Operation: Healing Shadows

Straight to hell

Mason's POV
I stared at the clock watching the second hand slowly tick away the day as I sat infront of Harry and a pair of NCIS officers, "You are aware that your voice comms are recorded, correct?" Asked the lead agent, Hotchkins, his slender, frail frame sat lazily in the chair while he held a clipboard and pen. I looked at him "Affirmative" he asked, leading me down the path to the answer he wanted, "So you know that we have the recording?" I cocked my head to the side as I leaned forward onto the table, my voice was low but impassive as I asked "what do you want from me?" He responded by asking "Who is Luna Andersen to you?" I looked at Harry for a second before replying "A trusted teammate, a woman who would do anything to bring a teammate home" he nodded slowly, before writing something down, he asked "Has she ever shown any impulsive behavior? As if she wasn't in control?" I leaned back in confusion as I shot back "No, she's in control. She always has been, what does she have to do with any of this?" The agent ignored the question but wrote down some more notes, I paid attention to the recording device sitting impassively in the center of the table. The second agent, Stevens, asked "how much experience do you have with explosives?" I shrugged as I responded "the basics, I'm not a breacher. I know you squids have rummaged through my file, you're asking questions you know the answer to"
He replied with another question "Who would have the experience with explosives? Who would you have on a mission to blow something up? Does Luna have the experience?" I rested my chin on my knuckles as I spoke "No, she doesn't. I'd probably choose Aaron, Erik, Eliza, Shuhrat or Jordan" he put his hands together as he leaned forward "If you needed one, just one, to blow something up. Let's say, a 12 x 14 foot room, without immediately destroying the building. Who would you choose?" My brow furrowed at the question "Why is that so specific? What are you trying to get here?" The agent replied "Nothing, we just want to know who you'd choose" I heard Harry "Mason, cooperate" I sighed but spoke "Um probably Jordan" Hotchkins ordered laxly, almost like he was trying to be friendly "Tell us about Jordan" I motioned to the pile of Files "You already know about him, you've seen his file" Stevens nodded as he offered "We've read the files but the files are only half the story, please, tell us about Jordan" I sighed as I sat up and looked around into the dim room, the cabinets were only faint shadows, the window had its curtains drawn so I could see outside. The entire room was cast in shadows and dancing lights as I replied "He's a good guy, Friendly, trustworthy. He's got a goofy sense of humor but on the field he's sporadic, calculated but unpredictable. His brimstone makes our missions so much easier than in the past" Hotchkins spoke gravely, like he was upset I wasn't going down the path he wanted, "It said in his file there was an accident in New Mexico while Rainbow worked as a Direct Action team combatting the outbreak. A family of 2, one female aged 23, and another female aged 12, in a case of mistaken identity he killed them, has anything else in the same sector happened since? Any training accidents? Missions failed?" I shook my head no as I threw up my hand in a symbol of reservation "No, not since I've joined. He keeps his weapons tight, no lose rounds"
The sigh and angry X on the clipboard gave me the answer I was looking for, Hotchkins suggested "Let's go back to Ms. Andersen, you said you two are close" I pointed out in suspicion "No I didn't, I said she's a trusted teammate. What do you know you aren't telling me?" The Agents went white at the slip up, I continued angrily as I stood and pointed at them "What are you after? You blame Luna for the lost pilots don't you?" Hotchkins replied calmly "No, we're simply trying to reach the bottom of this. Please calm down and cooperate" I sat down with my arms crossed as Hotchkins continued his interrogation "Tell us about Ms. Andersen in her day to day life" I leaned back so my eyes were concealed by shadows "Calculated, she spends a lot of her time training" Stevens straightened, I realized I'd said the wrong thing as he asked "training for what?" I gave him an odd look, as I replied icily "Do you not pay attention to what we do here at Rainbow? We're a quick reaction anti terrorist force, if we aren't ready for everything people die. Everyone on this base trains daily" he asked inquisitively "Does that include explosives training?" I nodded before explaining "It depends on your job, our breachers have a lot more explosives training than us medics, or in Luna's case infiltrators"
I saw a slimy smile on Stevens's face as Hotchkins asked "How good of an infiltrator is she? Could she breach undetected into an enemy compound?" I offered as little information as I could "She's one of the best, probably, depends on her prep time" Stevens asked as Hotchkins scribbled down notes "Let's day she had a day to prepare, would she be able to infiltrate a building like Bin Laden's compound?" My brows furrowed in confusion as my mouth opened and closed several times in shock "Are you shitting me? I don't know, I don't think so" he pressed, guiding me to the answer he wanted "What if she had a week?" I sighed as I nodded "Yeah, she could probably do it." Hotchkins asked another question, one I wasn't expecting, "If you had to cause someone's body to disappear, how would you do it?" I looked at the ceiling and thought it over for a couple minutes until Stevens rudely barked "King! Answer the question!" I looked at him "Relax, I was thinking" he straightened his suit before asking "so how'd you do it?" I looked at the table as I leaned on it "probably feed em to a pig, kill the pig and dissolve the pig's corpse in acid. Why?" Hotchkins took some notes before asking "what do you think happened on the last mission you were on?" I cocked an eyebrow "What do you mean? My team got found out, we got engaged and then we picked up Luna's team and egressed"
He leaned forward "What do you think happened to the pilots?" I shrugged as I thought out loud "Maybe a gelatina bomb? A breaching charge? Shit I don't know this isn't my specialty" Hotchkins leaned forward "We need more, can you give us any idea what could've caused the detonation? Who could've been at fault?" I scrunched my brow "It's a terrorist held city.... who the fuck do you think blew up the hostages? I can guarantee it wasn't anyone from Rainbow" Stevens sighed "Hotch, we aren't gonna get anything out of him. We should move on to the next person" he nodded before speaking to me "Stay on the right side of the law" I glared back as I replied "Stay on the right side" I got pulled to my feet by one of the guards and dragged to the door before being shoved through. I stumbled into the hallway and saw Luna, I opened my arms and urged her to give me a hug with my eyes, she smiled and came forward wrapping me in a tight embrace as I whispered just for her to hear "Don't give them too much information, they're trying to blame you for the death of the pilots" she nodded into my shoulder before the guards pulled us apart "Alright that's enough, get moving"
I glanced back at Luna before walking through the door to the outside, I raised my hand to block the sun as the rays snuck through my fingers, I heard Max as I turned to start walking "Hey Mason! Wait up!" I turned around halfway and saw the small Aussie running full speed at me, I asked "Did you already get questioned?" He nodded before asking "Did they ask about Luna?" I clenched my fist "Yeah, yeah they did. They want to get someone for the detonation and Luna was who they picked" he growled out, the fury in his voice sounded out of place as he muttered "God I wish I could beat the shit out of those slimy fucks" I nodded as I looked at the clouds high up in the sky, unbothered by what's happening down here, "They're probably gonna get her" he looked at me "What are you going to do about it?" I looked over "Well first I'm going to inform my father about the occurrences, then I'm going to get my gear together so if they do get her we can get her out. You with me?" He nodded with determination "You know we'll be throwing away our careers, right?" I looked at him "Well my career never really mattered to me" he asked "So what are we going to do if they do get her? I mean breaking her out isn't gonna do anything but add us to a most wanted list" I looked at him as I spoke "We're gonna play detective and figure out what happened, we'll clear her name" he sighed but replied "Still, we'll probably end up in prison for it" I patted his shoulder as I mused "I suppose it's worth it, isn't it?" He nodded before asking "Do you think our governments would actually betray us like this? Like they'd just let one of us wrongly take the fall?" I sighed as I sadly replied, the remorse slipping into my voice "I do"
He laughed "You know, I can't help but feel like things are gonna change around here" I mused to the wind "I bet they're gonna let Luna go and snatch us all up on another bad mission, say we made it go bad. Hell, maybe a civvie will die and we'll be tried for murder" he nodded before he stretched "Christ my wife's gonna be pissed" I patted his shoulder as we came upon the main building "I'm gonna grab some chow, I'll talk to you when we figure out what the fuck's happening" he gave a salute "I'm with you mate" I smiled "I know" I entered the building and made my way through the halls to the mess hall, I saw Aaron, Craig, Mike, Eliza and Monika sitting at a table. I grabbed my food and sat down before looking at the group "So I'm guessing you've all been questioned?" They nodded as I heard Aaron "Who'd they question you about?" I looked around as I spoke "Jordan and Luna, what about you guys?" Aaron replied with a sigh "You and Luna" I heard the rest of the table "Yea, same" I sighed as I stared at my food "Just when everything was goin' good" Eliza spoke calmly, soothingly "hey, it's okay. You've got us, we're with you. You might be terrifying when you're pissed but you're a good guy, it's not right for you to fall for a terrorists actions"
I looked up and asked "you're aware you could ruin your careers right?" Aaron quoted Jack Silva "well you can't put a price on being able to live with yourself" I looked at the rest of group "You're sure you're willing to do this?" They all looked at each other as if using the person next to them to reassure themselves that they wouldn't be alone, Eliza looked at me "You've got my rifle" Monika nodded as Craig and mike replied "We're with you" I smiled before I spoke "thanks guys, it's nice to know I've got people on my six" I started eating as they explained what the NCIS agents wanted to know. I wrote down some notes that I would send to my father as we talked, about 13 minutes later the two agents and Luna walked into the room, all of the operators went silent as we kept our eyes on them. Luna grabbed her food and headed over to us, the agents looked like they wanted to follow her over but the glares from the table quickly caused them to redirect, I followed them with my eyes as they sat in a far off corner and looked through their notes as Luna sat next to me "Hey guys...." I looked over "What's wrong?" She replied quickly "Nothing" I pressed with a nudge "Gemstone, we've been friends for almost a year, I know you. Something is bothering you, talk to us" she looked at the table "They asked about you a lot, I think they got what they wanted out of me since they smiled. I'm sorry, I couldn't keep them from what they wanted" I sighed but wrapped my arm around her shoulder "Hey it's okay, they may be slimy but they are professional interrogators. They don't care if they got the right guy, only if they've got a guy." She nodded but mumbled "I still feel bad" I looked at the agents and saw them looking at me "Don't, it's okay. I'm not mad or anything, they were gonna get enough of whatever they wanted, there's 50 of us. Even if they only got one usable thing from each of us it's still more than enough for them to make a case against us" she nodded but laid her head down as I rubbed circles into her back.
"Guys, I think they're gonna wait until we have a sideways mission that I'm on before they make their move so it's okay, we've got time to prepare" she turned her head and looked at me before she asked "Do you think Harry would let us take a fall like that?" I heard Mike "Lass, I'm gonna be honest, I don't think Harry has much sway in this" I nodded my agreement as Eliza pointed out "Harry has always come to our defense when someone's critical or accusing one of us but in that room he looked like an ordinary civilian, uncomfortable and nervous" Craig supplied a possible reason "NCIS has gotten more than a few good men arrested for crimes they didn't commit, I don't doubt he's nervous" Aaron commented "I heard about that, thought it was bullshit to be honest" Craig shook his head no as the Agents stood and headed towards the door, every pair of eyes followed their movements with disdain. I stood "I'm gonna head to my room and send this to my father, let him know what's going on. Maybe he can shed some light on what's happening in DC" Luna and Aaron stood "We'll come with you" I looked at the rest of them "Hey do me a favor would ya? Ask the rest of the team what they got questioned about" mike and Eliza nodded "Well get it done" I smiled my thanks as I guided Luna's form towards the door. She looked up at me, her golden eyes dimmed with worry, she asked as she tapped her pointer finger against her arm "Do you think we're going to prison?" I smiled as I replied "no, no I don't" she asked with suspicion laced deeply in her words "Do you truly believe that or are you trying to be a pillar of confidence for me?" I chuckled as I leaned back "A bita both" she nodded as Aaron asked "How're you gonna get your letter to your father? The mails checked to make sure no classified material gets leaked" I smirked as Luna supplied "I'm guessing he'll send it over a back route, you gotta remember we come from influential people, we have the connections" Aaron sighed before he laughed "Fuckin' rich people, I swear" I patted his shoulders until I froze, the two agents were outside our dorm.
I asked sharply "Any reason you're at our room when you know we aren't home?" The agents froze before standing slowly and turning towards us, Aaron jabbed "God damn you boys are shit at wiretapping a place. You aren't supposed to be caught, you fuckin' idiots" Hotchkins straightened his suit again "We were just checking security" I pointed out "What security? The door lock? Because I'm pretty sure the door lock isn't a meter to the right of the door, shit I might be missing something. Luna, did you know door locks moved?" She kept her predatory eyes on the agents "No, I had no fucking clue" they were getting nervous as Aaron pointed out "Here's the part where you run for your boss to tell them you fucked up, or am I missing something?" The Agents scrambled to grab their gear and leave while we stood watching them, in the rush of terror they forgot their note book. I watched them briskly walk away holding their briefcases and several wires while I spoke to Aaron "Call Monika, I wanna know if they got anything in place" he nodded and pulled his phone out while I heard Luna "Lookie here now, they've forgot something" I leaned over her shoulder and read the notes with her "Holy shit, that's a steal if I've ever seen one." She nodded as we took several pictures of the notes before Luna spoke "I'll bring this to Harry, we've got our copies" I nodded and watched her walk off I thought to myself about a section of the notes I read under the title "Romantic relationship between the two?" I looked at Aaron as he spoke "Mon' should be here in a minute, she's grabbing her R.E.D. Scanner now" I gave a thumbs up as I scrolled through the pictures of the notes.
Aaron made me pause on the picture under the section of romantic relationship, "Bro, the agents that have known you two for legitimately 8 hours know you two love each other" I ignored my feelings on the matter and spoke "you're going crazy, seeing shit that doesn't exist" Aaron gripped my shoulder and spun me before he grabbed my shoulders and spoke seriously "Look me in the eyes and tell me entirely honestly that you don't love her" I opened my mouth a couple times before sighing and looking down to my left. He nodded as he released me "Even you know how you feel so why won't you just own it?" I looked at him like he's crazy "And do what? Put her in the line of fire for everyone that wants to criticize me? Or give her as ammunition to the Agents? You're asking me to put her in harms way so I'm happy, what the fuck?" He sighed but replied pointedly "She has those same critics, they're quieter since she isn't as public but you're both dealing with NCIS trying to put you in the clink. You could use each other, it's obvious you both care" I ripped my shoulder away from him and spoke "Try putting yourself and your wife in our position, you'd do everything you could to distance them from the fallout and you know it" he sighed and was about to retort when Monika showed up and spoke "Hi guys, what's happening?" I motioned to the wall "The feds tried wiretapping us, I want to know if they got anything installed" she flicked up her screen and nodded, she scanned the wall slowly before speaking "no, I'm not seeing anything in the walls. I think you caught them before they got anything in" I smiled my thanks as she returned the smile, Aaron thanked her as he pulled the door open "We have to prepare to get everything moving so if you'll excuse us" as he gripped the back of my shirt collar and dragged me into our room.
He stood infront of me and spoke quietly "Level with me, what would you do to keep Luna safe?" I replied sharply "Anything, why? What are you asking of me?" He commented with a pointed tip to the words "If you'll do anything to protect her, then she's safest next to you. Let her in, you two have acted like you're together since you met" I rolled my eyes but retorted "When did you start making so much sense?" He grew a cocky smirk "Being around you rich pricks must've helped me, but seriously, think about it. You want to be with her just as much as she wants to be with you" I sighed but replied "Fine, I'll think about it" he nodded with the smirk as Luna walked in "We've got a problem" I looked at her in confusion "What?" She pressed herself against the door "They're in Harry's office talking about how they're taking us into custody"