"Desperate times call for desperate measures..."
Before they'd all arrived, Franklin was enjoying the silence that had come around. It, in a somewhat sadistic fashion, was now something of the normality, where every Operator simply walked around and pondered of what the next step was. For more than a month or two Rainbow had been sitting alone in a shallow ditch, awaiting reassignment and the chance to redeploy onto the frontier against the White Masks. The devils, they were, and even the angels of Rainbow themselves didn't seem strong enough to combat them. Less than an hour ago, truck loads of equipment, able bodies and unfamiliar faces began to arrive in one long convoy. No one uttered a word, besides a few individuals, whilst everyone else just kept their silence and followed their superior into the base's facilities. In this instance, they were all led into the main hall of the Operations Department, a warehouse stacked atop of underground training facilities and administration desks. The hall acted as a widespread briefing room for more than the standard Squad-of-Five sent at a time, something that allowed more general announcements to be made at. They all gathered, loosely detached from one another in an informal formation that didn't fully go up to the code some trainers wanted, and waited for their introduction to be made.
Franklin was stood aside, watching them and eyeballing them carefully. A single finger rubbed through the lightly-dashed facial hair that surrounded his jaw. All of them, to him, looked peculiar. He didn't like to place it upon them, but they were replacements without a doubt. A truly twisted and sickened fate for those who survived to bare awe at. Even from a distance, Franklin knew that Mark and Mike both had fierce flares in their eyes, staring down their newfound allies to ensure they knew who they were to these soldiers. Mike, of all people, was against the idea of recruiting new individuals. He understood the importance of refilling the ranks and expanding their arms from the once broken mess they were left within, but he just didn't like to see his friends replaced by more of the sort. Franklin could understand this from an outsider point, but even as serving member of Rainbow, he saw the difficulties in replacing the fallen.
There were many, all in different shapes, sizes and with different equipment. Most of them stood in basic coveralls and were not wearing the specialised attires that would be worn on the battlefield as it would seem like a waste. Only the few who were attempting to assert some sort of false dominance over the rest wore their gear, which was largely looked down upon by the veteran members of the team. Franklin saw a few proteges that were on a recommended list from certain Operators that were no longer with them. It was what every Operator who was enlisted into the team had to do. At some point in their career, early on, they had to find promising proteges to take up arms in the event of expansion or replacement. Most of those here, however, were not from those lists. He wasn't sickened by their sights or general appearance, not at all. However, Franklin did find slight discomfort in knowing this was the way in which they had to forget the ones who were not so lucky.
Franklin stood in a line, arms folded behind his waist and hands atop one another. Bound by a respective pose of formality, something Mike had wanted to increase since his promotion, he awaited their leader's arrival promisingly. Not too far from him was his friend, a lasting friend, of Mark, who was beside Jessica. Jessica was in the same boat as Franklin was. They weren't operators for Rainbow before this, despite their military background, and were some of the underdogs to the pack of wolves that had gone into Vegas. Even a month or two after the incident, Franklin still hadn't asked her how she was coping with the loss of her friends. He was technically still her boss, despite their promotions to Field-Operatives, but he wanted to see it more as a camaraderie and friendship, or more, than anything else. Rainbow was built upon trust and the bonds between Operators, and right now she was one of the few he could fully place trust in.
Though heavily debated upon, Franklin was only authorised to see the names and nationalities of those who were to join them on that day. Six was reluctant to let him find anything out about them until they themselves spoke to him. When in a meeting to debate the point, she simply spread her opinion across and said it was too professional. Perhaps she wanted them to build their understandings of one another naturally. After all, it did work for when Franklin was invited into the programme. Suddenly, however, Mike finally arrived, and to which, all of the previous Rainbow operators formed a tight salute. Most of the newer soldiers were not fully understanding of his position and merely watched, but all of those who knew Mike, as Thatcher, held their signs of respect at its top reading. He walked up slowly towards a podium. There was no need for a microphone as the acoustics of the hall alone were enough to project his toughened voice.
"At ease, operators." With a wave of a hand, those he knew were instantly stood back into their attentive, though relaxed, formations. A somewhat spiteful eye preyed upon the new Operators before he sighed heavily, rubbing his hand deeply through his beard and returning to what announcements he was inclined to make. "So you're finally here, amazing...Great to see you have the patience to sit in a truck and travel, I'm sure that's going to get you in a head start, ahead of the competition, right?"
With the hall, a bit confused of his casual yet harsh tone, stood in silence, eventually he began to slowly clap in a somewhat sarcastic manner. Franklin couldn't help but grin, very subtly to himself at the tone he had chosen. Unlike Six, his professionalism was one of a kind. It still showed that despite the crimes and atrocities they'd been through, he was still Thatcher. Indeed he was, as he continued to clap, slowly, for a solid ten seconds. A few wrinkles tightened around his face as canyons were made beneath his brow. He wasn't amused nor easily impressed by first impressions and appearances. They would have to earn his respect, regardless of what Six had stated to them during first contact.
"You are, supposedly, the world's Elite; a union of peacekeepers that are sworn to protecting the lives of the innocent and vulnerable during conflict. Whether or not you look the part is for Six to decide, not me. I'm supposed to be welcoming you to our establishment and make a short brief on what to expect in our time of operation, but to that I think you are somewhat deserving of the truth without any sugar-coating..." Already, he was taking it into an unpredictable direction, stern faced with every word he spouted from his lips. This was his time to assert his position of authority, make them understand the risks they are in and remind them of what has undermined them in recent months. "You are walking into a trap like no other. You all have a lot to live up for, being the dastardly replacements for our comrades who are no longer with us. I'm sure you were told about Bellagio, though it was hard to miss. We lost a good chunk of our bulk right in those corridors, to a weapon that we cannot help but deem inhumane and unsanitary to the peace we are supposed to preserve. Bollocks to that, you might say, but remember that these Operators amongst the dead were tenfold in experience, skill and intelligence than you lot will be. You have a lot to live up to, and trust me you'll want to. No longer are we in a room of mistakes and misunderstandings; we are in the big-league, the one behind closed curtains where your deaths will be forgotten throughout history if you do not watch your corners, backs and arses whenever you are sent out into the unknown. Pay attention to every word your veteran comrades say and take it by heart as if it were the bloody law. You'll be lucky if most of you even survive...Welcome to Rainbow, please pay attention to my accomplices to my right and remember their names."
Mike began to go through the lists. From all the trainers, survivors and newer faces, the three in particular he told to pay attention to were Jessica, Harold and Franklin himself. The triage had been members of Rainbow early on, though from a background state. Out of the three of them, Harold, under the alias of Krieg, had the most experience out in the field as Elias' protege and student before his demise. Jessica and Franklin, on the other hand, were those who were managing Rainbow from the inside and supporting their every move with maintenance and vigilance over the equipment they used before being trained and transferred, recently, into the Field-Operations team. Mike highlighted these three the most as they were to be the most frequent advisers that they would use outside in combat. All three of them were viable for command, in some way, and keeping tabs with their newfound comrades. Mike knew that it was unlikely that during their downtime and in between operations it was highly unlikely that any of these operators would approach the trainers like Gilles or Lera, but knowing these three were to be joining them in the field at around a similar level might have given them more confidence and painted them approachable. Either way, Mike wasn't likely to be chatting to them casually until their trust and selves were proven in the line of duty.
"You have room assignments for you in enclosed envelopes on the desk before you. Collect the one with your name attached to it and it will provide you with details about your placement in the Living Quarters further away from the Operations Department here. Inside said envelope will also be Six's assigned Operator Alias that you will strictly use in the field. Remember it and remember your allies. You have the rest of the day to yourselves before we start CQC training at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Dismissed."
And without another word, Mike took his papers from the podium and left, storming through a door leading further into the depths of the Operation Department. Franklin, standing slightly at ease, looked towards his previous employee, Jess, and sighed heavily. It was going to take a lot of getting used to and he was certain she knew of it. Hopefully the cast they were now responsible for were up to scratch, but he didn't dare say anything aloud. Instead, he simply stared at her with the look that explained everything. He hoped that she mutually understood him at this stage...
