blitz

Four hours later

Rhodes Island Landship Training Grounds

Phew, hah...

He'd thought, for a moment then, to take his exploration of the hotlands as far as it would go. To succeed, or die trying.

But one day, after an additional gulp of the mysterious drink his safehouse friend had given him, one thing suddenly came to him,

in the gap between lucidity and psychedelia:

He was charging forward with his shield, desperately wanting results.

Yet he'd left his own squadmates far, far behind him.

Elias Kötz, Operator Blitz.

His duty, is to protect his team.

Give Frost the opportunity to set her traps.

Lead the enemy into Tachanka's muzzle.

Give advice to Ash.

But here he was going it alone, on this fraught search.

He realized. So now, he's come back.

I almost forgot how it felt the last time I stepped on a Welcome Mat.

Thank goodness you're not handling me the same way you handled those monsters, Frost.

Save your thanks for Ash. You'd be out of the match if it wasn't for that grenade.

It's only a 2v2 drill. A lot of elements are going to be simpler than the real thing.

Tachanka, the drones spotted your setup too many times. I wouldn't have taken the risk otherwise.

You wouldn't get the chance if we weren't using training rounds, Ash.

I know.

That's why I breached here.

*Sigh*...

I hope we didn't get Ela and Iana sucked in too, when the four of us made our disappearing act.

I share the hope.

Unfortunately, we've got no way to form a full five-man specialist squad anymore.

Have you considered recruiting some new faces from this land?

We're counter-terror special forces, not mercenaries under a military contractor.

Upholding peace is, and always has been, our sole mission.

It's a shame how peace is even more fragile here than on Earth.

That's why what we need to do now is survive, and find our way home.

No matter how much fresh blood we have, they're not gonna come all the way with us, back to the very end.

Mm-hm.

But is the difference really so vast?

Vaster than the gulfs between our own motherlands?

Haha.

We used to have good old Six to clean up after our mess. Now? It's all down to us.

Maybe you could try and let yourself assimilate into this world a bit, Ash.

We've been out of familiar surroundings for a long time.

But after we adapt here, maybe we'll find some redeeming qualities after all, in this mess of a place.

Going home's very important, but it's not everything, Cohen.

Maybe first, before we find our way back, we can figure out how to live.

How we keep going here in this place, even after we put down our guns.

I take it that's your opinion?

Just a suggestion.

One from a friend.

I'll consider it.

Someone's coming.

It's been a long time, Operators of Team Rainbow.

Welcome.

Welcome?

Wait, Ash, what's going on?

We're here to train too.

Or put another way, to be trained.

Hello, everyone.

Now our new opponents have taken their places, let's get this started.

Ash, don't tell me...

We're Operators. We're Team Rainbow.

I hope you're all up to the challenge.

I'm in.

I'll switch Mats, then.

How about you, Blitz?

The answer is obvious.

I never choose to refuse, Ash.

I'm all ready.