The Rook's Face (War of Games)

The Rook's Face is the fourth episode in the first season of War of Games and the fourth installment to the series. In this episode, Nathan Drake is recruited by the Rainbow Six initiative and gets briefed on why he's chosen by an international counter-terrorism agency to assist them in their quest. Meanwhile, the main target of the agency reveals itself in a chain of islands near Southeast Asia. This episode airs on the 28th of July, 2017 and is succeeded by Operation: Streaker.

Main Story
The episode starts with the view of Nathan sleeping on a helicopter that's seen flying over a mountainous area. When sleeping, Karen Bowman, who sits in front of him, tells him to wake up as they're near the Rainbow base. Seeing the view after waking up, Nathan asks where he is and why is he asleep. Karen tells him that it's classified and that they knocked him out the moment the helicopter took off in order to keep secrecy of the base's existence. Nathan is annoyed by the revelation, but decides to not complain as he knows of the lengths a top-secret agency will go to keep their existence in the dark. Nathan then engaged in a brief conversation with other soldiers. One of them, only named "Bayman", asked him of his many adventures and tells him that he once hunted down Lazarevic with his team, only for him to be the survivor of the "massacre". Bayman however got silenced by the nearby Logan Keller, telling him to save the stories for the other soldiers later on.

After several minutes, the Rainbow base is finally seen among the mountainous peaks, hidden by both the snow and the base's white colouring. Landing on the primary helipad of the base, Nathan and the others drop down. When Nathan drops down, he sees a black woman with sunglasses standing in an authoritative way. Seeing her, Nathan tried to greet her in a stunned and scared way before Karen tells him that the woman is Six, her boss and the director of operations for the initiative.

After greeting each other casually, Nathan is brought in to the interior of the base, where he sees other operatives conduction training sessions, guard duties, interrogating "persons of interest", being briefed on possible future threats, and others. Nathan asks Six why are there so many agents in an extremely secret base while they've got jobs to do out there. Six responds that those in the base are usually those with "privileges" and "selective skills" and are reserved for the worst-case-of-scenario situation. And now, the worst case of scenario seems to be happening in a matter of days.

Entering her office that is all plain white with some pictures hanging around, Nathan is told to sit down and the briefing begins. Before the briefing begins however, Six asks him if he has any other questions before the briefing begins. Sam tries to think of a logical question while having a little stress and "shock", and decides to ask her of what's with the pictures of soldiers around the wall. Six tells her that she intends to tell him after the briefing, in which Nathan responds with a sigh. After that, the briefing begins.

Six tells him that for the past couple of months, they have been beginning a series of undercover crackdowns and investigations on multiple terrorist organizations. Organized crime factions such as the Chicago South Club, Santa Blanca Cartel, Los Santos Vagos, and the Payday Gang, terrorists and militias such as their mortal enemy, the White Masks, FARC, Cordis Die, the Arctic Avengers, both the Africa and Brazilian militias (the same one that captured Nathan in the previous episodes), and others. Even the consortium, Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies, all are monitored. In their investigations, they discovered a smuggling network among many of the organizations. And from interrogations, each of these (but not all of them) organizations seem to have cooperated willingly to help yet another secret faction. Cooperating between these factions like they're old friends is something very rare among the criminals and terrorists, and there must be someone or some faction out there that is so strong that even they can hide their presence using the media and vanish as if they are merely phantoms.

Nathan gets what Six is trying to say, but didn't know of what's the connection with him. That, however, was until Six showed him a picture of of one of his past rivals, Eddy Raja. Seeing the picture, Nathan was absolutely stunned and left wordless. Nathan remembered seeing his former friend and rival getting bit and dragged into a deep hole by a Descendant, and he never heard of him anymore after El Dorado. In the picture, Raja is seen shaking hands with a man with a mohawk-style hair. Six then tells him that like his brother, Nathan should believe that not all men can truly stay dead. Nathan examines the picture once again and asks where did she get the image and who is the man Raja is shaking hands with.

Six tells him that it's better to know his name as "Vaas", and he'll be able to find him in the islands. Hearing this, Nathan is bewildered by the fact that now he has to go to several islands. Luckily, Six says that he'll be going with Task Force 141: an elite squad of some of the best operators in Rainbow Six has to offer. Six continues by saying that Raja and this "Vaas" are spotted by a contact, former operator, and associate of Rainbow Six that has resided in the Rook Islands--the island chain Nate and TF 141 will be heading to--and is currently doing continuous recon and intel-gathering for her.

Grabbing a hold of all the information he gains, Nate then sets back and concludes that Six simply recruited him because Eddy Raja is somehow running around out there alive and she wants him to handle Eddy. Nate then complains that he should've had nothing to do about with the case and she can just send TF 141 on their own mission to stop Eddy and "Vaas". Six then "retaliates" by showing him yet another object, but now it is a file. Looking at the file, titled Project: El Dorado, Nate sees through the document made by TRICELL that's supposed to go to someone called the "Horseman" and discovers two shocking revelations. First, TRICELL (and to an extension, the Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies) was the first one to discover the existence of El Dorado and its virus. Allegedly, they wanted to make a bioweapon out of the virus inside, enhancing the potency of the infection by mixing it with another bioweapon that was supposed to have an involvement in the "Kijuju Incident" back in 2005 called the Plaga (plague). Second and lastly, apparently TRICELL "employed" Eddy, his pirates, and Atoq Navarro (via Roman) in order to recover the golden sarcophagus. But as things turned out of course, Nathan's appearance backfired TRICELL's plans.

Finishing his reading of the file, Nathan is seen in a depressed state, with Six saying that not at all times things are as obvious as they're supposed to be. Still confused, Nathan finally has no other choice but to accept the job. Six however, doesn't seem too delighted at all. Six then informs him that the mission can take up to a full month or so, as other intel sources indicate that other than "Vaas" and Eddy are there not to just have a party but to "gift" this "Horseman" with the modified El Dorado virus. Nathan's mission is to infiltrate the North Island of the island chain and recover the bioweapon, as well as take Eddy Raja in for further examinations in the most possible, peaceful way as the two were friends. After doing so, TF 141 will clear out any opposition and wait for the appearance of the "Horseman" on the islands, either eliminating the target or taking it in.

Nathan, knowing all he's going to do on the islands, then accepts the job entirely and asks Six if he can contact his family. Six replies by saying that by the time he leaves this room, they'll know of Nate's condition. Nate then asks her if he can leave the room, but Six reminds him of his former question of the pictures. Nate then sits back down after he stood up. Six tells him it's gonna be short, anyway, and Nate goes back up. Six then tells him that those are the soldiers that had fallen in the line of duty. The pictures behind her represent four of some of the greatest operatives Rainbow Six has ever had that died, but also represent four failures Rainbow Six must never reach again. Nate asks each of them to Six.

The first one Six identifies is Chris Walker, an operative who scored a first in the history of Rainbow as the first military police to join the ranks of the CTU. Chris however later went insane after a botched mission in Afghanistan, claiming that he saw a ghoul of sorts there. In the process, he killed the entirety of his squad and was committed to an asylum where he apparently transformed into a homocidal maniac who ended up getting killed by another patient in self-defense. The second identified soldier is Martin Walker (no relation to Chris). Yet another operative from the United States, Martin was known to be a high-scorer and revered operator among others. But years of combating the forces of terror and witnessing atrocities pushed his mind and turned him into the very entity Rainbow seeks to eliminate. He briefly became the ringleader of a terrorist faction that frequently attacks Dubai, until he's forcibly put down for good. The third one, Elliot Salem, is a rebel naturally but is a good man at heart. Like Martin however, it takes several months, then years, to turn the sanest man into lunacy. Except Salem isn't as insane as both the Walkers. Elliot became an enemy of Rainbow after fellow operative and brother-in-arms, Tyson Rios, was killed accidentally by friendly fire. Elliot still lives up to now, but Six refuses to reveal what happened to him. After hearing all of those, Nate then refuses to listen to the fourth one, as he feels that he's wasting Six's time. After being allowed to get out, Nate does so.

Outside, Nate is greeted by Bayman once again who tells him that some of his comrades want to have some fun with him and some story-tellings. Nate initially didn't want to do so, but Bayman goaded him and led him to the mess hall where apparently him and some of his comrades are members of Task Force 141, which will be sent to the Rook Islands. In his time with Bayman and friends, he tells them of some of his adventures, arm-wrestled with the stronger members of the group, and others. After night fell, they then part ways and Nate is shown his living quarters for the day. There, Nathan lays down, relaxing while remembering his family and recapping what the hell happened in the past few days. And after doing so for some time, he goes on to sleep peacefully.

Epilogue
Switching to the view of the North Rook Island, the camera pans to the view of a tropical rainforest where the sound of a loud music blares through the woods. Then, the view of a village is seen with some pirates seen enjoying themselves with local women and drugs. In a nearby cottage, Eddy Raja and Vaas can be seen conversing and drinking together. In their conversation, Eddy and Vaas discuss how much money they're gonna get when they deliver the package to "Mr. I". After sharing a toast and a laugh, Vaas' phone then rings and he picks it up. Apparently, it is "Mr. I" himself who's calling him, asking him if the biological weapon, referred by him as "Nova Six", is still secure. Vaas tells him first to stop calling the package fancy names before checking the bioweapon for hiimself. He confirms that it's still secure, in which Mr. I responds by saying that the longer he and his crew keep the package's existence, the more they will be paid. Mr. I then tells him again that he'll be coming soon, but he doesn't tell exactly when. After that, the phone cuts off. Vaas, looking pissed off, then curses at his phone while sticking his middle finger out to it. Raja asks of what's up, but Vaas simply responds with a smirk, saying that they'll be richer than Bill Gates by next month.

Speaking

 * Nathan Drake
 * Eddy Raja
 * Karen Bowman
 * Six (Angela Bassett) (Rainbow Six Siege)
 * Tachanka/Alexsandr Senaviev (Anatoly Zinoviev)
 * Valkyrie/Meghan J. Castellano (uncredited)
 * Logan Keller (Rainbow Six: Vegas)
 * Bayman (Matthew Mercer) (Dead or Alive)
 * Clayton "Pac" Pakowski (Andrew Lawrence) (Battlefield 4)
 * Dusty (Chris Fries) (Medal of Honor 2010)
 * Anna Mlinaryeva (Anna Graves) (Metro: Last Light)
 * Vaas Montenegro (Michael Mando) (Far Cry 3)
 * "Mr. I" (uncredited)

Others (Non-Speaking Cameos, etc)

 * Jill Valentine (non-speaking) (Resident Evil)
 * Fergus Reid (non-speaking) (Wolfenstein: the New Order)
 * Atoq Navarro (mentioned and picture) (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
 * Gabriel Roman (mentioned and picture)
 * Chris Walker (picture) (Outlast)
 * Martin Walker (picture) (Spec-Ops: the Line)
 * Elliot Salem (picture) (Army of Two)
 * Tyson Rios (mentioned)
 * Chicago South Club (mentioned and pictured) (Watch Dogs)
 * Dermot "Lucky" Quinn
 * Santa Blanca Cartel (mentioned and pictured) (Ghost Recon: Wildlands)
 * El Sueño
 * Rudolfo "El Yayo" Yana
 * Ignazio Perez "La Plaga" Cervantes
 * Payday Gang (mentioned and pictured) (Payday)
 * Dallas
 * Chains
 * Hoxton
 * Wolf
 * Los Santos Vagos (mentioned) (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas/V)
 * Arctic Avengers (mentioned and pictured) (Counter Strike)
 * Cordis Die (mentioned and pictured) (Call of Duty: Black Ops II)
 * Raul Menendez
 * DeFalco
 * Brazilian Militia (mentioned) (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)
 * Africa Militia (mentioned) (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3)
 * Federation of Pharmaceutic Companies (mentioned) (Resident Evil 5)
 * TRICELL
 * FARC (real life)

Trivia

 * The name of this title reflects the location in which the antagonists are revealed to the viewers for the first time in the Rook Islands from Far Cry 3.
 * By the time this episode is created, this episode has the largest amount of easter eggs among all episodes in Season 1 by (in real time) the 12th of June, 2017.

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