Breaking the news

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Mark's POV
06:48
Day 7
Bellevue, Washington
We stopped at the Hotel to change into our dress blues and drop off our clothes and gear before we go to his parents house to inform them about Craig. I sighed as I straightened out my uniform,

 "ready to go?" Meghan looked at me "no" I nodded "me either, let's go" she sighed as we walked through the halls and down the staircase before walking outside to the rental car

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"ready to go?" Meghan looked at me "no" I nodded "me either, let's go" she sighed as we walked through the halls and down the staircase before walking outside to the rental car. "Meg, you know where his parents live?" She nodded "I've been there a couple of times" I tossed her the keys "the chariot is yours" she rolled her eyes "you're such a nerd" I shrugged "better than boring" she nodded "I guess so" I turned on the radio as we rode in silence towards something I didn't want to do, breaching a room as the pointman easy, breaking the news to someone parents fuck no. I hummed along to the song as I watched the city pass by until the city turned to the suburbs, we came to a halt infront of a nice house.

I took some deep breaths "let's get this over with" she nodded silently as we got out and briskly walked to the front door

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I took some deep breaths "let's get this over with" she nodded silently as we got out and briskly walked to the front door. I saw my gloved hand impact the door as I calmed my nerves until the door opened and I saw an older lady cover her mouth in horror as her eyes landed on the trident. An older gentleman walked over when he heard her sniffling before he noticed us and joined her in crying, I spoke my own voice swamped in my tears "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Craig didn't survive" the Man looked up "did he die for something?" Meghan spoke "his sacrifices gained us enough intelligence to dismantle the leadership of the White Masks" he nodded as I reached into my pocket pulling out a picture of Craig, Myself, and Meghan when we were young and innocent from 2006 in ramadi "Sir, I want you to have this." He looked up as his wife carefully took the picture and spoke "You three were friends right?" Meghan replied her voice wavering with every snot filled sniffle "Yes ma'am, extremely close friends" she looked up "Come in, get out of the cold" I looked at the older man as he nodded and motioned us in. I walked, in taking off my cap as they guided us into the living room, where I saw a picture of Craig after he graduated BUD/S "oh I remember this, he was so baby faced." I chuckled as Mr. Jensen spoke "Yes, yes he was. How'd you meet him?" I looked over "Ramadi, I'd just joined team 6 and we were deployed to help team 3 reign in the city." He sighed "we were terrified we'd lose him there" I asked "did he ever tell you about Iwo Jima in Ramadi?" He shook his head no "he didn't like talking about the military when he was home" I nodded "we never do, do you want to hear it?" He replied tiredly "please?" I spoke "Charlie platoon was providing overwatch for some marines. The marines got ambushed in an area the SEALs couldn't see so they were trying to figure out a way to get the fire onto themselves so the marines could escape" Mr. Jensen nodded "Always trying to save someone else" I sighed "one of the SEALs carried a full size American flag with him so they got a pipe and they lifted it Iwo Jima style and the Al Qaeda started firing on them. They got chewed out for it but they loved it" he smiled with tears in his eyes "Thats my son, always a troublemaker" I nodded wiping away my own tears "always keeping things interesting" he guided me over to the table where Meghan and Mrs. Jensen were sitting. I sat as Meghan looked over "We were just talking about you and Craig" I nodded "a lot of shenanigans" Mrs. Jensen asked "how long did you know him?" I thought about it "13 years, almost 14 years" she sniffled "what's your best memory with him?" I thought about it "it wasn't with him but I was at Coronado while he was going through BUD/S I was talking with some of the Instructors and the Admiralty when the Instructors were doing a shake down. Craig in his infinite wisdom instead of trying to straighten his barracks he made a party for them and prayed he got the right instructors. It worked and bought his Class enough time to straighten their barracks and he got through training" his father spoke "I thought you said you didn't meet him until Ramadi" I replied "because I never met him at BUD/S. I was just there and got told the story by the instructors he threw the party for" he nodded as Mrs Jensen spoke wiping her eyes "that seems right up Craig's alley" I nodded slowly as Mr. Jensen asked Meghan "what's your favorite memory with him?" She laughed "it's a memory with Craig, Me and Mark so we were working out of the same base as team 6. Craig and Mark were screwing around and the heat of the day was getting to them so they took off their pants and their shirt and then literally 5 minutes later an AK was fired at the base so these two had to fight a battle under heavy fire with just their guns, vests, underwear and boots." I chuckled rubbing the back of my neck "not my best moment" both his parents started laughing, not chuckling truly laughing. I smiled as we spent the rest of the day spending time with his parents before we had to go back to the hotel. I sat on my bed in my pants as I watched the news until Meghan asked "When's our flight?" I looked over "7:00, why?" She sighed as she put down her hair "just tired and want to relax" I nodded "Sleep on the flight tomorrow, sadly I have to help Nienke with her project" she looked up "you two would look cute together" I gave her a weird look "I've known her legitimately a week, what the fuck Meg?" She shrugged "I didn't say you had to date her right now, I just said you'd look cute together" I rolled my eyes "get some sleep you weirdo" she chuckled as I turned off the light and leaned back.
The next day in the workshop at Rainbow
      "Alright now walk me through what you're trying to do" she sighed "Alright, I'm trying to make the my replication last longer" I nodded "okay so have you tried increasing the size of the battery?" She replied "it increased the amount of surges so the image would spasm and give away that it's a fake" I tapped on the table "could we give it an alternative power source it can draw from? Like it uses the same one it's using now and when that's empty it taps into the secondary?" She rubbed her chin "we might be able to but we'd have to redesign my replicator" I spoke "I guess we should get to designing" she chuckled "I suppose so, go connect to the speakers and play some music we're gonna be here a while" I gave a quick salute and walked over plugging in my phone and scrolling through my playlist "Rock, Country, Rap or Electronic?" She looked up "Electronic" I nodded as I scrolled looking for a song, muttering to myself "where is it? Where is it? Ah there it is"

I hit play as I walked over to the drawing board and sat next to Nienke "could we just double the size of it?" She shook her head no "the fans would be too loud" I sighed "shit, could we put a thin battery pack all the way around it while keepin it the same size and just slightly increasing the weight?" She sighed "no, the weight could be too much and if an enemy shot it there's the risk it would explode" I groaned in frustration, Nienke patted my shoulder "we'll figure it out" I asked "how much are we trying to extend the duration?" She replied "30%" I nodded as I stared at the replicator "could we size everything up?" She sighed "no, too much noise" as we fell quiet listening to the music while we tried to figure out how to up the duration. Half an hour later, I heard Nienke "could we try adding another replicator disk but only have it hold a battery and adding some wiring to the other 5 disks" I looked up "that could work but I'm not an electrician I can only help you take out the replicator itself and replace it with the battery pack" she spoke "it's good enough, I can ask Emma to help me with the electrical work" I nodded "tell me what I need to do boss" she chuckled "go and grabbed one of my extra disks" I saluted "aye aye" I walked over as a new song I knew started playing, as I started back to the table I started subconsciously singing along.

I handed the disk to Nienke as she paused and looked at me "why are you singing?" I looked at her "I Am? Holy shit I am, I didn't even notice" she chuckled "I find myself singing a lot when I'm in here" I jokingly glared at her "So you're the reason I was singing" she laughed "I guess so" we set about working until 45 minutes later while we were singing horribly off tune I looked over at the short woman next to me and saw the time "Why am I always late to dinner?" She looked over at me before looking at the time "godverdomme(god damnit), let's go before our friends finish eating" I nodded "lead the way" she turned and started running to the door as I ran after her as my eyes shifted to her ass before I muttered "Jesus Christ I have got to stop I'm gonna run into a wall if I keep staring" we got into the cafeteria causing mike to see us breathing heavily and heading to the line together. When we sat down he looked at the rest of the table "Oi lads, look the lovebirds stopped making out long enough to join us" I chuckled "mate I wish that was what happened, I was busy slamming my head against a table because the damn project is hard" the rest laughed as Nienke and Meghan shared a look i wonder what that's about before we settle in to eating and making jokes at each other's expense.

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