Chapter Text
Not a word was said as the small team boarded the military vehicle. Being only four members, there was no need for a plane or an overly large truck to haul them to their mission objective. In the back of the vehicle was a large shield placed next to an equally large man, who was staring intently at the floor while tracing bullet dents and dings in the shield.
Another man fixed himself close to the back doors of the vehicle, adjusting the white rubber gloves on his hands and glancing around at the other operators.
The next operator lazily placed himself by the shield of the large man, with enough space in between the two, of course. In his lap was an elaborate-looking helmet with a purple visor and strange cords twisting up to the crown of the headgear. He leaned his head back against the metal wall of the vehicle and closed his eyes in hopes of getting a few precious moments of sleep before they arrived at their mission objective.
Just as he was getting comfortable, the last squad member jumped into the back and placed himself right in the middle of all of them. He sat across from the large shield man, spreading his legs out into the small space between the two benches as if he owned it. The shield man raised his gaze and cocked an eyebrow at the bike helmet and sunglasses that were now staring back at him.
"How do you do?" The helmeted man asked. "You're...Montagne, yeah?"
The one called Montagne nodded slowly and shifted slightly to make himself more comfortable, "Mozzie?"
The bike helmet man grinned and raised his arms in a defeated manor, "guilty."
Montagne hummed in response and went back to his floor staring, signaling to Mozzie that he was done talking.
The Australian turned to the operator sitting by the doors and glanced down at his gloved hands and caduceus patch, "I reckon' you're Doc then?"
Doc crossed his arms, "How could you tell?" He asked, mockingly.
Mozzie snickered as he turned to the last operator. The man with the purple-visored helmet stared back with a small smile on his face. The Australian noticed this and grinned in response, despite the helmet covering most of his mouth and his sunglasses hiding the glint in his eyes.
"Fancy lookin' headgear you got there." Mozzie stated, gesturing to the other man's helmet.
He nodded, "yes, it is. I can track footprints with this beauty." The man patted the device.
"Aah, you must be Jackal then. Quite the sneaky bastard from what I've heard." Mozzie teased the one called Jackal.
Jackal smirked and nodded, "Yes I am, so watch yourself, newbie." His Spanish accent very apparent as he talked.
Mozzie found himself raising an eyebrow as the other man spoke. He liked the accent quite a lot. "Bah, I'm not fuckin' afraid." Mozzie waved him off.
Jackal offered a lazy smile and rested his head back against the vehicle's metal frame once again. He closed his eyes and instantly felt sleep pulling him back under.
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"...ckal...Jackal! Mate, come on, wake up, dammit!" A voice crawled into Jackal's brain and pulled him back to reality. He jerked up in his seat and looked up at the source of the voice to find Mozzie with his hand on his shoulder, "it's time to go!" Jackal jumped out of his seat and placed his helmet onto his head. The Spaniard followed Mozzie out of the back of the vehicle and looked around at their destination. It was an aging building, appearing to have once been a burger joint. Why the White Masks chose this place out of everything, Six wasn't sure, but what she was sure about, was that the enemy had a hostage that needed to be saved. And that's where Team Six came in.
Jackal met up with the other group members who looked like they all wanted to rip his head off for keeping them, but no time for that--a hostage needed their help. The team approached a soft wall and Jackal placed one of his breach charges carefully. He turned back and hid beside it, as did the other members, while the Spaniard pressed a button and blew a large hole for entry.
Montagne deployed his shield and gestured for the others to follow after him, "this way, I'll lead." The other three operators filed behind the large Frenchman in a makeshift train. They stuck close together and each member kept a sharp eye on a different direction, front, back, left, right, as they made their way into the building.
Distant voices could be heard deeper into the old burger joint, telling the team that the enemy was placed in the center of the building. Montagne led the group down a narrow hallway, then another, and turned a corner to finally be met by several Masks waiting for them.
"Contact!" A Mask yelled, only to be promptly taken out by a fast-reacting Jackal. Montagne charged forward, knocking into one of the Masks, which caused him to stumble back before earning a finishing bullet to the head. Meanwhile, Mozzie took out two more Masks to the left as they took aim, while Doc finished the final enemy on the right. With that corridor cleared, the group went back into formation behind Monty's shield and pressed forward.
Mozzie could feel his heart pounding in his chest. As Jackal mentioned, Mozzie was the newest in Team Rainbow, along with his good friend Gridlock. This was only his second mission so far, so he wanted to keep a good impression on the other members of the Team.
In his haste, Mozzie broke from the train and checked around the next corner before Montagne did. He wanted to find the enemies first, to show the others what he was capable of. He didn't need the Frenchman's shield, he already had his quick wit to guide him. As he poked around the corner, five more Masks could be seen waiting for them. Mozzie aimed his weapon and fired at one, killing him instantly but also alerting the remaining four of his presence.
"Mozzie, dammit!" Montagne barked as he marched over to him, blocking him from the enemy fire.
Mozzie backed up and reloaded, "What? I can handle 'em, don't you worry!"
"No, you need to stay with the team; stick to the plan, don't try your own--" Montagne stopped himself as the Masks threw a flash bang their direction. However, Montagne reacted a second too late and felt the blinding effects of the bang as the ring numbed his hearing. He flinched in his confusion and the shield slipped slightly in his grasp. A White Mask took aim and fired at Montagne, noticing the new opening, hitting Montagne in the shoulder.
The Frenchman cried out and struggled as he moved his shield back up to protect his body again while backing around the corner for cover. Doc rushed over and stood in front of him to protect him from any stray bullets the Masks decided to fire at them. Mozzie and Jackal took their chance and opened return fire on the remaining Masks, taking them out quickly.
With the danger gone, Doc quickly turned to Monty and began assessing the situation. He checked the wound throughly and looked to the others, "the bullet is stuck in his shoulder."
"But we haven't even made it to the hostage." Mozzie blurted.
Doc glared at him, "I'm aware. Perhaps running ahead by yourself wasn't such a good idea then."
Mozzie's shoulders dropped and he turned to watch for any incoming enemies instead. So much for proving himself. Jackal reassuringly patted the Aussie's shoulder and looked at Monty, "do you think you can last to the Hostage?"
Montagne let out a pained sigh then nodded, despite the auditory fuss coming from Doc beside him. Jackal nodded, "good, then here is the new plan: reach the hostage, call for backup, wait it out." The rest of the team agreed and began their way down the cleared hallway.
Luckily, fewer enemies appeared in the following hallways and they located the hostage tied up in the old kitchen area. Montagne drudged his way over to the woman and deployed his shield in front of her. Doc crouched down next to her and smiled gently, "don't worry, we're here to get you out of this mess." The terrified woman nodded frantically in response.
Mozzie double checked that his weapon was loaded and glanced at Montagne. He could see the dark bloodstain growing around his wound, a few drops falling to the ground here and there. The Australian felt the pang of guilt in his chest as he watched the Frenchman attenpt to hide his pain. This was his fault.
Jackal put a hand on Mozzie's shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Stay focused, my friend. Daydream when you're back in your bed, eh?" He grinned at Mozzie who stared at him in confusion. Why was he being so kind to him?
"What, I can't daydream and fight? Damn, what a shame." Mozzie joked, turning his attention to the entryways for possible enemies.
Behind him, Doc was talking on his radio: "We have the hostage secured, but a friendly is injured, send backup immediately." He paused to listen for a response.
"Affirmitive, Doc, backup is on its way." A voice answered back. The team said nothing but it was clear that a slightly bit of pressure was lifted off everyone's shoulders. Despite this, the group wasn't out of the thicket yet. A deep whirring sound could be heard from somewhere else in the building, getting louder and louder every second.
Monty growled, "dammit. They brought in drones."
Mozzie's eyes lit up, "drones, eh? No problem then." He switched to the weapon on his back and grinned excitedly as he moved into the nearest hallway. The Aussie aimed the device and fired out a little spider-looking device onto the wall. He moved back into the room and sat cross-legged on the floor, pulling out his tablet.
He sat and watched the screen intently as an incoming drone drew close to the pest. It hovered through the hallway, passing right by Mozzie's spider, which jumped onto the drone and latched onto the body of the device in one quick movement.
"Yes! Drone acquired!" Mozzie grinned to himself for his accomplishment, his screen lighting up with a view from the hacked device.
"That's great, but there's more drone still.." Doc stated.
Mozzie grabbed the spider launcher again and waved it at Doc, "don't you worry, my baguette friend, I have more."
"Did you just call me a--"
Mozzie jumped back around the corner, ignoring Doc and launching more spiders. Soon the team had three enemy drones now in their hands, all thanks to Mozzie's little devices.
"Now that we have these snazzy drones, we can use it against 'em." The aussie explained to his team.
Doc nodded, clearly impressed, "good work, Mozzie. Once you find the enemy through our new eyes, you and Jackal take them out. I'll stay here with Montagne and the hostage.
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Mozzie finished off the last enemy in the area and turned to Jackal, "looks like we're all clear for the extraction. Bloody backup we called isn't even needed--" Mozzie stopped himself as Jackal raised a finger to gesture for him to quiet. His Eyenox was active and he was studying the floor intently.
He raised his weapon and slowly moved down a small corridor as he watched the ground for something Mozzie couldn't see. The Spaniard leaned around the corner and opened fire on someone followed by silence falling over them once again.
Jackal turned back and walked over to Mozzie, turning off his visor, grinning, "little mouse thought he could hide from me."
Mozzie chuckled then nodded in approval, "nice one."
The two headed back to their French teammates, letting them know their mission was successful. With the enemies cleared, it was now safe to extract the hostage and get Monty to Doc's proper medical bay back at the base.
As the group exited the building, a second vehicle roared up to them and out the back came Ash, Blitz, and Lion. Yet they all stopped and stared in confusion as they watched the four original members approach them with the hostage.
"What happened to 'needing backup'?" Lion growled, clearly irked from being called out there for nothing.
Doc raised a hand in a gesture to calm Lion, "yes, I know, but Mozzie's device helped us take out the rest of the threat before you got here."
Ash stepped over to Doc before Lion could spat anymore protest, "we're glad you're all safe. Relatively speaking that is." She looked at Monty's bleeding shoulder. The group hurried the hostage and Montagne into one of the vehicles and the rest of the group followed suit.
Jackal sat down next to Mozzie, removing his headgear as he did so. The Aussie glanced over at the Eyenox then up at Jackal, "before the mission I said I wasn't afraid of your gizmo here, but after what I saw back in there," he crossed his arms and shuddered slightly, "I think I'm now a little afraid of it."
Jackal responded with a hardy laugh as he patted Mozzie on the shoulder, "Good, good, I'm glad I was able to convince you." He joked then winked at the much smaller man, "but hey, I'm not the star here; your little insects saved our asses. If it wasn't for you, God knows what would have happened before backup arrived," he shook his head then patted Mozzie's arm, "but did you see Lion's face when they showed up? Oh he was so pissed." He laughed and shook his head again.
Mozzie grinned and found himself laughing along with the Spaniard as he felt his face warm in response. Wait, did he just blush? Mozzie shoved the realization back into the corner of his mind and stretched out his legs and arms instead. That joke Jackal made earlier about daydreaming in his bed didn't sound like such a bad idea anymore.