Glacier stands outside of Kali’s door for a long while before he begins to feel uncomfortable. Worried that Kali was unable to hear the knock the first time, Glacier reaches up to knock again. With incredible timing, however, as soon as he moves his hand to knock the door begins to open. Kali opens the door only enough for Glacier to see a small part of her face, then she looks Glacier up and down twice. Kali lets out a grumble before closing the door for a moment, then she opens it again, ushering Glacier to enter.
Glacier takes a step into the room and sees the large number of expensive looking paintings, jewelry, and other objects of value, encased in boxes and displays across the room. One that catches Glacier’s eye specifically, is a stuffed lynx sculpture that shows the animal growling at the person looking at it. Glacier walks to and kneels down to get a better look at it.
“That’s an Iberian Lynx,” Kali informs Glacier, “Less than 100 of those left in the world, you know that?”
“Yeah, they’re an endangered species. Where did you get this?” Glacier asks.
Kali grabs a beer can from a mini fridge behind her main desk. “Had it specially made. It cost a fortune to get, most of it legal fees of course.” Kali’s beer can cracks with the sound of it opening, “You like it?”
“Yeah,” He lies, “I guess it’s kinda cool.” Glacier walks over to where Kali, now sitting with her feet on the desk, is waiting for him.
“Here, take a seat.” Kali says, motioning towards the chair in front of the desk, “You want something? A drink perhaps.”
“No thanks.” Glacier declines politely.
“Really?” Kali responds, “Not a beer or a seltzer even?”
“It’s ok, I’d rather go without.” Kali, who is not accustomed to losing, tosses a beer to him anyway. Glacier, who was unprepared for the throw, fumbles the catch. With the can shaken so much, Glacier doesn’t dare open it; he simply places it back onto Kali’s desk. Glacier clears his throat before beginning to speak, “So, Eliza sent me down here. Said you had something to say to me.”
“Bakavaas.” She says in Hindi. Kali seems visibly angered at the mention of Ash’s name, “Eliza, that little piece of-” Kali mutters the rest of her sentence too quietly for Glacier to hear. When she is done speaking she takes a long swig of her beer before continuing, “She probably wants me to chew you out about your performance or something.”
“Why would she want you to do that?” Glacier asks.
“She’s probably upset about how you treated Caveria.” Kali laughs for a moment, Glacier can tell she is tipsy, this is probably not her first beer. “How’d you do?”
“How did I do?”
“Yeah, did you win? Lose? What happened?”
Glacier is confused that Kali does not know how the battle turned out, “I won, did you not hear them announce it over the intercom while you were watching?”
Kali freezes mid-drink, “You won?”
“Yeah,” Glacier responds, “I won.”
“You?”
“What do you mean, ‘you?’ ” Glacier interjects.
“What I mean is I owe Zero a lost bet now.” She jabs back at Glacier.
“Why do you owe Zero?” Glacier questions before the realization hits him, “Did you bet on me losing?”
Kali lets out a small grin, she nods at Glacier before moving to take another drink of her beer.
“Why would you bet against me? Why would you-”
“Oh Shut up, Leon.” Kali cuts off Glacier’s sentence “Shut the hell up Leon.” Kali holds the bridge of her nose, annoyed.
“Fine, what do you want then?” Glacier counters, crossing his arms in frustration.
Kali lets out a deep sigh,“I’ve got a headache right now and you’re making it worse.” Kali points to the door of her office while saying this. “Get out.”
➤➤➤Glacier slugs his way to his dorm room, his boots drag against the carpet floors of the colosseum. When he reaches the door to his living space, he pulls out his wallet and takes his Rainbow Six identification card. This small card has a chip reader and magnetic stripe on it, similar to a credit card. This card can also track purchases made by the operator inside and outside of The Program’s jurisdiction.
Glacier swipes his id on a small card reader on his door. With a sudden click, the door’s lock is disabled. When Glacier pushes the door open, the light shining through his window nearly blinds him; his eyes had adjusted to the dark halls of the colosseum. Glacier presses the small button next to the door of his room. After a short moment, the device begins to activate.
A robotic voice begins to speak, “Hello, name and occupations please.”
Glacier responds to the device’s request, “Leon Fox, alternative demolitions expert.”
“Welcome, Mr. Fox. How can I be of service?”
“Close the blinds.” Glacier demands.
“Understood.” The device lets out a chime and the blinds begin to close slowly. The rays of light through the window disperse and the room is left looking dull. Glacier pulls off his vest and tosses it on the ground. He sulks onto his bed and lays on his back for a few minutes. When Glacier closes his eyes, he nearly loses himself to sleep. The alluring pull of a good night’s rest had eluded him the past few days. Just before Glacier feels himself drifting off, his phone begins to buzz in his pocket.
“Hey, Leo!”
“Amy?” Glacier responds in a groggy tone.
“Yeah, you free for a few minutes?”
“Uhh..” Glacier checks his watch, nearly 6 O’clock. “Sí.” Glacier answers in Spanish.
“Beun,” Amethyst replies, also in Spanish, “Head to the Cafeteria, supper’s about to start soon!”
Glacier can’t help it, but listening to Amethyst’s cheery tone puts a smile on his face. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Glacier sits up in bed and rubs the sleepiness out of his eyes. He looks at the arctic camouflage pants he’s wearing as part of his uniform and realizes he is still in his training gear. Glacier decides to change into a more civilian outfit. He wears a black hoodie with a zipper down the middle. Glacier leaves the zipper open to reveal the red, camo patterned T-shirt he has underneath it. Glacier also wears a purple bandana around his neck, but not on his face; a look he stole from Maverick.
➤➤➤As Glacier opens the double doors to the cafeteria, he is immediately greeted by Amethyst, who was waiting for him.
“There you are, te tomó bastante tiempo.” Amethyst says jokingly, mocking Glacier for how long it took him to get here. She grabs Glacier’s wrist and pulls him to the table she was sitting at originally. Amethyst sits Glacier down in one of the chairs, “You stay right here. I’ll get some food.” She leaves before Glacier can even get a chance to speak, he simply rests his head on his hand and watches her walk away.
Glacier’s gaze stays fixated on Amethyst until he hears someone next to him begin to chuckle. Glacier snaps to look at who is laughing, to his surprise, Nøkk is sitting on the other side of the tabe as him. Not much information about Nøkk’s real identity is known to any of the operators. What Glacier does know is Maverick told him that she is the main reason he is alive today.
“Hi...” Glacier begins, attempting to start a conversation, “How long have you been sitting there?”
Nøkk, whose hood shadows her head to make it difficult for Glacier to see any of her face other than the very bottom, begins to speak. “Smooth.” She says smirking.
“Excuse me?” Glacier responds, trying to act confused.
“I saw you staring.”
“What? No I wasn’t.” He was.
“If you say so.” Nøkk jokes, “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.” Glacier rolls his eyes at Nøkk’s last comment, smiling as he does so.
When outside of training, Nøkk always wears a hoodie. She manages to keep herself in the shadows most of the time, but sometimes she has been seen wearing a bandana over her face. On the field however, Nøkk is much scarier. Brandishing her Jäger Corps. face veil, she prowls the battlefield undetected.
Amethyst returns to the table with two trays of food. Glacier’s plate is full of his favorite food; Salmon and steamed asparagus, to name a few. Glacier takes a look at Amethyst’s more simple meal, a small salad encased in a plastic container. A healthy meal in such unhealthy packaging.
Amethyst sits across from Glacier and focuses her attention on Nøkk, who had been glancing at her phone periodically. “Who’re ya messaging?” Asks Amethyst, peering down at Nøkk’s phone.
Nøkk shuts her phone off and places it face down on the table, glaring directly at Amethyst, “Hey, Amy?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t look at my phone.”
Amethyst cocks her head to the side like a confused puppy, “Why, you talking to boys?”
“No, I tend to have classified intel from Six on my phone.”
“So you are talking to boys, I knew it!”
Nøkk, who seemed unamused by Amethyst’s joking until this point, begins to chuckle. “Sure,” She says, “I’m talking to boys.”
A silence ensues for a few minutes while the three of them eat their food. Glacier is just about to finish eating when Amethyst speaks to him, “Have you been holding up alright? You look a little down.”
“I’m doing alright.” Replied Glacier.
“That’s good. Remember,” Amethyst pulls out her phone and shakes it lightly to make a point to Glacier, “you can call whenever you like.”
Glacier nods his head in acceptance. Once finished with his food, he twirls the knife in his hand and places it on his tray. Right before Glacier is about to stand up from his seat, Maverick sits next to him. He whispers, “Ladies man.” Jokingly to Glacier.
Glacier returns Maverick’s gesture by elbowing him in the gut, a brotherly hit of course.
Maverick looks across the table and nods at the person sitting there, “Nøkk.”
“Erik.” She replies, also nodding slightly.
Maverick shifts his attention to Amethyst, “Amy, right?”
“Yep. Amy Diaz, callsign Amethyst.”
“Erik Thorn, I go by Maverick.”
“So like, Mav-Erik?” Amethyst says grinning.
Maverick snickers, “Somebody gets it.”
“God, you’re so dumb.” Nøkk chimes in.
“You’re just jealous.”
“Jealous? Jealous of what?”
“You’re mad it took you sooooo long to figure out what the point of the name was. It only took her 3 seconds!”
Nøkk smirks, “Should’ve left you in Afghanistan.”
Glacier looks between Nøkk and Maverick for a few moments, eventually, Maverick begins to laugh. Followed by Nøkk, then Amethyst, then Glacier. They laugh for a while, and for the first time in a while for Glacier, he truly feels at peace.
------------------------------
Getting across the border was the final step, Johannes though, reminiscing about the past. There was only one more step, and the staircase crumbled, as well as our plan. Johannes saw the happy faces of children and their parents on the streets. They’ve never felt pain. Not the way I know it. Johannes looks at the zipper on his backpack. He reaches for the-
“Here’s your stop.” The taxi driver called to Johannes, “your fee is $23.16.”
Johannes grabbed his wallet. A ten, a five, and three ones. He removes the cash and tosses it up to the front seat. The driver recovers the dollar bills off the ground and begins to count them. However, by the time he turns around to inform his passenger that the funds are insufficient, he had already exited the vehicle.
“Skýla.” Said the driver, before driving away.
Johannes trails a man in a business suit to a restaurant in the middle of the city. The room is packed, but Johannes does not care, the more the merrier.
