Hereford Base; On the Roof

Derek POV

You stood there looking at him only feeling shock. He just stood there looking at you, taking off his little mask and had a cheeky grin. You took off your balaclava and still gave him a shocked expression.

Derek: You knew?

Grizzy: We all did.

Derek: How long?

TheDooo: Ever since the first night after your friend accidently told you to go to bed.

Blarg: We figured out the rest after she also said you were 21.

Soup walks over and puts his arm on your shoulder.

Soup: So you decided to leave and join the army and not say anything?

Derek: Just wanted to not make anyone worried.

Grizzy: Lots of people were wondering where our other faceless man went. It died down after a couple years but there are still people wondering where you went.

Derek: Thought just leaving without a word would make things alot easier.

TheDooo: Just made us worry even more, you told us your story and knowing you just suddenly vanished made it feel like the worse happened.

Derek: Welp, surprise.

Soup: Got to shoot some fuckin' Afghanis.

Derek: *laughs* yea, if I ever got back into gaming fully for content, your accent won't really be too pleasing.

TheDooo: What do you mean, we're always being offensive.

Derek: and that is why alot of people like you guys.

Grizzy: It'll be easy for you to come back, just recording or streaming among us and COD is really easy.

Derek: Among us maybe, COD I' not too sure about.

Grizzy: You've never really changed.

Derek: Eh, being promoted to lieutenant really changes alot about a person.

Blarg: Really?

Derek: Fuck no, I'm still a fuckin' retard. Except now, I actually have to be serious. Surprisingly it's pretty difficult. You did let everyone know that you guys were staying here right?

TheDooo: Yea, about that.

Derek: You forgot.

Grizzy: Already tweeting.

Derek: Twitter relevant again?

Grizzy: Its always been relevant.

Derek: Eh, there was those couple years where it was bland.

TheDooo: Twitter is back to being as stupid as it was a couple years ago. Basically reddit.

Derek: Huh, also your stuff should be getting here soon.

Blarg: Awesome.

Grizzy: You should really upload again, or atleast just make an update video on where you've gone.

McNasty: Dude really went from being called Ghost for being a God at games and comedic to "Locust".

Derek: I don't know, the name kinda stuck with me during my time in the military.

TheDooo: So how long exactly are we gonna be staying here for.

Derek: As long as those Children of Adam keep roaming around and finding where you are.

Soup: Well this is just great.

Derek: Atleast we have something to relate to still.

Grizzy: Whats that supposed to mean?

Derek: Oh please, you're not the only people with money dangling over your heads.

Grizzy: Money dangling over our heads?

Derek: You most likely have a bounty, but you're not alone. Me and my whole squad have lots of bounties over our heads.

TheDooo: You're wanted?

Derek: From lots of places yea. My squad, we're a force to not be dealt with.

Blarg: Still, you should atleast let the world know where you went.

Derek: I'll consider it.

Grizzy reached into his bag and grabbed a camera and put it in your hands.

Grizzy: Now.

Derek: God Damnit, fine.

You put your balaclava back on and walked back inside with them and towards your dorm. You opened the door and walked by the rest of your squad and to your separate room.

Mickey: Whats he doing?

TheDooo: Something he forgot to do 5 years ago.

You placed the camera down on your desk and hit record. You walked into view of the camera and pulled a chair over and sat down on it.

Derek: *staring at camera* Alright, some of you may be wondering what happened. Well, 5 years ago I decided to enlist in the military. Why I didn't say anything, was to not make anyone worry... looking back at it now, I realized that it was a mistake not to. So what have I been up to. Well first off I'm alive, which is good to know, but more importantly, I am no longer in the military, I'm now a recruit for Team Rainbow. I've been here for a few months now and the least I can say is, is that I have more time to myself and have more time to start getting back into things. Dont expect alot out of me, just wanted to let everyone know, where I've gone. Later.

You walked back over to the camera and stopped recording. You walked out and handed the camera back to Grizzy.

Derek: You already know my account information, you can be the one to upload it.

Grizzy: Wow, wasnt expecting you to do it that easily.

Derek: Having a camera shoved into my hands really didn't make me able to say otherwise.

Grizzy: Good point.

The door opened and Monika peaked her head in.

IQ: Dont mean to barge in, but you guys have a simulation tomorrow with added training.

Derek: Who's in charge.

IQ: Zofia.

Derek: Fantastic, thanks for the heads up.

IQ: Good luck.

She closed the door.

Derek: shit.

Mickey: you're fucked.

Derek: We all are. Welp, time to get some rest for tomorrow. *sarcastic* Hoo fuckin rah.

You went into your room and closed the door. You took off your balaclava and laid down on your bed.

Derek: She is gonna be relentless even with this stab wound.

You closed your eyes and let sleep take over.

Timeskip 7 hours

Time: 5:56 A.M

You opened your eyes and looked around. You grunted as you got up to get changed into your gear. You put on your recruit outfit that you first came here in and lastly put your balaclava on. You walked out to the main room and all of Bravo Squad was up besides Bulldog.

Derek: Alright, I did it last time, who's turn is it?

Mickey: It's Patches turn.

Patch: Oh come on.

NATO: Yea, look at the fridge, Derek takes two days and you're today.

Patch: But he punches me whenever I wake him up.

Derek: Patch, quit being a bitch and just wake him up.

He walked over towards Bulldogs room and opened the door.

Mickey: Today's gonna be fun.

Derek: And painful.

Robert: Pissed off one of rainbows best CQC operators. She is not gonna let you loose with that wound.

Derek: Yea, I know.

Bulldog: Can a man sleep for 5 goddamn minutes!

Patch: Stop watching that weeb shit and get into gear, we have training in 2 hours.

Bulldog: Thats 2 more hours of anime then.

Derek: Bulldog, get your ass up. I don't want to piss her off more than she already is.

Bulldog: Oh we all know you want to piss her off more.

Derek: Yea you right, but still, get up.

Bulldog: Fine.

Patch left his room and he closed the door. 5 minutes later and he finally comes out in gear.

Derek: About damn time. Come on, lets get breakfast.

Mickey: What about the other guys?

Derek: They're VIPs, they don't need to do any training.

Mickey: Hm, guess so.

You all walked out of the dorm and headed towards the cafeteria. You entered and walked up towards the male chef and got eggs with toast and bacon. You sat down at your table soon being followed by the rest of your squad.

Derek: So how was being back at Dallas.

Mickey: It was good to see Veronica again, also got better news.

Robert: you finally coming out?

Mickey: fuck off, she is my Fíance now.

Derek: Congrats man.

Mickey: Thanks.

Patch: So when's the wedding.

Mickey: No idea yet, could be this summer.

Derek: Make sure you're keeping in contact with her so you guys can plan it.

Mickey: we are, plan is once every week we start talking about plans.

Derek: Good, I'm best man right?

Mickey: *laughs* When are you not.

Bulldog: Mickey getting married and Derek being best man? Oh this is gonna be a good ass wedding.

Robert: Lets just hope it doesn't end up like last time when we went to one.

NATO: We went to a wedding?

Derek: And theres the reason why.

NATO: What happened.

Robert: You got drunk and decided to land on the 5 tier cake.

NATO: Whos wedding was it?

Robert: My sisters wedding.

NATO: Oh.... right, sorry about that.

Robert: Dude, don't be. It was fuckin' hilarious.

Frost: Hey Derek, can I have a word with you?

Derek: Yea whats up?

Frost: Its about your song.

Derek: Oh ok, lead the way.

You got up out of your seat and followed Tine to the halls.

Derek: You get info?

Frost: Yea.

Derek: Lay it on me.

Frost: She's planning on re-opening that wound.

Derek: You're joking right?

Frost: Wish I was. Hard core, hard cardio, CQC training, and then 3 rounds of a simulation.

Derek: Is she trying to make me bleed out?

Frost: Seems like it.

Derek: Fuckin hell, alright thanks Tina.

Frost: I try.

Derek: Might aswell get Maxim to just put a knife in my back while she's at it.

Frost: I already told him to give you guys immunity for CQC with him for now.

Derek: How the hell did you do that.

Frost: Lets just say it involved alot of rocking.

Derek: Oh? Oh...oooh.

Frost: Yea, who knew Russians could be rough.

Derek: It was a sacrifice I wont let down.

Frost: Better not, I couldn't walk for a day. Just get back to your friends and be ready for the worst.

Derek: We will, take care Tina.

You both split paths and you went back into the cafeteria. You sat back down and slammed your head onto the table.

Mickey: How bad.

Derek: She just told me that my wound is definitely gonna re-open during training.

Mickey: She better not do a damn thing to your wound.

Derek: Oh if she does I'm kicking her ass.

Mickey: Better get ready now.

Bulldog: Show her who's boss LT.

You all got up and started walking back to your dorm to get your weapons.

Derek: So who's gonna be the one to get Doc afterwards.

NATO: Apparently Thatcher is supervising it

Patch: I though Zofia was supervising.

NATO: No no, Zofia trains us, while Thatcher watches her.

Patch: Oh that makes sense.

You opened the door and walked past TheDooo and them and went straight to your room. You walked in and grabbed your HK-416 and holstered your glock.

Derek: You guys ready?

Mickey: You ready for that wound to re-open.

Derek: Yea then get it resealed.

TheDooo: Where are you guys going?

Derek: Training, feel free to come watch.

TheDooo: Ok, we'll be there in a few minutes.

Grizzy: Where are you training anyway?

Derek: Head towards the cafeteria and before you walk in, take a left, there should be a door that leads to the armory and the gym. We'll be in the gym for most of the time until we have to practice sims.

TheDooo: Thank you.

You and Bravo Squad walked out of the dorms and started heading towards the gym.

Robert: you know, today reminds me alot from when Derek turned down that Sergeant back in Afghani.

Bulldog: We didn't stop doing push-ups for what felt like days.

Patch: My arms still hurt.

Derek: She never saw my face, don't understand how she could ask a question like that.

Mickey: Because a girl somehow liked you.

Derek: Fuck you.

Mickey: *laughs* I'm just fucking with you.

Derek: Yea I know.

You arrived at the gym and opened the doors, there were already a group of recruits waiting with Zofia standing tall infront of them.

Zofia: You're late.

Derek: Actually we're 5 minutes early.

Zofia: Still late, you're running an extra mile.

Derek: Fine by us.

Thatcher walked in and your squad joined the line.

Thatcher: Alright, you fooks are gonna be doing alot of core and cardio today with a mix of CQC and running sims so that way you know where your faults are and to not get shot in a real situation. Zofia is gonna be watching over you and teaching you everything.

Zofia: Alright magnets, 3 mile warmup on the track, Bravo you're running 4.

You and your squad quickly exited the gym and ran towards the track after 25 minutes you and your squad ran back into the gym, taking a deep breath, and waiting for the next step.

Thatcher: fookin' hell, you boys got back in record time.

Derek: Basic was rough, plus after I became a Sergeant I did the Ruck March. I pulled them along aswell to do most training in full gear.

Thatcher: You made them do the Ruck March?

Derek: They didn't do it, but during training days, I had them do cardio and other workouts with full gear on with some added weight, almost resembling the Ruck March after a weeks worth of training.

Mickey: We hated every second of it.

Derek: They did.

Eric and the rest arrived in time to hear the end of the conversation.

TheDooo: What's the Ruck March?

Derek: Its a U.S. Armed forces loaded March. Its a 12 mile March with full gear and a 50lb backpack. Had to be done in less than 3 hours.

Thatcher: What was your time?

Derek: 2 hours and 24 minutes.

The rest of the recruits arrived and were all out of breath.

Thatcher: Come on you blokes, how did a squad make it faster than you guys and they had to run an extra mile.

Recruit 1: We have masks on.

Thatcher: So do they, and they have closed balaclavas.

Zofia: Alright, no breaks. We're gonna do something fun.

Mickey: Define fun.

Zofia: In my eyes it is.

Derek: There it is.

Zofia: There are pull up bars, you're gonna hang on those bars for 3 minutes.

Bulldog: *whispers* and now we know we know the start of your wound re-opening.

Derek: *whispering* Tell me about it.

You walked over to a pull up bar and jumped up and grabbed the bar. You hung onto it as she started the timer. A minutes goes by and you start feeling the pain not in your arms, but on your shoulder.

TheDooo: Grizzy, start streaming on your phone.

Grizzy: Why?

TheDooo: Because it'll let them know where we are, plus they get to see the training behind Rainbow.

Grizzy: Ok.

He pulled out his phone and started to stream through it.

Zofia: 2 more minutes.

You felt a tearing sensation in your arm and quickly started to be overwhelmed with pain. You started to make slow painful grunts.. Mickey was next to you and looked towards your direction.

Mickey: Dude, your sleeve is turning red.

Derek: *grunts* Thats the wound.

Zofia: Times up.

You dropped off the bar and looked at your arm. Thatcher quickly walked over to see what was wrong.

Thatcher: Some of the stitches broke.

Derek: Yea *grunts* I noticed.

Zofia: Get up.

Thatcher: Zofia he can't keep doing training, I'll call Gustave down.

Derek: No no, its fine.

Thatcher: You sure you can keep going?

Derek: *grunts* Yea.

You gave Zofia dagger eyes.

Derek: I'm not gonna let a wound stop me.

Zofia: Good, because you still have alot of core.

After a grueling hour of core. You were surprised that your wound didn't open up all the way.

Zofia: Alright, you're all finished with core. Now its time for CQC, since there's six of you in both squads we will do squad vs squad. Each of you split onto the different mats and spar eachother. Liam, you'll go up against Locust.

Liam: With pleasure.

Derek: Dont let your ego take over.

Liam: Whatever you say kiss ass.

You both went to the mat and both got ready.

Mickey: Hey Derek, light work!

Derek: Not saying anything yet Mick.

Zofia: All of you start fighting... Now!

Liam sprinted towards you and went for a wide punch. You ducked under and swung a quick jab. He recovered and threw another wide punch, after another failed attempt he tried again and again.

Derek: *in thought* What is he doing?

You blocked his punch and kicked him back. He staggered but quickly recovered. He went to throw a punch. You grabbed it with your good hand, this was a mistake since he quickly swung his foot and slammed it where your wound was. You felt a tear and soon after felt a shock coursing through your body. It slowly went away when your adrenaline started to kick in. You let go of his fist and slammed yours across his face and kicked him down. He got back up and went to try again but you grabbed his foot and slammed him to the ground.

Derek: Tap

Liam tapped out and you got off of him and walked off the mat clutching your arm.

Blarg: That looks bad.

Derek: Just the sims left.

Patch: Locust, I'd really recommend you sit out on the sims.

Derek: I'm fine Patch, why is that camera in my face.

Grizzy: Say hi to everyone.

Derek: Griz I don't think they want to see a bloodied sleeve.

Zofia: Bravo, get your asses out to the sim.

Derek: yes sir.

Zofia: Ma'am.

Derek: You lost that privilege.

You walked with your squad out to the training house.

Thatcher: You guys will be attacking. No drones, we want to train you on going in blind.

Derek: Sounds easy enough.

TheDooo: You guys are using live rounds?

Derek: What? No, we're using rubber bullets.

McNasty: Yes Eric, they're using live rounds for a training simulation.

TheDooo: Well how was I supposed to know.

Grizzy: oh I don't know, maybe training simulation.

Thatcher: You guys are clear to go in 1 minute.

Derek: Rog, alright boys, take key points through the house. Mickey, I want you to be our eyes outside, if you get a clear shot at one through the window, take it, this is a hostage situation aswell, we have no clue how many hostages there are so I need you to also scan through windows to find them.

Mickey: It'll be done.

Derek: NATO, Mickey will need help finding those hostages, hack into their cams and stay back with him. Once you locate the hostages meet up with Robert. Robert, you'll go in with the rest of us but once NATO finds the hostages I need you to split and meet up with NATO.

Robert & NATO: Yes sir.

Derek: Bulldog, I'm going to need you in the front with your shield. I'll be right behind you taking the shots. Patch, when we get to the hostages I need you to see if there are any injured.

Bulldog & Patch: Yes sir.

Soup: Isn't this a training simulation?

Derek: It is, but we need to act like its an actual situation, with Patch being our field medic, he needs to practice caring for hostages if there are any injuries.

Thatcher: 5 seconds!

Derek: Alright, everyone remember the plan, sync?

Bravo Squad: Sync.

Thatcher:You guys are good to go!

Derek: Lets move Bravo.

You all moved towards the side entrance of the house while Mickey and NATO split to go towards the Gazebo.

Derek: Bulldog take point.

Bulldog: On it.

Bulldog moved towards the front and you all got against the wall. Patch tapped Robert on the shoulder, Bulldog got to the front of the door and kicked it open. He moved into the building with you, Patch, and Robert following behind. You all moved towards the stairs and slowly made your way up. Footsteps were heard below you and a couple shots rang throughout the room and a body fell. Robert tapped your shoulder and you signaled Bulldog to keep moving. He made it to the top and a few shots hit his shield. You peaked from behind him and shot the recruit down.

NATO: *through Comms* Found the hostages. Keep going up the stairs and they're down the hall. Unknown how many enemies are in the room.

Robert tugged your shoulder and you heard footsteps slowly walking back down the stairs..

Bulldog scanned the area and pointed down the hall and put up 4 fingers. He continued moving forward until he made it to the door. He tapped his helmet and you moved up and placed a breaching charge on the door. You heard a pair of footsteps get closer then Patch tapped your shoulder. You held the detonator in your hand and clicked the trigger to detonate the charge. Bulldog moved into the smoke filled room and you gunned down three recruits in the room. The fourth peaked out but was quickly dropped from a round going through the window, courtesy of Mickey.

Derek: Patch check the hostages.

Patch: On it.

He walked over and cut the hostages free and checked them for injuries.

Patch: They're good.

Derek: Good, Bulldog with me. Let's make sure the way is clear.

Bulldog: On it.

You both exited the room keeping your eyes forward. You both passed a room but another recruit popped out and tackled you. You kicked them off and they quickly recovered. You rolled back to your feet. The woman recruit rushed forward and threw a very sloppy punch. You blocked it and gave a quick jab before grabbing them and kneeing them a couple times. They shook free and threw a quick kick. It slammed against your leg and you got down on one knee. They walked up and punched you across the face. You rolled away and staggered to your feet. She came towards you and tackled you over the balcony. You both slammed onto the hard wood floor and feeling even more pain in your arm. You quickly recovered and slammed your fist into her gut. You grabbed her by her collar.

Derek: Sorry for this.

You punched her in the face and she was out cold. You clutched your arm as your adrenaline wore off. You let out all the pain you've been bottling up and screamed.

Patch: You good?

Derek: Fuck, yea I'm good, get the hostages out of here.

Patch and Robert brought the hostages out and you followed behind them with Bulldog.

Thatcher: Good work. Now Locust, go get your wound checked out.

Derek: I will.

Patch: Come on.

Derek: Good job today Bravo.

Mickey: Damn right.

You walked away from everyone with Patch towards the med bay. You both walked in and Gustave sat up at his desk.

Doc: What happened.

Derek: Stitches broke.

Doc: I can see that, you were on leave for a week.

Derek: Had training.

Doc: God damnit, I told her you were specifically excused from training.

Derek: Just get these stitches fixed.

Patch: Goodluck.

Doc: I don't get paid enough for this.

After an hour of Doc stitching you back up you quickly left the Med Bay. Doc peaked through the doorway and shouted down the hall.

Doc: You lost alot of blood, I'm gonna need you to go lay down. Patch make sure he gets there.

Patch: I will.

You and Patch walked back to the dorms and you laid down on the couch.

Patch: Not going to change?

You just ripped off the bloodied sleeve and tossed it towards the trash can.

Patch: That answers it.

Derek: I'm just gonna take a nap.

Patch: I'll let them know to not be loud.

Derek: Thanks.

He left the dorm and you closed your eyes, you were exhausted and it was fats for you to fall asleep.