Chapter Text
Stomping, heavy, boots echo down the corridor as a small blob of people enter the military housing. Mud follows the group, leaving a trail of prints to the various boot sizes. The people were quiet, almost deathly quiet, having come back from a failed attempt at catching The White Masks red-handed. Two Russians from within the group branch off to head for the mess hall, eager to stuff their faces with food to drown their disappointment and shame. Another, an American, slips away to talk with her female friends and vent off some steam from the crushing defeat.
That left one member behind: the German unit GSG 9 member Jäger. His uniform and helmet were caked with crusted dirt, his shoes still leaving tracks of fresh mud like the others. Letting out a heavy sigh, he makes his way to his sleeping quarters to change into clean clothes. The German removes his helmet as he enters the room, setting it on his bed. Another man was in the room, Blitz.
Blitz looks up from his book as he lay on his bed, “Jäger! How did the mission go, mein Freund?”
Jäger glances up and offers the other man a small smile, “we failed.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But everyone made it back safe and sound, yes?” Blitz asks. Jäger gives him a small nod. Blitz nods in return, “very good. Even so, I’m sure you kicked some ass where you could, eh?” He grins, attempting to cheer up his best friend.
Jäger lets out a small huff as a sort of laugh, “yeah...” He grabs a clean shirt and pants and quickly changes, “I’ll be in the workshop if you need me.” Blitz gives him a nod, letting the other German go to his happy place to relax.
The workshop was Jäger’s second home, basically. When he wasn’t on a mission, sleeping, or eating, nine times out of ten you could find him working on his Magpie device. He was always improving, always finding ways to fix what he thought was already perfect on the little gadget.
As he enters the shop, he heads over to his claimed locker, retrieving one of his Magpie’s and carrying it to one of the various work counters. He adjusts the light overhead and goes to work. Across from him and one seat to his right was Twitch, who you could also find practically living in the workshop. Like Jäger, she was obsessed with improving her shock drone as much as she could. “Good” was never good enough for the two of them, especially Jäger.
After quietly working for a few minutes, Jäger could feel his body start to relax. The stress and disappointment from earlier in the day melts away and all that was left were his thoughts and his Magpie. In fact, he was so zoned out that he failed to notice the new body planted right next to him. The German pulls himself back to reality and glances up without lifting his head to take a look at who decided it was a good idea to take the seat right next to him despite there being two dozen other seats to choose from.
It was Mute. This came as a huge shock to Jäger since he normally preferred solitude, sitting in some far corner of the shop. The Brit says nothing as he calmly works on his jammer. Jäger decides to brush it off and return to his work.
“Zinc.” A voice speaks, breaking the silence. Jäger looks up, turning his head to the direction of the voice. It was Mute.
“Excuse me?” Jäger stutters. Mute stares at him blankly then rolls his eyes.
He points to Jäger’s Magpie, specifically at two wires jutting out that he had just installed. “Zinc wires are smaller but just as effective as copper ones. You save room in your device without cutting the current rate. Try ‘em instead.” The Brit explains stiffly.
Jäger stares at Mute, then down at the wires, “oh really? Thank you. However, I prefer copper wires.” He replies gently. Mute grunts in return, looking back to his own device. Jäger didn’t want to seem rude and dismissive if he ignored Mute’s advice, especially since the man was right next to him. The German decides to change one of the wires to zinc and leave the other as copper, that way he would be sticking with his own preference but also not offending Mute. Soon, Jäger fell back into his blissful working mode.
“No, use the electrical tape for that.” A voice interrupts Jäger’s thoughts yet again. This time, even Twitch looks up from her drone with a slightly irritated look on her face. Jäger slowly lifts his head to see Mute staring at him once again, “you’re using duct tape, but using electrical tape will be much more effective.” Jäger blinks at him. Twitch glances over at the German, raising a perfect eyebrow as if to say ‘is this guy serious?’
Jäger clears his throat, “oh, thank you, again, but I prefer duct tape for this specific adjustment.”
Mute furrows his eyebrows, “why?”
Jäger stares at the British man, taken aback by his bluntness, “because that’s what I have always used and it gets the job done just fine.”
Mute shakes his head and turns back to work on his device again, without another word. Jäger quickly turns back to his Magpie. Of course Jäger has seen Mute in the workshop before, but never this close to him. Why, especially of all days when Jäger would highly appreciate the silence, did Mute have to sit right by him and appear to boss him over how he should fix his device?
Even so, Jäger continued to work. Eventually, Twitch quietly gets up from her seat and puts her stuff away, offering the German a small wave as she leaves. Jäger smiles weakly but internally he was screaming for her to come back since now it was just him and Mute alone in the room. As the minutes crawl by, he could feel himself becoming more and more uncomfortable in the Brit’s presence. He hadn’t told him any more instructions, but the possibility of him doing so made Jäger’s skin crawl for some reason. Perhaps it was how Mute tried to help him. He was so blunt and acted as if you had to do it his way or you were just making the device useless. Jäger knew Mute was smart, but after hearing him talk more than just a few words, it made him see that Mute reveled in his intelligence. Jäger contemplates moving to another spot, but then decides that was too obvious and he didn’t want Mute to dislike him at all, he would rather just stay mutual.
All of a sudden, Mute shifts in his seat and turns to Jäger, “’ere. Try this.” The other man shoves a small plastic box at Jäger. “It contains your wire ends and a few other lil’ tidbits in there. Should save you about fifteen percent of the room in your thing. Which is a lot for how small it is.” He points to the Magpie. Jäger looks down at the box and opens it. The components inside were placed so precise and perfect. He looks to his Magpie and shifts things around, setting the box in its place. Mute was right. It saved a decent amount of room.
The German looks back to Mute, “you were right. It clears up lots of space. Thank you.” He shifts in his seat, “but, uh, why? Why did you do this for me?” Mute doesn’t answer as he packs up his things and turns away, walking out of the shop. Jäger stares blankly at the door frame Mute walked through, dumbfounded. He then shakes himself back into reality and begins to clean up his own belongings.
As Jäger puts away his Magpie and heads out the door, a small thought pops into his head: Mute used copper wire.