Operation: Healing Shadows

Unwelcome company

Luna's POV
I woke up to mason's hand covering my mouth, my eyes were wide with shock as I looked at him, he held his pointer finger across his lips before looking out the small peep hole. I turned my head and squinted seeing the indistinct shapes of people outside the entrance, I carefully placed my hand on the grip of my Five Seven and laid quietly until we heard the radio "Apex, has your team found anything?" Aaron's voice answered back annoyed "Negative, I'll radio if we do, out. God I fuckin' hate him" Mason shoved the pine branch out of the way as we emerged with our pistols drawn, I saw Aaron and the rest raise their hands as he spoke "Whoa, whoa, whoa.... easy..... easy" I saw Mason straighten as he holstered his pistol "Hello Aaron" Aaron walked forward and gave Mason a short hug "Jeez dude I thought you were going to fucking shoot me for a second" I piped up as I holstered my "don't worry Aaron, he wasn't going to. That was my job" he smiled as he bowed his head slightly "Hey Luna, always the charmer" Mike, Craig, Marius and Eliza walked forward as we caught up quickly and they helped us pack up. I was about to get into the passenger seat when Aaron hit Mason with a strong right cross, Mason gripped his jaw as he looked at Aaron with a sharp glare "You better explain that right now, or I swear to god they'll have a legitimate charge to lock me up on" my hand snuck to the grip of my pistol as I got ready to draw it if I had to. Aaron growled out "You took all the good MREs, you know what you did you fuck!" My grip on my pistol went completely lax as the rest of us, Aaron's team included, stood there shocked at the reasoning, Mason laughed "Wait that's what this is about?" Aaron nodded clearly pissed as mason reached into the backseat and pulled out an MRE from his bag "Here's a tip, don't eat it for a while. I'll talk to you when we reach tonight's spot, use secure frequency 3" Aaron nodded as Eliza walked forward and gave Mason a quick hug "Stay safe, you too Luna" I nodded as Mike spoke to me "Lass, keep him focused. We all know how he can get" I heard Mason "Hey I heard that" as I replied with a laugh "Of course Mike, I'll bring him home in one piece without the stupid stunts" mason called again with more indignation "Hey! I heard that!" Marius asked directing the last part at Mason "So what were you two doing in that bush? Huh? Hopefully wrapping your tool" mason chuckled before replying "Sleeping, we were sleeping since running from you fucks is understandably tiring" Marius smiled broadly "Of course, my baby could catch you any day" I rolled my eyes as the radio crackled to life "Apex, move to rally point alpha, we're egressing to HQ" Aaron replied tiresomely "Wilco Agent, Alright Mason I've got a meeting with your dad today to explain what's going on." Mason nodded before speaking "oh shit, great, transfer him those pictures of the agents notes. It'll come in handy knowing dad has all the facts" Aaron nodded before speaking to the team "Alright guys, let's move before Hotchkins gets a predator to watch us"
      I slid into the passenger seat and pulled my FMG out of the glove box double checking the magazine and chamber before I folded it again and put it in the glove box, Mason slid in and looked at me "Ready to visit Switzerland?" I rolled my wrist motioning him to explain causing him to speak "we're gonna take a detour to Switzerland and plant that tracker, add about 6 hours to our trip but it'll keep rainbow off our asses for a bit" I sighed before asking "Why don't we do it in Greece? It's still south but we'll still be making progress getting to Russia" he smirked as he spoke "and this is why you're the navigator" I ran my hand through my hair coming out a small twig "That little place was surprisingly comfortable, I could do without the sticks in my hair but it was nice" Mason looked somewhat tired, his eyes were a bit duller than normal and it looked like he had faint dark spots under his eyes "Yeah, I could've used more sleep but a couple hours was nice" I looked at him bewildered "Wait, you only got a couple hours? Why?" He grew an evil twinkle in his eyes "you kept pressing yourself against me and I couldn't stay comfortable since you wouldn't stop crawling over me" I buried my face in my shirt sleeves as it burned "For helvede(Goddamnit)" he replied in a teasing tone "Aww look at that, the great Luna taken down by her own actions" I barked back still covering my face in embarrassment "Ja well I bet you enjoyed it" he laughed before replying "Anyone ever tell you that you're a space heater? Like you touched me and my body temperature skyrocketed" I sighed as he kept teasing me for a while.
      I noticed him tapping on the wheel as he looked into the mirrors every couple seconds, all the signs of someone being nervous, "What is it?" He replied with a glance into his mirror "A mask tail" I asked inquisitively "How do you know they're masks? I don't wanna have a blue on blue with rainbow" he replied after pretending to think "Oh I don't know, I think it's the white masks they're wearing" I reached into the backseat and grabbed my shotgun and some magazines, "Try to keep them on my side if they get busy" he nodded as he slowly increased in speed, I felt myself slide back as we pulled away. I chambered a shell and kept my eyes on the masks behind us, I saw one of their windows roll down and the woman gripped the top of the window while holding her L85, I called it out "One's moving to get a shot" Mason checked the rest of the angles before replying "When they get close shoot that motherfucker" I flexed my fingers on the rear grip and waited, it was a short wait, 2 minutes later the Mask driving accelerated until he was next to us, I could tell the car wasn't armored like ours as I gripped the door handle and shoved it open using my leg to hold it open as I lifted my shotgun and fired one shell into the chest of the woman hanging out the window before I shifted my aim to the driver and watched his eyes widen as the world slowed, I saw the bolt kick back followed closely by the small flash at the barrel tip. The smoke swirled before being ripped back by the wind as the pellets tore through the windows of the Ford Escape and painted the back of the driver's seat red as the car started to swerve violently. I retracted my leg from the door and returned to sitting normally as the wind slammed the car door shut and I turned around placing my shotgun on the backseat next to the rest of our gear, I heard Mason "Good job, flashy, I like it" I chuckled at the compliment as we saw a couple people pulling to the shoulder to check on the masks.
We drove for the rest of the day just watching Europe pass, taking breaks every now and again when one of us needed to use the bathroom or needed a break from sitting for hours on end. Our last stop was 3 hours ago and my ass was starting to fall asleep, "Mace, can we stop so I can walk around for a bit?" He glanced over "Yeah, just let me find someplace" I sighed in relief as he started searching. A couple minutes later we pulled off into a small rest area and I climbed out stretching as Mason climbed out too and sighed "oh shit, feels so good to actually have blood in my legs" I snorted before teasing him "Don't you mean one leg?" He looked up with a dirty expression "that's a low blow" I continued with the teasing "Just like that rpg" he froze for a second looking haunted before I realized what I had said "Oh my, I'm so sorry. I didn't.... I wasn't thinking....." he waved me off as he sat down on the hood and rolled up his pant leg looking at the scarred and battered prosthetic, I could see the impact mark of the 7.62 round that hit his leg the mission the pilots died.
      I sat next to him before leaning against his arm "I'm sorry, I didn't think about it" he nodded before replying "It's fine, It was a long time ago" I asked sadly "But time hasn't healed this wound... has it?" He looked over before whispering "You're too smart for your own good" I nodded against his shoulder before asking "Are you sure you're okay? I feel really bad about that joke" his shoulders racked with a soft, deep raspy laugh "yes gem, I'm okay. Just thinking" I asked hoping to myself it was something good "a what about? Hopefully puppies or baby crocodiles, those are cute" he shook his head no but replied with almost no emotion slipping through, for a second he was completely blank in body language "What it'd be like to be normal" I sat up straight removing my cheek from his shoulder "you are normal" he looked up at the clouds "No, not really anyway. Everyone knows who I am because of my father, I don't have a leg, I'm a member of two special forces communities, now I'm wanted. Everything that happens to me.... only makes me more isolated. Hell its hard enough making friends that are actually friends and not looking for money" I replied softly as I rested my hand on his shoulder "I know the feeling, we aren't that different. You've just dealt with more of it than I have, but there's hundreds of other people that have experienced the same stuff we have.... we're normal" he looked at me before murmuring "yeah, I guess" I replied chirping happily "Why do you take shotgun and get some sleep? You look tired" he yawned but nodded "thanks Lu, we'll be able to drive through the night now" I slid off the hood and helped him to his feet "come, we leave now" he didn't offer any resistance as he shuffled to the passenger door while I watched in amusement at the zombie like choice of movement.
I slid into the seat and shifted into drive checking for any cars before I merged back onto the road, I sped up quickly so the car behind us wouldn't rear end us only to notice they were getting pretty close to us. I sighed at the annoyance but didn't pay it much mind, I listened to music and watched Eastern Europe pass as we made our way to Russia, 3 hours later however I started paying attention to the car, it matched our every turn and stayed with us. I woke up Mason "Hey, hey wake up I'm pretty sure a police officer is following us" he sat up and looked back before turning "Damnit" I nodded as he confirmed my suspicion "Fuck, we've got to get rid of him" he looked at me before replying while he looked at the car "The tires are probably resistant, the windows and doors are also probably armored. Mhmm, oh I got it" as he pulled his L115 into the front seat and chambered a round "Hold her steady" I gripped his bicep "We aren't killing a cop" he smiled at me "don't worry, I'm not killing him" as he pushed the door open and slowly climbed so his back rested against the fully opened door and his feet rested against the bottom of the door frame. I saw the man's eyes widen in fear as Mason leveled his rifle at him, I felt a pit grow in my stomach as I watched Mason prepare to end the man's life for something he didn't understand only to turn my eyes away and stare at the road ahead listening to the wind scream past the open door. The screaming of the wind was shattered by the roar of mason's rifle as he fired, I didn't dare look back until I heard a loud crack, as if Zeus himself hit the car behind us, I looked back quickly and saw the engine block of the car had erupted and kicked the car's hood into the windshield rendering the car inoperable.
I looked at him in surprise "But.... how?" He replied with a cheeky smile "Depleted uranium rounds, an amazing round that will fuck up any engine it hits" I breathed a sigh of relief "Oh thank god, I thought you were going to kill him" he replied tiredly "I'm not an animal, he didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't deserve to die for nothing" I nodded happily as I spoke quietly just low enough he couldn't hear me "I'm glad I chose you" he replied in question "Hmm?" I waved him off as I accelerated away from the scene "Don't worry about it" he leaned back in his seat "Wake me up when you want to get some sleep" I nodded before replying "Night" I turned the radio up a bit before falling into silence. An hour later I heard soft murmurs from Mason and looked over seeing his hat covering his face and his right arm supporting his head as it laid against the window. His murmurs continued as he twitched in his sleep, I chuckled quietly at the actions before pausing as I looked out the windshield that's the calmest I've seen him in a long time, I hope he doesn't change as this continues. Several hours later I tapped his shoulder hearing the familiar groan as he shifted trying to escape the inevitable, I poked his back as he groaned but sat up "What?" He yawned before stretching his limbs "you're up for driving?" He asked groggily while wiping his eyes of the Sandman's sleep sand "What time is it?" I replied after looking at the console "21:35" he nodded before speaking "Alright, let's switch. I'm sure your ass is falling asleep again, like usual" I felt my cheeks heat up before I mumbled "Ja, it is...." he laughed but climbed out of the car and passed me by before sliding into the driver's seat, I asked something that'd been nagging at the back of my head for a while "Hey mace, can you be honest with me?" He looked over surprised "I'm always honest with you, what do you wanna know?" I asked pointedly "Why were you so ready to run with me when those agents decided to come for us?" He replied with a small nervous chuckle "Well love makes you put others above yourself, if you're safe then I don't really give a damn what happens to me" I ordered "You better take care of yourself, you hear me?" He replied laughing "yes ma'am" as I leaned my chair back and got comfortable, I thought over his reasons as my body relaxed and drifted off to sleep.