She was glad when she got placed in the team Ghost led instead of the one with Graves. It was such a small gesture, the way he grabbed Valeria's shoulder or the way he broke her personal bubble, but it triggered her enough for her to not want to be near him for a little while.
The waves threw the boat left and right, water splashing in her face. With narrowed eyes, trying to resist the urge to shield her eyes she fixed her gaze on a bigger ship, it being their target to load off.
It was dark out, the dark heavy sky bleeding into the ocean under them, rain and waves making a joined effort in slowing them down. Oddly enough, Rora felt at ease with her current surroundings: the storm that only started to announce itself and the stormy water was such an odd combination she enjoyed, the outside chaos matching her heart perfectly.
Maybe that was why she resonated with this type of nature so much. Because finally, her chaos wasn't the only one destroying things.
„All right! That's our target," Graves' voice snapped her out of her thoughts, his voice being far too cheery and loud for her liking. She sent a look to Ghost, the lieutenant returning her gaze in an instant.
There was an unspoken peace between them, settling down and making its home as their eyes met. Since the night she had the chance in opening up, he seemed to be more patient with her, and she tried to behave more adultly, considering her actions and thinking through things more. It was a hard process, and her impulsive thoughts still showed most of the time, but it was getting manageable.
Another wave slammed against the side of their little boat, half of the water soaking them to their core. That was the time when his gaze left her, it slightly squinting as he tried to keep his eye on their target, him being still as a statue. She wondered how he didn't manage to waterboard himself under that mask with all the water and all.
She was sure as hell that she would've drowned by now.
She kind of toned out Graves's voice as she watched him, debating whether or not she should ask her question about the waterboarding thing, but before she could decide, his hand reached to the radio secured on his chest, pressing a button down and speaking into the comms.
„All stations, ship is visual," his voice was loud and clear despite the loud waves crashing into each other, it bringing her thoughts to an end.
She will ask about it later.
„Copy, prep for assault. Stay on comms," Graves ordered, Rora holding the urge to roll her eyes back. Of course, they would stay on comms, she wouldn't just cut herself off like that.
The teams finally separated, and their little team called Charlie Team reached the cargo ship soon after that. With some grappling hook and rope, they climbed onto the deck, them being as silent as Death himself.
Ghost was the first to climb up, his hand already pulling his rifle in front of him, quickly glancing both ways to secure the area for the others. Rora rolled over the metal fence guarding the edge, her booted leg landing softly against the wet metal ground of the ship.
After all of them boarded safely, the team strolled down to look for enemies, trying to seek out the missiles they were chasing for so long.
She followed after Ghost, his tall build hunched over slightly, his steps inaudible against the storm, her fascination towards him growing as she watched him. If it wasn't for that stupid mask, maybe she could've made friends with him long before.
Almost like he felt her heavy gaze burning into his back, he turned his head to look at her, slowing down his pace. She was fast behind him, every little noise capturing her attention, her gaze wide awake, finger ready on the trigger. His urge to send her in front of him was growing, not trusting anybody but himself to have his back, but going in front was more dangerous.
Their gaze met for a heartbeat, her lips curving into that smirk he saw many times before, the scar along her face stretching slightly.
„I got you, Lt., don't worry," Rora lulled, her voice low as she didn't want to blow their cover by any chance.
He doubted her, knowing her previous history, but even though she did some questionable things, she didn't fail to cover them so far.
„Just give a warning before blowing something up," was his only answer, turning back ahead, and continuing his way to clear the ship.
„Sure, sir," her smile widened, enjoying that he didn't just leave her sentence hang in the air like before.
Turning to enter a narrow hallway, a soldier came out of one of the rooms on the left, oblivious to their presence so far. Rora pulled her rifle closer to her chest, her pointing her aim at the soldier's head, ready to release a bullet in the back of his head. But seemingly, Ghost had other plans.
He released his semi-automatic, letting it hang by his side as he pulled out a throwing knife out of his velcro pocket, flipping the small shiny knife in his gloved hand before he took aim, chucking the blade in the direction of the soldier.
She watched as the blade made home in the back of his head where she aimed previously, the body collapsing on the floor with a dull thud, blood seeping from the deathly wound.
He probably didn't feel anything, it was like they just flipped a light switch, his soul being claimed by darkness as they stood over him, the distance between them and his now lifeless body closing by each step.
„Show-off," she huffed out, her eyes remaining on the soldier. He was still fairly young, with dirty blond short hair and dark eyes. His eyes were staring ahead lifelessly, a small twinge in her heart as she watched him. At least it was quick, he didn't suffer.
„One," Ghost gruffed out, bending down and retrieving his knife. He wiped the blood off into the leg of his jeans, a frown creeping up to her face. How the hell did he manage to go in jeans blew her mind.
„Oh, so you want to play that game again?" her smirk returned, tilting her head back slightly as she looked up at him. He speared her a quick look, only to notice the widening grin on her face.
„If you want to win, better hurry up."
The mischievous glint in her icy eyes almost made her eyes the same color as the stormy sky, craving action and chaos as the adrenaline started to flood her veins.
„Better pull up your big-boy pants, Ghost, 'cause I'll flatten you like a fucking post-it," Rora rolled her shoulders back, easing back into an easy hunch for a better grip on her gun, strolling down the hallway. „Also, how are you breathing under that thing? We've been splashed in the face with half of the ocean."
„And?" he asked, now turning to the right, her checking immediately their left.
„I don't know about you Brits, but waterboarding is a thing in the US," she breathed, her gaze flicking back to his form.
„I don't know about you Americans, but breathing isn't that hard," he retorted, his words causing a small chuckle to leave her lips.
„Look at that, you've got humor!" she chimed, her eyes glinting with amusement, while his clearly said I regret everything. „Hey, I bet I can make you smile under that," she motioned with her hand towards his face.
He haltered in his steps to look around another corner. After making sure it was clear, he emerged, Rora following behind.
„Can I tell you a joke?" she asked, watching his side profile as he was busy with checking everything, rifle ready in his arms. Maybe it wasn't the best time, but her mind just came up with the perfect joke, and whether or not he would approve, she was going to tell it anyway.
„Go on," Ghost replied, surprising her with how easily he agreed to it, despite their situation. She didn't mind, at least she didn't get yelled at for being unprofessional or something.
„What keeps a dock floating above water?"
„What?"
„Pier pressure."
Her smile widened at her own joke, eyes meeting with his as he looked above his shoulder. For a heartbeat, they held eye contact, before he shook his head and stepped onto a stairwell, heading up to the upper deck.
„Not bad," he replied, keeping his voice low in case there was somebody nearby.
„'Not bad'," she mocked his accent, rolling her eyes. „I'm hilarious, Ghost-boy."
„Who you callin' boy?" his head turned to her, staring down at her.
Looking back at him, she was positive that he was clearly older than her, her brushing past her 28th birthday only by two weeks, being a fellow Scorpio herself. Her previous half-boss, Olive, who ran the mortuary next to the flower shop she worked at was more than eager to introduce her to the wondrous world of astrology.
She never got into astrology, despite liking space that much. Zodiac signs, element signs and all of the readings that came with it, it was all foreign to her, but Olive liked to blame a lot of things on the date people were born.
He was a Gemini, so he died like one, too. See how a saw slashed his face in two? It's kind of cool.
Or like Your Scorpion blood is showing today. Don't look at me like that, I saw that you almost threw a bouquet at that man's head.
Yeah, Olive was weird, but Rora liked weird people.
And as she looked back at the questioning look Ghost gave her, she reckoned she was the weird one here, which only caused her smile to widen.
„Clearly you, you dufus," she patted him on the shoulder as she passed him, taking the lead this time, her bravery and adrenaline pushing her forward. And the fact that his broad shoulders blocked most of her view was starting to piss her off, so she just wanted to be in front in order to see something.
She heard a disapproving grunt leave him, so she sent him a wink above her shoulder before she turned around fully, now fully focusing on their mission.
But still, she couldn't help but wonder how old he was, really. Because he had the most mature eyes she'd ever seen, it held a life-long trauma and the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulder.