May 13th, 2023
Specialist Elżbieta "Ela" Bosak
West Coast Rainbow HQ
Portland OR. USA
Ela sat in one of the lounges at HQ along with Monika and Eliza. Monika was reading something and Eliza was sitting there with her head in her hands. Ela knew that the past couple weeks had been rather hard on everyone. First, her boyfriend's best friend was killed. Ela didn't really give a shit about Derrick at first but eventually she had warmed up to him due to his general shenanigans. She did remember the conversation she had with him on her first day in the States. He had revealed that he was the younger sibling along with having a father that favored his sister over him. She didn't think Joe Castellano favored Meghan as much as her father favored Zofia. Ela could still recall the feeling of sadness when she found out that her father had died. She was in Iraq at the time working as a PMC and left immediately upon hearing the news. Ela then trained relentlessly to be selected for GROM, her father's former unit and was taken in. She had worked with Derrick's sister back during Operation Orange Sky and the pair of them had dismantled a warlord's network of allies without harming a single civilian. She had reluctantly gone out for drinks with Meghan that night.
"Say...have I ever told you about my brother? He likes artsy chicks…" Meghan had told her after downing a few drinks. Ela had told Derrick about that night and he had a good laugh about it. That was the thing that was missing from Rainbow HQ during the last month. Derrick's laugh. Whenever Lukas wasn't with her, he was to be found helping Derrick set up his various pranks. She had "punished" Lukas after she found out he had helped Derrick set up a fake silhouette of an insect on the lamp in her dorm. On the bright side, she had done the same prank to Zofia. Speaking of Zofia, Ela had taken Derrick's advice on how to speak with her. Her mind drifted back to that day.
"I hear that I have a niece now...what's her name?" Ela had asked. Zofia, who had been working on a project in the lab, turned to face her at once.
"J...Jana...after...after our father," Zofia said and took out her phone to show her a picture of the little girl in her father's arms. Ela grinned at the little baby. Jana looked as though she had Zofia's eyes.
"You're married now right? What's my brother-in-law's name?" Ela asked.
"Andrezj," Zofia answered. Ela could tell that Zofia's insides were currently bursting with some kind of emotion. Most likely happiness. That day they had spent time talking about Zofia's family and how Ela had begun falling for the giant German man named Lukas.
"You like him don't you?" Zofia asked slyly.
"And?" Ela answered defiantly. So what if she did? The guy was hot as fuck in her eyes. She often sat outside his room while he played whatever on his guitar. Once or twice she had recognized his own original songs and she hummed the melody of the lyrics softly to herself as she didn't really know German as well as English.
"From what I understand of the German language, I think he likes you too," Zofia said and gave Ela a smile. Something she hadn't seen her do since they were teenagers. Zofia continued speaking.
"I'm sorry for how dad treated us. You're all I've got left now," Zofia said and hesitantly touched Ela's shoulders. Ela didn't throw her hands off this time like she had many times before.
"I know," Ela said.
"He would have been proud of you now, Ela. You don't need to prove your worth to him anymore," Zofia said. Ela allowed her sister to hug her that day and from that point on, the Bosak sisters began to speak with each other a lot more and repair their relationship. When Derrick died, Zofia had started to become a little more protective of Ela again. It almost drove her to the point of lashing out but she again remembered what Derrick had told her,
"I hated it just like you but I soon realized that Megs cared about me more than anyone else." Zofia had also comforted Meghan who was taking the loss extremely hard. Even after a few weeks, Ela sometimes stumbled upon her just staring at the pair of sunglasses she normally wore on her head. Tina barely talked to anyone unless directly spoken to. She only talked to Meghan and Lukas really. Ela cursed under her breath when she remembered that. Lukas, her boyfriend, had texted Tina over her. She had overheard her talking about it to Meghan one day and went to Monika almost immediately.
"Tina spoke with him. She knows where he is," Ela had said to Monika. Monika dashed over to where Tina and Meghan were talking, grabbed Tina by the shirt and yelled
"TELL ME WHERE HE IS. NOW!" Tina gently released Monika's hands from her shirt.
"He's tracking someone who deserves to fucking die…" Tina said shortly. Ela thought it was one of the few times she had spoken to anyone but Meghan or Lukas.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW?!" Monika yelled.
"Trust me Monika," Tina said and walked away fiddling with the dog tags around her neck.
Back to the current situation, Ela looked over at Monika who was sitting in one of the chairs next to her. Her eyes were red from crying. The poor woman had been doing so every night since Lukas disappeared. She really cared about him. Ela did too. Just as much as Monika. She looked up as Ela looked over and sniffed.
"I know, we'll find him," Ela whispered to her. Monika went back to what she was reading, which looked like it was one of her own science fiction stories. Ela only said that to make herself feel better. The moment Ela had found out that Lukas was missing, she didn't get angry like she usually would have. She cried. She was terrified that the man she was beginning to fall for had also been taken from the world. She got angry later of course and sent the sexy German man multiple texts and voicemails demanding that he tell her where he is. Ela closed her eyes tightly when thinking about Lukas. She missed his smile, his personality, his voice and the fact that he was just one big loveable doofus much like his best friend Derrick had been. That Fenrir guy was also a bit of a character. Ela had only run into him once along with Meghan and Monika. Elena had gotten a good glimpse of him before apparently getting flashbanged. Ela thought he was just some civilian with some money and firepower but that turned out to be false. The guy was definitely ex-military or something. The news had determined that Fenrir was only hunting White Masks because they believed he had some kind of grudge against them. She also knew that the name Fenrir was from mythology. Norse to be precise. Ela's eyes snapped open when this thought occurred to her.
"Monika," she said.
"Hmm?" Monika answered.
"Are you familiar with the name Fenrir?" Ela asked.
"Ja, he's the wolf from Norse Mythology. Our vigilante friend must be a fan of it or something," Monika answered. Eliza looked over as well and Ela thought she was thinking about the name Fenrir too.
"Who do we know that was also a fan of Norse Mythology?" Ela asked.
"Meghan and Der-" Monika began and Ela saw her eyes widen.
"Wait a minute. My brother reads that stuff because he's a mythology professor and I think I remembered something important. Isn't Fenrir related to one of the gods or something?" Eliza asked. Monika put her hand over her mouth and gasped. At that moment, the program that was playing on the TV was interrupted by a news report.
"We interrupt this program for some breaking news. According to our sources, a building near the outskirts of Portland is apparently under siege by the vigilante the police have been looking for for the past two weeks. Citizens are advised by law enforcement personnel to remain inside until the situation is under control. These images might be frightening to some viewers and discretion is advised. We go live to our chopper in the area piloted by our own Ricky Mavv. Ricky?" The image on the screen shifted to that of a birds eye view of a partially destroyed building with a man running across it. The pilot was providing commentary but Ela wasn't paying attention. The man running along the roof was dressed in a white overcoat with an RPG on his back. Ela saw Eliza gasp when she saw the man in white and clenched her fists in anger. Then another man appeared. He was dressed in black and gray and wearing a wolf-like helmet. The vigilante ran full speed at the rising helicopter the guy in white just jumped into. Ela saw that the vigilante had long blonde hair which was flowing out from under his helmet. Her eyes widened in recognition and she quickly turned to Monika who had both hands over her mouth now. Eliza turned to Monika too.
"Oh my fucking God…" she said. "It's Lukas isn't it? He's the vigilante."
"HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?! Fenrir is the son of Loki! Remember how Derrick called Lukas his son a few times when you 2 were initially spending time together Ela?! I KNEW I heard his sonic grenade that night we saw him in that parking lot!" Monika yelled and started bawling. As if on cue, Meghan appeared in the doorway.
"What's with the yelling?" she asked before seeing Monika in tears. "Oh fuck...is Lukas..." Ela pointed at the TV screen where the vigilante, Lukas, was now laying on the ground apparently unconscious and near a flaming wreck. Meghan's eyes widened in recognition too.
"Fucking DAMMIT! Fenrir is Loki's son! How the fuck did we miss that?!" Meghan said and rushed over to Monika's side. Ela figured that the 2 women liked each other judging by how they acted whenever they weren't on duty. That and the fact that Lukas had told her back at Colonel Castellano's house that Monika was bisexual. Meghan must also be attracted to women. Fine, whatever. Didn't help the fact that the man Ela had strong feelings for was currently laying motionless on a rooftop.
"HE'S DEAD! MY BROTHER'S DEAD!" Monika wailed. Lukas hadn't moved in the past few minutes. Ela feared that he was too.
"No...No! Not him too!" Eliza shouted. More minutes passed as the women kept their eyes glued to the screen. Ela felt the tears begin to come but before she was overcome by her emotions, Lukas stirred.
"MONIKA!" Ela shouted and pointed at the screen. Monika peeked out from over Meghan's shoulder.
"Lukas?" she said softer than before. Meghan patted her shoulder but Ela could tell Meghan's mind was on Derrick. Her brother hadn't survived a helicopter crash. Ela felt a bit guilty but she'd deal with that later. Right now Lukas had taken his helmet off and she got a good look at his half covered face even from the chopper's distance. His deep blue eyes were filled with anger rather than their usual cheeriness. Monika flinched. She must have seen that look in Lukas's eyes during that one Christmas where he had yelled at her. Lukas had engaged the guy in white in hand to hand combat. Ela watched her man get a lot of good hits in before the dude in white drew a pistol and Lukas was shot in the leg and in the shoulder.
"NO!" Ela and Monika yelled. The dude in white aimed the gun in Lukas's face but Ela noticed that Lukas's hands were moving quickly. He drew a knife and slashed it upwards. The knife was now sticking through the guy in white's hand. Lukas tackled him to the ground and began wailing on his face with what Ela thought was all his strength. Lukas then grabbed a nearby steel cable and wrapped it around the guy's neck.
"Holy shit...HOLY SHIT!" Eliza yelled.
"What?!" Meghan yelled before she must have realized what Lukas was about to do. Lukas had attached something to the White Mask's chest before he performed the Mozambique Drill and his target fell from the roof and hung there by the steel cable. The chopper got a good image of the now dead White Mask hanging from the roof. Ela saw that there was a sign attached to the White Mask's chest. There was an arrow pointed up at his face and the English text under it read "This man killed Derrick Castellano."
"Fucking Christ Almighty…" Eliza said and paused the broadcast on the image of the hanging White Mask. Ela turned to Meghan, who was still facing Monika. She was trying to get Monika to calm down and hadn't seen Lukas kill the White Mask. Afterall, Monika had just watched her brother mercilessly kill someone on live TV.
"Eliza, I'll get him," Ela said, making her choice on the spot. She was going to go get her idiot boyfriend and would not return until she had done so. Eliza looked over at her.
"Bosak…" Eliza began.
"Don't even THINK about kicking him off Rainbow! I know going AWOL is a serious offense but give him confinement or something," Ela said.
"I wasn't planning on it anymore once I recognized the man he was fighting...you know who that man was right?" Eliza asked Meghan. Meghan looked confused. Plus Ela thought this was the first time Eliza had even looked Meghan in the face since last month.
"No. Should I? All those White Mask guys look the same to me."
"He was the man that shot Derrick out of the air in Washington. He's been on my mind for weeks. I caught a glimpse of him before Lukas yelled to evade," Eliza said gently. Meghan's fists clenched. Monika grabbed her upper arm with a shaking hand. Meghan stared at the lifeless body of the man who shot her brother out of existence which was still on the TV screen. She must have just noticed the sign attached to his chest.
"He deserved everything Lukas did to him...EVERYTHING!" Meghan yelled and left the room and Monika's hand was still in the air where Meghan's arm had been moments before. She probably went to go inform Tina or someone else. Ela made her way over to Monika who was still pretty much a wreck. She looked Monika dead in the eyes.
"I will find him and bring him home alright? I love him too…" Ela said quietly. Monika's eyes rested on hers.
"Wh...what? You...Lukas?" she asked at the same volume.
"You heard me. I love your idiot brother. I was going to tell him before he bailed. I will bring him back. Look at me. I. Will. Bring. Him. Back." Ela said. She meant what she had said about loving Lukas. Not since college had she loved someone as much as she loved Lukas as of right now. Even if the guy was a complete moron.
"Ela, go. Bring him home. I won't expel him but he's getting a warning. If it happens again, I'll have no choice. The punishment is technically up to me as I am his CO. I'll deal with it when you find him," Eliza said and looked toward Monika. "Come on Mon, let's go tell the others what happened. Ela's going to bring Lukas back ok?" Eliza helped Monika out of the chair while Ela went off to retrieve her supplies. She was going to bring Lukas back kicking and screaming if she had to. After all, she had her own brand of punishment lined up for the idiot she loved.
May 13th, 2023
Specialist Elżbieta "Ela" Bosak
The Streets
Portland OR. USA
Ela wandered the streets of Portland keeping her ears opened for any mention of the name "Fenrir." She didn't know what she was going to do once she found Lukas. Kick him in the nuts? No. That was a bit too far. Punch him in the face? Yeah, that sounded good. One good punch would probably get his head on straight again. She had left her Scorpion EVO 3 A1 SMG and F-O shotgun back at HQ and was currently carrying her RG15 handgun and a few of her Grzmot Mines. The mines were technically non lethal but they impared the vision and hearing of anyone that happened to be in the blast radius. The mines contained an adhesive material that activated whenever she pulled the pin and threw it. When she showed Lukas one day, he had referred to them as "ice cream mines." Ela composed herself when she thought of Lukas's quip about her mines. She was going to find him tonight. She was sure of it. She kept walking down the street unsure of what to do. Should she try investigating that building Lukas hanged that man from? Or was there somewhere else? Had he been going by a different name? Where the fuck was she going to start looking.
"Gówno," she cursed in Polish. As she passed a bar with the door open, she caught a few snippets from the news again.
"This just in, the vigilante Fenrir has been apprehended by the White Masks. They released this video moments ago," the TV blared out to the patrons in the bar. Ela shoved her way past the bouncer and stared at the TV where she saw the man she loved, tied to a chair and surrounded by 4 White Masks. He looked very badly injured. Parts of the armor were ripped off and there were scrapes along his arms and bare chest. His helmet was still on however.
"No," Ela said to herself as one of the White Masks began to speak to the camera.
"We have him Portland Police Department or National Guard or WHOEVER the fuck cares. We'll release him to you if you pay us $500 million within 2 hours or we start leaving pieces of him all around the city. As to why we haven't taken his mask off yet- Oop! Hang on a second. What was that Fenrir?" The camera was taken from someone and brought it up to Lukas's face. He was muttering something. Ela listened with all her concentration but she couldn't make out what Lukas was saying over the noise of the bar. She cursed again as the video ended.
"Ela, we might know where he is," Meghan's voice said into her ear. She could also hear another woman yelling indistinctly. Monika must have also seen Lukas on the TV.
"I saw him on TV. They got him. Meghan, they're going to kill him. He looks badly injured. He said something that I couldn't hear," Ela responded.
"He said 'Ich fahre auf der Autobahn nach Norden'," Meghan said. Her German had improved. Unfortunately that didn't help Ela.
"I don't speak German," Ela admitted. She should learn in order to be closer to Lukas. Afterall, Lukas knew a bit of her native tongue too.
"Monika tells me he said 'I'm going north on the interstate'. He said Autobahn instead of interstate. The Autobahn is a highway and another name for a highway is interstate. There is a North Interstate Avenue in Portland," Meghan said. "That's gotta be where they're holding him. He must have seen the street name or something. Go. Monika's basically going crazy right now. Jordan and Craig are holding her back."
"North Interstate Avenue, got it." Ela said and pulled out her phone to check her location relative to North Interstate Avenue. She was a few blocks over.
"I've got you now. No one ties him up like that but me!" she said to herself and ran out of the bar.
Ela arrived on North Interstate Avenue a few minutes later and ran towards the warehouses. That's got to be where they're keeping him. At least that's what it looked like on the video. The room Lukas was in looked as though he was in a warehouse. Ela peeked into the windows of a few warehouses and eventually laid her eyes on the man she loved, currently getting punched in the face over and over. His helmet was off and his full face was exposed. Lukas sported a black eye and some scratches on his face. Her heart fluttered when she saw him look in her direction and smirk at his attacker. Ela nearly jumped in the window and started firing but decided that that was a terrible idea. She needed to know how many White Masks were here currently. There were 3 in the room. She remembered that there were 5 on the video. The other two must be standing guard. Sure enough, there they were. Standing at the entrance throwing rocks aimlessly. She dropped both of them with 2 shots and primed a Grzmot Mine and threw it at the top of the door frame. Surely the guys in the room must have heard the shots. One of them had been sent to investigate and triggered her mine above the door frame. He clutched his head and stumbled around aimlessly before Ela kicked him in the face and ran inside. She took out the other 2 mines and ran at the door at the far end of the hall. That must be where Lukas was. She leaned up against the door to listen.
"Kevin? That you dude? Did Larry and Jeff inadvertently shoot someone again?" a voice asked. Ela remained silent but now stood in front of the door with her mines now primed and ready.
"Kevin?" the voice asked again before grunting. "Keep punching Weiss-enheimmer bitch ass. Shame I'll have to kill him. I liked him when he was just a bass player and not a fucking psychopath. I'm gonna go see what Kevin's doing."
"Come on fucker. Come get me." Ela said to herself and listened for his footsteps to grow louder. As the door handle turned, Ela kicked it inward and the guy on the other side flew backwards into the room. Ela threw her mines at each of the White Masks and they exploded immediately. She eliminated them with one shot each following the initial state of dizziness she always felt whenever she was in the blast radius. The disorientation effect didn't have quite the effect on her (and Zofia) as it did with other people. Lukas unfortunately got 2 full blasts of it and he was injured too so that must not have been a fun sensation. Ela ran over to him and kissed him on the mouth before she smacked him in the face.
"Ow!"
"SHUT UP! NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" she yelled at him.
"Do what? Avenge my friend?" Lukas answered a little slurred. He must still be suffering from the mine's disorientation effect. Ela untied him from the chair and touched his muscular chest before helping him to his feet. She cursed again when she saw the extent of his injuries. They looked relatively minor but still, it must not have been fun.
"Are you alright...dumbass?" she asked him. Lukas winced.
"Probably. How much trouble am I in?" he asked and gingerly stepped forward.
"With Rainbow, surprisingly not a lot. With me? A fucking shit ton," Ela said.
"Don't know if you know this, but the role of 'woman that is constantly concerned about my safety' has already been filled," Lukas said. Ela grabbed him by the remnants of his undershirt.
"DON'T YOU GET IT?! I CARE ABOUT YOU SO MUCH LUKAS! I...I...I love you," Ela said and reached out towards his face. Lukas furrowed his brow and went to answer but BANG! Ela yelled in pain as a bullet tore clean through her shin on her right leg. She fell to the ground in pain. She heard Lukas yell in rage over her own screams of pain and charge at the White Mask that had shot her...in the leg for some reason? Why not the back of her head? She hadn't been paying attention like an IDIOT. Plus she didn't double tap the guy that had triggered her first mine. She heard the man she loved run out the door followed by the sounds of more gunshots and someone yelling in German. Ela turned towards the door to see Lukas making his way back over to her wincing slightly with every step.
"Can you stand?" he said. That was not at all the response she was expecting. She expected Lukas to say that he loved her too. Could all that time he spent away from her cause him to second guess their relationship? Ela shook her head and then felt Lukas wrap the wound and lift her into the air in his arms.
"Right, let's go get some medical attention ja? Plus I'll be getting a stern talking too. Great. This night has been one fucking…" Lukas said before trailing off. Ela felt betrayed by him. She looked up into his face and he smiled down at her.
"Luke…" she pleaded.
"I heard you Ela. I love you too"
May 13th, 2023
Lukas Weiss
The Streets
Portland OR. USA
Lukas couldn't believe it. He had killed Flak AND Ela had saved his life AND told him that she loved him all in the same night. He carried her out of the warehouse and toward one of the nearby cars. He'd swiped the keys from the man that had shot Ela in the leg. He must still have been disoriented from Ela's mine as she had used them to save his own life. Lukas opened the passenger door with one hand and gently placed Ela into the seat before he limped over to the driver's side. As he sat down, Ela took out her phone and dialed someone named "Dumbass's Sister." Lukas gulped as she handed him her phone.
"Talk to her. Now." Ela ordered as Monika's voice came from the speaker.
"Ela? Ela are you there? Did you find him?" she said. Lukas held the phone up to his ear.
"Guten Abend…" he said in German before he had to wrench the phone away from his ear as a tirade of anger came from the phone's speaker.
"GUTEN FUCKING ABEND?! THAT'S WHAT YOU SAY TO ME AFTER 2 WEEKS OF BEING MISSING! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! WE SAW YOU ON TV EARLIER FIGHTING AND KILLING SOMEONE ON A ROOFTOP! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?! YOU ARE SO FUCKING LUCKY THAT ELIZA IS NOT EXPELLING YOU FROM RAINBOW!" Monika yelled full blast at him in German. He had not heard Monika this angry in quite a long time. Probably since that one terrorist shot him in the shoulder twice and nearly blew his head off. That time she had disobeyed Bandit and fired an ENTIRE 30 round magazine into someone. Lukas couldn't imagine what Monika would do to him once he got back but shooting him was most likely not going to happen. Ela scowled at him. She might not know German but she got the gist of what Monika had just yelled at him.
"I'm safe. Ela found me. Both of us need some medical attention. I got some broken ribs I think and some minor cuts, Ela got shot in the leg but she's pretty much ok. I'll be at the base in about 15ish minutes. We're in an unmarked vehicle. Gray Honda Civic I think," Lukas said calmly in English as Ela stared daggers at him.
"GET YOUR FUCKING ASS HERE. NOW," Monika yelled and hung up. Lukas handed the phone back to Ela.
"Right...about what-"
"Save it. I might love you but I am so fucking pissed at you right now you have no idea...Just...just drive…" Ela said and turned away from him. Lukas did what he was told and turned the car on and drove in the direction of Rainbow HQ. As for his equipment and spare clothes, they were still at the motel he was living in.
"Tell Eliza to send someone to room 23 of the Viking Motel in North Portland. I used the name Klaus Rammstein," Lukas said.
"And why the fuck should I listen to you right now," Ela shot back.
"Unless you want me to walk around in my boxer shorts forever, most of my stuff is there plus the missing equipment I commandeered. That's where I was staying. There's also a black sports motorcycle parked there too,"
"The Viking Motel? Are you kidding me? Fenrir AND the Viking Motel?" Ela said, raising her eyebrows. Lukas grinned.
"Hiding in plain sight works wonders," he said before turning down a side street. He, of course, had learned that from Derrick. Ela took out her phone and texted Eliza.
"She's sending Jordan. She also told me to call you a dumbass," Ela said. Lukas scoffed.
"Yeah. Ok sure," he muttered. His right hand was resting on the gear shifter and Ela reached over and squeezed it. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell she was crying out of sheer relief that he was OK. He cursed himself again for doing this to everyone.
"This is going to sound like I'm making it up but my phone was destroyed,"
"Before or after you talked to TINA," Ela retorted through her tears. Yep, there it was. She thought Lukas was seeing Tina for some reason. There was no way in hell anybody was going to be with Tina ever again in Lukas's mind. During their conversations, she had revealed that she had loved Derrick more than anyone else she had dated in the past and was going to tell him after the mission to Washington.
"Whatever, drop it. It's broken. Jordan and Craig will be able to confirm," Lukas said as the guard at the entrance to the abandoned stadium made his way to the driver's side.
"Dude, private property. I'm gonna have to ask you to- Oh fuck. It's the German guy. Open the gates Dev!" the recruit said into his earpiece. Lukas drove into the parking lot and parked the car. He looked toward the entrance and saw 3 women standing there with their arms crossed. One was a redhead, one was blonde and one was wearing a beret. Lukas got out of the car and he could hear Monika yell his name from across the parking lot. He ignored it for the time being and went to help Ela. Despite her being pissed at him, she allowed him to pick her up again and he felt her nuzzle against his chest and kiss it softly. He carried her to the 3 women.
"Evening ladies," Lukas said before Monika punched him in the arm. It did nothing. Monika wasn't that strong but it did enough damage to get her point across. Plus his arm had been scraped up pretty bad so it stung a little.
"Inside Weiss. Now. Zofia, take her to the med bay. I think Will is the on call guy tonight," Eliza said and motioned for Lukas to follow her inside.
May 13th, 2023
Lukas Weiss
West Coast Rainbow HQ
Portland OR. USA
"WEISS, what the FUCK was that?! What in God's name were you doing?! We were worried sick! And we find that you've been doing that for the past 2 weeks!" Eliza yelled at him. Currently he, Eliza and Monika were in his old dorm room. Lukas had his wounds wrapped in gauze and had an ice pack pressed against his eye. Lukas sighed. Of course that was the first question he had to answer.
"Those motherfuckers needed to pay for what they did to him," Lukas replied.
"Oh OK! So you think that THAT was the way to do it?! You think that's what Derrick wanted you to do?!" Eliza shot back. Monika was currently sitting next to Lukas on his bed and she was tending to his other wounds. Her face said anger, but the tears said relief.
"How do you know what Derrick would have wanted? Think about this. What if, and God forbid, I was the one who got killed? Or you? Or Meghan? You think Derrick would have sat in his room all day? He would have done the exact same thing and you know it Eliza!" Lukas said. "You're welcome for saving you, Jordan and Zofia by the way. Remember that warehouse you guys raided? You looked right at me. I heard what you said about Meghan." Lukas saw her falter for a fraction of a second before regaining her composure.
"NOT IMPORTANT! Lukas, those tactics were barbaric!" Eliza shouted.
"Judging by the fact that I was operating outside of your command, I decided what was necessary. What was necessary was that I needed to send a message to these fucking bastards that I meant business. It is my fault that Derrick was killed, Eliza. I didn't warn him in time," Lukas retorted. He was adamant about this. It was 100% his fault.
"I'm sorry, are YOU the Field Commander?! He was MY responsibility! You could have jeopardized our entire organization!" Eliza shouted back.
"I didn't see any Rainbow patches on my gear did you? For all they knew, some bass player from a cover band had a grudge against them," Lukas said.
"Lukas...please...it's been bad enough without Derrick," Eliza began before Monika spoke. Lukas had expected her to speak far earlier than this.
"WHY DID I LET YOU JOIN THE BKA?!" she shouted at him. Here we fucking go again with this.
"I'm sorry? You let me? Monika, I am in my thirties now. I joined in my twenties, far past the age where I needed you to tell me what to do! Look at me! Do I look like a child?! I might act like one sometimes but I'm-"
"LUKAS I CAN'T LOSE YOU! I just...I just can't...ever since that attack...where I...I...I still have nightmares about it…" Monika said and touched the spot where Lukas got shot twice during a night out with some buddies. Here we go again with this too.
"How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't your-"
"YES IT WAS! I YELLED YOUR NAME! I BASICALLY TOLD THAT MANIAC THAT YOU WERE IMPORTANT TO ME! HE NEARLY KILLED YOU BECAUSE OF ME! I nearly lost my baby brother that night before I got the chance to tell him I was sorry and I loved him. Do you know how much I care about you? And...and I thought... I thought you were dead for the past few days...I thought the White Masks got you too. Like poor Derrick...Meghan is still beyond upset. I can hear her crying at night. She misses him so much…" Monika said before she too began to cry against Lukas's shoulder. She even wrapped her arms around him which made Lukas even more pissed at himself. This woman had done everything for him when he was growing up. She protected him from bullies in kindergarten, she taught him English, she listened to him practice outside of his bedroom and he had repaid her by yelling at her when he was in his twenties and going AWOL in his thirties. He felt like the worst little brother of all time at the moment. Eliza looked puzzled.
"What does she mean?" Lukas noted the change in her voice. She too no longer sounded angry. Lukas told her about what had happened to him during the Powerwolf concert. Monika still held onto him and cried. Eliza nodded when Lukas finished telling her.
"That explains why she's so obsessive over you," Eliza said. Monika nodded.
"What Monika here can't understand was that it was ME that caused the falling out that Christmas, not her. She was clearly concerned about me. Like you Eliza. This might not do any good but I'm sorry. I let the anger and desire for vengeance overtake me. I'm expelled aren't I?" Lukas asked. To his amazement, Eliza shook her head.
"You aren't expelled from Rainbow but Six will be informed. There's no way he didn't see that on the news. You are not allowed to leave unaccompanied until further notice. Consider yourself confined to this base and under surveillance. I know he was your friend but...that was beyond reckless," Eliza said.
"Fair enough. Thanks for letting me off easy. Run the name 'The Butcher; by the guys. Apparently, he's a lieutenant or something," Lukas said. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't expelled. He was still a Rainbow Op somehow.
"Will do. Monika can take it from here. She's the one assigned to watch your behavior,"
"Well that figures. Eliza...he also told me something else...he said...he said that Derrick was still alive." Lukas said. Monika and Eliza both stared at him. He had to tell someone what he had heard. There was a chance, a chance, that Derrick was still alive.
"Pardon?" Eliza said.
"I thought the guy was bluffing but…" Lukas began. Eliza silenced him with a gentle pat on his uninjured shoulder.
"I'll look into it…I'm glad you're alright," Eliza said and left the room. Lukas turned to Monika who was still crying softly and clutching him very tightly.
"Lukas...I love you so much…" she said in a shaky voice. Lukas painfully put his own arm around her.
"I love you too Harmonica but I know, you don't fully believe me after what I did. Look," Lukas withdrew his arm and Monika's and got off his bed. She kept her arms held in the exact position for a few seconds before they fell to her side. He limped over to his closet and began to rummage through it. He found what he was looking for. An old, but still clean, teddy bear that was given to him by a 6 year old blonde German girl on his first birthday. The same one that was sitting on his bed watching him dig for it. Lukas turned around and showed it to her. Monika let out a small gasp when she saw the bear in Lukas's hands.
"Kuschelt?" Monika asked. "You...you kept him?"
"He's always with me. Because you said he'd protect me whenever you're not around," Lukas said and walked back over to his bed. He sat down and was attacked with another hug. It hurt a bit due to his broken ribs.
"This might be the 2nd time I've fucked up real bad but one thing I know is that you will always be my big sister. And I love my big sister." Monika smiled at him and, even though he didn't feel like he should at the moment, he smiled back and let Monika hug him again.
May 15th, 2023
Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss
West Coast Rainbow HQ
Portland OR. USA
2 days later, Lukas was writing up a report for Elena in his bedroom. Harry, a.k.a. Six, had spoken with him over the phone the previous day and had told him that going AWOL was a serious offense and doing what he did was very much not OK.
"Lukas, don't do that again alright? I like you. Your teammates like you. Derrick liked you. I wish I could have gone to that service but I was busy with one of the other teams abroad. If I get wind of you going AWOL like that again, you will be expelled. Understand?" Harry had told him.
"Understood Harry," Lukas had responded before Harry hung up. Monika had begun following him everywhere but the bathroom and whenever he went to sleep. Lukas could tell that she liked monitoring him and admittedly he liked it too. He'd always liked spending time with Monika. He hadn't forgotten what Ela had told him though. She loved him. Lukas hadn't been able to talk to her about it for the past 2 days because he'd barely seen Ela at all. Only from a distance. Eliza might not be ok with Ela hanging with Lukas if he was currently being punished. The previous day Tina had come up to him while he worked in the lab with Monika. She simply hugged him and Lukas hugged her back and could feel her crying softly. She was thanking him for killing Flak.
"Tina," Lukas whispered into her ear. "He might have been bluffing but he told me that Derrick was still alive." Tina had looked into his face upon hearing this.
"Wh-what?" she had said.
"Don't give up hope. Eliza's looking into it. If he is alive I will bring him back to you and Meghan. I promise," he said. Monika, who was listening, nodded in agreement to Lukas's surprise.
Back to the current morning, Lukas finished up the final paragraph of the report and leaned back in his chair. He inhaled deeply and caught a whiff of something sweaty.
"Oh boy, shower time. This will be a lot better than that one in the Viking Motel. I'm just lucky Jordan found everything," Lukas said to himself and stripped down to his skivvies. He painfully wrapped a towel around his waist as his ribs still hurt and made his way towards the showers humming a Rammstein song to himself.
"My my my, look at this dumbass all alone," a familiar voice said. Lukas turned to see Ela in...her underwear. He gulped. He could see the bandages on Ela's exposed leg. This was also the first time he had seen her in this amount of clothing. Basically nothing. She smiled at him mischievously.
"I heard that you aren't supposed to be by yourself Mr. Weiss," Ela said and started to limp over to him. Her feet slapped softly against the floor.
"Uh well, not everywhere. They just need to know where I am. I passed Craig on the way over so I think I'm ok for now," Lukas said. Ela was pretty much against him by now. She pressed her hand against his chest and he winced. She had forgotten that he had a couple of broken ribs. She retaliated by kissing his chest over and over before meeting his lips again.
"I meant what I said the other day, Lukas. I've fallen in love with you. Hard" Ela said and grabbed Lukas's crotch which was, indeed, hard. Lukas inhaled slightly when he felt Ela's hand go under the towel and against his boxers.
"You gotta be on drugs if you think I didn't mean it when I said it too. You think I was going to lie to the smoking hot woman that just saved my life?" Lukas said and ran a hand down Ela's slender back towards her ass.
"Uh oh, now you've done it. Get your ass in that shower. Right now," Ela said and squeezed her hand slightly. Ela open mouth kissed him then pushed him towards the showers and through the doorway. She closed the door and locked it. Then she ripped the towel away from Lukas's waist and pulled down his boxers. She even took off the rest of her clothes and Lukas's eyes rested on the Bosak Tempest's naked body. Before he could comment on it, one of Ela's hands was on his dick...and it felt good. The other one grabbed one of his own hands and she rested it on one of her boobs.
"Oh god…" Lukas said to the ceiling. He had managed to turn the shower on full blast so no one could hear them about to do the deed in here because he knew that's what Ela wanted.
"You like that don't you? Look at you, walking to the shower by yourself when you aren't supposed to. That's naughty. Someone's going to have to punish you Mr. Weiss," Ela said before she began to use her mouth instead of her hands. Lukas watched her for several minutes before she straightened up and whispered
"Take me,"
"As you wish," Lukas said and did so without question. He lifted her off the ground (with relatively minor pain in his ribs) and they got busy. Luckily, no one was able to hear the sounds of pleasure over the running water.
Mission Report:
Lukas Weiss avenged his friend by killing the man known as Flak. Ela Bosak retrieved him and brought him back to Rainbow HQ.
