Big Boss was fed up of being stuck indoors. He craved the adrenaline rush, the excitement of his job, the thrill of the chase. Yet here he was, stuck at home with his leg up on the stool, watching some tv show that was less than accurate when it came to how Elite Teams would work. He lived with his wife, who worked shifts in the local 24/7 supermarket and sadly, for Diego, she was working tonight.
A gun fight had broken out on the tv show, the sound of the bullets and the thrilling music causing him to smile. He prayed he could come back to work soon, unable to stomach sitting at home knowing Rex was attempting to lead the team with his mind as it was and he wouldn't have Big Boss to support him.
Diego sighed as he watched the poor acting and the bad aim of these bullets mean that the gun fight went on for ages. No way would that be allowed where he was. If you had to use two or three bullets to kill a persons it was seen as a failure. One hit was all it should take. That's why we were elite.

Rex sped up to the door and hammered loudly on it, causing Big Boss to jump out of his chair maybe slightly too enthusiastically. He flung the door open, ready for a fight, but relaxed as soon as he saw Rex.

"Jesus!" Big Boss breathed out. "What the hell are you doing here?" He grabbed hold of Rex and pulled him into the house quickly, slamming the door shut. Rex looked awkward and uncomfortable as he shuffled into the living room and took a seat without being asked to. He was more than comfortable here, to Rex this was like a second home.

"Diego, it's all fucked." Rex sighed, running his hand over his short hair. Diego shuffled back to his seat and put his foot back on the stool.

"Jase, you're going to have to be a little more specific. What is fucked?" Diego asked carefully, not knowing what to prepare for. Was this about the mission? Was it about Jason himself? Was it about Millie?

"The mission, it was a dud." Jason shook his head, running his hand over his hair for the second time. "I lost eight troops. Out of ten." Diego shook his head. "Millie said it was too good to be true, and my gut agreed with her but I'd-"

"Wait what? Millie was there?" Diego interrupted, His eyebrows raised in shock. He wanted to smile and make a sly comment but he knew now was not the time. He buried it to use later on. Diego grabbed the remote and muted the stupid tv show, making sure all his attention was on Jason.

"I... I... fuck, erm" For the first time ever, Diego watched Jason fumble over his words as if he were embarrassed or scared to tell him the truth. In all the years and all the missions, he had never been in this situation before. "I refused to do the mission without her in my ear. I just couldn't trust the others knowing they all went home when we were screwed. I knew she'd have my best interests in mind." Jason avoided eye contact with Diego as he explained it, almost waiting for him to erupt into a fit of laughter or start teasing him like a teenager. Though, to Jason's surprise, nothing of the sort materialised.

"Too right. I would have done the same thing." Diego agreed. "Well done for fighting for it." Diego smiled at Jason and nodded. "So what happened?" Diego knew it best to keep the conversation moving.

"She told me it was too good to be true. That they'd have an unmanned building with evidence in it. My gut said the same but I'd pissed everyone off already by requesting Millie, I thought if we just got the mission out of the way I would have more serious conversations about it being permanent. The fucking place was loaded with trip wires and a shit ton of C4." Diego's face fell, he put his hands over his face as he let out a shaky sigh. "Millie told the guy sitting next to her to get Vulture to check on me. She's the only reason he and I are alive." Jason lifted up his T-shirt and showed Diego the healing wound. Diego sucked in a sharp breath. "So I went for a drink... well, a few drinks." Again, Jason hesitated before continuing his story. How did he articulate it? How could he get Diego to understand what he feels?

"That's normal, every one of us has hit the drink after a difficult mission." Diego said, trying to make sure Jason knew it wasn't anything to be upset about.

"Do you remember Flick?" The conversation suddenly shifted and Diego furrowed his brow as he thought back to who this familiarly named person could be and why Jason felt the need to change the subject so quickly. At Diego's thoughtful expression, Jason quickly offered some more information. "The hacker from our level one mission. The one Millie knew." Diego nodded suddenly, remembering the very limited interaction he had with the guy.

"Oh yeah, the guy who hacked the electricity?"

"Millie's in some deep shit with him."

Silence ensued for what felt like a lifetime. Diego couldn't wrap his head around the fact Jason sounded like he cared about someone. He was worried about her? How did he know she was in trouble?

"Dare I ask how you know this information?" Diego was careful in what he responded with. Jason sighed heavily and bit his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Millie met Flick in the pub too. I listened into their conversation. He owns her for a year now, because she helped us." Diego raised one brow as he asked the question.

"Owns her?"

"He takes payment from everyone else but he knows Millie somehow. He said she has to work for him. He's her boss and he said he owned her. She's really upset about it. She said she knew what she was signing up for but it was worth it to save us." Jason rambled on, knowing he had to say it before he overthought it and stopped himself getting involved. "I'm worried about her. I think she's in deep trouble with him." Diego sat thoughtfully for a second. He wanted to answer this in one of two ways but he had to be careful. For once, Jason was showing a sensitive side and even more rare, it was towards a woman. Part of Diego - the fun loving part - wanted to tease him endlessly that he was finally letting someone in, but he knew better and could see how worried Jason was. He needed to remain serious.

"Okay, so have you spoken to her about it?" He tried. It felt like a stupid question, when the hell did Jason talk to anyone about anything other than work?

"I tried, but I just shut it down again." He sighed heavily. "Big Boss... Diego... I need your help."