Chapter 1: New Home

The plane descended into her new home, the Pit. The pilot, Ace, came out of the cockpit after safely landing the aircraft.

"We're here…" he started to say.

"Temper," she finished, unbuckling the straps and getting her bags. Stepping to the ground she looked around as mechanics roamed to different machines and field soldiers walked with purpose to planes, ready to go to work and save lives. Finally, her eyes landed on the man in charge.

"Hawk!" she greeted enthusiastically.

"Temper," he replied with a smile and hugged the young woman. Hawk turned his attention to the blonde haired man behind him. "This is Duke, the leader of the Alpha Team," he introduced. The two blondes shook hands, Temper gave him a smile smile. "He'll be your commanding officer for most of the team missions. You'll follow him around for a day and see where everything is, but first, he'll show you to your room." Hawk nodded to Duke and walked over to Cover Girl who was patiently waiting for him by the platform elevator.

"It's nice to meet you, I've heard many things," she told Duke.

"Well I hope they left a good impression," he said while walking to one of the service elevators.

"They did. Putting the Cobra Commander and Destro- was it?- in prison is no small feat."

"I had help."

"From your ex-fiance?"

"And my team. So what about you? Any great accomplishments?"

"None that I can talk about," she said in a nonchalant tone. Duke glanced at her through his peripheral while she looked straight at the doors.

"Okay then… family?" He could tell this was a touchy subject as she tensed.

"None that I can talk about," she replied monotonously.

"How old are you?" Duke asked, looking at her body language. She physically calmed down, but only a little.

"23. You know it's very rude to ask a woman her age."

"Sorry just-"

"Trying to start a conversation," she finished. Duke had never been so relieved in his life than when the elevator doors opened. They walked down the hallway in silence until Duke stopped, gestured to a door, and handed her a set of dog tags.

"This is your room. The dog tags double as keys."

"Thank you." She took the dog tags and slid one into a slot in the door. She threw her bag in and turned to Duke, looking at him expectantly. "Are we to start the tour now?"

"If you're ready."

"Does it look like I'm doing anything else that would make me busy?" she asked irritably. Duke narrowed his eyes at her, a look most grunts would duck their heads at, but she just gave her own pointed look.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I've never met you-"

"I'm sorry," she blurted, her facial features softening, "I was just on a long flight and haven't slept in a while. Do you mind if we continue this tomorrow?" Without waiting for a reply she unlocked the door and slipped inside, leaving him to his confusion.

Snapping out of his daze he walked briskly to the Alpha Team's rec room. Ripcord was the first to see him and the first to speak.

"Hey I thought you were bringing around the new guy?" he questioned.

"Not guy, girl. The new girl," Duke corrected.

"Hawk didn't say anything about it being a girl," Heavy Duty said.

"But he didn't say it would be a guy either," Scarlett pointed out.

"Well is she at least pretty?" Ripcord asked, earning a small smack on the arm from his red headed girlfriend. "It's just a questioned," he said, holding his hands up defensively.

Duke shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Yeah, I guess. I wasn't exactly paying attention to her looks."

"This is her," Breaker piped in, turning his computer screen to them. On the screen was a picture of a platinum blonde haired girl, her eyes were covered by Aviators. Her hourglass shape was evident through a tight fitting tank top and denim capris. Heavy Duty looked at the picture with scrutiny.

"She looks harmless. Any reason why Hawk's putting her with us?" he asked.

Breaker turned the computer to face him and skimmed the page he was on before speaking, "Name, classified; codename, Temper; family, classified; residence, classified; specialties, classified; affiliations-"

"Classified, we get it," Scarlett interrupted.

"Actually, it says her affiliations are with the Arashikage," Breaker said, looking between the people in the room and the screen, "and... she's ex-Cobra."