Perifidy

Chapter Thirteen: Operations O'Plenty Part 3

          Ela was in her small, cramped room, hunched over her desk scribbling in her sketchbook when she heard a knock at her door. The sudden noise nearly made her jump. It wasn't surprising. After discovering what they did in the basement of that building, they were all more than a little jumpy. She was drawing what everyone was now calling a "Smasher" due to the monster's incredible destructive capabilities. What disturbed Ela the most about the beast was when Doc had revealed it was originally human. Valkyrie slowly opened the door, smiling when she saw her best friend huddled in front of her desk. The room was rather small, all their rooms were; such was the beauty of having to relocate. It didn't have much, a closet, a bed in the top left corner and the desk at the top right corner of the room. The rooms walls were also covered in old, 90's boyband posters, much to Ela's chagrin.

Valkyrie eyed the posters, "Must be nice, being watched by so many cute boys." she teased. Ela snorted, focusing almost completely on her sketchbook. Valkyrie made her way over and nearly gasped at what she saw Ela drawing. It was the Smasher, in astonishingly horrific detail. Valkyrie always knew Ela had incredible artistic talents, but the woman always had a way of surprising her with each new drawing.

"J-jesus El, that's pure nightmare fuel. Are you okay? We're not in The Ring, right? 'Cause if you graduate to whispering creepy shit and having blackouts I might have to shoot you." she joked. Her father had told her as a little girl, when he realized her talent for drawing, that if something ever made her fearful, it was best to "Give the fear a face. Make it real so you may conquer it." She had filled sketchbooks with her vivid nightmares and to her surprise, it helped her. But she wasn't sure it was helping with the Smasher.

"Watch it. I might curse you." Ela said in a spooky tone, waggling her fingers as if she was a witch. The two girls then descended into a giggling fit. It felt like a breath of fresh air, to laugh and joke with Valkyrie as if they hadn't been killing monstrosities that should only be seen on movie screens.

"We're watching Atomic Blonde, wanna join?" Valkyrie asked, finally revealing her reason for intruding. Ela's eyes lit up. The film had just released in the summer of that year and it had quickly cemented itself as one of her favorite modern action films. She threw down her sketchbook and grabbed her soft cardigan off the back of her chair, hurrying out into the living room. It was of moderate size, with used but comfortable couches and chairs spread throughout. Ash was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, a big bowl of popcorn sitting on the coffee table in front of the sunken-in couch where she sat. Glaz sat at a table by the corner, nursing a glass of Vodka while looking absently out the window into the seemingly endless desert that surrounded them. Ela sat down next to Ash, cozying up under the large blanket she had burrowed herself in. Ash wrapped her arm around Ela.

"Hey, El. Have I ever told you that you're so much more huggable than Jordan?" she said affectionately. Ela put a head on her shoulder.

"You don't have to tell me. I know I am best." Ela said smugly. Glaz snorted.

"Not much of a competition. The only thing Jordan can make good love to is blowtorch." he Ash let out a hearty laugh and raised her beer.

"Aye aye, I hear that Timmy." she said. Ela giggled. Jordan was often the butt of many jokes; mostly based on the reactions to said jokes. His temper tended to be just as fiery as his exothermic charges. Valkyrie soon joined them on the couch, making a few more jokes at Jordan's expense before settling into the movie. After raiding two more White Mask compounds in quick succession-containing two more smashers no less-the group was glad to finally catch a small break. They had given the day for Doc, Lion and Finka to analyze the Smasher corpses they could salvage and while they hadn't shared much of their findings; what they had shared disturbed the team down to the core. The revelation that those monstrosities had once been human had horrified everyone. Worse, Doc's initial analysis seemed to indicate that more mutations were entirely possible and to expect them moving forward. What also became apparent was the need to capture a high-ranking White Mask scientist who had intimate knowledge of this bioweapon. Smoke and Lesion were doing what they could to gauge the lethality and danger-level of the bioweapon but they needed one of the developers of the virus apprehended as soon as possible. They had just gotten to the best part-the fight scene near the staircase-when Maverick entered the room. To say the man looked completely wrung out would be a disservice to the expression. While Six had assigned him joint leadership of planning the ops with Ash, he still had a lot of weight on his shoulders. This was his first op with Team Rainbow and being surrounded by such accomplished militant operators made his anxiety skyrocket no doubt. He had to prove himself amongst the best of the best. There was also the fact that many viewed him as Kade's protegee, a title that Ela was sure had a whole different set of expectations and pressures. They all felt for the guy and tried their best to make his load as light as possible. He plopped down into the nearest available chair, his Afghanistan tattoo in full display of the flashing lights of the Television. Despite all that was going on, he still felt at peace being back in the dusty waste that had melded him into the man he was today.