Work Text:
Crow isn't much of a talker, never was. He was a shy young soldier before, sent in the army to "grow balls". And he had difficulty with words. It was worse when his throat got slit. Couldn't even speak for months and too ashamed of his voice to ever talk again.
Crow is the silent bird of the team, always watching, never interacting with the others. Crow… Crow hated his nickname, even if it gave him a brink of power, the prophet of the death, but he also brought death to his allies. He couldn't stay in a team long enough to make friends, people always dying after one or two missions.
They were the exception, well there was two, but the Bells was the only exception alive. A team of insane people like him who can survive other insane people, and their curse.
Fuck this they were the team chosen to have the first monster soldier. And what was doing this elite team? Arguing, like dumbass because they all had different opinions on what to do of the current situation. Captain Bellis let the others choose even if she had the right to expose what was the best option for her.
The Captain wanted to go rescue their new monster soldier. The idiot got caught in his first solo mission. Berry wanted to let him rot where he was and Clover suggested searching him and killing him so the enemies couldn't find how to turn someone immortal like crazy scientists.
"We should just kill it, it's enough of a bother to our team…"
"We're not killing one of us."
"Hey boss, I really appreciate it, but it's not one of us, it's just a monster. We should leave him, not go on this suicide mission, hell it made a mistake? Not our problem."
"Berry, they can experiment on it and just find the secret of immortality. Killing him is our best option."
"So go search him just to kill him? We could free him and take him home!"
"IT'S NOT ITS HOME!"
The arguing was going louder and louder, no one could really win this.
Breath in, and out, you can do it Viktor.
Crow stand up and slam the table to shut everyone around.
"Listen here" his voice was dry and harsh. "We might not like him, we might not even think he deserves to live, but one of our mission is TO MAKE A MONSTER SOLDIER! AND YOU FUCKERS WANT TO THROW HIM AWAY AT A SINGLE MISTAKE? Yes he got caught like an idiot! But it was his first solo mission! He didn't go through the same training as us, he's basically a rookie taking his baby step in the middle of war!" Captain Bellis left the room. "Our superiors trust us enough to take care of a living bomb, and by leaving him to rot, we're ruining our reputation and the trust our superiors have." The captain came back with a bottle of water, she put it next to Crow.
"We're four, four elite soldier, we survive stuff we shouldn't, you all being still alive proves it. So I say, we listen to our boss, we can even gather some allies, and we get our new friend back."
When he finished, no one said a word, with how silent he is, everyone forget why Crow's a lieutenant. He could be one goddamn leader if he wanted to. He takes the bottle and down it quickly, signing 'I'm not saying one more word.'
They let him plan the mission. They get another soldier, Culture, an old friend of the Captain and Crow. The mission was easy, a quick in and out. And it was easy, except for Clover who got shot in the stomach, Berry would say it was deserved, Berry's weapon broke though, it happens even to the best, she had to fight with a knife and she looked annoyed to be covered in blood.
They found him, in a perfectly white room, they left him here to rot and be forgotten. Probably white torture. He didn't even move when he saw his team. His skin had more scars than what he remembered. He had to carry him back to the evac. Damn he was light, did he even got feed?
The Monster was silent for days, often needing breathing exercises to even stay still in the common room. Crow walked to him, no, not Crow, Viktor. He sat next to him and signed: 'What should we call you? I don't really like Monster.'
The other one didn't even look at him. "I don't understand your weird gestures." And so Crow wrote it down. After a moment, the Monster finally answered "Shini, I guess you can call me Shini."
And deep down, Shini made himself a promise, he'd learn the language his lieutenant seemed fond of, even if it was hard.