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Thank god The Ripper hadn't seen him. The moment Naib had been dropped into the Red Church map, he had spotted the razor-handed hunter and dashed around a corner and out of his sight.
*They're trying to kill me off first. Why else would they drop that fucker right next to me?"*
After a few seconds, his heartbeat returned to normal, signifying that the hunter was no longer in his immediate vicinity. Naib gritted his teeth as he headed in the opposite direction of where he'd seen the hunter. They weren't getting rid of him that easily.
The moment he approached the cipher machine, he could feel trepidation in his stomach that nearly rivaled his reaction when he was being chased. He could hear the damn noisy thing whirring several feet away.
He took a deep breath and shook himself as he began decoding, trying his best to block out the unsettling noises and focus on the task at hand.
"C'mon, you can do this. It's just a stupid machine and the quicker you finish the damn thing, the sooner you and your team can get out of this hellscape," he muttered to himself, trying to move his fingers as nimbly as possible while they trembled.
Why did the tapping of the keys sound like running feet to him? The scraping of the worn down gears sounded like a whetting stone to a blade and when they stalled out with a metallic bang, he flinched every time.
After about the fourth time missing a calibration and shocking the hell out of himself, Naib cursed loudly and kicked the crate housing the obnoxious contraption. He slid down the wall with a heavy sigh and put his head in his hands. He wasn't getting jack shit done at this rate.
When he closed his eyes, he was no longer in the game.
*His heart pounding, the young soldier crawled through the mud, his blade in his teeth as bullets sang overhead. They hadn't been prepared to face an enemy with such advanced weapons. So many good men dead within seconds, so many friends…
He growled and kept pressing forward. He couldn't think about that right now. He would slit these gun wielding cowards' throats for what they did. Firepower wouldn't save them.
A searing pain stabbed through his arms, stopping him in his tracks with a shout. He'd been hit. Terror welled up within him. Was this the end?
"Naib?"
Wait. That wasn't his name. He looked around wildly for the source of the voice that had called out. It was so familiar. Who did it -
He bellowed out again as he watched a bullet pierce straight through his comrade beside him. That wound wasn't fatal. He could save him.
Without a second thought, he grabbed his comrade under the arms and heaved with all the strength his training had provided him. There was a boulder ahead. Hopefully that would provide enough cover. They were so close, almost there.
"Naib!"*
The mercenary snapped out of it with a sharp gasp and a jolt violent enough that that back of his head collided with the stone behind him.
He jumped to his feet and pulled out his knife, ready to go on the defense. He didn't recognize his surroundings at first, the remnants of the flashback still distorting his reality.
But when that same voice that had reached him earlier filled his ears again, soft and gentle this time, he sheathed his khukuri and let the wall support his weight as all the tension left him.
"Eli…" all he could say was his name as he let the sight of the hooded figure before him ground him to the present.
The seer gave him space, as if Naib were a wild animal he didn't want to spook. It didn't matter that the blindfold he wore obscured his full expression; Naib could feel the waves of concern rolling off of him. Even the damn bird on his shoulder cocked her head at him.
"Are you alright? You look as though you've seen a ghost," he murmured in his low Welsh brogue.
Naib pushed off the wall and stalked over to the cipher machine, hiding his face from the other man's scrutiny. "Yeah. Fine," he grunted, trying to look busy with the machine.
"Well, alright. Mind if I join you?" He offered. When Naib shrugged, he went to the other side and began working without another word.
Naib hadn't wanted anyone to see him like that, but at least it had been Eli who found him. He appreciated that the man didn't pity him or press him to talk like some of the others might. Plus, he'd always found the man's presence soothing.
Being the team rescue while dealing with these painful memories was stressful, but whenever Eli was there, that all seemed to melt away. Naib secretly hoped to have him on his team every time and had even begun to feel disappointed when he didn't see the man in the waiting area. They'd become good friends over time. It was a camaraderie he hadn't experienced since he left the army and he was grateful for the company, though he fought it at first. After all, it was only a matter of time before one of them lost his life to this sadistic "game."
Speaking of, the gong went off to signal that a teammate had been downed. He nodded to Eli before shouting "Don't move! I'm coming!" to his fallen teammate and darting off toward their red outline.
Before he could get far, however, Eli called out for him to wait. "Take Brooke with you. She'll protect you," he said, sending the one-eyed owl fluttering over to perch on his shoulder.
Naib offered Eli a half smile and gave the bird a gentle scratch on the head. "Thanks. I promise I'll bring her back safe," he vowed.
Without any more hesitation, he ran valiantly to the rescue. Naib loved this part. The thrill he got from dodging the hunter's attacks, the glory of a successful rescue, the surge of pride he felt when his team escaped without casualties; nothing in the world could compare to that high. Besides, his honor as a former Ghurka wouldn't allow him to leave anyone behind.
The mercenary smirked wryly to himself as he thought, *"Old habits die hard."*