5th January, 2027

Rainbow HQ

San Francisco, CA. America

First things first, Derrick's having a son. I know right?! Wait…what do you mean you already know? Oh, he told you about his mission to kill that Slayer douchebag right? Wunderbar, so you already know. Can I at least tell you everyone's reaction at Zoey's birthday party? I've got some time. All I'm currently doing is going over the files I missed in my absence. I'll give you the rundown once I'm done.

First of all, Zoey's party was again populated by the usual suspects. Me, Ela, Derrick and Tina's siblings and parents, Monika, Jack, Yumiko, Maho, Eliza and Jordan. If I recall correctly, I was watching Zoey and Maho run around the backyard playing while Izzy was on the ground near them laughing her little head off. Zoey and Maho had accepted my daughter into their friend group almost at once. Monika was holding Tobey and doing to him what she used to do with Zoey. Tobey would point at something and Monika would say what it was like "That's a car Tobias" or "that's a tree" or even "That's Auntie Meghan. She loves you too." Tobey would giggle every so often and Monika's day would get even better in her eyes. Ela was standing by me watching our daughter laugh at her 2 new friends with a smile on her face too.

"Told you Zoey would be friends with Izzy," I said. Izzy suddenly fell over in her haste to watch Maho run past and Ela went to go pick her up but Zoey was faster. She helped Izzy get back into a sitting position and gave her a hug. I heard her say, "It's ok Izzy. We fall down sometimes!" I grinned at Derrick who was nearby also watching with his mom. I knew about his mission to assassinate the Slayer. Apparently, he had saved victims of extreme abuse as well. I'm told the photos that were seized were some of the worst. Tina had told Ela Derrick was holding Zoey extra tightly when she sat with him.

"Zoey, can you come over to Mommy for a second," Tina's voice called. Zoey obeyed which I'll admit I was surprised she did. She was in the "Terrible Twos" stage after all.

"Mama!" Zoey said upon approaching.

"Show grandma your shirt," Tina said. I glanced over too and saw that her shirt read "Future BIG sister!" I smiled. Derrick had told me a few days ago. Ela must already know because she too smiled at Zoey. Tina's mom, Laura, read the shirt quickly before doing a double take. Her mouth fell open and she turned to Tina. Tina nodded.

"What's wrong with Laura?" Derrick's mom, Sue, asked him.

"Read Zoey's shirt Ma," he answered. Sue walked over to read Zoey's shirt. She gasped too and her mouth fell open. She turned to her husband who was also nearby.

"Joe! JOE! Tina's having another baby!" she exclaimed. Kevin, Tina's dad, turned to face his daughter.

"It's going to be a boy daddy," she said and sniffed and held out her arms so he could hug her. I watched Monika turn to face Meghan. She nodded and motioned to Derrick saying "he told me." Monika turned to me and I shrugged and motioned to Derrick. Monika pouted and told Tobey "Your daddy's a big meanie pants sometimes! He doesn't tell me anything!" Tobey responded with "Bah!" Yeah! You tell her little guy. Eliza then walked forward looking rather happy herself. She got Tina's attention and said "Tina…we are too…" Tina shook her head in disbelief but Eliza nodded. Both women started crying and hugged each other. Nice one Jordan. I watched people congratulate Tina, Derrick and even Zoey. I heard Meghan tell her "Did daddy tell you you're going to be like me and Tante? Nonno and Nonna are my parents too. Daddy is my little brother and Uncle Lukas is Tante's little brother. You're going to have a little brother too!"

"AUNTIE!" Zoey shouted and then flew into Meghan's arms. Ela in the meantime had retrieved Izzy. Izzy still looked incredibly happy. She was still giggling as Ela held her.

"Why are you so cute," Ela asked her. Izzy responded by resting her head on Ela's shoulder. She looked over at me and gave a "aww! Look at her!" expression.

"I have just now realized something," Meghan said something with her eyes going wide. She looked from Tina's stomach to Derrick. "There's…there's going to be TWO of them."

"Oh goodie," Derrick said and smiled mischievously. "I'll be sure to tell him all the pranks I used to pull on his Auntie."

Right so you're caught up now right? Cause holy shit I missed some good stuff. Derrick's mission wasn't only a complete success, we also seemed to nail down a location of the Fallen's main base of operations. It was in the files we had seized from Jayke's office. Not the fucked up shit but you know, the important documents. Like the one outlining who the leader was. She was just someone named Hilda Dume. Lame I know. It also detailed some of her backstory and motivation in starting the Fallen. Apparently, her brother had been killed by local law enforcement and she had wanted revenge. By the books really. Remember Bane? Confirmed to be Venom's brother. Where was Bane? Dead. Guy tried to escape in the middle of the night and one of the snipers working the night shift downed him. That was about…a week after my Fenrir interrogation I think. Technically, I'm still on paternity leave and would not be the first on the list of any operations we needed to undertake. I'm at the base because Ela told me to go. She wanted me to have some time to myself while she took care of the babies. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm a great father. At least I'd like to think so. Ela just wanted some time separate from each other. As I said, I was just reading mission files as I sat in the lab. I also wanted to restock my sonic grenades and work on the newer upgrades too using tools I didn't have at home. According to the field report, the "Ventriloquist Prototype" worked as intended and worked great as more of a covert decoy grenade rather than the base ones.

"I know Liebling," I suddenly heard Monika's voice say from around the corner. "I know you want a child too."

"It's...it's just not fair," Meghan's voice answered. "We're good people. I thought the whole discrimination against us would at least be better in San Fran." I frowned slightly and quickly pulled out my phone and checked my email. I had apparently just got one from one of the adoption agencies in the area. The lady, a woman named Abby, had informed me that they had gotten Derrick's, Ela's, Tina's and my letters of recommendation and were moving forward as fast as they could. A couple families were ahead of Monika and Meghan.

"Hold on, someone's calling me," Meghan said and then gasped.

"Take it, I'll be in the lab," Monika answered and finally came around the corner. She wasn't looking at me and I decided to channel my best buddy. I grabbed a completed Ventriloquist grenade and ducked under the table out of sight. I whispered "Your brother's soul is MINE!" into the grenade because it was the first thing I had thought of. I peeked around the corner. Monika was reading something posted on the wall. Looked like schematics. I quietly rolled the grenade to the station I knew she was going to after setting the grenade to proximity activation mode. The grenade rolled across the floor and stopped right under the workstation. I heard Monika start to walk towards the station as I myself stifled a snort of laughter.

"Why are these files out? Weird," Monika muttered in German before my voice came from across the room. Monika shrieked which was followed by a crashing sound. It sounded like she had fallen out of the chair. That's when I started laughing. Sure enough she was sprawled across the floor on her back.

"Derrick's report was right then. These do work!" I said. Monika stared at me indignantly for a minute.

"Why are you even here," she muttered.

"Cabin fever. Ela suggested we take days for ourselves. She insisted on spending time with the kiddos," I said after helping Monika to her feet. Before she could say anything else, the doorway flew open and in it was Meghan looking beyond excited about something.

"Monika…we…we got…we have an interview," she managed to say. Monika had frozen. Like completely. Staring at Meghan with a look of surprise. Meghan had walked over and hugged her. I heard her acknowledge my presence before I heard "We're going to be parents."

"When's the interview," I asked because Monika looked incapable of speech at the moment.

"Next week," she answered and sniffed. "Do you want Mom or Mamma?"

"M...Momma," Monika answered before she caught my eye.

"Told you I'd help. Woman named Abby wrote to me saying there were just a few families ahead of you," I explained.

"What's this?" Derrick's voice asked. "We giving out free hugs now?" Meghan released Monika and turned to her brother.

"Derrick, the adoption place called," she began. Derrick nodded.

"Bout time. Gave them a buzz a few weeks ago seeing if they got our letters. You guys took forever picking a place," he said and nodded at me. "Interview is when?"

"Next week," Meghan told him. "I'll call Eliza to see if we can get that afternoon off."

"Probably will. Remember she's pregnant too," I added. "To answer your question, I needed some time away from the kiddos. Ela was out yesterday and today was my turn." Yesterday was a very good day for me and the kiddos by the way. I had spent the better part of the day trying to get Izzy or Tobey to say their first word. Both babies are very shy and still just make simple sounds and babbles. Nothing that sounded like a word yet. Izzy was almost able to say"Dada" though. Ela had returned to see me playing my acoustic softly and singing the babies to sleep.

"This is good actually," Monika said as Meghan walked out of the room to call Eliza. "I'm pretty sure we got the location of the Fallen HQ narrowed down. 2 buildings. 2 squads."

"And you want me on your squad right?" I asked and folded my arms. Monika nodded.

"Dom and Elias too. Plus Derrick," she added. Derrick nodded.

"Team German Speakers," he said. Meghan returned after a few minutes. She nodded at Monika.

"When do we go?"

12th January, 2027

Rainbow HQ Briefing Room

San Francisco, CA. America

Monika, Dom, Elias, Derrick and I were all standing together in the briefing room with Jordan and Elena. Another squad consisting of Seamus, Jack, Yumiko, Ryad and Sanaa was also present. All of us were dressed in our combat fatigues. Tell you what, it was really weird that I was wearing this stuff again after 3 months off. My paternity leave was over much to Ela's disappointment. The good news was that Zofia's family was nearby to help and Jana was all for helping us out with childcare after school. Zofia worked like a hybrid schedule due to Andrzej being stationed at a different base with a different branch of the Polish military. I believe Zoifa was at home with Ela right now. Elena pulled up a diagram of a building and began speaking.

"Alright, thanks once again to our tech wizards, we have determined two possible locations of the Fallen HQ with the leader, Dume, being at one of them. One of them is a warehouse much like where we found that coño Derrick neutralized. That is where we are sending Alpha team," Elena explained and pointed to Seamus who was acting as the squad leader again. Have I mentioned that I liked that guy? Really loyal friend and ally to Eliza. When he found out that his SAS buddy joined Nighthaven for a little bit, he cut ties with him for a while. They mended the friendship after Derrick and Monika's covert operation…hang on…that's why Derrick knew who I was immediately when we met in Greece! It wasn't because of the cover band! Monika must have told him. Bet you he looked me up later. What a great cover story. By the way, yes, Monika had told me all about Operation Ragnarok a few days ago so I know all the details. That's also around the time Jack and Yumiko got married.

"The other location seems to be this abandoned villa on the edge of one of the burbs," Elena continued. "That is where we are sending Bravo team." Monika nodded. She was the squad leader this time.

"Alpha Team will be answering to myself and Valkyrie while Bravo Team will be Mira and Ash," Jordan added. Eliza again was not here but at her home. I have heard from Jordan that she and the baby were doing really well. Most of the time Eliza just watches TV and stresses about Jordan's safety and Jordan had allowed her to be part of this mission. Now did Derrick tell you that Kali happened to be that person named "Sekh?" He did? Good. I can't tell you what happened to her but I can say that some of her old teammates like Ace had requested to join up with Rainbow following Nighthaven's complete disbandment. He's currently being evaluated by Harry over in Washington DC.

"Any questions," Jordan asked. No one (not even Derrick) raised their hands. It was time. This cell was finally going down.

12th January, 2027

Supposed Fallen HQ

Near San Francisco, CA. America

No one said much in the ride over. We did have a plan. Derrick was to take on the identity of Jayke the Slayer (as much as he didn't want to) and either find out where Dume was or get close to her and alert HQ. I was to be Monika's backup and Dom and Elias were together. Seems pretty simple right? Alright good, I'm going to switch to codenames going forward from now on ok? Bandit was driving with me in the front seat. IQ was in between Loki and Blitz. I spied Loki staring out the window with a very pronounced scowl across his face. Made sense as to why. He had to take on the appearance and personality of a serial rapist and murderer who was the son of the guy that had tortured and manipulated him for 3 months. That would be enough to make even the strongest man tremble in slight fear. IQ had followed my gaze and gingerly placed a hand on Loki's arm.

"You are not and you will never be him," she said. Loki huffed.

"I've killed just about the same amount of people they did…" he muttered.

"Not even close Loki," Bandit said from the driver's seat. "I was on that cleanup crew. There was a mass grave of victims and former associates in the back. You only kill when you have to. He killed for fun." Loki huffed again and I saw him pull out his phone and started looking at the wallpaper of himself, Tina and Zoey.

"What if…what if I can't control myself," Loki said after a few minutes of silence.

"We're here," Blitz answered. "We know the guy that looks like the Slayer is you."

"I trust you to follow the plan," IQ said to him. "I want these people eliminated too. They attacked my home."

"And I still haven't forgiven them for it," I growled. Nobody. NOBODY threatens the life of a Weiss while another one is within earshot. That goes for my other siblings too. One of Ric's old girlfriends assaulted him while he was at a bar with Julia and she did not like that. I'm told Julia knocked the assailant out with one smack. My dad had apparently fended off an armed robber with my grandfather's old hunting shotgun when IQ was still a baby. But enough of that, back to the mission.

"Bravo 1?" Mira's voice asked. "Do you read?"

"Copy," IQ's voice answered. This exchange went around the car for each of us. I was Bravo 4 and Loki was Bravo 5.

"Alpha team has arrived at their destination," Mira explained. "ETA?"

"We're here," Bandit answered and parked the car in some shadowy trees. It was dusk outside but the sky was darkened with clouds. I saw a sizable villa at the top of a small hill. That must be the place and judging by the other buildings around it, it looked like it had been abandoned about 10 or so years ago. At least, that's what it looked like on the outside. According to the files we had recovered, it looked like that on the outside to deter people from entering. But why hasn't the city of San Francisco torn it down yet? I'm going to guess either anonymous bribes or taking out those responsible. Dume was supposed to be the smartest and best tactician the Fallen had as well as her cronies. The 5 of us got out of the vehicle and retrieved our gear. I brought a G36C. A newer model as opposed to the one I had used in the BKA. There was a silencer attached to that as well as on my P12 pistol. I had also brought my sonic grenades. 2 of the regular ones, 2 of the Ventriloquist ones and 1 of the Jet Protocol ones. Our orders were to find and neutralize Dume in any way possible. Preferably alive but HQ wasn't going to be picky. As soon as we had retrieved our gear from the trunk, IQ activated the remote control device so that someone from HQ could drive it back safely. She then turned to Loki who still looked extremely distant. She placed her hand upon his shoulder.

"We're here Loki," she said. Loki looked into IQ's face and then to mine. Don't worry buddy, we'll stop you in case you stop you. Loki took a deep breath and pulled up the AR display of his TRIK projector.

"I'm ready," he said after tapping a few commands and closing his fist. Instantly, advanced holographic technology covered his entire body. In his place was a perfect replica of Jayke the Slayer complete with shattered mask. I flinched a little (as did IQ) when Jayke began to display the mannerisms of my best friend.

"God, that is still jarring," Bandit muttered before checking his ammo count. He motioned to Blitz who hoisted his shield onto his arm. Blitz and Bandit were going to go around the back while IQ and I were going in the front. Loki was going to go up through the basement. Loki proceeded to walk towards his objective, muttering to himself. He must be trying to remember what Jayke sounded like. IQ and I started walking toward the front door. I took in my surroundings. The lawn was surprisingly well maintained. I spotted something blowing in the wind and reached out my hand to catch it. It looked like a schedule. For yard work. Apparently, this week it was to be done by Artillery. I folded up the piece of paper and put it in an empty pocket.

"Bravo 2," IQ said. "Situation?"

"At the back door. Sounds like a party in there. I hear maybe 3 people in this room," Bandit answered. "Mira or Ash, are we cleared hot?"

"Affirmative," Ash's voice responded. "Take them down. Leave Dume alive if necessary."

"Copy. Blitz, quietly alright?" Bandit ordered.

"Yes sir," Blitz answered before the comm cut. IQ and I got to the front door. She had her Spectre MK VI out and active. Now that thing could detect firearms courtesy of an upgrade she had been working on over the years.

"How many," I whispered.

"3," she answered. I pulled out an Ventriloquist grenade.

"Pizza time?" I asked and pointed to it. IQ studied me for a second before she got what I was asking. Use it to pose as a pizza guy and take the guys out when they open the door. I recorded a clip of me saying "Pizza delivery dude" in a passable surfer dude voice. I attached the grenade to the doorframe (thank you Valkyrie for that upgrade) and gave the door a quick knock.

"WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?!" someone called from inside. I rolled my eyes. Idiots. My disembodied voice answered with "Pizza delivery dude" from above IQ's head. I saw her shoulders go up and down a few times. She was laughing quietly at my acting skills.

"Awe SICK!," the same guy shouted. "There better be pineapple on it! That's my favorite."

"Kick. His. Ass," both Loki's and Valkyrie's voices said into my ear. I chuckled a little and drew the silenced P12. The door flew open and a member of the Fallen stood there looking eager to get some shitty pizza. Instead he got a bullet to his head and he fell over dead. Before his buddies could react, IQ and I had entered the room and dropped them with one shot each. I scanned the room rapidly multiple times.

"Clear," I told her and she nodded and started walking silently through the room. It looked like a typical rich kid's house honestly. Nice furniture, new appliances and very well maintained. A stark contrast to how the place looked on the outside.

"Weird," I said to myself out loud. IQ motioned that she was going to go down a level and then pointed to me and upwards. I nodded. I started to make my way up the stairs to the next landing. Again, this floor looked incredibly well maintained and almost spotless. I quietly began to walk down the hallway checking around any open doorways as well as any dark corners. Popped at least 2 of the Fallen as I checked the floor for Dume. One was sitting on the toilet and the other was acting as a look out over the side yard. It was when I came across a door at the end of the hallway I started to hear sounds of people talking again. Perfect, I do believe that it was time for me to use the 2nd Ventriloquist Grenade. I went into the neighboring room and whispered "What the hell happened in here" before sticking the grenade onto the wall. I walked back to the closed door and posted up against it. My grenade went off in the neighboring room. I expected the door I was posting up against to swing open and some Fallen douchebag to go check on who had shouted that but nothing happened. Instead something worse happened. From behind me I heard a female voice speaking in a similar cadence I remembered as Flak's had said "Nice trick. Let me try mine." With a mighty thunk, the assailant had smashed me across the back of the head with a rifle butt. Before I blacked out completely I could hear Mira shouting "AMP! GET UP! THE OTHERS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED!

12th January, 2027

Outside Supposed Fallen HQha

Near San Francisco, CA. America

I came to after what felt like hours. I was now outside with my shirt removed and I could see…

"NO! LET HER GO!" I shouted. IQ was currently bound in ropes along with Bandit and Blitz. Someone hit me in the back of the head again. IQ shouted in rage and struggled against her binds.

"None of that you father killer," the same female voice said from behind me. The person walked into my vision and I saw the figure of Artillery standing before me. I narrowed my eyes in anger.

"You're Flak's daughter aren't you?" I asked. Artillery laughed.

"Wow, finally got there, have you?" she taunted. "Yes. He had a one night stand with my mother which brought me into this shit hole of a world. Mom's been dead for years but then I found out about my father and how he was part of an organization dedicated to bringing order to this country!" It was my turn to laugh.

"If his version of order was killing every man, woman and child that made fun of him and his lisp," I said. Artillery punched me in the face this time.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she shouted.

"Are these them," a new female voice asked.

"Yes Big Boss," Artillery answered. "My boys managed to get their heads out of their asses and got it done."

"Perfe-" the voice said before it faltered. Suddenly it shouted "YOU!" I heard rapid footsteps before my view of IQ was blocked by a tall lanky woman wearing I guess the "uniform" of the Fallen. Jeans, boots and whatever jacket she could find. I saw that she had a buzz cut and I could tell she too was wearing a mask because I saw the strap. I saw the woman's hand cock back before connecting with IQ's face with a loud slapping noise. I struggled against my bonds again and began swearing in German. The woman instead turned to face me. As I expected, she was wearing a Fallen mask but her's was far less dirty than the others. Her head tilted to the side before she started laughing maniacally. This was beyond eerie, seeing this woman laughing like a crazy person after looking at me and slapping IQ. I could see that IQ looked relatively ok but still. Seeing her get assaulted caused my insides to seethe with rage.

"Jayke! Jayke, get over here!" she said between bouts of laughter. The form of Jayke the Slayer (that I knew was Loki) walked forward and said "The fuck is so funny? I don't get it."

"It's them Jayke! These are the Kraut bastards that got my big brother killed!" she said to Loki. Loki nodded in feigned recognition and joined in on laughing. I didn't like that. I knew he was faking it but he had some training in acting so it still sounded genuine.

"The fuck are you laughing at?" I asked. Artillery went to hit me again but the other woman held up her hand. She forced herself to stop laughing and addressed me.

"Do you not remember me?" she asked me.

"No but I'm going to guess you are Hilda Dume," I said. She nodded.

"What a great little reunion we have here!" Dume said.

"Elaborate, I have never seen you once in my life," I said. Dume responded by lifting her mask. I saw a face I did recognize except for a few changes. The most obvious thing was that it was female but it had just about the same jawline, facial structure and eye color of someone that had once held a gun to my head. That same person had grabbed me after I had saved multiple concert goers. I just remembered that Dume's file said she had once had a brother killed by local law enforcement. Oh…oh no…

"There was a Powerwolf concert. 2015. Over in Leipzig, Germany. The beginning of the White Masks started there. It was his initiation. My brother stopped you from being the hero and then THIS BITCH BLEW HIM TO SMITHEREENS!" Dume shrieked at IQ. IQ was looking at me with utter terror in her eyes.

"I formed this organization in his memory. Hoping I would run into this supposed Rainbow Team that took down the White Masks years ago and low and behold, I have 4 of their supposed members tied up in front of me. I'll admit, the capture of Sekh was a bit of a blow but I figured you would try to find me," Dume explained.

"Oh joy! You'll finally get to have your revenge Big Boss!" Artillery said gleefully. Loki had started making his way towards IQ and the others. Dume smirked before she put her mask over her face again.

"I've waited a long time for this moment you GSG9 bastards. He's your brother judging at how mad he got after I slapped you. No no no shhh," Dume said and rubbed a finger down IQ's face.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!" I growled angrily. Dume turned in my direction and began to walk seductively towards me. I caught her staring at my exposed muscles. Oh no…

"She needs to suffer after what she did to my family! Plus it's not her that I want to touch."