Operation: Crimson Space

The hospital

Arkady's pov
I dropped to the helipad below and turned watching Ela slowly work her way out, I waited for her to join me before leading the way to the door. I pulled it open and followed her through, she paused as I walked to the front desk and said "I'm here to see a Zofia Bosak. B-O-S-A-K" the woman typed away before saying "2nd floor, room 203" I nodded before leading Ela to the elevator. I pressed the button and waited for the door, when we stepped in I took a step back standing against the back wall, Ela stood next to me before asking "Why do you do this?" I replied simply "Ghosteyes is about asking questions. I'm just questioning what Nighthaven wants with you, I want to know what Kali wanted with you." She asked "are you all going to release Kali?" I answered truthfully "we have no intention of doing that." She scoffed before saying "Rainbow always so willing to try to strong arm things." I asked in return "is Nighthaven not trying to strong arm us into letting you all do whatever you want? There are rules here Ela, Kali breaks them."
She asked "and you don't?" I looked at her and said "we always have clearance for our operations, Kali goes wherever she wants and starts fights with anyone in her way." The doors opened and I lead the way out heading to Zofia's room, Ela trailed before asking "why are you so comfortable around me?" I glanced back and said "because you have no problem with me. You have problems Zofia and your past. If you want to kill me then do it, but don't play this mystery game with me." She sighed before following me as I pushed the door open, the Doctor looked at me and said "Nice to see you again Arkady." I smiled softly before saying "doctor, how is she?" He replied "she's stable, nothing has changed since last time." I nodded before he noticed Ela "And who is this? A new face?" Elzbieta said "I'm Ela.... Her sister." He nodded before saying "I'll leave you with her now." I nodded "thank you" as he left and Elzbieta walked forward, I saw her gently caress her sisters bruised and cut face. I said "her husband and daughter come visit, every day. They're staying in a near by hotel. Ghosteyes always has a detachment watching the hotel and this hospital."
Elzbieta looked at me and said "why do all of this?" I said simply "Ghosteyes protects our own." She sighed and sat in the chair next to Zofia, she murmured "she looks like our mother." I didn't reply as she looked back at me and asked "Is she okay?" I replied calmly "She's got a broken leg and arm, a severe concussion, bruising and fractures all along her right side. Doctors don't have any idea if she pulls out of the coma or not. She's definitely medically discharged." Elzbieta looked at her sister sadly before saying "she'll hate that." I nodded and said "she volunteered for that mission." Elzbieta said "always wanted to be on the frontline." She looked at me with tears in her eyes "could she be like this forever?" I nodded and said "так, unless her husband decides to pull the plug. There's no telling if she wakes up or not." She looked down before getting called, I saw Osa's picture. Elzbieta answered it and started the conversation, I only had half of it but it sounded like Wamai was getting impatient without moving.
Ela hung up on Osa in the middle of a sentence and let out an angry sigh, I asked "Bosses calling you home?" She glanced over and said "Tak" I nodded and asked "they didn't tell you Zofia had been injured did they?" She looked at me in shock as I explained "I had personally sent the message to Wamai and Osa. We sent them news saying to tell you. Can't be easy not knowing the last of your family was injured and your bosses didn't tell you." She said "don't try to rile me up." I replied "don't believe me?" She replied simply "Nie, I don't." I pulled my phone, opened it to the emails I had sent Wamai and the messages I had sent to Osa's personal phone, both things I had received from Kali's phone. I tossed it to her and point "there's your proof." She read it over and over before looking at me and saying "they really kept it from me" I nodded before saying "do you know what Kali said was critical to keeping you at Nighthaven?" She asked "what?" I replied "making sure you didn't miss rainbow or your sister. That's why Wamai and osa kept the information of your sister from you."
      She looked at her sister as she asked "Can I stay with her for a while?" I replied easily "of course, I hope you understand I will have to be here as well." She nodded slowly before saying "I understand." She looked sadly before saying "the last thing I said to her was 'Father died, Zofia. But you left me alone.' I'm regretting those words so much." I replied "I had a brother" she glanced at me and asked "had?" I nodded and replied "he's been gone for 9 years. He died during the fighting in Crimea." she looked at me and said "I'm sorry to hear that." I said "the last thing I said to him, we got into a huge fight. He made me so mad. The last thing I told my brother before he entered the battle he would die in is 'I'm ashamed to be your brother" she looked at me in shock before I continued "5 hours later my team leader informed me he was killed fighting Russian Spetsnaz." She looked down as I heard "I don't want those to be the last words to her."
      I promised "I know she doesn't want 'Father would be ashamed of you' to be her last words to you." She started crying before saying "I don't know what to do. It doesn't seem like Rainbow is the right place for me and I've been manipulated by Nighthaven." I nodded before saying "I don't have a clear answer for you." She nodded before saying "it's not like I can go back to Rainbow" I replied "that would be up to Sam. He's basically running most of the show while we recollect. The Squads are running missions, Sam's running the show behind scenes." I heard my phone buzz , I picked it up and answered "Sam" he replied "Arkady" I asked "what can I do for you?" He replied "how's things with Ela?" I glanced at her and said "she's regretting a lot." He asked "Nighthaven?" I answered "Nighthaven" he replied "So what does she want to do?" I answered truthfully "she doesn't know." He replied "let her know she's welcome here." I asked "you sure about that?" He replied after a second "I'm confident enough to bet on it." I replied "Wamai is getting impatient. I think we could be looking at them launching an assault to try to free Kali."
He answered "I'll pass it on, we'll be ready." I said "good" he said "we've got a mission for your group. Nøkk, Iana and Maverick are planning it as we speak. Mission is set for 2 days." I replied "sounds good. I'll see you when I get back." He said "good hunting." I hung up before saying "Well, if you want to rejoin Rainbow. Sam said you'd be welcome." She looked at me in shock before saying "can I have time to think about it?" I nodded before we sat in silence. I figured letting Elzbieta work through whatever she's feeling was better than trying to be a therapist, I'd be way out of my depth. After a while she looked at me and asked "why do things the way you do?" I asked "what do you mean?" She said "you do things so differently than anyone else at rainbow." I answered truthfully "I do things the way I think is best." She asked "how often does it work out?" I replied "I will never know, all I know is I can sleep peacefully at night." She nodded slowly, her mind racing.
      After a while she said "I don't even know where I would start to reconnect with Zofia or the rest of rainbow." I answered "it's simple really, you just start over again. You have to rebuild all the relationships." She nodded slowly before asking "what happens if Wamai frees Kali?" I answered simply "Ghosteyes fights on two fronts." She nodded before asking "aren't you already fighting on two fronts?" I replied giving a bit more information than I thought I should "немає, we're fighting on Deimos's front. And we're simply pinning Nighthaven's operational capacity on the other." She nodded slowly before saying "I understand. You were there when Grim got killed weren't you?" I looked at her and said "tak, I was." She said "you guys killing him sent shockwaves through Nighthaven." I looked at her and asked "oh, yeah?" She nodded and said "a lot of us got very worried when we realized you guys weren't incapacitating Nighthaven any more, we realized we were gonna have to get into gunfights with Rainbow. And it terrified so many operators." I chuckled and said "Nøkk would love to hear that." Ela chuckled softly before saying "tak, I bet she would."
       We talked for a couple more hours until I checked the time and said "well I'm gonna go check into the hotel." Ela asked "check into the hotel?" I said simply "tak, we're not flying back to base tonight. Can't have 2 people stay in the room so it's time for the hotel." She nodded slowly before saying "I can stay can't I?" I nodded and said "I'll be just across the street. Call me if you need anything." She nodded as I headed out and made my way to the hotel, I checked in and sat on the bed calling Nienke "hey" she replied happily "hello, how'd it go?" I said "She's coming back to rainbow I think. She's lost all faith in Nighthaven, the plan worked out. She's worried and anxious, definitely regretting spending time resenting Zofia instead of bonding with her sister over the loss of their father." She asked "did she challenge you over anything you said?" I answered "naturally, she wanted to remain faithful to the truth Nighthaven had curated for her. That's where the proof and evidence went to play." She said "you've been busy" I chuckled before saying "tak, very much so."
     Nienke said "did you hear about the mission?" I replied "tak" she said "when are you coming back?" I said tiredly "I'll be back tomorrow, I didn't want to pull Ela away from her sister." Nienke asked "how did she handle seeing her like that?" I paused for a second before saying "she's regretting a lot. She's starting to see how close she is to being alone." I said "I want to be back to base." She said "it's been a long day without you here to do anything." I chuckled softly before saying "yeah, it's been a long day doing everything without you. There's a ton of things I have to do still." Nienke said "well right now you've only got one thing to do. Go to sleep." I laughed before saying "tak, it's about time I do. I'm exhausted." She chuckled before saying "same on my end. Goodnight." I replied "goodnight, I'll see you when i get back to the stadium."