You have to chuckle at that. "Speaking of that sir. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about her later."
"About her time after the coupe I imagine?" The general replies, losing the smile. "Yes, it's better we discuss that behind closed doors, and not in her presence."
"Hey Snake Doctor?" You call over to Blaine. "You boys ready to get started?"
Blaine looks over at you and Katerina, a grin spreading across his face that gives you flashbacks to the nightmares of Q course as he walks over to you. "If Raptor's ready to go. Give us ten minutes to set up in there." You can hear General Sovurov chuckling at the nickname, while Katerina just raises an eyebrow at it as she begins double checking her gear. "Mountie came up with it." Blaine remarks, noticing your confused look. "Figured you'd get it, being a Spielberg fan and all."
You ponder it a few more seconds but still come up with nothing, knowing it'll probably hit you soon enough. "Are you suiting up with the rest of the boys?" Blaine asks. You shake your head no in reply. "Then let's head over to the control center."
"One moment." The general asks, before turning back to his daughter and holding out his hand. Katerina, very reluctantly you notice, reaches behind her back and hands over a revolver followed by a knife she had stashed in her boot before walking off to the starting area.
"She does know this base is safe?" You ask as the two of you reach the control center set up in the corner of the hanger.
"Those rats nesting in the Duma still have a price on me and my family, and we're still finding more of them in our ranks every day." The general responds, a little paternal anger over second guessing his family seeping through. "My family has not lived as long as they have by assuming any where's safe."
"Fair enough." You reply, looking over at the monitors as Blaine and his men manhandle a large desk into the midpoint of the T-shaped hallway and tipping it on its side. Another follows behind with a belt fed machine gun, setting it up on the desk and aiming straight at the front door while two more take up flanking positions in rooms to either side of him. "This ought to be interesting."
"It will be." The general admits, another grin on his face. "Assuming she decides to use the front door." A brief bout of panic hits you as you realize Katerina could be standing right behind you two watching the setup process. "Relax William." Sovurov chuckles as you quickly turn around. "She's not over here."
"After watching her steal a breakfast sandwich from under the noses of over a dozen trained operators, I don't think we can be too careful." You chuckle in return, before turning the conversation back towards the more serious side. "Sir, since we're alone I hope you don't mind me asking about what you had her doing in Russia. Her dossier might has well been printed on black cardboard paper, and I have enough experience running COIN ops back home to know what insurgencies tend to look like."
"You want to know if she's a soldier or a killer?" The general asks solemnly. "An understandable concern." He takes a deep breath. "Katerina specialized in infiltration missions, especially those involving the elimination of high value individuals and infrastructure targets." You hold your reply, sensing there's more coming. "Among these individuals were members of my former command, for whom it would have been problematic to ask anyone besides Katerina and her brothers to deal with."
It takes a second for the meaning of his words to sink in, but when they do they hit like a freight train. A part of you could at least understand the reasoning behind it. Asking soldiers to kill their own comrades takes a toll on even the most hardened individuals. At the same time though, her role as "daddy's little assassin" points to a rather black and white mortality. "Pardon me for saying this sir, but that's cold."
"That's life in Russia." The general replies, sorrow in his voice. "If things were any different…"
"I understand sir." You reply. "I just need to know I can trust her in the field."
"A fair question. I can assure you though, she's one of the best soldiers I've ever commanded."
"We're all set to go." Blaine calls out as he walks over to you two, cutting the conversation short. The general whistles to get his daughter's attention, giving her a thumbs up to tell her everything is set. Katerina nods before activating her camouflage.
---
As it turns out, Katerina is a very patient woman. You watched as the front door to the training prop creaked open just a sliver before closing again, and then nothing happened. The rest of the team trickled in little by little, joining you in watching the empty monitors.
"Have you tried switching the camera to infrared?" Meline, causing more than a few looks. "Regardless of how she bends visible light to keep herself from the human eye, Katerina will still give off body heat like a normal human."
"Worth a shot." You admit as she gets to work changing the settings. It doesn't take long to find her on the cameras once she does, though rather than the bright red or white humanoid shape, all you see is a black splotch creeping along the side of the training prop.
"Interesting." Meline mutters before going on a long scientific ramble in French that you only half understand. You glance over at the camera's inside the prop, realizing Katerina's in the perfect spot to slip in behind the machine gunner and his friends.
"She does realize this is supposed to be a speed run right." Kandace grumbles.
"We have a saying in Russia." General Sovurov responds as Katerina slowly climbs through the open window and begins approaching one of the instructors peeking out of the doorway, rifle still pointed at the front door. "Only fools rush in."
Katerina explodes into action at that moment, yanking the instructor down to ground and planting a foot on his chest to pin him in place. Neither Soldier with him gets a chance to even turn to face the unexpected threat before getting double tapped in the head. Putting another couple rounds into the man pinned on the ground, Katerina quickly cleared the room across from her before returning to the hallway. Reaching the T junction at the end, she hugs the wall as she makes her way to the room on the right.
"No Flashbangs?" Wallcroft wonders as Katerina kneels beside the door and pokes her head and rifle in, taking out both men inside as their return fire sails harmlessly over her head by a couple of feet.
"Probably messes with her power." Meline replies as Katerina repeats the process in the last room. "I can't say much without knowing how it works exactly, but high intensity light bursts could overload it."
Katerina trots back over to your group, clearly pleased with her performance judging by the smirk on her face. Wallcroft and Nilson go congratulate her, while Meline hops around in what you're now calling "happy puppy mode" as she eagerly waits to tell her about what she found.
"Took you long enough." Kandace responded, smirk running across her face.
Katerina stops in her tracks, gaze fixed on the SEAL. "Speed isn't everything." She replied. "Of course if you want to show me how it's done…" Kat motions to the training prop. Smirk staying on her face, Kandace grabs her H&K416 and the rest of her gear and starts heading over to the starting area.
-------
Teammate special ability unlocked
Operator: Katerina Sovurov
Effect: Passive
When Katerina is cloaked, her first attack can not be dodged or countered, and enemies lose 10 awareness and 20 accuracy.
-----------
[] Talk to Katerina and Meline. See if you can't figure out how Katerina's power works.
[] Talk with Nilson. He has your kit and you kind of want to see what those two managed to pull off.
[] Talk with Jaq and see what he thought about Katerina's evolution.
Pick two other characters to watch their training evolutions after Kandace's (rest will be time skipped):
[] Jaq
[] Wallcroft
[] Nilson
[] Taro
[] Meline
[] Yourself
You spot Nilson over at a nearby table, finishing up the last few details on what you assume is your rifle. "Pretty little piece of work." You tell him as you walk over.
"Glad you think so." Victor replies with a smile, handing the weapon over to you. "HK 416 with 10.5 inch barrel and attached suppressor, angled forward grip, and a holographic red dot sight. Spent most of the night tuning the gas system and going through every bolt and spring like it was my Mjolnir, and I guarantee you she'll run better too."
"That's not a high bar to clear." You joke, bringing the empty rifle to your shoulder and aiming it at an empty corner. "Speaking of that monstrosity, you didn't bring that thing with you today, did ya?"
Victor chuckles, helfting a Mk.46 onto the table that looks downright tiny in his hands. "Ja, just because I seem to be the only one in NATO who likes her doesn't mean I consider using other guns to be cheating on her." You're about to respond when you both jump, along with the rest of the team, as Kandace kicks the front door half way down the hallway with a loud crash. Shaking his head, Victor starts helping you get all your gear set up.
"Hold still for a second." He says, as he pushes a couple buttons on your helmet and activating integrated HUD.
You're almost speechless as the system boots up, running through a quick diagnostic session. Everyone in your line of sight is surrounded by a green outline denoting them as friendly, and inside the training prop you make out Kandace and four red outlines. "This almost feels like cheating."
"Yup." Victor agrees. "Mel is better than me with the specifics since she wrote the algorithms herself, but suffice to say this is a step or two up from what we're all used to. IFF and threat detection with cloud networking, so as long as a single camera connected to the system has eyes on something the whole team can see it. Mel's been working nonstop for the last week making sure all the bugs got worked out."
"And I'm sure she'll have another dozen ideas once we're done with today. Just remember to make sure she gets her sleep. I don't need her burning herself out giving us all the latest and greatest."
"I'm not sure she'll listen." Victor admits, shaking his head as Kandace exits the training prop with a smug grin on her face.
"Are You ready to go?" You ask Victor, who nods and grabs his machine gun. "I'll have Blaine hold off on putting the doors back on then."
"No need." Victor smirks. "I was planning on going through the walls anyways."
-----
While Victor might have been joking about punching through walls like the kool aid man, he's only slightly more subtle than Kandace. Kicking the door in, he forces the two soldiers in the hallway back into one of the doors with well aimed five round bursts. He keeps moving at a steady pace as he alternates throwing rounds at each doorway, the M249 reacting in his arms more like an airsoft gun than a 20 pound belt fed.
One of the soldiers picks a bad time to poke his head out, and catches a burst that would have taken it clean off had real lead been flying. Throwing a few more bursts as he nears the doorways, Victor quickly clears the one the down soldier was in before turning to the other room and finishing the guy inside off.
"Well, I was going to say having him run this was a waste of time since he'd be stuck on overwatch with me." Jacques jokes, walking up next to you as Victor starts clearing the last two rooms. "But from the looks of things, bringing a machine gun indoors might not be the worst idea for once."
"Yeah, I can't wait to see what he can do with the pig." You reply. "Do you have any ideas on how to run the team?"
"A couple ideas are forming." Jacques admits. "But we're going to wait and see how we start working together before I make any concrete plans."
---
A few days later.
"Not to jinx ourselves, but this is going better than expected." You carefully admit to Jacques as the two of you go over your training notes from the past week.
As you'd expected, Sgts. Nilson and Wallcroft were both living up to their reputations. Nilson had to be the best machine gunner you'd ever had the pleasure of working with, both in accuracy and his ability to always find the right spot even when covering the likes of Katerina and Taro. On the other side Wallcroft was making a solid case for being your number three, even with the added stress of moving his family from England to off base housing here in Germany.
Kandace and Katerina's budding rivalry seemed to be mellowing out as they carved out their respective niche's in the team. Kandace thrived in the room clearing and assault scenarios, even the most reinforced entryways dreamed up by Blaine falling before her like cheap plywood. Katerina meanwhile, had teamed up with Taro to form a budding and, to be honest, downright scary, infiltration and demolition team. The two stealth specialists had taken all of five minutes to realize how compatible their respective powers were, and promptly combined them to form something more akin to a horror movie antagonist. Now if only they'd stop doing that in every exercise so the rest of the team would stop accidentally shooting them in the back of the heads with sim rounds.
The two had also started taking Mel under their wings, which was good because if there was a weak point in the team, it was your French genius. Mel's skills were all there, it was just she reliant on her electronic eyes and ears rather than her real ones. More than a few times she'd either ground a training scenario to a halt or started falling behind without someone minding her watching her bots.
While you trust Kandace and Katerina to sort her out, part of you also wonders if maybe it might be better to make her Jacques spotter. She'd have to switch weapons to something with a little more reach than her Famas, but it would also play more to her strengths.
[] Trust Kandace and Katerina.
[] Talk to Jacques about changing her role.
------------
Teammate ability unlocked: Walking Fire: Nilson doesn't suffer any accuracy penalty while shooting on the move.
"I'm going to check in with Kandace and Katerina." You tell Mountie as you get up from your desk. "See how Mel's extra training is going."
"Making sure our little fledgling makes it out of the nest alright?" He chuckles, spinning around in his chair to face you. "If you want, I can take her as my spotter for the time being."
You shake your head. "Not only would that kill Mel's confidence, but I feel like I'd be slapping Katerina and Kandace in the face given all the work they've been putting in during the evenings."
"Sure… just keep leaving me outside with the machine gunner." Mountie grumbles, picking a piece of paper. "I almost forgot, Wallcroft came by to invite us over for a little housewarming party. I don't know if he talked to the girls yet, but I figure it'll be a good little team building thing for us."
"I'll pass the word…" You say, heading towards the office door. "Hey Jacques?" You ask, turning around. "Have you ever thought of bringing your family over here?"
"It's been a couple years since the last time they would have followed me over here." Jacques admits.
"Sorry to hear that."
"What about you Will?"
You shake your head. "John and Luke are still in highschool. Better to let them leave the nest first, then tear it out of the tree and move it across the forest."
"Right, I forgot about those two." Jacques smiles. "How's Abigail doing? I remember the last time we fought together, you said she was going through Med school."
"Following in her mothers footsteps as a combat surgeon." You say with a smile. "Bridgette and I have been trying to talk her out of transferring here, but she's a chip off the old block. See you around Mountie."
"Same."
Making your way over to the hanger, you can see all three of your subordinates huddled around a table inside. Being the only one facing you, Katerina's the first to notice your presence as you walk over to them. You see her nod over to you, causing Kandace to turn around while Meline kept her head resting on the table.
"Evening Ladies." You greet the three. Mel finally stirs, half open eyes and a tired smile greeting you. "Busy evening, I take it?"
"Just finishing up for the night." Kandace remarks. We've been pushing Mel pretty hard with room clearing drills, and somebody else needed her second dinner." The response catches Katerina off guard, spaghetti noodles hanging from her mouth as she stops mid bit before hastily slurping them up. "Seriously, where the fuck do you put all that?"
"Probably a side effect of her optical camouflage." Mel sleepily mutters. "The amount of energy no doubt needed to make it work likely places a massive strain on her metabolism." Katerina just shrugs, deciding that explanation's as good as anything else she could come up with.
"Well, I just wanted to see how everything was going here and give you a heads up. I don't know if Eric talked to you three yet, but he invited the team over for a team building slash housewarming party."
Katerina goes to say something, when Kandace intervenes. "Well be there. What time do you want us ready?" Glancing over at the glaring Katerina, she just shakes her head. "If we try keeping your insane training pace through the weekend, the poor girl's going to fall dead from exhaustion. We can take the weekend off, the wars will still be there when Monday comes around."
"Am I…" Mel asks.
"You're good to head off to bed, kiddo." Kandace replies with a smile. Mel gets up and stumbles sleepily off to the barracks.
"So," you ask, taking Mels spot at the table. "How's training really going?"
"She'll be up to snuff soon enough." Kandace replies. "Right now we're just getting rid of a few bad habits she learned at Commando de Montfort. I know the unit, they're less doorkicking, and more telling the guys going in which house is the right one. That at least explains the overreliance on robots."
"She reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger." Katerina says. "She's dedicated, and that's something you can't teach."
"We just have to avoid giving her all your sociopathic tendencies, and we'll be all set." Kandace replied with a smirk, dodging a return swipe by Katerina.
"Well I was going to compliment you two on being able to put aside your differences in order to train Mel…" You grumble.
"Listen." Kandace replies with a chuckle. "You probably won't be catching the two of us sitting down drinking beers together tomorrow, but what's between us is only between us."
"It doesn't concern our little sister." Katerina agrees. "And prioritizing our feud over training her, that'll just come back to hurt both of us during a mission." Finishing her meal, she begins to gather her kit and wonder back towards the armory.
"I guess that calls it for the evening." Kandace replies, shaking her head. "So, what time you want everyone ready?"
"1130 should be good." You say. Kandace nods, the two of you getting up and making your way to the barracks.
-------- The Next Day
"You know I figured one of you girls would be fashionably late." You admit to Kandace, slightly perplexed as the two of you and the rest of the team sit around the common area. "But Kat wasn't the one I was expecting."
Kandace chuckles. "To be fair, it's not exactly her fault. Mel took one look at what she was wearing, shouted what I assumed was french for "oh hell no", and dragged Kat into her room."
It takes a couple more minutes before the door to Mel's room creaks open and you hear someone walk over to Kat's room and slam the door closed. Mel walks out a second later in a blue short sleeve sundress. "She's just grabbing a pair of sneakers."
"I could have told you heels wouldn't agree with her." Kandace chuckles, earning a glare from Mel. "Okay, what part of her screamed to you that she had ever worn a pair of heels in her life?"
"They're not that hard to walk in." Mel says defensively, earning another laugh from Kandace.
"Maybe if you were raised in them." Kandace replies as Katerina walks out, dressed in a surprisingly, given who picked it out for her, modest attire consisting of a brown leather jacket, white blouse, and a pair of jeans. As a group you make your way outside where a pair of pickups wait. Kat, Tsujimoto, and Mel jump in one, while Kandace, Nilson, and Jacques jump in the other.
[] Jump in the truck with Kat, Tsujimoto, and Mel.
[] Jump in the truck with Jaques, Nilson, and Kandace.
You jump in the Jeep with Taro, Mel, and Katerina, taking over the front seat as Mel jumps into the driver's seat. "Hang on." She cheerfully calls out as the Jeep tears out of the parking lot, leaving you scrambling for your seatbelt.
"Mel, where did you learn to drive?" You cautiously ask, glancing back to see Taro and Katerina clutching the handholds on the doors. "And are you driving stick?"
"It's how I was taught on Ladoux." Mel replies, her eyes never leaving the road as she jumps on the Autobahn. "My Pepe insisted that I know how to drive the Renault for when I started dating. Said regardless of wherever a boy insisted on taking me, I should always be the one in the driver's seat."
"What's a Renault?" Katerina asks from the back seat. Hand still locked in a death grip on the door. Up in the driver's seat, Mel tightens up on the steering wheel.
"High end french sports car." You respond before turning back to Mel. "Nothing wrong with being from old money, Mel. What you do here and now is more important than what blood you have running through you."
"I know just…" Mel takes a deep breath, and for the first time since you met her you see a hint of sadness on her face. "Not all of my family agreed on my career choice."
"Well if you ever need someone to listen to you talk about it." You tell her before deciding to change the subject. "So what was Katerina wearing that set off those french fashion sensibilities of yours."
"It was only my jacket, a workout shirt, and a pair of cargo pants." Katerina protested. "Nothing that I don't normally wear."
"You forgot the PMM in your shoulder holster." Mel teased her. "It's a party Kat, not a combat op. Just consider yourself lucky I didn't insist on makeup too."
"If you had tried that, you'd be in the other truck having Wallcroft fix your broken wrists." Katerina growled. "And don't even start on the boyfriend talk. I already told you I have one."
You hear Mel grumble out a 'bullshit' under her breath as she pulls off the highway. "No No, she's telling the truth." All three of their heads snap to you. "Dimitri Petrenko, he's on team 2, Blue Squadron. You never noticed him waiting for her after your late night training sessions, Mel?"
"In my defense, I'm usually half asleep at that point." Mel grumbles as you pull up to Wallcroft's quaint two story cape cod.
Wallcroft steps out of the house to greet the four of you. "I was worried you wouldn't be able to find the place." He says, before glancing down the road. "Where's Mountie and the others?"
"Choking on Mel's dust." You chuckle taking his hand.
The door swung open again as a pair of girls ran out and started buzzing around the five of you. "You must be Meline and Katerina." The older of two approached Mel and Kat and shook their hands. "Elise Wallcroft, future member of her majesty's secret service."
"Aren't you a little young to be planning a career in international espionage?" Mel playfully teases the seven year old.
The girl glances between the two, her sandy blond ponytail darting back and forth energetically. "I don't know." She gives a toothy grin as her younger sister joins her. "Aren't you two a little young to be a world leading robotics engineer and an E-8 sergeant?"
Mel and Kat just glance at each other. "Why yes… yes we are." Mel admits. "So do you have a secret base, 007?" Part of you laughs as your young tech engineer naturally drifts into childhood fantasy and follows Elise to the backyard. Katerina just shakes her head as she walks back to you, only to stop as a five year old girl with her hair braided into pigtails tugs on her sleeve and points in the direction her sister went. You watch in real time as Katerina's heart melts. A soft smile spreads across her face as she picks the girl up and puts her on her shoulder before following Mel.
"So who had the bingo card square that read 'Katerina is good with kids.'" Jaq deadpans as he walks up to you. "Also when did you learn to drive like that?"
"That was all Mel." You reply with a grin before following Wallcroft to the backyard.
Pick two:
[] "You're a lucky man, Wallcroft."
[] "His Majesty's Secret Service... what's a soldier like you doing raising spooks?"
[] "So how'd you manager to find a place as nice as this?"
