Graves was such an arrogant prick. No one needed to walk around with big dick swinging and here the bastard stood. His freaking Shadow, he said. Fucking shady ass motherfucker.
"I'll do it," John volunteered.
"I was thinking maybe I should be the one going," I piled.
"They'll kill you both," Alejandro said.
"It's necessary," I said.
"I'm not letting you take the chance, Caelith," John stated.
"If it's gonna be a room full of straight dudes, it's easier if I'm the one presenting," I reasoned.
"I hate the idea," Simon stated.
"It's a great idea," Graves countered.
The fact that he agreed with me made me think that it was indeed a bad plan.
"It's bad," Alejandro agreed.
"If it was me, I would likely kill him than her," Graves said.
"Soap can take overwatch, he's a sniper. I'm built for combat if needed," I said.
"You're not exactly a good talker," Simon said.
"I can do it," I insisted.
"I'll offer intel for a meet with Sin Nombre," John gathered. "If he's there, we pounce."
After a little bit of more argument, it was decided that John would be the one going.
"You make it in, you'll need eyes and ears. I'll go, too," Alejandro said.
I looked at him in disbelief.
"I'll take overwatch," Simon decided.
Now, my disbelief glare turned to Simon.
"Shadow circles the target in a helo," Simon continued.
"Roger that," Graves said.
"Cae, you're with me," Simon decided.
Not air support, not help. Emotional support. Again. As what I would always do in a group where I was the only woman in a mission like this.
"They are going to want proof," Graves took something out of his pocket. "Show them this."
Graves handed over the thing he pulled out of his pocket to John.
"Call me when you need me," Graves said. "Or for a drink, Redfield."
"I don't drink," I said.
"You're the captain's daughter, I'll spend money on you. Alright, let's gear up and get after it!" Graves chuckled as he moved on.
We split up. I, as instructed, went with the lieutenant.
I was not always a good shot, but with this shoulder and shaky hand, I was worse. However, when Simon took his position, I decided that I should at least do the same. He said nothing against it whatsoever and asked if I got a clear view.
From there, we waited.
"Shadows in position," Graves announced through the comms.
"Copy. All set here," Simon replied.
"Seein' room to set down on the roof," Graves continued.
"Check," Simon said.
"Eyes on a hostile on the left wing," I said.
"It's just me," Alejandro informed.
"Damn, that was nice and violent," I commented.
A little bit of housekeeping happened for a while. Soon, I could see John coming up and being taken inside. I watched around the house.
It got pretty quiet at some point.
"Cae, you bring your meds?" Simon asked out of nowhere.
"Yeah," I said. "Why?"
"Just making sure," Simon said.
I turned my face to see him.
"You take it already?" Simon asked without looking at me.
"In one hour," I said.
Simon looked at his watch before looking back through the rifle.
"Eyes front, sergeant," Simon said.
What the hell had gotten into him?
Now, everybody knew about my condition and took the right to just babysit me? The first time, they preferred sending me away.
It was a lot of waiting after that.
"What if... El Sin Nombre isn't a man?" I suggested. "That's a flaw of a gendered language."
"You think so?" Simon asked.
"Seems very philosophical," I commented. "Could be."
"We'll see," Simon said.
A halt.
"How good a shot are you, Cae?" Simon asked.
"Decent," I said. "You can only kill zombies with head shots. Also, we can't waste good guns and bullets and that's all we have in the BSAA."
"These are good guns indeed," Simon commented.
"Right?" I agreed.
"Well, cheers to the BSAA and their princess," Simon said.
I still hated that nickname. Never liked it.
Initially, the person giving me the nickname was Leon. At first, only the DSO calling me that, but then it got contagious that people in the BSAA also started addressing me as such. Then, it just got popular that Caelith Redfield was the BSAA princess.
It was not an endearing title. People were basically mocking me for getting spoonfed the good stuff. However, in the other hand, they hardly put me to work properly. That was why I was put mostly on air support as of the last couple of years.
So, I did not respond and continued watching the house and the tiny people inside it.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Simon looking at me at some point, but soon looked back through his rifle.
We had some action after that, well... watching. A lot of it, but it got a little more excited watching the tiny people inside the house, two of them were Alejandro and John. Simon did most of the talking.
Eventually, we caught someone and I was watching our friends.
"Not a man," I pointed out.
"Nice guess," Simon commented.
"Oh, my God," I exhaled when I noticed something from the distance.
"What did you see?" Simon asked.
"Alejandro's face when we take the woman," I answered. "Still making the same face."
Simon looked through the scope once more.
"I think they know each other," I commented.
I put down the rifle, looking at Simon. He put down his rifle and looked at me.
"Let's move," he gestured at me to go ahead.
We walked until we got picked up. We went back to the base and right away delivered the person we took into holding.
Now, we were stood in this container, the woman sat in the middle of it. Quite an attractive woman, if I could be honest. For some reason, it felt good to have another woman in the room.
The questioning started immediately with a lot of insults and tension. I only stood back, taking in the entertainment that I could get. It went quite intensely, Alejandro walked away.
When it was over, I walked out and about to head back to conclude the night, but someone put a hand on my right shoulder. It was a gloved hand with skeletal print.
"It's been an hour, Cae," Simon said.
"An hour?" John chimed in.
"Time for pills," Simon replied.
"No need to babysit me, sir," I said, peeling Simon's hand off my shoulder. "Though, I thank you for the concern."
John looked at myself and Simon back to back for a second. Not wanting to participate further, I walked myself to my quarter.
Just like the other night, I got the shower first. Well, I took my medicine first before doing anything else. After shower, I went to the mess hall to eat.
The server, again, decorated my food with a smiley face made of tomato sauce. Seeing no familiar face, I took an empty table. My meal was half finished when John and Simon joined the table.
John sat next to me while Simon sat across me, mostly because behind me was a wall. Simon had a tray in front of him.
"Jesus, slow down, Caelith," John said.
"What?" I responded.
"Your doctor's not jokin'. You eat like a vacuum cleaner," John said.
I shrugged.
"Did you take your drugs?" Simon asked.
"If you don't stop, I will fucking die," I stated.
"Did you?" Simon proceeded casually.
I exhaled deeply.
"I did," I said.
"Good," Simon nodded.
John patted me on the back.
Simon ate in a very awkward way. All while, I did not dare looking at him because I respected his privacy and he should have it. Just like I did with Hunk.
The first time I met Hunk was on a drill that the BSAA did. We went on quite a few mission after that. The last one, we were the remaining two people standing and he showed me his face. I saw it, he ordered me to. He was not BSAA, of course, but we were fond of him.
It seemed every forces had their own Hunk. The Brits had Ghost.
We hardly talked for the meal, but neither John and I argued when rushed to bed because we would be leaving tomorrow.
Jill texted me that night, updating me that the outbreak had finally been contained. No update on what she told me about, though.
We left early in the morning. We got onto a ship. With storm cherrying on top. A lot of yelling on the journey.
"It could be a trap," Alejandro suggested.
"A friend of mine fought a giant mutated fish once," I chimed in.
"Don't worry, if there's one here, I'll chuck you out as bait," Alejandro replied.
"I was worried you're not gonna," I casually said.
Alejandro ended that one with a chuckle.
The raid was brief, there were hardly people on the damn rig. We found the missile, but it was armed and the control was not seen. We split up from there, again I was 'benched' to be with Alejandro. Nothing I could argue with at the moment.
It was not long until Simon radioed in and told is to clear the area. I followed as led by Alejandro. Within less than a minute, we were back on water.
We were hardly away from the area when the explosion happened. It swept us away with a breeze of heat and rubble. I had come to a point where I had gotten used to it.
"Princess, you okay?" Ghost radioed.
"One piece, with the others," I replied.
"That was fucking crazy, man," Alejandro said.
"Everyone's safe?" I asked.
"We're good here, hermana," John confirmed.
As the objective was completed, we headed back immediately. Eventually, we got reunited with the others. We got into a car and were driven to the base.
My shoulder started pulsing in pain in the middle of the car ride. I practically started clenching my left fist from there. It was not bad, but still uncomfortable when ignored.
Just as we arrived, my watch beeped, telling me that I should be taking my drugs.
When I got out of the car, Simon was facing me. So, I shook my head at him.
"What's this?" Alejandro questioned.
I finally looked at what he was referring to and noticed that instead of Alejandro's men, the people around the base was Graves'.
Looking at Simon, he looked cautious out of a sudden. John was looking as cautious, but both were hiding it well. I was still holding my own fist.
"This is the immediate future," Graves said. "Step away from the gate."
Oh, he was dirty indeed.
"What?" John questioned.
"You heard me," Graves said.
"You're crazy. This is my base," Alejandro said.
"It's not a base," Graves said. "This is a sizable convert facility that happens to be freshly armed with good weapons and I admire it. So, I'm taking it."
Could not say I was surprised by this, but I did not expect him to go this far beyond the line.
"You boys have been relieved. Thank you for your service," Graves continued before looking at me. "You, too."
"No, no, no, I don't take orders from you," Alejandro denied.
"Didn't Valeria say that?" Graves replied. "Now that makes me wonder what else I don't know about your affiliation with a druglord."
I was about to say something when I felt Simon staring me down in order to tell me to stay quiet. So, I swallowed my words.
Alejandro looked at us as if saying, Can you believe this motherfucker?
"What the fuck did you just say to me, pendejo?" Alejandro started approaching Graves.
"You're out of the line, Graves," John said, also approaching Graves, but more to back Alejandro up.
"Don't do that," Graves warned, pointing a cheeky finger at John.
This tension seemed to be making my pain worse. It was like the conflict fed the spasm of pain that was my shoulder. It started crawling up my neck.
"No one needs to get hurt here," Graves said.
"Are you threatening us?" Simon questioned
"Soldier, I don't make threats," Graves said. "I make guarantees. So, let's not do this."
He soldiered Simon 'Ghost' Riley? Really? He dared so?
"I'm calling Shepherd," John said as he turned around.
"General Shepherd sends his regards," Graves stated. "He told me y'all wouldn't take this well."
"He knows about this?" Simon concluded.
I just realised that Simon hardly make a statement other than his appearance. Mostly, he asked questions.
"He's put me in command of this operation from here on out," Graves informed. "So, y'all need to stand down. It's time to let the pros finish this. He said the BSAA can stay if they want since they're being very generous, but why would I be hoarding a ticking bio organic bomb?"
He said the last five words looking at me.
"Besides, you're just a very fortunate unit who has a very influential name, thus given an agent level mission. And why the hell are we talking like this is some kind of a negotiation? It's not," Graves proceeded. "I've got my orders and now you have yours."
"And who the fuck do you think you are, cabron?" Alejandro replied. "My men are inside!"
"I'm afraid not," Graves stated. "Your men have been... detained."
By then, I slipped my left hand into the brass knuckle that was hanging by my belt. Carefully, make sure no one saw it. Well, Simon saw it and he made no reaction to it other than looking past me. I assumed there was someone behind me.
Alejandro ran ahead towards Graves. He was immediately restrained and Graves raised his gun at John and started firing. I turned around, pulling my brass knuckled off my belt and threw a swing at the person who had been very close to me.
At the same time, I pressed the switch that was placed in the palm of the brass knuckle so now there were blades sticking out of both opening of my fist, one of them inside the face of the person I punched. Stepping back, I found myself back to back with Simon. He immediately pushed me down and I felt a bullet going above my head as he did so as well as feeling a strong push on my left shoulder as I ducked down.
"Caelith, get out of here!" Simon yelled. "Fucking go now, fuck's sake!"
With that, I rolled myself off away from the area.