AN: Since I'm a piece of shit author, I think some of the character interactions I will write may sound gay, even if I don't intend it to be gay. So, please bear with me. Anyway, thanks for reading this fic, I guess.

Location: Hereford Base, Herefordshire, England

Time: 14:30

Date: June 8, 2018

The operators had been enduring hell for the past week, they had spent a lot of their time in preparing for the mission. Due to the very time they had to prepare, they had to be pushed very hard. They were all given a crash course on Arabic, various tactics they were going to use on the mission, the layout of the city, cultures, and everything they needed to know to be able to face the enemy. Olivier was forced to be given additional medical training with Doc, and Ela had to learn how to assault a building. They've all been doing mock assaults on the enemy base and training on various gear they still weren't familiar with. The operators had all been drowned in a pool of stress with barely any time to breathe.

1 v 5

The operators were currently engaged in another training simulation. Four of the defending operators had already been eliminated since the past two minutes; the attacking force didn't even look like they had been hit once. It was up to Ela now to carry the round.

The combined stress and fatigue had taken a toll on her, and now she wasn't thinking clearly. But she could still remain effective. Ela had littered the halls with her mines, she was hiding in one of the closets trying to piece together a plan on her own. There were a few times before when she the only who was left, most of them did not end nicely for her.

Calm down Elzbieta, as long as Ryad's not in play, you should be fine, Ela told herself. "Scanning," Ela faintly heard down the hall. do cholery, Ela thought again, "This can't possibly get any worse", Ela immediately regretted she said that.

"Running out of time Ela!" Ela heard over the distance. She checked her watch, five minutes more and the enemy wins by default. What is my life?

Ela decided to check the cameras, some of Valkyries cameras and the other cameras already present in the area should still be up. She didn't like what she saw. She saw five operators all of them with their weapons up, ready to kill. But they seemed to be playing passive, trying to look for her. This was their weakness. They've entered her home, now she just has to make sure they don't get out. Ela devised a plan, and quickly executed it, she exited the closet and ran straight to the objective room, making as much noise as possible. She gave the room a good look before turning to hide again. After about 30 seconds someone arrived in the room, it was Jackal. He was trying to find Ela, using his Eyenox to track her footsteps. He was circling the bomb, there were too many footsteps showing up confusing him. He didn't notice that Ela was taking aim. She fired a quick burst of rounds, Jackal was eliminated instantly.

1 v 4

Ela could hear more footsteps charging towards her position, by the sound of it, it was by two people. She caught the glimpse of a figure holding a shield charging towards her. Ela immediately turned around and left the room, taking cover behind a reinforced wall as the bullets sprayed her. Ela swapped her magazine and took out a small mirror from her pocket.

Blitz was taking point while thermite followed close behind with his rifle up.

"What do you think?" Blitz asked his fellow attacker.

"She's the only one left, let's clean it up already," Thermite replied.

"Alright then, on 3, 1...2..."

Ela could see them charging towards her. She smiled internally as it was what she wanted them to do. Ela retreated a little bit backward towards the doorframe and took cover. Blitz and Thermite exited the room hoping to finally get Ela but was met by one of her Grzmot mines that she had placed on top of the door frame. They were instantly concussed, a massive headache washed over them and their vision was blurred. They groaned in pain as they tried to maintain their balance. Ela jumped out of cover and finished them off with one nicely placed mag-dump. She was the one hunting now.

1 v 2

Ela was quickly turning the corners looking for the last two hostiles still present. When she turned another corner she was met by Ash who had her rifle up and ready to shoot. But Ela was too fast for her, and she was taken out by one swipe of Ela's wz. 98.

1 v 1

OPFOR, last operator remaining

Ela was now looking for the last operator, she already knew who she was. Ela was maneuvering through the halls of the compound looking for her. Suddenly something bounced off the wall in front of her and landed in front of her, detonating and concussing her. Fortunately, Ela was able to resist much of the effects and grab an impact grenade which she threw at the wall next to her, giving her a way out. It took a couple more seconds before the rest of the effects to wear off, by that time Ela was underneath a hailstorm of lead. Then the shooting stopped, probably reloading. Ela took the advantage and returned fire, her SMG reaching its max rpm in under a second. Once her mag was empty, she advanced forward to a better position before reloading.

"You can't win Ela!" She heard Zofia say, "I always have the edge!"

"Getting on my nerves!" Ela retorted as she armed a Grzmot.

"This is so you!" Zofia added, "I taught you better than this!"

Ela rose up from cover and threw her mine followed by a storm of bullets. "I don't need you!"

Zofia also rose from cover and began to fire back with her rifle. "THIS MIGHT TEACH YOU SOMETHING!" She yelled as she unloaded her magazine. Ela was running now to try and dodge the bullets. She was able to reach a better position. "YOU CAN'T KEEP RUNNING, I WON'T PLAY NICE ELA! WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?" This set Ela off.

"IM NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE! WHEN WILL YOU REALIZE THAT?" She yelled and threw an impact grenade and proceeded to unload her magazine. Zofia was actually caught off guard and had to retreat a little bit, but she triggered a Grzmot mine which Ela threw earlier. She was immediately concussed, Zofia was as resistant to the concussion as Ela, needing only a small time to recover, but Ela only needed less time than that to gain the upper hand. Ela fired a burst of shots at Zofia's torso and she was put down. Zofia was bleeding and was struggling to get up. Her shades had fallen off and she could see clearly now. She saw a figure approach her, Ela had slung her Scorpion onto her shoulder and had her pistol drawn.

"Did you think it would be that easy siostra?" Ela added. "Look at yourself now, this is embarrassing," Ela walked closer to her sister. "I know all your moves, take note of that. And take note of this as well," Ela raised her pistol towards Zofia's forehead, "I'm all grown up, Zo," Ela said before shooting her execution style.

OPFOR, all enemy operators eliminated, mission successful, Ela heard through her earpiece, Simulation end.

A ring of a bell was heard, and Ela noticed that the other operators that have been taken out were already getting back up. Ela twirled her RG-15 before holstering it and sitting down on one of the chairs that were still intact. She removed her headset and cap and rubbed her face. She noticed Zofia getting up while rubbing off the red paintball from her forehead, she picked up her FB Beryl and KS79, she noticed Ela and they looked at each other. They both kept an emotionless face as they stared at each without saying a single word. Eventually, Zofia turned and picked up her shades before leaving. Ela didn't care, she just wanted to head back to her dorm and get some rest. She could hear cheering behind her, the other defenders who had just gotten were howling their lungs out in celebration of their victory as they made their way to Ela.

"Fuck yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Castle yelled.

"Yeah, we showed them!" Valkyrie added.

"This calls for a celebration, pizza is on me!" Maestro said.

"Except you won't be making it, I still can't forget that feeling," Alibi said alongside.

"Whoa-ho-ho you're gonna be like that to me tesoro?" Maestro said as he gave Alibi a nudge.

Alibi only smiled and nudged him back, "Whatever, let's just go."

Valkyrie trailed along when she noticed Ela leaving. "Hey Ela!" She called out to her. Ela looked up to Valkyrie, "You coming, Maestro said he's got pizza?"

"No, I gotta get back to my dorm," Ela said before continuing onward. Meghan could hear the downed feeling in her voice. She broke off from the group and followed after Ela.

"Hey, Valk!" She heard from behind her, "You coming or what?" Miles Campbell asked.

"I'll catch up Miles, just gotta do something real quick and don't eat all of it!" Meghan replied.

"You got it!" Castle said as he continued onwards towards the cafeteria.

Valkyrie ran down the hall to catch up her friend. She looked around but couldn't find Ela anywhere, she decided to head down to Ela's dorm and see if she's there. Meghan jogged over to Ela's dorm and knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" Was the reply Valkyrie received.

"It's me, Meghan, can I talk to you real quick?" Meghan asked.

"Come in," Ela replied.

Meghan opened the door and entered the room. Ela's room was a mess, there was stuff laying everywhere and everything was in disarray. Ela was sitting on the edge of her bed, she had one foot on the ground and the other on her bed, using her knee to support her elbow so she can rest her head on her right hand. Valkyrie walked up to Ela and sat down beside her.

"So, how're you feeling?" Meghan asked her.

"I'm fine," Ela plainly said.

Meghan raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?" Meghan said, "Cause you don't look fine to me."

"I'm fine Meghan, really," Ela said.

Meghan knew that this was a lie. "C'mon Ela, you know very well that I know that you're not fine."

Ela instantly stood up and faced her friend. If looks could kill, Meghan would've been very dead.

"I SAID THAT I'M FINE MEGHAN! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" Ela snapped back.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I'm just worried about you okay," Meghan said trying to calm Ela down. Ela lowered her guard and sat back down, burying her face in her hands. Meghan started comforting her. "You can tell me anything you know. Best friends, right?" It took some time before Ela straightened out and spoke up.

"I-It's just, I feel really uneasy about this mission, like it's gonna go bad. And I can't get it out of my head," Ela told her. "I'm scared Meghan." Hearing this, Meghan wrapped herself around Ela. Although Orange Sky was a complete success, both Ela and Valkyrie had seen things and gone through things that even some of the strongest would struggle to comprehend. Ela was hit the hardest, facing death more than once, then followed by a constant stream of nightmares afterward.

"Hey don't be like that, don't be scared," Meghan told her. In all honesty, Meghan was scared shitless as well, they shared the same experiences after all. It's just her training as a Navy SEAL won't allow her to show weakness.

"Why?"

"Well, think about it, we succeeded the first time, I'm sure we'd succeed again," Meghan said.

"You think so?" Ela looked up to Meghan with eyes full of hope.

"Totally," Meghan said with a smile. Ela smiled back and hugged her friend.

"Thank you, Meghan!" Ela said. She then broke the hug and looked at her. "You know, you're like a sister to me. A better sister that is."

Meghan raised an eyebrow with a smile, "Oh really?"

Ela grinned, "Really," She said and they hugged again.

"Hey, do you still wanna come, I heard the pizza was pretty good?" Meghan asked her. Ela maintained her smile.

"Yeah, let's go, I'm starving actually," Ela got up and followed Valkyrie, closing the door behind them as they headed for the mess hall.

Ela and Valkyrie sat down with their fellow operators in the mess hall. They sat around a large 18-inch pepperoni pizza which the operators had already begun digging into. They were laughing and exchanging stories with one another.

"I did my part," Miles said as he took a bite from a slice of pizza.

"You locked most of us in the objective room, we had to blow the walls to get out only to get surrounded and wallbanged. It's a good thing Ela went to roam early," Valkyrie retorted.

"Correction, we weren't surrounded. Y'all could've gotten away. Meatball man and spaghetti girl over there stepped on a claymore," Miles said.

"Okay, we were being shot at, I had no time to look around!" Adriano retorted.

"Suit yourself, Valk here though got demolished," MIles said taking another bite.

"She friggin came out of nowhere!" Meghan retorted. "It's not my fault Eliza can run at Mach 3!"

"Hey!" Eliza said from the other side of the table. "I don't decide how fast I run, I just run."

"Oh my God," Meghan sighed.

"Moving on, this meal requires a toast," Adriano stood with his cup of tea in hand, "In light of our near loss due to our stupidity, it is only fair that we raise a glass or cup or whatever you are holding to Ela, for carrying us!"

"Aww, thank you guys," Ela beamed.

"That was amazing, you won against all odds," Meghan said.

"I know, I freaked out when I turned that corner and saw Ela, next thing I know I was out," Eliza said.

"I wasn't there but I saw it all on the live feed, you practically executed Zofia," Monika remarked, "Remind never to get on your bad side."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. She chickened into a closet though," Elias said.

"Hey fuck you, Elias!" Meghan said.

"Don't mind him, Ela, he's just salty he rushed into one of your mines," Monika said reassuringly.

"Ok," Ela said plainly. She didn't really care, one way or another, she still won.

"Alright, change of topic," Miles said after taking a swig of soda, "So, Monika do you anyone in your life?" He asked.

"What?" She asked confused by the question.

"Someone you, you know, someone special. Someone you would go fooling around with," Eliza said.

"Oh, in that case, then no. I'm too busy for that kind of relationship anyway. Besides, I've yet to meet someone who can even try to ask me out," Monika said eyeing Elias.

"Oh I can get any girl I want when I want too," Elias retorted.

"Oh please," Monika scoffed, "You, Marius, and Dominic can't even ask me straight."

"Hey!" Marius said from the other side of the room, "Leave me out of this!"

Monika just smiled to herself knowing she won this round. "What about you Ela?" Ela turned to Monika's direction.

"What?"

"Anyone in your life?" Monika asked her.

Ela shrugged, "No, but maybe soon enough," She said.

"Soon? Ha, with someone like you, you're right about that," Miles said. "Hell, you may even bypass your sister in a couple of years."

"Why do you hate Zofia anyway?" Monika asked.

Ela was caught off guard by the question, "I don't-" She stopped herself to prevent anything from slipping out, "I-I'm sorry, I can't talk about something like this, it's too personal."

"Oh, okay then," Monika said.

"Change of topic once again! Now, what should be the prize for the next sim?" Adriano asked.

"Drinks!" Elias suggested.

"You know Six banned alcohol, that's why I got this shitty cheap soda," Miles said.

"We head out to town then, losers will pay for gas as well!" Elias said.

"Okay, now you're asking for too much," Adriano said.

As the other operators argued over the prizes for their next training simulation, Ela couldn't help but think about what Monika asked her earlier. Someone special, one of the things that Ela envies from Zofia is the fact that she's married. Ela's not jealous about the husband, but the fact that Zofia has a husband, has a relationship and is happy about it. While she's still here, alone. Ela looked up to the ceiling and continued to drown herself in her own thoughts. Soon.

It was 10 o'clock at night and Olivier Flament had just gotten out of a training simulation and was heading back to his dorm. Recently he had used his V308 assault rifle a lot less to sharpen his marksmanship on his HK417 DMR. His shot was still not the best, but he's working on it.

He should be getting to bed real soon so he could re-energize for more preparations tomorrow, but he had one more errand to run. Once he got back to his dorm he changed out of his uniform and got into more comfortable clothing, then he took his EE-ONE-D drone, and left his room to Twitch's room.

It was a short walk to Twitch's room, once he got there he gave the door a knock and waited for a reply.

"Who is it?" A voice asked from the other side of the door.

"It's me, Olivier, can I talk to you for a second?" Olivier asked.

"The door's open, come in," Emmanuelle replied. Olivier twisted the doorknob and entered the room. Emmanuelle was at her desk repairing her drone. She turned her chair to face him.

"What can I do for you Olivier?" She asked.

"Well, as you've heard I'm gonna be deployed overseas, and I was just wondering if you could give my drone some modifications," He explained pointing at the large case he was carrying. The drone was big and it had to be dismantled everytime it had to be carried around.

"Okay, what exactly do you me to do with it?" She asked.

"Well, I was thinking maybe add more modes into it, give it a normal camera and a thermal one, turn it into a surveillance drone because of the larger areas," Olivier explained.

Twitch took a moment to think about it, "Hmm, okay, I think I can come up with something," she said.

"Thanks," He said with a slight smile. Twitch could sense that something was off.

"Are you ok?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He replied, "Why do you ask?"

"You don't sound fine," She said crossing her arms.

Olivier sighed, "It's just, I don't know ok," He set down the case and sat on the sofa, "I don't know if it's the stress or fatigue from the upcoming mission or the fact I'm scared. But I'm pushing myself because I'm scared I'd let the team down. I'm scared I'd screw up again. Mike, he's an asshole, but yet I worry for him, and for everyone else, I'm going with." He explained.

Emmanuelle felt sorry for him, she stood up and sat down next to him to comfort him. "Hey, don't be scared I'm sure you guys would be just fine. Six would make sure you return home anyway."

"Huh, okay thanks for that too Emma," He said with a smile.

"Also, I've noticed that you've been more distant to us recently. I don't wanna see that anymore. If you have any more problems, talk to us. I, Gilles, and even Gustave are here for you," she said.

Olivier was taken back by this, "Wow, umm, thank you so much," He said.

"De rien," She replied, "Just don't distance yourself any longer."

"I'll take note of that," He said before they both stood up. Olivier said one last thank you before giving Emanuelle a friendly hug and exiting the room.

That talk was what Olivier needed to get back on track. As he was walking down the hall, he noticed Gustave trying to open the door of his room while carrying a stack of boxes full of medicine. Olivier decided he was gonna be good and help out the Doc.

"Here, let me get that for you," He said as he took the boxes. Gustave was relieved at first but shocked at the next moment, he didn't think that Olivier of all people would him out. Gustave unlocked the door and open it, he entered and Olivier.

"Where do you want this?" Olivier asked referring to the boxes.

"Uhh, just put it over the table over there," Gustave said pointing at the table.

Olivier put the boxes on the table and headed out to leave.

"Hey Olivier," He heard Gustave's voice call out from behind him and turned to him, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," He said. But before Gustave can close the door, Olivier stopped him, "Hey Doc."

"What?"

"Umm, this is already overdue and now may not be the best time, but I'm sorry. For everything," He said in a soft voice.

This actually made Gustave smile, "Apologies are never overdue mon amie, and now's a pretty good time. So I accept it," He said.

"So we're good then?"

"Yup."

They both shook hands and parted ways.

About four days have passed since the simulation, the operators who are going to be deployed now only have three days left for preparations. The stress didn't seem to go away only get worse as the days go by. But today was an exception, the operators were allowed to cool down and do whatever they want for the whole day. Some took advantage of the time and slacked off to cool down while some continued to train.

All four SAS operators of Rainbow were currently in the common room. Seamus and James were discussing something while drinking some tea, while Mark was just lying on the couch playing video games on the PS4 that is connected to the TV. The video game he was playing, Rainbow 6: Siege, closely resembled Team Rainbow, being a CTU operator. In fact, the character he was playing closely resembled himself, which is awesome but at the same time creepy.

Thatcher or Mike was at the farthest end of the room, on the phone. The operators heard that it was his wife that Mike was talking to, and from the looks of it, it's not going well at all. After about a good couple minutes, Mike put his phone back in his pocket and walked over to his friends.

"So, how's the wife Mike?" James asked.

Mike sighed and took a seat, "She's beyond pissed, had to cancel a lot of stuff so I understand," Mike said. "I still gotta go though, as much as I want to, I can't dodge my responsibilities," Mike paused, "Even if it means dodging other responsibilities," Mike buried his face in his hands, "Fuck, what's gone into me?"

"Cheer up mate, she'll cool down eventually. Besides, it's not like you'll be gone forever, just go in, do your job, and get out, and once you're done you can request a temporary leave for a couple months from Six," Seamus said.

"Yeah, you need to quit drowning yourself in the negative shit, and think about the positive ones," James said. "Lighten up, it's not good for you, fucks up your brain, then you're as good as dead.

"Well, what do you suggest I do then?" Mike asked.

James thought about the question for a second, "You can try distracting yourself with other things. You can't really escape your problems, but at least you can keep your mind clear until you can deal with it."

"Yeah, I mean, look at Mark," Seamus said pointing at the couch, "He doesn't give a damn about anything."

The three approached the couch and looked down on Mark. He was still lying on the couch playing the game.

"Hey Mark, how's the uh, game going?" Seamus asked referring to the video game he was playing.

"Good," Mark plainly said. He had recently gotten into a new match and picked a different character, but things escalated quickly and it wa situation already. But Mark was relatively calm and remained in his current position. The three operators behind him didn't understand the game at all.

"How do you young people even find this fun. In my time I'd always be outside with friends," Mike said.

Mark heard this and formed a response, "Well, with all due respect Mike, but that was during your time," Mark said plainly and continued with his game. This sparked laughter among the other operators, excluding Mike though. Mark doesn't talk much and this was one of the few times he actually did, but it didn't Mike that he could bring down the hammer like that.

Mark could see movement behind a stack of boxes. He pressed down left trigger first before pressing down right trigger and pre-firing his target.

OPFOR, all enemy operators eliminated, mission successful

"Ouch," Mark remarked, "I just killed my sister."

"Well that was fun to watch," James said, "Wanna go grab something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure," Mike said.

"Me too," Seamus said.

"Okay," Mark said, "Just give me a second."

Mark got up from the sofa and walked over to the PS4. He took out the disc and put it back in its case before following his friends.

It was dark out already. Ela and the operators were already heading to bed and recharge some more to resume preparations tomorrow. Ela had already laid down on her bed but she can't get herself to sleep, she can't shake the feeling that the mission was gonna go bad somehow and that it would be her fault.

Bullshit. She had full confidence in herself and her team to succeed in their mission against a bunch of psychos with guns, wearing silly cheap white masks.

Ela had decided to get up and do something to help her get to sleep. She scanned her room for anything she could use to distract herself with. She saw her Scorpion Evo 3 hanging by its sling on the wall adjacent to her. Gun range perhaps? No, it would probably already be closed at this time of the night. She gave her room another good scan, she saw a small bag in the corner and decided to grab it. Inside was a sketch pad along with a set of expensive-looking colored pencils. Those were from her days as a fine arts student, it was short-lived but fruitful, back then she could draw pretty much anything with full detail. Now, she wasn't so sure, it'd been a long time since she drew anything, maybe even too long. Time to find out.

She got up, put on her shoes, and grabbed the bag with the sketch pad and colored pencils. She also grabbed a jacket to put over her white shirt to defend against the cold weather.

Ela had scoured the base in search for something to draw. She was surprised to see a few operators still awake at this time at night. She saw Mark who was drinking some coffee, she saw Taina grabbing a water bottle, and she even saw Zofia, who was just at some random dark corner, sitting there staring blankly into nothing, she didn't even move her eyes to look at Ela despite her walking in front of her. It was weird, but Ela dismissed it and continued. It was nighttime, so everything was dark. Well, there wasn't anything really interesting around here during the daytime as well, maybe that was a custom to the bleak nature of the modern day UK.

Except, Ela climbed a flight of stairs to the top of the dormitory compound. The top was nice, it acted as another common area or viewing area with chairs, tables, and such. She could see everything from up here, from the entirety of the base to the vast English countryside. She, of course, can't see the countryside but that's not what she wanted to draw. Instead, she lifted up her head and looked at the sky. It was very rare times that there was a clear sky over the UK. And it was beautiful, the stars were out and the moon was high. There was even the cluster of stars which outlined the milky way galaxy. She took the opportunity, sat down, and began to draw.

About an hour has passed and she had finished her drawing. The skill showed no sign degradation. The drawing can almost be considered as a photograph of what she saw. There was the starry night sky with the outline of the milky way, and the dark outline of the hills and distant lights of the English countryside drawn into a picture. Ela was proud at what she just made, she packed up her stuff and left with a smile on her face. Once she arrived back at her dorm, she was finally able to sleep easy.

AN: I hope you guys liked it despite the poor attempt. Next chapter is the mission already.

Oh yeah, you guys know that the Scorpion Evo 3 has two variants. The A1 which is the SMG variant with the three fire modes (semi-auto, burst, and full-auto), and the S1 variant which is just a boring semi-auto only pistol-carbine. Now we all know that Ela uses the A1 SMG variant, but why does it have the 16.2-inch barrel that's only available to the S1 variant? To the best of my knowledge at least, the 16.2-inch barrel is not available for the A1 SMG, I've been searching the internet for some time already and I could not find an A1 with the 16.2-inch barrel. I thought I found one a day ago, but it turned out to be a stupid airsoft replica. Maybe you guys know if there's one with that barrel.