Quick Author's Note: I do not OWN ANY, I repeat, ANY of the characters in this story except for Aiden "Storm" Mitchell. I'm hoping I can make a good story out of this, so all feedback will be greatly appreciated :)

Also, expect romance here and there for pairings that I like. You'll know who I'm pairing, well, when you see it :P

April 27, 2018

Hereford Base, Herefordshire, UK

Time: 0900 hours

Despite it only being early morning, the sun was already starting to shine brightly. Anyone who even caught the slightest glimpse of its light felt blinded, but soon enough their eyesight adjusted to the low intensity. Just about as all operatives were waking up, the intercom came on.

"Attention all Team Rainbow operatives: We have a new recruit coming in today and there will be a brief meeting discussing their profile. Report to the meeting hall no later than 1000 hours."

And just like that, the intercom turned off. It had been a little over six months since Rainbow had new members come in since the likes of Ying, Lesion, and Ela. Nonetheless, everyone started going about their usual routines, tending to what they needed and what had to be done before going down to the mess hall for breakfast.

Jordan "Thermite" Trace was the first one to arrive. The Texan was always one of the early birds, especially given his early life when he lived on the ranch back home in Plano. Normally, he felt rather energetic in order to get the day's work done, but today he felt a bit more sluggish than usual as he carried a manila folder in his hand and his coffee mug in the other. He sat himself at one of the tables pressed closer to the far wall, setting the folder down in front of him. Taking a sip from his mug, he started to leaf through the folder, his eyes analyzing every detail that came into view.

"Here early as always Jordan."

The feminine voice slightly startled him as he looked up from the papers and walking towards him dressed in a simple red tee and black leggings was someone he had become more familiar with in recent years. That woman was Yumiko "Hibana" Imagawa, a member of the Japanese counter-terrorism unit, Special Assault Team. The two had previously met at a meet in Jordan where Trace helped Hibana develop her special gadget, the X-KAIROS.

"Oh, hey Yumi. Just in my nature to be up early." He returned his focus to the papers in the folder as he flipped to the next set. Across from him, Hibana rested her head on her crossed arms as she watched Thermite scanning through the folder half-asleep.

"What's in the folder?" Her curiosity had started to pique as she continued to observe Thermite.

"Information regarding the new recruit that's supposed to be arriving today, or at least, that's what Six messaged me." He set his mug down on the table as he started to go back and forth between a few documents that been specially marked with red pen in the top right corner of each page.

"It's been awhile since we last had someone new join the team." Hibana noted while trying her best not to drift back to sleep. "It's at least nice to hear that our team is still growing, even if it's bit by bit."

"The three that Six recruited months back were really nice additions to the team. However, I've noticed that whenever Ying crosses paths with Echo, there is definite tension between the two." A look of worry briefly crossed Thermite's face, but it was quickly dismissed as he went back to analyzing the documents.

"Did Echo never tell why it's so awkward between him and Ying?" Hibana's posture quickly straightened.

"Never. You should know how quiet he is and how often he keeps to himself." Thermite took another drink of his coffee. "Anyways, shoot."

"Those two used to date one another some time ago. It only lasted a year though and they keep saying that the other was too busy to make time for the other. I think there's more to it than that, but I don't pry." Hibana gave a shrug as Thermite closed the folder.

"Interesting tale. Hopefully it doesn't affect communications during missions." He let out a winded sigh,letting his shoulders drop.

"It doesn't look like it has so far, thankfully." Hibana tried to sound cheerful on the topic, but even she knew that was futile.

Thermite looked back up towards her, but something to the right caught his attention. He went to speak, but instead kept his mouth shut as a smirk crept up onto his face. Hibana's face quickly read confusion.

"Something wrong?" Just as the words escaped her lips, someone suddenly seized her sides causing her to jump up in surprise.

"EEEEYYYAAAA!" Her face was flush red while Thermite was trying his best to contain his laughter. She looked over her left shoulder as she felt a tap on it, but when no one was there she immediately swiveled her head to the right and came face to face with the person who spooked her.

"Iesu Taina!" (Jesus Taina!) "You just about gave me a heart attack!"

Taina Pereira, better known as Caviera, sat there with her legs crossed laughing the entire time. She didn't have her signature skull face paint on, but she did sport an olive green tank top with black sweats that showed off her slim figure,combined with having her hair up in her usual braided ponytail.

"Ahaha...Eu tenho você bem." (I got you good.) Her laughter started to subside as Hibana's face was still brimming crimson while Thermite sat across having a good laugh.

"Interesting to see you two here by yourselves so early in the morning. You offer to bring her breakfast Jordan?" Cav still had that sly grin on her face as she turned her attention to Thermite whose laughter quickly vanished as he cleared his throat in order to cover up his behavior.

"Uhhh, no. We were just discussing other matters regarding the team. Nothing too big really." He could feel his face starting to burn crimson as the attention had been diveted to him.

"Ohhh, talking about the new guy eh? I heard the guy's pretty tough looking and his background is all the more interesting. What's strange though, this guy really hasn't worked for any organization or any kind of military police. He's been a PMC his entire life." Cav swung herself around to the point where she was directly facing Thermite while addressing the topic.

"And how did you stumble upon this information?" Thermite raised a questioning eyebrow.

"From Thatcher. Who else?" She gave a shrug with her response.

More of the operatives started to pour into the mess hall, including the quiet yet curt Mute, the burly Scotsman Sledge, the equally tough looking Montagne followed by the youngest GIGN member Rook, and last to enter for the time being was Frost. All went to their separate tables in order to discuss what was taking place in the next forty-five minutes once breakfast was over.

"Man, everyone's really talkative about the new recruit today," noted Hibana. "Haven't seen everyone this talkative since the mission back in Hong Kong."

Thermite gave a shrug. "At least it puts their minds somewhere. Usually at times like this I normally see Gilles and Seamus engaging in arm wrestling contests while Mark and Julien are playing cards or something. Actually nice to see a change of pace for today."

"I can agree with that. Hopefully old man Souza remembered to crawl out of bed this morning," Cav jokingly remarked. "I remember last time he forgot to wake up for something like this he ended up showing up to the meeting in just his sweatpants with no shirt on. Literally the only person in the room who wasn't in proper attire and you'd think a veteran like him would know better."

Thermite let out another laugh. The three most recent members of Ela, Lesion, and Ying spilled into the hall and not too far behind were the remaining FBI SWAT members of Ash, Pulse, and Castle as the room was now really kicking into high gear as everyone was grabbing food and chatting about. Soon enough, the intercom came on again.

"Attention operatives, the meeting will be starting in 10 minutes. Start reporting to the meeting hall ASAP. Thank you." Everyone started to finish whatever was left on their trays in order to ensure they were good to go until lunch came through later in the day. Sledge and Montagne were still in the middle of their arm wrestling bouts, but by that point, Mute and Rook had already started making their way to the meeting with Frost tailing behind the two.

"Guess we should probably start moving," Hibana chimed. "Don't want Six to be lecturing us on being punctual."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll meet you guys there since it looks like Vicente hasn't crawled out of bed yet. Pegue-os mais tarde." (Catch you guys later) Caveira pushed herself up from the table before jogging out of the mess hall as Hibana and Thermite waved to her. Hibana spoke first as soon as Cav was out of line of sight.

"So, you wanna start walking down?" She focused her gaze back on Thermite.

"Might as well." He picked up the folder and started to walk past, but instead paused as he turned his attention back to Hibana.

"By the way, Yumi..."

"Yeah?"

"You're cute when you're embarrased," he teased as Hibana started to blush and her cheeks became a bright crimson. She quickly shifted her gaze from Thermite to the ground.

"Shut up..." she muttered, earning another laugh from the Texan. She pushed herself from her seat, walking side by side with Thermite until they reached the meeting hall where most of the operatives were already waiting.

Close to the start of the meeting, Caveira finally showed up, practically almost dragging Capitao directly behind her as he let out another yawn causing Cav to roll her eyes as the two sat down. Six was standing on a raised platform with a giant television screen behind her and a podium directly in front of her as she scanned the entire room to ensure that all operaters were present for the meeting. Taking one last glance, she gave a satisfied smile before addressing the team.

"Welcome, Team Rainbow. As stated a few times today, we're expecting the arrival of a new recruit sometime today. Right now, it's just a matter of expecting the call to inform us that the recruit is thirty minutes away from base, but that's not why I called you all here. I called you all here so that you may all get an overview of who we're expecting today," she gestured toward Thermite, "Mr. Trace, if you would?"

Taking the notion, Thermite maneuvered his way to the front of the room, climbing up onto the stage and placing the folder on the podium. He opened up to the pages from earlier that were marked with red ink and he cleared his throat.

"The person that we're expecting today, is an American male of 32 years of age. His name is Aiden Mitchell, Code Name: Storm."

The screen behind him lit up, showing an image of Aiden. Different stats popped up along the left and right side of the screen as Thermite continued to read.

"Mitchell is a well-known PMC on the field and is extremely skilled with assault rifles, according to his commanding officers, and is also known for his keen hearing and perception of the battlefield. Most notable is his gadget, nicknamed the "Hand of Zeus" for it's ability to discharge electricity in unique mannerisms."

A German voice rose up from the crowd.

"Vat exactly make's zis electric display more different zan mine...or Twitch's for zat matter."

That was the voice of Bandit. True, he had his way of manipulating electric flows with his devices and Twitch had her's with the Shock Drones, but Thermite began to reveal the difference.

"I'm getting there Dom. The Hand of Zeus is known to fire bolts of electricity from long distances, longer than Twitch's Shock Drones, but there is a limited amount of power in the gadget so each jolt needs to count for him. Another unique way for the Hand to discharge is to come into contact with the anchored side of a reinforced wall. He can expend some of the power in the gadget in order to apply an electric field on the inside, but only affecting that one wall, but, the electricity is known to lash out in an uncontrollable manner, making it difficult for enemies to hide in good covered areas."

Thermite straightened the papers out on the podium, looking out into the crowd to ensure everyone's attention was still focused on him at the front.

"Aside from all that, there isn't much else to tell. His employers have told us though that he's often best left alone when not on missions, said he's very asocial on base, even when it came to nights out on the town and other events."

Among the crowd, Tachanka leaned in toward Fuze, cupping his hand around his ear.

"We could easily straighten that out with a simple game of shots. Man probably can't even hold his liquor..."

The two Spetsnaz snickered to themselves as a hand emerged from the crowd into the air.

"Yes, Valkyrie?"

The Navy SEAL seemed a bit agitated with the description of the newcomer's personality.

"If he's gonna be such a bummer like that, why is he being recruited into the team? He could be a problem for communications during missions."

"As stated, they said to leave him be when he's not on a mission. During missions, they said his cooperation with teammates exceled greatly compared to veterans. Are there any other questions?"

There was some quiet chatter in the room for a bit of time before it fell silent again and all eyes were once gain staring straight up at Thermite.

"Alright, if there aren't anymore questions, then I'll be reading off who's scheduled to pick up the recruit at the entrace. There will be four of you, so listen closely."

There were some groans from the crowd since no one wanted to put up with handling the newcomer.

"The people are: JTF2, Buck. GEO, Jackal. SAT, Hibana. And lastly, BOPE, Caveira. You four are tasked with bringing Aiden to the main building upon his drop off at the entrance."

A simultaneous "Yes sir" emerged from the selected four.

"Right, starting prepping what you'll need in order to give a good first impression. Other than that, meeting dismissed."

At the sound of those words, just about everyone got up from their seats and started to go their own separate ways. Buck ended up heading back to his quarters with Frost, as did Jackal with Mira. With Hibana and Caveira, the duo walked back with one another. The stern looking Buck let out a disgruntled sigh as he reached his room. Frost gave him a troubled expression.

"Something wrong Sebastien?" She tried to get a look at his face in order to gauge his emotion, but he simply tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Just somewhat annoyed with having to go out and deal with this assignment. Today was supposed to be my day to sleep in after about two weeks worth of field work. I swear I can't catch a break sometimes..." He rubbed his temples as he opened the door to his room. Frost gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine. Just act as yourself and everything should flow the way it should." With that, she walked across the hall to her room, entering and closing the door behind her.

"Can only hope Tina...can only hope..." Buck muttered before entering his room.

Meanwhile, Jackal was constantly yawning the entire way back to his and Mira's rooms. His chronic insomnia had been hitting him hard in recent days and he was only managing about three hours of sleep per night.

"You sure you don't want me to fill in for you Ryad? Jordan would understand and I'm sure he'd let you try to catch up on sleep if possible."

"Heh, te preocupas demasiado Elena," (You worry too much Elena) Ryad chuckled. "I'll be fine. I can sleep once everything's squared away."

Mira stopped dead in her tracks, folding her arms over her chest. Jackal stopped himself, looking back at her.

"Ryad, you know how worried I am about your state of health. Chronic insomnia is no joke and I think it'd be best that you try to catch as much sleep as you can when the opportunity presents itself. Just let me talk to Jordan or Six so we can swap. C'mon Ryad..." she whined.

"Christ Elena, you remind me too much of the girls that tried hitting on me in high school with that tone of voice, " he laughed, "I'll be fine amiga. I'll rest up once it's done. I promise."

He reached out to her, patting her on the head a few times before heading towards his room.

"If you come back being dragged unconscious, y'know I'm not gonna let that go right?"

Jackal waved off the remark by waving his arm before disappearing into his room as Mira stood there with a hand to her forehead.

"Loco bastardo." (Crazy bastard.)

30 minutes later...

The four of them stationed themselves near the entrance, all dressed in single color shirts of sorts with cargo pants and boots. Jackal leaned himself against the fence, while Buck seated himself some ways away from the gate, being on the opposite side of Jackal. Despite the weather starting to become warmer, Buck kept his signature beanie on him. Meanwhile, the girls were simply lounging about themselves, looking up at the sky.

"How long are we supposed to be out here again?" Buck chirpped.

"Jordan said until we get the call that Storm is thirty minutes away from base. He also added that he should be arriving no later than one this afternoon." Hibana replied.

"And what time is it now?" responded a disgruntled Jackal.

"About quarter after eleven now, so he should be here within the next two hours." Hibana added, "Who knows when he'll show up though. It's just a matter of when we get the call."

Cav laid on the ground, constantly spinning her knife in her hand as a means to keep herself busy for the time being. She sat herself up, looking at the two gents that had been assigned with her: Jackal was trying his hardest not to fall asleep or collapse from where he was standing and Buck was just sitting up against the fence with his legs pulled up, and his arms resting on his knees. Then there was Hibana, to which the instance from earlier crept back into Cav's mind as she scooted herself closer to her.

"So, Yumi...what's your take on Jordan?" she beamed.

Hibana started to blush a bit at the sound of his name.

"Ehm...what do you mean?" she was trying her hardest not to make eye contact with Caveira.

"Ah, c'mon. What do you think of him? His personality, his looks, all that kind of stuff."

The behavior Taina was displaying was completely different compared to how she normally was with being cold towards most, but Team Rainbow let her warm up to others gradually. However, what she saw earlier was something she couldn't let go because of her amusement.

"Uh...well..." her face started to become a brighter red as she was on the hot seat for this. "Out of all things, why does Taina bring this up?" she thought to herself. There was almost no way to escape answering the question, no matter how hard she thought it over.

"He's a good...leader. I mean, he's always the one calling the shots whenever he's in a squad so, yeah, he's a quality leader," she nodded along with her answer.

"Anything else you see him as...? Like, I don't know, a possible crush?" she snickered as Hibana tensed up a bit more. Before she could react though, her comm started buzzing in her ear.

"Hang on a second..." she pressed the button as the call came through.

"Yumi," it was Thermite's voice, "They just called, he'll be arriving soon."

"Right, got it," she replied before ending the call. She addressed the other three, "Call just came in, so he'll be here shortly."

Sighs of relief came from both Jackal and Buck, but Cav wasn't satisfied as she leaned closer to Hibana.

"That call won't save you from my question sweetheart," she let out a giggle as Hibana's face was still burning red. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Cav dead on.

"Look, Jordan's a good guy, but I don't feel for him. Just because we had that meeting back in Jordan, doesn't mean we're destined to be together," she retorted, yet, she felt a twinge of pain in her chest as those words left her mouth. Cav just shook her head laughing.

"If you say so Yumi, but in the end, and I guarantee this, you're gonna end up dating him."

She pushed herself up from the ground, leaving Hibana still blushing hard from their conversation. Walking towards the front gate, she shielded her eyes from the beating sun as its rays lit up the front yard of the base.

"Shouldn't be too much longer now, " Jackal noted.

20 minutes later...

The quartet continued to wait by the entrance, with Buck starting to restlessly pace around while Jackal was pretty much napping against the wall while the girls continued to tentively stand by the front gate. Soon enough, there was the faint noise of an engine in the distance and Caveira was the first to notice it.

"Vehicle's on approach."

Upon hearing those words, Buck stopped pacing and woke Jackal up as now all four of them stood in front of the gate waiting for the vehicle. After a few more minutes, a silver Sedan pulled up over the horizon line and soon enough it pulled up to the front gate. Two members of Rainbow were in the front, nodding at the four before signaling to the man in the backseat. Taking the initiative, the man stepped out of the car, and already, one could tell how tall he was. Decked in a replica of the U.S. Men's soccer jersey and jeans,he seemed to be about Jackal's height, but was about an inch or two taller than him. He was decently built as his biceps bulged everytime he bent his arms. Grabbing his bags and equipment from the trunk, the Sedan drove off, going towards another entrance of the compound, leaving Storm looking down at four veteran members of Team Rainbow.

"Holy shit...they weren't kidding about him looking tough..." was the first thought to cross Buck's mind while Jackal was heard audibly gulping. Hibana was having a hard time keeping her composure, as she could feel herself shaking a bit, and Cav, normally not afraid of things, reluctantly took a step back in the presence of the newcomer.

"So, you're Aiden Mitchell, correct?" piped Buck.

"So I'm told," he responded, "Is this part of the initiation or something?"

"Well, no. We were just tasked in seeing that you arrived safely. Just follow us back to the main building, it isn't that long of a trekk, " motioned Buck as he started making his way back to the building with the other three quickly following in suit.

Aiden shrugged as he began to follow the group of four's footsteps. Buck was at point, with Hibana and Cav at his sides while Jackal covered the rear of the diamond with Aiden easily keeping pace with them. By the time they entered the building, a few people were already making their towards the mess hall since lunch was quite soon. The corridors fell in silence as the people they passed could only stare in silence at the hulking Storm, and others scurried out of the way, fearful that they might be on the receiving end of a massive punch. Eventually, the crew arrived an armory of sorts where there were racks of weapons lining the walls and a shelves of sorts containing certain gadgets ranging from Thatcher's EMPs to Ela's Grzmots.

"Earlier today, we were informed during a meeting that you have a gadget of sorts known as the Hand of Zeus," Buck noted.

"Yes sir."

"Well, just put it in an open space on one of the shelves here. Relax, trust me, no one's gonna touch or steal it. Not after the reaction in the corridors," the French-Canadian noted.

Placing one of the bags down, Storm took some caution in opening the bag as he pulled out a silver glove of sorts that had a lightning bolt running from the center of the back of the hand down to the wrist. Along with it, he pulled out two charging packs and put them all on an open space right next to The Caber.

"Alright Aiden, I'm assuming in the other duffel bags you got are your guns, so I can take those for you down to the armory while the others here help you get comfortable in your room."

Without hesitation, the American held his bags out to Buck, who now took upon the weight of the bags in his hands as he turned to the trio.

"Remember, the room they built for him is on the second floor,third door on the right."

The three gave simultaneous nods, before returning their attention to Aiden as Buck left the room.

"Well..." started Hibana, "Follow us..." her voice trailed off as she turned on her heels with the other two quickly doing the same and following her to the next floor. The walk wasn't too too long, and before they knew it, they were at the room designated for Storm.

"Well, here you are. If you need anything or help, just call for one of us," she noted.

"Gotcha," was all Aiden said before he entered the room, closing the door right behind him. A sigh of relief came from the three.

"I think...that went better than what we anticipated, " Jackal nervously said, trying to laugh it off.

The easiest part had finally been completed and the three returned to their rightful quarters. The one thing that did cross all their minds was how well would the other operatives receive him?