AN: Go check out reactiverainbow, he wrote some very nice stories, I'm saying this because I'm taking inspirations from one of his stories. I only do this because I'm bored and it's a nice hobby, I'm not making money off it and I don't want to take credit. So please don't cite me or sue me. Please. Anyway, let's get into the story.

Oh yeah, there's a part in this chapter where I mention American football, and I most definitely screwed something up there, so please be gentle.

Location: Hereford Base, Herefordshire, England

Time 13:10

Date: June 1, 2018

An executive jet could be seen landing at the airfield adjacent to the main compound. It taxied to the ramp and stopped. Two men in business attire disembarked the aircraft and got into a black sedan which sped to the main compound.

Ela looked at her watch, it's about time she starts heading back. As she neared the compound a black sedan sped past her, and there happened to be a mud puddle at that spot too.

"Aw, skurwysyn!" Ela added as she wiped her face, "Dupek!" Well, that's her afternoon gone. She saw the sedan continue until it reached the main compound. Two men in black business attire hurried inside the compound. This ought to be interesting, Ela thought.

The two men exited the vehicle, passed through security, and hurried into the building. They bypassed all the areas used for the living, training, and planning of the operators and went straight to Director Six's office.

"This better be good Steve," She said in a cold emotionless voice while not taking her eyes off of the monitor of her computer.

"Oh it's good Six," Steve said, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Six looked up from her monitor and motioned to take a seat across from her. "Shoot," she said.

"Director Six, this here is James my colleague from MI6, he'll be doing most of the talking," Steve said pointing at James.

"Hello, Director Six. Now, my agency has done some analysis on the stuff that we had on the threat board for the middle east and we saw that the global terrorist group known as the White Masks may be trying to align themselves with all the other different terrorist groups there. The Islamic State, Al Qaeda, everyone. They're basically trying to create one giant network in that part of the globe. In other words, they are expanding," James explained. "Although it's unclear to us why they would put themselves in such a risk in being compromised with trying to expand. To the best extent of our knowledge is that the Masks have a bottomless pool of resources and already have the capability to strike anywhere on the globe, so it doesn't make sense."

"I see, but what does that have to do with me and Rainbow?" Six asked.

Steve took a deep breath first before answering, "We're planning to send a handful of your team in to gather intel and destroy the network."

Six sat up, "What?" She exclaimed, "I'm sorry to tell you that I have to say no to this."

"Six, we both know that Rainbow is more than qualified to take on something like this, not to mention the promising records on some of your operators," Steve said.

"I get that, but Rainbow was never designed to do this kind of work, we're more of a shield than a sword. And the number of operators who have experience and training in this type of duty is more limited than you think," Six explained.

"We only need you to send a minimal number of operators, 5-7 would be enough. And they will be guided and assisted by an MI6 operative who is operating undercover in the area for some time now. He was the one who helped us obtain a lot of the information we have," James said.

Six thought about for a moment, "I still don't understand why you would ask my organization to do this. Why can't they do it?" Six asked. They referring to another organization, the name of which cannot be disclosed.

"That's actually the main reason we're here. They're not available right now, they've got way too much on their hands already. And we can't by time to wait for them to get it done. This threat is serious and it has to be dealt with right now. Each day that passes brings them closer to achieving whatever the hell they plan on doing," Steve said. "And besides, this operation is probably not going to be completely clean. As far as the world knows, Rainbow doesn't exist, another factor that makes it ideal to take it on."

A moment of silence, "When would they be deployed?" Six asked.

"In two weeks they have to be on deck already," James said.

There was an awkward silence as Six contemplated what she was gonna say, "Fine. I'll send a single team in to clean it up," Six reluctantly said. "Just make sure to cover my operators if something happens."

Steve could see the worried expression on her face, "Don't worry Six, I'm willing to gamble all my faith in Rainbow to get it done and not regret it. And we'll always keep you and your team updated in case anything changes, and if they are good already then we'll pull out your team and let the others take care of it. And we'll even increase Rainbows funding and add a few more zeros to the checks of the operators who would be going. We won't be leaving you guys in the dark."

This reassured Six a little bit, "Alright then, just give me the file for the rest of the mission details and the two of you can leave."

James took out an envelope that was made a little tick by all of the papers inside of it from his suitcase and set it down on the desk. The two said more formalities before leaving. After they left, Six buried her face in her hands. God, I need a vacation, Six thought to herself.

She eventually straightened out and began the process of choosing the right operators for her to send into that hellhole. She first studied the nature of the mission through the file that was given to her, she made sure not to overlook a single detail. It sucked, that was an understatement. The mission objective was to strike the heart of the network, in the middle of an active battlefield in Syria, in the middle of no man's land. They would be sent straight into the middle of the hornet's nest which was ironic since the code name of the operation was Hornets Nest. The intel was not complete but it did say that the White Masks along with other terrorist had a stronghold situated in the war-torn city of Raqqa, Syria where they would plan out all of their operations. The objective was straightforward: gather intel on the White Masks, find exactly where that base is, infiltrate it and gather more intel, kill or capture any high ranking White Mask official, and destroy the compound.

After that, Six began the choosing process of the operators to be sent. She loaded in the files of all the operators Rainbow currently had. She needed operators with the experience and expertise for the mission, which was the intelligence gathering part and the dismantling part.

The first two were straightforward, Six isolated the files of Elzbieta 'Ela' Bosak, and Megan 'Valkyrie' J. Castellano. The two would possess the most experience in the mission that was going to be undertaken, coming from their part in Operation: Orange Sky where they did exactly what the mission is about.

The next was Erik 'Maverick' Thorn, he was US army became intelligence officer serving in Kabul, when he was recruited by the Unit or US Army Delta Force. One time while he was investigating a missing reporter when the Unit lost contact with him. After two years of silence, he re-emerged with enough intel to dismantle a major insurgency operation. He was also proficient in the languages that they will encounter in the area.

After sifting through the files Six found another useful operator. Taina 'Caveira' Pereira, her skills and expertise as an interrogator would be useful in case the team picked up someone who needed questioning. Plus she's skilled in remaining as quiet as possible which can be used in infiltration operations.

Six also added in Jordan 'Thermite' Trace. Jordan had served two tours in Iraq as a Marine before he was discharged but his primary role is to become the demolition expert of the group, tasked with blowing the enemy installation.

Six read through each file some more, she decided to send in someone that has experience in medicine to become the teams medic just in case it got too hot and someone was hurt. She picked up the file of Doc but didn't add him in because he was needed on base so she took Lion's file instead. Olivier 'Lion' Flament was Rainbows lead CBRN specialist. Although his expertise was as a biohazard expert, he had undergone a medical course as well making him capable of filling out the role as a medic.

Now Six needed a leader. After some more sifting, Six found the best operator to be squad lead. Mike 'Thatcher' Baker was perfect due to his age and experience. Six doesn't send him out on missions as frequent as before but he covers it by training the SAS recruits on site. Highly observant, calculating and decisive, Baker's demeanor may denote traces of impatient cynicism, but he possesses a profound sense of ethical responsibility. He does best when assigned with junior operators of strong moral conviction, whom he can mentor.

And that was that the team was complete. In total there were going to be 7 operators who would be sent for the mission, a little over the normal number of operators Six would send on a normal mission, but then again, this was not a normal mission and Six was not taking any chances.

Despite knowing the capabilities of her operators she was still worried; this was probably the first time she was ever worried. Although acting cold, ruthless, and emotionless around her operators, she cannot deny that she had a soft spot for them. She cared for her operators, they were human after all, not some expendable drone that she can always replace; competent operators for Rainbow don't just grow on trees.

There was gonna be another person with them. Six had studied the file of the undercover MI6 operative who was going to guide the team along the way. The agent, codename: Spectre, looked promising in the file. Serving with MI6 for sixteen years, five years as an undercover operative, and in all of the places he was sent to, he has always given accurate information and remained faithful to the agency. So there shouldn't be much of a problem with trusting him. But Six would ask Mike to keep an eye on him just in case.

Speaking of Mike, Six took the desk phone next to her and dialed the phone of Mike Baker. She would've used the PA system to call all of them if it weren't undergoing repairs.

After a few rings, Six heard the voice of an aged man, "Baker," Mike said.

"Mike, it's Six, please proceed to my office ASAP," Six ordered.

"Right away ma'am," Mike replied and hung up.

After about a couple of minutes, Mike Baker entered Six's office. "What's the urgency Director?" Mike asked.

"Please take a seat," Six pointed at the seat across of her and Mike took a seat. Six gave him the list of operators and an overview of the mission. Six thought it best to have him briefed at least a little bit already. "Go and find them and bring them back here, and I'll tell you the rest," Six told him.

"Sure thing Six," Mike stood up and exited the room. He began trekking the large compound in search for the operators. Mike first went over to the common area where he knew there would be a fairly large concentration of people due to the football game their watching. There should be a couple of them there.

Mike had just arrived in the nick of time. It looks like the game has just finished and everyone was filling out. Mike noticed the emotions on everyone's faces, some were of joy while others were of frustration. He immediately noticed the two operators he was looking for.

"Goddamn, what a game!" Erik Thorn exclaimed.

"Damn right it was," Jordan Trace said while slumped on the couch.

"One point, one fucking point man! If he hadn't pulled that hail mary, Detroit would've been toast," Erik said as he began to pick up his belongings.

"Yup, that was friggin lucky. What'd Ya think Craig?" Jordan asked the Navy SEAL operator who was sitting a couple feet away from him.

"It was great, could've been better though," Craig Jenson said.

"What'd Ya mean by that?" Jordan asked.

"Well...We didn't have any beer to watch it with," The operators laughed at that remark. Six had banned alcohol within the base as a precaution. At any moment Rainbow could receive a call which may need the operators. It's really not a good idea to send drunk operators on missions.

"Well yeah there's that," Erik agreed.

"One of these days, let's head out and protest beer back," Craig said.

"Heh, yeah."

Mike just stood there, if he's sure about one thing, then that's the fact that he'll never understand the Americans. Why the hell do they call it football, they barely ever kick it? After regaining his composure, he spoke up.

"Hey, Erik, Jordan!" He called out.

"Yeah?" Both operators said in unison.

"Six's calling for the both of you. Do you guys know where Meghan is?" Mike said.

"Probably swimming. Just let us clean up here and we'll get to it," Jordan said.

"Alright, thanks," Mike was about to turn to leave but he saw a hint of green hair coming out of the laundry room cross his peripherals. He could hear the ear-pounding music coming from her headphones.

"Hey, Elzbieta! Six wants you in her office" Mike called out. She continued without even looking at him. Mike immediately walked up to her and pulled off her headphones. She quickly turned to get her property back but Mike was able to back off just in time before she could grab it.

"Give me back my headset!" Ela yelled at him annoyed.

"No, did you hear me?" Mike said.

"Yes! I heard you, grandpa!" Ela retorted in her thick Polish accent.

"Then acknowledge me when I address you!"

Ela swiftly took back her headset and put it on, unpausing her music. She picked up the laundry basket she was carrying before continuing. She muttered something in polish before slamming the door behind her. The operators behind Mike all but snickered at the event.

"I gotta say, Ela is probably the most fun person in Rainbow," Erik said behind him.

"Shut it, and get to Six's office," Mike ordered and turned away. Mike didn't really care, he only wondered why he'd always sucked when it comes to addressing women. Mike pushed it out of his mind and continued. He headed over to the base's Olympic size swimming pool adjacent to the gym. He immediately noticed a figure propelling through the water.

"Hey, Meghan!" Mike called out. Meghan was just coming up to his end of the pool when she noticed him.

"Hi, Mike, what's up?" Meghan asked.

"Six is asking for you to her office, she wants to talk to you and a bunch of other guys," Mike said.

"Okay then, give me a couple minutes," Meghan said. She lifted herself from the pool and grabbed a towel that was on the chair beside the pool.

"Hey, do you know where Taina is?" Mike asked her.

"Gym probably," Meghan said before hurrying to the women's locker.

Mike then headed for the gym. Once he entered, he gave a good scan of the area. He saw his friend and fellow SAS operative Seamus Cowden doing bench presses, Mike gave him a friendly nod and he returned the gesture. Mike also noticed all the GSG-9 operators concentrated at the gyms boxing ring, two seem to be engaged in a fight while the other two were just spectating. He then noticed Taina, doing yoga while listening to some music on her headset. Mike then approached her, carefully. He began by clearing his throat. Taina slowly looked up at him.

"Taina, Six called for you to her office, she says it's urgent," Mike said. There was a brief moment of silence before Taina stood up.

"Let me collect myself first, then I'll come up," She plainly said while picking up her stuff.

"Of course, just please make it quick," Mike said, and quickly regretted he said that. Taina didn't assault him, but she did give him a glare which stretched to his soul. Mike stood his ground and Taina eventually left, confident she had won the staring contest. She left the gym without even making a single sound as she did so.

Mike took a deep breath to regain his composure. That one was hard, but unfortunately, it wasn't going to be the hardest one. There was one more operator he needed to address. The last operator didn't need asking to be found, he already knew where he was. Mike turned to head out to the chapel. Olivier and Mike were never in the best of terms, mostly because of that one time Mike had punched him during a training exercise because he said the wrong thing. He entered the chapel, he dipped his fingers in the holy water before doing the sign of the Cross. He continued onwards and saw Olivier knelt down on the front pews, praying. Mike sat down next to him and waited for him to finish his prayer. Olivier did the sign of the Cross before sitting up straight.

"What do you want, Mike?" Olivier asked Mike sternly in his thick French accent.

"Six is calling for you and a bunch of others to her office, a mission probably," Mike said.

"Okay then," Olivier said before leaving.

Mike prayed too, and then he left to head back to Six's office.

After a couple minutes of walking, Mike arrived at Six's office. Most of the other operators were already there, it was only him and another person.

"Hello Mike, where's Ela?" Six asked.

"I thought she already got here," Mike replied.

Just as he said that the door opened and came through, Ela in her usual combat uniform.

"You're late Ela," Six told her with much seriousness in her voice.

"Sorry Director, I was caught up with a few things back there," she said. There were boundaries where Ela can never yell past.

"Save it for later, please take a seat."

Ela did as asked from her, with Mike following. Once they were comfortable, Six began.

"I've called all of you here today to inform you that you are all going to be sent on a very important mission overseas. It's a joint operation by both the CIA and MI6. Here's the mission file, see for yourselves," Six distributed copies of the mission file to each of the operators who studied them closely.

"Whoa," Erik said.

"Well shit," Meghan said.

"Syria huh? I never thought I'd go back to the Middle East after the Marines," Jordan said.

"Same here lad," Mike said.

"I didn't think so myself after getting out of the Unit. Looks like we're gonna be knocking on Mr. Jihadee's doorstep again devil dog," Erik said prompting Jordan to laugh.

"Mr. Jihadee, really?" Mike asked chuckling, "How do you Americans come up with this shit?"

"It all comes to you Mike, you just gotta accept it," Meghan said.

"Um, this isn't just Mr. Jihadee's doorstep," Olivier said making everyone look at him.

"This is Mr. Jihadee's and Mr. White Mask's doorstep, for your information" Ela continued for Olivier. Everyone was silenced at that remark.

All in all, everyone had a pretty neutral feeling about the mission and the place they were gonna be sent to.

"So, what's the plan?" Taina finally spoke up.

"Glad, you asked," Six sat straighter in her seat. "All of you will be sent into Syria to gather intel on the White Masks, who are allegedly trying to align themselves with various other terrorist groups in the area to expand essentially, and to destroy their main base of operations in the area which is situated somewhere within the vicinity of the city of Raqqa," Six explained. "Any questions?" Mike raised his hand. "Yes, Mike?"

"Exactly why are we gonna be the ones to be sent, Rainbow is not meant for something like this?" Mike asked.

"Rainbow has a lower profile than any other agency on earth, and the enemy knows that we're not meant for something like this, so they'd never expect it," Six explained, "Anything else?"

"Umm, last I checked the Masks were large enough already to be able to strike anywhere on the globe, why would they expand?" Erik asked.

"We don't know, that's why intel gathering is another part of the mission," Six said. "Any other questions?" There were none. "Alright, I'll fill you in with your roles now. Ela, Valkyrie, and Maverick would be gathering the intelligence. Caveira can serve as an interrogator and infiltrator. Thermite is in charge of demolition, and Lion would be the teams medic. And Thatcher would be squad lead. Now," Six straightened herself more to make her seem larger than anyone else in the room, "I know that each of you had some rough patches in the past. Olivier and Mike, I know the history between the both of you and I don't want to hear any excuses. Ela, your rebellious tendencies cannot be tolerated during this mission. The same goes for the rest of you, no funny business. The only way any of you are gonna accomplish this mission is through teamwork. Do I make myself clear?" Six said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," All of them said in unison.

"Very well. The transport leaves in two weeks, use that time to train and prepare. Dismissed." Everyone quickly filed out of the room. They all dispersed to go about their business, most likely to begin preparations for the mission. No one was really excited for the mission, especially Ela.

AN: Can ya'll do me a favor and just spam 'no homo' in the comment section.