A flash of silence

Quarterfinals

Alex's POV
    I sat with Zofia and Ela talking waiting for our match while Zofia teaser ela "How does it feel to be knocked out of the tournament by little old me?" She growled slightly "we almost had you" I spoke "ela, ela calm down. You guys did good, we just did better" she sighed as I nodded before Zofia's phone rang and she excused herself "Hey, don't let her get on your nerves. She's your older sister that's what siblings do, we tease people. She doesn't mean anything bad by it" she sighed "I know but I want to be her equal" I laughed slightly "Ela, you're in the same unit, with the same qualifications and the same prestige. You're already her equal." She looked at me "I meant in my fathers eyes, I was always second to her" I nodded "That's not Zofia's fault, don't blame her for that besides no one can say that Elzbieta Bosak isn't a badass equal to her sister" she smiled "thanks for that Spartan" I nodded "keep your head on straight" she gave a salute as I chuckled before Zofia walked back in looking solemn, the joyous mood evaporating as we looked at her. "Zo' what happened?" Ela looked worried, fearful almost, as Zofia looked at her before replying "he wants a divorce" ela gasped before lunging and engulfing Zofia in a hug as the dam broke and she started crying. I grabbed the tissues from the nightstand to my left pulling a few out and wiping the tears away since her arms were wrapped tightly around ela "Zofia" she looked at me through the tears as I spoke again "If you need anything, let me know I'll pull the strings I have to. My names Alex, by the way" her eyes widened as I finished talking before she nodded "can I, can I get a break?" I nodded "I'll be back with the paper" I stood pausing in the doorway "Stay strong Zofia" before I set off to Harry's office. I arrived a minute later and knocked, waiting to hear his voice before opening the door when I heard "come in" I walked in and leaned on his desk "I need a leave form for Zofia, now" he looked at me "Spartan, I can't ju-" I cut him off "You can, and you will or we will have problems" his eyes narrowed "Are you threatening me?" I chuckled dangerously "no, I'm making a promise. I don't have this form by the time I leave this room, I will use every favor I'm owed in Washington to get you fired" his nerves were fraying as I spoke again "Make your choice, either give me the paper or your job. Trust me I have more than enough favors to get your fired" he sighed as he pulled out the file that held the forms and looked through until he pulled out the extended leave form sheet before asking "What about the tournament? I can't let a team of 4 compete it wouldn't be fair" I shrugged "did anyone opt out of the tournament?" He looked at the file for the games before replying "Kali" I nodded as I grabbed the form before I walked to the door as Harry asked "Spartan, why risk your career over a sheet for Zofia?" I glanced over my shoulder "When I make promises, I keep them" as I walked out and headed towards where I had left the siblings. I walked in and crouched infront of Zofia, speaking with unprecedented softness in my voice "here, fill this out for as long as you need, alright?" She nodded through the tears as she tried to speak before I cut her off "it's ok, you don't have to thank me. I'm gonna give you two some privacy, you have my number if you need anything" I saw shock written all over Ela's face at the tone I was speaking to Zofia with before it shifted to a warm smile. I left and set off searching for Kali, it took me 14 minutes before I caught her "Kali!" She stopped and turned at her callsign "Spartan, need something?" I nodded "I need you to sub in on our team for the tournament for Zofia" she cocked an eyebrow "why? Is she scared she's going to get hurt? Or that she'd be overshadowed by me?" I growled out "Watch your fucking tone, or I'll make your death look like an accident. Got it?" She looked shocked before it turned to anger "Who do you think you are?!" I stood my ground "I'm the guy that's going to torture you, maim you, frame you and make you disappear into the night. Do you know who you're talking to? I'm the guy the CIA chooses when they need someone to disappear" she subconsciously took a step back as I growled out "watch how you talk about my teammates, you got that? Or you better start watching your gear before you have an accident" she nodded grudgingly as she looked at me "I'm going to have to decline replacing Zofia" I chuckled "keep your mouth in check or I'll cut your tongue out" I texted taina to find out where she was before walking over. "Hey T, who'd you disqualify yesterday?" She thought about it "Ash, Finka, Maverick, montagne and Nøkk" I nodded before asking "Anyone look upset that they got knocked out?" She nodded "Maverick did, he was pretty bummed about it" I stood "Thank you, Taina, really" she grabbed my wrist "Why did you ask me that?" I froze "come with me, I'll let her explain" she looked confused but stood and followed me to the room knocking and waiting until Ela opened the door "Hey, can you fill Taina in? I've gotta run to see some people" she nodded and I turned searching for Maverick. I've never noticed how big this base is, holy shit, it's been 25 minutes searching for him before I found him in the mess hall "oh thank Christ"  I headed towards him which he noticed "Spartan, what can I do for you?" I spoke "how would you like another chance to win the tournament?" He perked up slightly "How?" I spoke "I need a replacement on my team" he leaned forward "why?" I sighed "Personal issues, That aren't mine to tell" he nodded "I'll do it, been a while since I worked with you boys" I shook his hand as I walked to Harry's office, walking in without knocking catching Harry and Huntsman in an argument "Really Harry? You know who I am and you decide to fuck with me, I like that, no, I respect that." His nerves were getting to him as Huntsman spoke "Spartan, did you threaten him?" I looked at him bored "In which way?" He looked at Harry "go on, tell him what you told me" Harry looked nervous as he spoke "he threatened to kill me, if I didn't give him a leave form" I chuckled "oh you've fuck up now" he gave me a look "how? It's what you said" I pulled a voice recorder out of my pocket "Oh really?" As I clicked play and our entire interaction was played again as Huntsman spun on Harry "you're on thin fucking ice, six. Try this shit again and you will be out of a job and I'll make sure you don't get another" he nodded as I gave Harry a look "you stray even one iota this side of right and ill be back to make good on that promise" he nodded clearly worried as I spoke "Maverick is our replacement" he nodded as I went back to where Zofia was and called the other team members telling them to meet us here. It took 5 minutes for everyone to get here and sit down, I stood "Zofia is getting replaced by Maverick since she's going through some personal things right now. Our match is in 2 hours so we have to get Maverick caught up on our strategies"
Time skip 2 hours
    We were prepped and waiting for the announcer to give us the mark to enter the building my drone had been shot and I was checking my M16 as the team was making decisions about how we were going to try to attack the room. "Kaid, Alibi and Lesion are in room. Mute and Valkyrie are downstairs" I gave a thumbs up as the announcer was heard "Attackers, defuser a bomb" I looked at the team "Time to go to work" they nodded as maverick spoke "Shit, if my sergeant was here..." I chuckled as we moved towards the building in our pair. Buck, thermite and twitch rappelled to the second floor since their job was to get into the room and secure the second floor. Maverick froze as we came to a dilemma "Oh you're fucking me" I said as I stared at 3 alibi holograms, I reached to my belt and pulled out a frag. I pulled the pin on a frag and released the safety handle tossing it into the group of holograms causing alibi to vault the cover she was standing behind and start firing at maverick and I. My breathing hitched as I got hit 4 times and downed before Maverick hit her 3 times with his M4 dropping her, double tapping her before crouching and reviving me "come on, this is nothing" I sighed as I rotated my arm "Jesus fucking Christ" the crowd was roaring with excitement as the announcer was heard "5v4" we started walking through the first floor two man breaching each room and securing them. We got to the final room and since thermite had informed us they hadn't seen Valkyrie, the sounds of gunfire being constant as the announcer was heard "4v4" and Twitch yelled into the mic "Thermites down". We stacked up on the door and I went through the checklist in my head in about a second alright I see a door, hinges on the right, door is locked, opens inward, click fire, Wait for the signal set as I placed the kicker charge on the right side of the door near the hinges and waited for Maverick to squeeze my leg or shoulder. I felt the squeeze and hit the detonator dropping it and pushing into the room checking the corner closest to the door shifting my aim to the left checking the furthest right corner before I yelled "Clear!" As I heard maverick reply "Clear!" Before he radioed the rest of the team "Twitch, be advised Valkyrie is not on the first floor" we heard twitch reply "Acknowledged." I sighed as we started creeping up the staircase before mute popped up over the bannister and blasted me with his m590 dropping me as maverick fired and hit him 2 times before he disappeared and ran down the hallway "3v4." Maverick spoke into the mic "Spartans down, mute's in the north hallways heading towards tires" buck spoke "Rog' I'll get him when he crosses" Maverick crouched next to me and checked me "'ey you good?" I nodded coughing slightly "go" he nodded and stood moving up the staircase before a hiss was heard and he crouched pulling out the gu mine as i sat there breathing heavily from the force of the simmunition hitting my tacvest. 10 seconds later, I sat up and walked out of the building and sat down next to thermite watching as the round played out "how'd you get out?" He glanced over "Mute, fucker blew me up" I nodded "you saw what he did to me." Just then Mute got slammed by Bucks master key as he crossed, hitting the deck extremely hard "3v3" just then Twitchs F2 was heard barking to life followed closely by "3v2" as the camera switched to her body cam and kaid was seen falling behind cover. Twitch was forced to go through the door causing a gu mine to detonate as lesion appeared and they traded fire, twitch hit him once as he tagged her 2 times. Just then Buck appeared like a reaper behind where lesion took cover with a huge smile as 3 shotgun shots were heard "Opfor last operator standing, 30 seconds remaining" just then maverick appeared and started planting the defuser until the floor below him exploded tossing him away. Twitch ran over grabbing the defuser and started planting it again as buck fired into the black eye camera in the corner. He swiveled and aimed at the door he himself came through to kill lesion as Twitch finished planting the defuser "Defuser activated, protect it" she pivoted and aimed at the door she came through and they just held them until Valkyries MPX barrel peaked through the door Twitch was staring at causing her to fire a burst at it making the barrel disappear. I sighed "come on Valkyrie, peak it." I watched with thermite as Maverick joined us and we watched as buck fired tagging Valkyrie's arm causing her to duck back into the hallway. The defuser timer was almost at the point of no return when Valkyrie ran into the room and got dropped by twitch "Friendly mission successful, opfor eliminated" I grew a smirk as we prepped for the next round.
Time skip 5 rounds
     I gave a 2 finger salute to my team as we celebrated our victory and advancement to the semi finals. I sat next to Zofia quietly as our team was celebrating and I asked "How're you feeling?" She glanced over "like shit, I don't know what I did wrong" I sighed "listen, I'm not good at these types of things but don't blame yourself. Sometimes people fall out of love, it's part of the deal, he was upfront about it and that's respectable. Blaming yourself over something that happens isn't going to help you, take the time you need but try to come to terms with it and help your kid. She's gonna be hit just as hard as you are, maybe more so" she looked at me "It's just such a shift" I nodded "I was once told my a very smart man, "the biggest shifts mark the best chapters" just remember you aren't alone alright?" She nodded "thank you, Alex" I nodded as Taina walked in from her match with the rest of her team and sat down "porra, isso foi uma partida(fuck, that was a close match)" I looked over "Ponto?(score?)" she sighed "5-4" I whistled lowly "closer than I expected" she nodded "Same with us, they fought a lot harder than we expected" I chuckled as began a night of watching our friends celebrate while talking.