageously stupid. Ela smirked.
"Man of few words. I like that. I'll see you around Weiss-enheimer," she said and walked away. Lukas had turned red again. That was his other nickname in college when he played for that cover band. Ela must have looked up some of the old videos from those concerts. Lukas knocked on the door and a male voice told him to enter.
"There he is. Name's Harry, please call me that rather than Six or sir," the man in the swivel chair said. Lukas sat in the chair across from him.
"Relax Lukas, you aren't in trouble. Far from it. You passed the test to get onto Rainbow along with your buddy Derrick," Harry told him.
"That's great," Lukas said nervously.
"Derrick said you guys hit it off pretty well. You guys seem to have overprotective older sisters but knowing Monika, she's very overprotective of you. I understand you were at the concert that was attacked by terrorists in 2015? Can you tell me what happened?" Harry asked. Lukas nodded.
"Yes. I had been there with a couple of friends just having a good time and enjoying ourselves but it was around the 3rd song when the shooting started. I remember my buddies and I getting out alright but I could still hear people screaming from inside. I know it was stupid but I ran back inside and started helping people escape or leading them around the armed men. I wasn't able to save a few though. I saw many people get shot in front of me. Like they were targets rather than humans. I eventually got shot myself and held hostage before the GSG9 showed up. Monika...Monika saw me and yelled my name and the guy holding me deduced that I was important to her and fired another shot into the same shoulder, then pressed his thumb in the wound and twisted. I...I can still hear how loud Monika screamed." Lukas said. He hadn't told Derrick the entire story earlier but he told him enough to get the point. "See...we were always close. She was the baby before I was born and she basically taught me everything when I was growing up. She normally came to all my music shows and college graduation and even surprised me at my old job once. But one day, I felt that I wasn't really getting anywhere with music anymore. I liked it more so as a hobby rather than a career choice so I decided to join the BKA and began the civilian selection process. I guess my mom or dad had told Monika about this decision and she got really angry with me. Told me that I was safe at the music store and I had no physical skill to do so. Me being a younger man at the time, lashed out against her rather harshly and basically told her to fuck off as I wasn't a baby anymore…I didn't speak to her for a few months after that. My family tried to get me to but I always changed the subject. My dad told me that I really upset her because of what I did. Monika considers me to be her best friend I think. And I told her to fuck off. The concert that was attacked took place during that time."
"So...when you were captured you thought you and Monika would never make up? Is that what I'm gathering?" Harry asked gently. Lukas nodded and wiped his eyes a bit. He didn't like talking about this as he could still picture Monika's face right after he told her to fuck off and how hurt she looked.
"Blitz and Jager distracted the guy holding me and I managed to wriggle free but the guy fired a shot that missed my head by millimeters and that about did it for Monika. Whole mag. 30 bullets into this guy. My shoulder was fucked up at this point and Monika told Bandit that she was taking me outside and she did so, crying and yelling at me. I got her to stop by telling her I was sorry for telling her to fuck off and that she still was my favorite big sister. I'm usually the one she listens to in regards to her obsessions. I remember one time she was working on some kind of school project late into the night. I had been on my way to the bathroom and I heard her talking to herself in the kitchen. I guess I had told her that the project was A-grade material already and the next thing I knew, I woke up on the couch downstairs with Monika's head on my shoulder," Lukas said. Harry entwined his fingers and nodded.
"So you and Monika have been alright since that small little altercation?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. She was a bit hesitant about the BKA thing for a bit longer but I think Bandit eventually calmed her down. I've worked alongside all 4 of the GSG9 on Team Rainbow before. Plus, you know, I grew up with one of them. The reason I wanted to be involved with this type of thing was because of Monika. She always told me to take on things that were challenging plus doing this, I thought I'd be able to see her more often than I did before. That kinda worked out didn't it," Lukas continued. He found it was easier to speak now that he had told someone the whole truth about that terrorist attack.
"You and Derrick share more in common than you think. Meghan is very protective of him as well," Harry said smiling. "I hear that you were a big music guy. I recognized your name. You were the bassist/singer of the cover band Time Warp for a couple of years were you not?"
"Yeah, in college. They recruited me pretty much immediately. I had dreams of being in a band when I was little and I lived that dream for 4 years before calling it quits and returning to Germany. Worked in a music store for a couple years, then the attack and then I went into the BKA,"
"You enjoy working in a high danger/stress environment?"
"It has its ups and downs. I normally try to save everyone but I know that it's not always possible and I beat myself up afterwards. Mainly, bodyguard work now that I was recruited onto the ASE team about 2 years ago. They tell me I'm really good with kids."
"Yes, I saw you on the news where the White Masks held a politician and her daughter hostage. I saw you scale the building and breach the top floor window all by yourself. Reckless wouldn't you think?" Harry asked.
"Indeed. I tend to be a tad reckless whenever someone I care about is in trouble or hurt. This happened to be a 4 year old little girl with the muzzle of a rifle pressed against her head. I know I went against Bandit's orders but I had to do something,"
"Understandable Lukas. I'm not judging you for what you did. Do you still play music in your free time? Any favorite bands? Genres?"
"It's my stress reliever so yes I do. My favorite band is Iron Maiden thanks to Monika but I like a lot of classic rock and metal. I do like a select choice of more modern stuff too like pop punk. Write my own music too from time to time," Lukas said.
"Hard rock? Or softer acoustic stuff?"
"Both actually. Some about the women in my life. Both good and bad times." Lukas answered.
"I saw that Ela took a bit of a liking towards you as well? She has a liking for fine arts too. Maybe if she gets close to you, your relationship with your sister will rub off on her and Zofia. Like I told Derrick, I'm most likely going to assign you, Monika, Derrick, Meghan, Craig, Jordan, Ela, Zofia, Tina, Elena and Eliza to a facility much like this one in America on the West Coast. I think you and Monika could run the lab with Elena. Derrick has some mechanical wisdom and he could potentially assist you all with whatever you have planned" Harry explained. Lukas perked up a bit. He'd never been to the West Coast of the US. He'd mainly stayed on the East Coast.
"Sure that sounds great," Lukas said and he genuinely meant it. He was going to work alongside his big sister and his new best friend. Again he told himself that it was a good idea to accept Blitz's proposal back in December.
"Welcome to Team Rainbow Amp" Harry said.
February 24th, 2023
Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss
West Coast Rainbow HQ
Portland, OR. USA
Lukas was woken up by the pilot's voice on the intercom. It informed him that the flight was dissenting into Portland. Lukas glanced out the window to see the skyline of Portland, OR. He thought it looked rather pretty and the early morning sunrise helped. Lukas turned to Monika who was still sleeping next to him with her headphones in and clutching Lukas's arm rather tightly. She never really liked flying and now that she had her best friend with her, of course she wasn't going to let him go. Lukas decided to channel Derrick a bit. He looked down at Monika's phone which was currently on her lap. Lukas slowly reached over and turned the volume of her music to max volume. Monika woke with a start and threw her headphones off of her head and then turned to face Lukas who was laughing to himself.
"Ass," she told him and adjusted herself in her seat as the plane began to descend. "Are we here?"
"Yes. Captain said we're landing within minutes. Ever been to the West Coast?" Lukas asked as he attempted to fasten the seatbelt across his muscular stomach.
"For college and then I went to Los Angeles. Was years ago though. I think you were still in high school," Monika answered. She had that look on her face that Lukas knew quite well.
"Oh boy, what are you obsessing about this time?" he asked. Monika looked into his face and Lukas knew. "Shouldn't have asked. You're gonna be there this time. We're together now. I can also handle myself because you taught me." Monika smiled. Lukas smiled too. He knew how to get to her. The plane touched down rather smoothly and it taxied to the gate. Before any of the other passengers got up, a man dressed in all black wearing a mask entered the plane. He scanned the seats for a moment before his eyes rested on Lukas and Monika.
"You two. With me. Now" he said menacingly and pointed at the pair of them.
"Uh for what reason?" Lukas asked.
"You, my German friends, are in very big trouble. Don't make me use this. Let's go. We've got questions."
"So do I!" Lukas yelled back. Monika grabbed his arm and shook her head. The man walked over and got right into Lukas's face.
"Move Duke Boy or I will MAKE YOU." he said. Monika went to answer but Lukas silenced her. He knew what was going on now.
"You heard him sis, let's go." Lukas said, getting up and grabbing their carryon luggage. Monika meanwhile was cursing in German and saying some rather vulgar things to this man. Oh boy is she going to be embarrassed in a moment. Outstanding. Together, Lukas and Monika followed the man out of the plane onto the tarmac. He led them to another area where a Blackhawk helicopter was parked. Monika looked from the helicopter to the man in the suit and then said
"Derrick you asshole," Sure enough, the man turned into Derrick Castellano clad in full pilot's gear with helmet and goggles. Lukas grinned.
"What was that you called me? A pig dog? Goodness, that wasn't nice," Derrick said to Monika.
"Neither was scaring the crap out of us on the plane as if we did something wrong,"
"Couldn't resist. Ash told me to meet you guys here and fly you to the base. Top secret location. We go to the designated airfield and then we drive over to it"
"Oh good. I feel so safe now," Lukas said in jest. He knew that Derrick would get them there safely.
"I have Megs with me too. Been teaching her how to fly as she wants to get a pilot's license," Derrick continued. Lukas could see Meghan sitting in the co-pilots chair, looking around at all the knobs and gauges and talking to herself.
"Who else is there?" Monika said, stifling a yawn. It had been a rather long flight.
"Me, Megs, Tina, Craig, Jordan and Eliza. Zo and Ela aren't supposed to come in for another week I believe. I heard that Ela was REAL pissed about having to work alongside Zo. Harry asked me to keep an eye on that. Elena arrives tomorrow. Don't worry. You guys aren't on duty tonight. I believe Craig and Jordan are. It'll give you time to get over the jetlag. Come on, they're waiting for us" Derrick said and helped load the luggage onto the chopper. Derrick handed Monika and Lukas headset mics so they could communicate over the helicopter. Meghan waved to the pair of them. Lukas waved back and put the headset on as Derrick started up the chopper. Monika immediately grabbed Lukas's arm again.
"Don't worry Monika. Derrick's a great pilot," Meghan said over the comm. This turned out to be true. Derrick piloted the chopper with extreme ease. As if he was born to do it. He pointed out some of the hotspots in Portland before he started to descend. Derrick even sounded professional when he requested clearance to land. They did so and got out of the chopper. Derrick cracked his back and rubbed his shoulders.
"I gotta get a better chair in there. Man those fuck my back up something fierce. Ah, there's our ride," Derrick said pointing at a jeep being driven by Ash. Lukas decided to sit up front as he was the biggest while Derrick, Meghan and Monika climbed into the back. Derrick was in the middle and he had slung an arm around Meghan and Monika. Monika surprisingly didn't seem to mind. Made sense. Derrick happened to be rather good looking.
"Everything good Castellano?"
"Yes" both Meghan and Derrick answered. Ash smirked and gunned the jeep into gear and they pulled away from the airfield. Within about 20 minutes, they arrived at a clearly abandoned stadium. Lukas was confused at first before Ash pulled into the back of the building where he could see it was obstructed by trees and a few guard towers. Lukas got out of the Jeep and followed Ash and the others into the building. When he got through the door, he thought he was back in Greece again. The place looked pretty similar. It had a gym, shooting range, lab, cafeteria and a selection of bunks. Many other fully masked Recruits were also milling about doing various tasks. Monika and Meghan went off to what looked like the women's bunks with Ash in tow as well while Lukas continued to follow Derrick. Derrick opened a door on the other side of the area and gestured for Lukas to enter.
"There you go Skywalker. Your own quarters. Go ahead, make yourself at home. I'm right next door. Ash will give you the rundown tomorrow when you're more awake. I'll be at the range if you need me. I need to work on my recoil control. I was all over the place last week. 'Twas embarrassing to be honest," Derrick said and patted Lukas on the shoulder before walking in the opposite direction. Lukas looked around his room. It had a queen size bed, a desk, dresser, closet, a TV and a computer.
"Wunderbar" Lukas said to himself, flopped onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
After Mission Report:
Derrick and Lukas evaluated by Six (reports attached) and assigned to Facility on the West Coast of the US. Respective gear also evaluated (also attached)
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF DERRICK "LOKI" CASTELLANO.
"I must say, when I first heard of Meghan "Valkyrie" Castellano's brother, I thought he was going to be just like her in terms of personality. How wrong I was. Derrick was almost the complete opposite, not to say Meghan doesn't have a sense of humor at all (you really need one when you grow up with this guy) but Derrick was very humorous and genuinely a nice guy. Myself, Meghan, and Specialists Tina Lin "Frost" Tseng and Sébastien "Buck" Cote saw him talking to a local news station after he had saved 2 children from the mountains. Turns out that the 2 children happened to be the nephew and niece of Eliza "Ash" Cohen. Derrick didn't know this until I told him. Cohen had also chuckled at his comments during the Tournament and Elena "Mira" Alvarez was flabbergasted at his holographic disguises. Perhaps he will be able to get Alvarez and Cohen to stop bickering all the time.
Derrick tells me that he says that he considers Meghan to be his best friend. After a prior experience in high school, he apparently developed trust issues and only had acquaintances over the years rather than lasting friendships. Hopefully meeting Lukas "Amp" Weiss will change that for him. A guy like him shouldn't be hanging out with his sister for his entire life. Derrick has unknowingly assisted Rainbow in the past. He collaborated with JTF2 operators Tseng (he has a noticeable crush on her and the feeling seems to be mutual. How sweet.) and Côté a few years ago. He was tasked with retrieving some intel that turned out to be vital to R6 in the end. With Derrick's help, R6 was able to halt an entire shipment of poisonous gas from being distributed across universities on the West Coast.
All in all, Derrick seems to be a great fit into Team Rainbow as a pilot (perhaps he will teach his sister how to fly as she told me that she wanted to learn) and infiltration specialist much like Nokk or perhaps compare notes with Aria "Alibi" de Luca in terms of holographic tech. I'll be sure to introduce him to them later but as of right now, his current task is to get Zofia and Ela Bosak to be more friendly with each other.
-Dr. Harishva "Harry" Pandey, Director of Rainbow"
PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF LUKAS "AMP" WEISS.
"Judging by the fact that this is Specialist Monika "IQ" Weiss's brother, it doesn't really surprise me that he's also an overachiever. I noticed that he's a fan of heavy metal music as I observed him bobbing his head to the music playing on the speakers in between matches at the Tournament. He seems less obsessive than his sister and he's the one that makes Monika 'hit the brakes' whenever she gets riled up. They seem to have a very strong sibling relationship, perhaps we should get them working alongside Elzbieta "Ela" Bosak and Zofia Bosak to try and strengthen their bond too.
It's very clear that Weiss is very fond of his sister as he confided in me that she was the reason that he wanted to be in law enforcement, because he wanted to work alongside her. That's honestly very sweet to be honest. He also mentioned a time where they had a falling out for a few months but they both seem to have put that in the past. He seemed rather angry with himself when he told me this, I think he was really torn up about what he had said to her.
Lukas is very comfortable socializing with other operators. He has told me that he met Dominic "Bandit" Brunsmeier back in 2015 during that attack in Leipzig, Germany and that he had put in some good words for him due to his actions. He also seems to get along with fellow German Elias "Blitz" Kotz as well as the other new guy, Derrick "Loki" Castellano. I'm hoping that his tendency to be social with his colleagues will rub off on his sister.
Field reports indicate that Weiss seems to try and save every one. This seems to be the only thing that he obsesses over. He often gets very distressed whenever someone gets hurt and will walk off and blast his music while looking angry at himself. I believe that he sometimes needs to realize that things don't normally go 100% as planned and that people could get hurt. Due to the fact that he's still considered a newbie in terms of law enforcement service, this could take some time for Weiss to get through his head...well, I mean, when it's not full of high octane metal guitar riffs that is...
-Dr. Harishva "Harry" Pandey, Director of Rainbow"
DEVICE EVALUATIONS:
Device - T.R.I.K. Projection Device
Operator - Specialist Derrick "Loki" Castellano
Evaluation Lead - Specialist Derrick "Loki" Castellano
"Alright so let's see if I'm going to do this correctly.
First of all, T.R.I.K stands for Transformative Replicating Identity Knockoff. In layman's terms, it means I can copy the appearance of someone albeit with a slight difference. For example, when I imitated Warden, my tie was purple rather than blue. I have no idea why or how this happens and everytime I update it's design, the damn kink comes with it. Bogus. That is the last time I use Windows Vista to write programs. I have to get an image of the person I imitate first as well. Pretty easy as it just needs a picture. Have I turned into various celebrities before? That's classified. Anyway, I can also use it to hack a camera to play a 5 second clip on loop for a few minutes. Used that tactic during the Tournament. I saw that Specialist Elena "Mira" Alvarez was thoroughly impressed with it overall and was eager to run some more tests on it in the future.
Ran some basic tests (mainly my usual shenanigans) and it seems to be working as it should (minor kinks aside) and I believe it's ready for more continued application in the field.
My sister thinks that her Gyro Cams are the best tech that we have or at least that's what I've read in the other reports I now have access to. Always the overachiever huh big sis? Well unfortunately for you, who's got 2 thumbs and clearly has the better piece of equipment? THIS GUY!
(Comment_M. Castellano: Nice wish little bro! Admit it, my tech is better ;p)
(Comment_D. Castellano: Oh? Then how come it didn't recognize me earlier when I did the 'shaving-cream-on-the-hand-while-victim-is-napping-and-tickle-their-nose' prank?")
(Comment_M. Castellano: THAT WAS YOU?! I THOUGHT IT WAS JACK! I MADE HIM A 'COKE' THAT WAS ACTUALLY SPRITE AND SOY SAUCE MIXED TOGETHER IN REVENGE! JESUS CHRIST DERRICK!"
(Comment_J. Estrada: OH YOU ACTUAL SON OF A BITCH! THAT WAS SO NASTY! DX")
(Comment_D. Castellano: Bringing out the absolute CA-LASSICS big sis! 10 outta 10!)
(Comment_E. Alvarez: LOL! XD. Mira.)
(Comment_T. Tseng: HAH! XD)
-Loki"
Device - "Souls of the Damned" Grenades
Operator - Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss
Evaluation Lead - Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss (w/ Monika "IQ" Weiss)
"Seems like I gotta provide an evaluation of my grenades for Six and Mira now that I'm on Team Rainbow...and judging by the fact that Monika was almost jumping up and down upon my arrival into the lab, I figured she'd wanted to help. She's my favorite sister after all.
Anyway, my dad actually helped me with the initial planning phase and I took over development from there cause I had some skills (Guess who taught me). It's more or less a grenade with 3 charge levels. Press and hold the button at the top to charge it. Easy right? I designed the grenades with 1 function initially but it has 2. The "main" function involves a detonation that releases the souls of the damned to attack and render hostiles temporarily deaf. The sound you hear is me doing my best 80s metal scream turned up to 11.
(Comment_M. Weiss: What he really means is that it releases a wave of high pitched sound that disrupts reinforced walls and can stun nearby enemies)
(Comment_J. Estrada: Tbh, Amp's description sounds WAY cooler...)
But, that's not the only thing they do. If one detonates near a reinforced wall, the sound reverberates throughout the wall making it soft enough to shoot through. Have to say that the function was a surprise to myself and Craig "Blackbeard" Jensen, who happened to be nearby when I tested it for the first time during the Tournament.
Now I ran some in house tests with them (and basically rendering Pulse deaf for a few minutes) and they seem perfectly ready for more application in the field...just don't put me on any stealth/covert related ops if I could request that.
I am not very quiet. Plus have you seen me? I'm built like a tree.
(Comment_J. Estrada: I still don't think I'll be able to hear correctly for a few weeks...)
-LW"
