After a few weeks all of Adrik wounds have healed and are scared over. Kaz sat next to Adrik, legs dangling above the ocean water below. It was a bit cold today, and Adrik shivered as the wind whipped his face and blew his hair into his face. "I'm worried." Miller broke the silence, his blond eyes gazed around the water not bothering to even face Adrik. He tilted his head to the side a bit. "Why? What's bothering you commander?" Adrik preferred to address him as commander as he wasn't close to him like Ocelot. "Snake's been acting.. Odd. have you noticed?" Adrik didn't. As far as he knew the boss was his same old serious self. "No? What's up with him?" Kaz didn't speak for a moment thinking his words over carefully. "Not exactly himself. Seems to be more angry, more drawn back. Not talking as much." it made sense if something was wrong. Quiet had recently ran off and Snake seemed to be a little sad, but he didn't think it was that drastic.
"Mmm, he's grieving. Give it time and he'll be back to himself in no time." Adrik comforted. It felt odd having Kaz be so calm chatting as though they were good friends. "Tsk, like you would know. You hardly know him." Anger spiked his voice. No surprise there. Miller stood up shakily and stomped off. Adrik sighed looking out over the water and sunset. He deeply missed Ocelot. He had gone out on a mission with the boss leaving Adrik in charge of his unit and Miller in charge of everything. It was a lot of pressure to run a unit alone, let alone a whole army like Kaz was dealing with. The Ocelot unit had a separate uniform from the rest of the Diamond Dogs.it was similar, yet instead of brown it was black and lined with tints of red. And two arm bands, The standard Diamond Dogs one and then on their other arm a head of an Ocelot. "Uhm, commander Adrik." a voice questioned from behind him. He turned and saw a man from the Ocelot unit. "Commander..? Either way, what do you need?" Adrik asked standing up and looking at the man. His name plate read 'David'
"Well, Since Shalashaska isn't here, I decided to ask you if we have any missions." David said a little unsure if that was the right thing to do. Adrik smiled, "hmm well I guess we can go on a few recovery missions." he walked past David and he followed behind him. Adrik wasn't much of a leader. He was more of a follower. He much rather followed behind Ocelot and listened to Snake's orders. "Well, you can take whoever you want with you. I have to stay here and help Hellmaster Miller." Adrik called a chopper. David and three other men went. Adrik felt lonely without Adam, he'd been gone for days and Adrik wasn't permitted to check on him so as to not mess up his concentration and focus on the mission. At least Kaz was here, but he wasn't much of a talker, more of a screamer. "Hey Adrik!" he turned to see Peggy waving and smiling at him. "What's up?" he said, trying to sound friendly, but in reality he was annoyed and stressed from the pressure of leading.
"Nothing much, just have a mission that's all. I have to get the boss himself!" She sounded happy, clearly a loyal soldier despite being the most annoying woman known to humanity. "What about Ocelot?" He asked hurriedly. She looked confused, "you worry about him too much. He's fine. He's not coming back yet according to Miller. He's so brave!" she added happily jumping. "Maybe, wish he was here though." Adrik admitted. Of course he missed Adam. he was his best friend, more than that even. "He's strong and fearless. He'll be okay." she tried to reassure but Adrik knew it wasn't true though. He had seen him cry over Adrik's faked death. He had feelings, he wasn't as fearless as everyone thought. "Sure he is." Adrik lied. "Well, see you later Adrik!" with that she headed off. Today was gonna be boring and lonely.
Roughly three days later, Ocelot returned. He wasn't hurt, just mud and sand covered. Adrik ran up to him smiling like a child. "Adam! Your home." Adrik said excited to see him after such a hard time without him. "Hey." he smiled lovingly and Adrik put his hands on Adams chest brushing the dried mud and dirt from his pale overcoat. "You're filthy!" Adrik grumbled wiping more of the dried mud off. "Go take a shower, I'll wash your clothes." Adrik offered. Ocelot nodded heading off towards his room, Adrik eagerly followed. He wanted to spend as much time with him as he possibly could. "What's wrong?" Adrik asked as they entered his room. "Hm? What do you mean?" Adam asked, taking off his scarf and hanging it from a small hook over his desk. "You seem angry." Adrik simply stated. Adams' smile didn't seem genuine, the way he walked was heavier, and his breathing was off too, not to mention furrowed brows and closed fists. "You notice everything don't you?" Ocelot laughed a little, throwing his dirty coat onto his desk. "Yeah. so tell me." Adrik sat in his desk chair, arms crossed.
"Just a hard mission that's all. And Snake left me alone to fight for days. He's been acting odd since Quiet disappeared." Ocelot shared his concerns with Adrik. "Yeah, Miller told me. Maybe he liked her or something." Adrik rationalized with a wave of his hand. "Well sure but, Snake's not the type to be caught up in feelings. He's Big Boss after all." Ocelot argued, turning to look at Adrik. "I mean, look at you. You're the Shalashaska and you're getting caught up in feelings." Adrik smiling leaning his head into his hand. "Sh- shut up." Adam said his face flush red with embarrassment. Adrik had to admit he looked great when he was like this. Red suited him. "Mr. Adrik Redwalk." Ocelot addressed him by his full name before taking a deep breath clearly thinking over what he wanted to say. "I love you." is all he said before leaving the room. Adrik looked at him as he left. He sat there shocked. He didn't move, just thought about what he said. Adrik grabbed Adam's coat and scarf, taking them to the laundry room to wash them.
He was still thinking about what Adam had said. It was obvious he felt that way but.. I didn't expect that. Once he was done, he headed from the laundry room and headed back to Adam's room, setting his clothes down and deciding to leave. As he left a soldier slammed into him hard. Adrik stumbled and nearly fell but caught himself on the wall. "Watch it!" Adrik shouted, looking at the young man in anger. He looked terrified, eyes wide and shaking. "Sir! Where's Commander Ocelot? There's a fight out there a-and he's the only one who can help." the young man's voice cracked as he stuttered over his words. "Ocelot's in the shower, I'll handle it." Adrik tried to calm the man as he led Adrik to the scene. He heard excited shouting and yelling as he approached. A circle had formed around two guys as they fought. Blood spattered on the floor and clothes. Adrik pushed through the circle noticing one of them was a soldier from the Ocelot unit. "Stop it!" Adrik shouted, the group went silent for the most part but even then they didn't stop throwing punches. Adrik grabbed the Ocelot Soldiers collar of his shirt and threw him down. Where was Big Boss?
