Operation: sound resolution

Operation: Valiant Defiance pt. 2

Dereks pov
     I kicked the door in and checked the corners before slowly and cautiously walking into the center of the empty room, what the fuck am I supposed to do here? Just then Scorpion was heard "we're going to play some games, particularly riddles, you know how I love riddles. Remember when we went out drinking and I got arrested for drinking asking the officers riddles and getting mad when they didn't answer? Good times" I didn't reply as I spun looking for anything that I could do, disarming a bomb, killing masks, evacuating people anything. I sighed in resignation when I realized that I couldn't do anything but answer his stupid fucking riddles, "alright Scorpion, you win, I'll play your game" he laughed "i knew you would, you want to save Alice. She's had a tough week" I stood in the center of this poorly lit room and waited, 2 minutes later Scorpion spoke "riddle number 1, what asks but never answers" I thought it over for a minute "what asks but never answers, who does that? What does that? Wait... who, who. It's an Owl" scorpion spoke "well done, you got the easiest one. Second riddle, I have oceans without water, Mountains without rock, deserts without sand, forests without trees and places with no lines, what am I?" I suddenly remembered when I first learned Scorpion loved riddles, this is the exact riddle he used what was the answer? What did he say? "A map" he sounded disappointed "wow, just take all the fun out of it. Put the fun in camps why don't you? You fun nazi. The final riddle, What is seen in the middle of March and April, that can't be seen at the beginning of the end of either month?" I asked "what happens if I get it wrong?" He replied "you get 3 tries, for each wrong answer Alice gets a shock on the third incorrect answer she dies" I cussed under my breath before I started thinking, what the fuck could it be? "The March equinox? Scheiße(fuck) I don't know" as Scorpion replied "Nien, Sorry Alice but Derek earned you a shock" as I heard a switch get flipped and a bloodcurdling scream which lasted for 3 seconds before the switch got flipped back "Zwei(two) more tries, come on Richter you're supposed to be smart, it has to be in the middle of both April AND March" I thought about it before spelling out the Months in the sand "R, it's fucking R" he laughed "about time you got it, seems you're still just as disappointing as when I left the team" the anger reappeared as my body felt like it was heating up as he spoke "one more test before you get to the room she's at" I spoke "where are you? Huh? Did you run already?" He replied sounding bored "I was never there to begin with" I rolled my eyes as I lifted my G36k one more time, kicking the door in before spinning and entering it was empty just like the last two, I mumbled to myself "I don't like this" as I kept my rifle up and heard Scorpion "now you get to make a choice, a terrible choice for sure, but a choice none the less" I heard two lights turn on and spun training my rifle on the newly illuminated area and saw "Alice" she was nailed to a cross with barb wire wrapping her bloodied body, it was horrific. I was gonna run forward when Scorpion spoke "you must choose who dies, you or Alice" I froze "nien, nien, nien, das kannst du nicht machen!(No, No, No, You can't do this!)" he laughed "you have 45 seconds" Alice looked up tiredly as I walked up to her "I'm gonna get you out of here" she shook her head no "I'm spent Derek, even if I make it out of here I won't be able to go back to being a soldier." I shook my head "nien, you're making it out. You can't leave me here alone" she spoke as tears rolled down our faces "Derek, Derek look at me, I'm not surviving you know it as well as I do. Let me go so you can kill him" I felt conviction fill my soul "Scorpion, I know who's going to die" he sounded intrigued "who did you pick?" I started "I chose m-" as Alice yelled "ich, er hat mich gewählt! Töte mich! beende dein dummes verdammtes Spiel! (Me, he chose me! Kill me! Finish your stupid fucking game!)" I spun on her "Alice nien!" but it was too late, the electricity flipped on as she screamed in pain. I watched in horror as the woman I thought of as family shook violently for 4 or 5 excruciatingly long seconds before she stilled, I reached out weakly "Alice.... Alice come back to me..." as Aria and the team burst through the door seeing the scene as Scorpion spoke "you've got 6 months richter, 6 months before we make our move, train hard or her death will have been pointless. See you then, I hope you don't disappoint her" I yelled in anguish before ripping off my helmet and balaclava throwing them in anger as I burst into tears. The team moved over to me as Aria engulfed me in a hug "shh, it's okay I'm here. I'm here, let it out, let it out" as I burrowed into the embrace balling my eyes out, gripping aria tightly "please... please tell me this is a nightmare..... please tell me she's still alive" doc started assessing her "I'm sorry Richter, she's gone. There's nothing I can do" I spun "you're a doctor! You're supposed to save people! Do your fucking job!" He walked next to me and rested his hand on my shoulder, speaking gently "You know that if I could save her I'd be devoting every second to it. I'm sorry richter but it's outside of my control." I collapsed to my knees as Aria crouched and brought my head to her chest stroking my hair softly as she rubbed my back "come on, it's okay. I'm here just focus on me, I'll be next to you until the end we all will. Just let it out, it'll be okay, just let the pain out" I wrapped my arms around her, trying to get the smallest fleeting feeling of comfort as I felt the tears fall from my face mumbling into her chest "I'm sorry about your uniform" she chuckled "it's okay, I can wash it." I nodded softly as everything went to shades of Grey, all the color left the world, "can we go back to base? I need a break" she nodded "come on, up and at em" I slowly stood as Buck and Blitz removed the barn wire from around her frame, once they had finished doing that, they slowly worked the nails out of her hands and feet as Nomad held up her body so it didn't drop to the ground. I watched until Aria appeared in my vision standing on the tips of her toes holding my face "come on, let's get out of here so we can call Jäger. Hey, you with me?" I nodded softly as more tears spilled over "Ja, Ja Ich bin da(I'm here)" she wiped the tears away with her thumbs as she dropped to her actual height and grabbed my hand leading me through the tunnels back to the entrance. I thumbed the radio when we got outside "Jäger, wir brauchen eine Extraktion aus der Höhle. 1 KIA, kalter Extrakt, wie kopieren?(Jäger, we need an extraction from the cave. 1 KIA, cold extract, how copy?)" he replied "Ich bereite den Hubschrauber vor, jetzt werde ich ... ich werde in einer Stunde da sein(I'm uh, I'm prepping the helicopter now. I'll... I'll uh be there in an hour)" I sat down against the cave entrance, aria sat next to me as I leaned over resting my head on her shoulder "what did I do wrong? Why does life hate me so much?" She spoke while tracing my arm "you didn't do anything wrong, you just have a psycho who's obsessed with you... like Batman." I nodded as she spoke again "I know it feels like you're alone, and that everything hates you right now but I'm right here and I care about you. I know I don't show it, but I do, and I hope you know that" I spoke my voice a watery whisper "I know Ari, I know" she nodded as the team walked past us with a body bag "Jäger will be here in 50" they nodded and sat down as I stared at the wall. It was quiet as we all processed what had just happened until Aria started humming a tune and slowly everyone but me joined in, I tapped my thumb along. It continued until the helicopter was heard, I stood slowly as everyone headed out towards the clearing Jäger had landed the helicopter, I waited and looked around the forest for enemy movement as they loaded Alice's body into the helicopter. Aria patted my shoulder causing me to spin and climb into the helicopter, I sat down and looked out the door, checking the time I saw 8:30 as Aria sat next to me and sent the mission report to Harry I put in my earbuds and started playing music just trying to keep my mind occupied, I'd mentally go over the lyrics for each song or try to remember the beat or comparing the beats between different songs. I felt a weight hit my side interrupting my musings as I looked over and saw Aria sleeping somewhat peacefully, I shook my head as I went back to listening to my music and focusing on keeping my arm still so Ari didn't wake up. It was a quiet flight until we touched down, I shook aria "we're back at base" she nodded groggily as I checked my phone 3:30 we waited until they got the body bag out of the helicopter before we got off. Buck spoke "hey, If you need an escape you can always swing by my dorm" I nodded "Vielen Dank(thanks)" he turned and walked away as Blitz spoke "Sie haben immer einen Platz bei uns, rufen Sie mich an, wenn Sie Hilfe benötigen oder ein bisschen raus wollen(you've always got a place with us, call me if you need help or you want to get out for a bit)" I have a small nod "danke großer Bruder(thank you big brother)" he replied "Ich bin nicht viel älter als du(I'm not that much older than you)" I spoke "Ich kenne(I know)" he sighed "I'll talk to you in a bit" as he turned and headed to the med bay as I looked at Aria "anything you need to do?" She nodded "sleep, I'm really tired" I replied "me too" we started to our dorm when Adriano joined us "I heard what happened, how do you feel?" I looked over "like someone dropped a building on me again" he nodded as Aria spoke "he didn't let go of me until we got onto the helicopter" Adriano cocked an eyebrow "what do you mean he didn't let go of you?" Aria spoke "I held him for an hour while he hugged me and bawled into my chest" Adriano smiled for some reason "so what are you two doing now?" I spoke "I'm gonna try to get some sleep and so is Ari" he nodded "makes sense" as I asked "hey can we get a move on the training? I've got 6 months before Scorpion makes another move" he replied "of course, I'm gonna destroy you tho" I looked down "good, I need to get better, I can't let anyone else die" Aria spoke "I'll go through the training with you, that way you can't quit" I gave a thumbs up as we arrived to the dorm and Adriano split off, I quickly ripped off my gear and shirt leaving myself in just my pants as I face planted into my pillow. I laid in various position for an hour and a half before finally slipping into darkness, only to notice I'm in the onyx forest again time for some answers.