The smell of antiseptic mixed with sweat odour made Ana want to gag before she even opened her eyes. She wrinkled her nose to take short breaths, lifting her eyelids to stare up at the familiar green canvas of a field tent – the field hospital, to be precise. Right. She had been away on a mission for five days. Five arduous days, spent in a sniper's nest without a spotter, waiting for the precise moment to spring an ambush on the enemy convoy. Only with the help of hidden perimeter sensors, fitful bouts of naps, and a near unhealthy reliance on stimulants was she able to keep alert and steady enough to perform her duty when the time came. It was an explosive faceoff – literally. Both the army and insurgents had plenty of rockets and grenades in their pockets, and little qualms about using all of them. The commotion provided a solid distraction, long enough for Ana to take out the insurgent second-in-command and his guard before being detected.

Ana groaned, shifting on the hard mattress as pain shot through the back of her skull. The last thing she remembered was escaping her sniper's nest before the building collapsed on its crumbling foundation. Running in zig-zags from enemy gunfire, blindly firing her sidearm over her shoulder. She reached the extraction point and received many pats on the back, only to faint the moment she set foot in the helicopter.

Right…Now that's a little embarrassing, Ana thought, already hearing the ribbing she would receive from her squad mates. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, fighting against the dull ache in her muscles, when the cubicle curtain was pulled open. Ana looked up, a lop-sided grin already hanging on her lips when she recognised her visitor, admiring the curve of her jaw exposed by hair pulled neatly back into a bun. The partial eye roll she received only made her grin grow wider, and she sat upright despite more aches announcing their presence all over her body.

"Kamilah. Fancy meeting you here."

"Lieutenant Amari," the doctor answered with only the slightest inflection in her tone. The tone of someone already done with Amari's nonsense. "And here I was, wishing not to meet you here."

"Admit it, Lieutenant Shadid," Ana replied. She pulled off her standard-issue grey t-shirt at the doctor's command. "You like it when I come under your care."

"On the contrary," she deadpanned, removing the dressings on Ana's shoulders methodically. "I now take painkillers before treating you so I can't feel the headaches you give me."

Ana turned in her spot at Kamilah's gesture, giving her access to the wounds on her back. She did not remember sustaining them – probably from her last chaotic sprint towards extraction, when her fatigued mind was working on pure instinct alone. Kamilah set a firm hand on her right shoulder, sweeping her long hair over the left. A dressing between her shoulder blades was peeled off, Ana's back tensing at the wound's sting.

"I haven't met a sniper who gets injured as often as you, Amari," Kamilah said as she cleaned the wound. "Maybe you just aren't as good as your squad claims. Stay still!" She ordered sharply when Ana jerked at her remark, causing the swab to dig into her wound.

Bending forward and groaning through her teeth, Ana gripped into the bed sheets as Kamilah straightened her slowly.

"Now you've hurt my feelings and body, Kamilah." She heard a long-suffering sigh, before the swab wiped at the edges of her wound again.

"Once, Ana. Just once, can't you just shut up let me do my job?" Kamilah's impatience was obvious and cutting, but all Ana heard was her name lilting off the doctor's tongue. "Or better yet, stop getting hurt so much. Chigaru doesn't end up here as often as you, and he's the one always charging into enemy lines."

A new dressing was secured over her wound, and Ana swung her legs down the side of the bed again, facing Kamilah. The doctor looked a little exhausted herself, but that did not stop her from continuing the reprimand.

"Just because you have doctors doesn't mean you can just charge off and act stupid. One day your luck will run out, and we can't save you. Are you even listening?" Kamilah asked upon noticing Ana's faraway stare.

Ana blinked and, just catching onto the question, nodded with a smile. Kamilah then continued by reminding her of the last few times she ended up in the medical tent, that she was running through their supplies much too quickly, and that her body would not take much more of her foolishness. Ana just looked straight back into dark brown eyes, currently narrowed and accompanied by knitted brows, keeping the smile on her face. She shifted her gaze down the strong nose, to lips that danced as they formed each word of a lecture meant for Ana's ears, but never really landed. Ana wished she would go on forever.

"Ana."

The sound of her name snapped Ana out of her reverie. She lifted her admiring gaze back up to meet Kamilah's exasperated one. That Ana had a certain fondness for the doctor was no secret between the two of them. Except, Kamilah thought it was reserved for the sole purpose of pushing her buttons. Sometimes Ana, who was inching towards taboo territory, thought that was a blessing in disguise. A painful blessing. One that she would gladly toss into quicksand for a stolen moment in a dark corner.

"You weren't listening, were you?"

She shrugged apologetically.

Kamilah closed her eyes in defeat, letting out a slow exhale. "Look. I'm asking you to try. Just try to not get hurt all the time. Can you do that, Amari?"

Ana took the shot.

"Sure." She leaned in slowly. To Kamilah's credit, she did not shrink away. "But only if you'll have dinner with me."

The doctor's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Lieutenant, I suggest you stop right there."

Ana missed.

"It's only–"

"I did not hear what you just said. You are hereby discharged from my care. Only light duties for the next two days. Now go."

"Kamilah." Ana hopped off the bed, tugging her t-shirt on hurriedly. She stepped in front of the doctor before she could leave. "You're overreacting. It's just dinner."

"You and I both know it is not." Oh. So she does know.

"But–"

"There are rules, Lieutenant. It's time you revisited them. Now go before I report your indiscretion."

Ana stared at the firm set in the doctor's jaw. She pursed her lips and pulled its corners up into a smile. "I'm sorry."

At Kamilah's nod, she marched quickly out of the tent, focusing on the pull on her wounds instead of the disappointment weighing on her chest.

Ana not only missed, but missed by a mile.

A mile was how far she stayed away from Kamilah for the next few weeks. She still ended up in the medical tent – notably less often – after some missions, and Lieutenant Shadid tended to her occasionally. But Ana kept it professional: less forward banter and lingering gazes. Kamilah responded to her polite jibes, but made no effort to continue their conversations. The sudden stiffness between them attracted the attention of Khalid – fellow sniper in the company, brother she never had, and her newly-assigned spotter. He followed her out of the medical tent after being patched up yet again, and nudged her in the ribs. Ana hissed, shoving him back.

"That hurts, you asshole." She kept one hand on her side, resting gently on top of her bandages.

"Sorry," Khalid said sheepishly, running a hand over his short mohawk. He fell back to her side, peering at her with brows raised as they walked to the barracks. "What's up with you and Shadid? Something happen?"

"No."

"Really? 'Cause it looks like something happened."

"Something's going to happen if you don't stop."

"So? What is it?" Khalid continued regardless, and Ana felt an urge to hit him upside the head. "You asked her out?" He stared, eyes widening to epic proportions alongside his triumphant grin, when Ana stopped in her tracks and groaned. The grown man with muscles of steel practically started bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of her.

"Holy fuck!" he exclaimed – softly, of course. It was not a subject to discuss out in the open, especially not when there were countless colleagues bustling around the base. Khalid's ecstatic expression fell when he finally caught on.

"Oh. Didn't go well, did it?"

"What gave it away?" Ana pushed him out of the way and resumed walking. She stumbled a little when Khalid grabbed her around the shoulders and kept her clamped to his side, all the way to the barracks.

"It's alright, Ana. There's still plenty of fish in the sea. Lucky for you, you're not restricted to only half of them."

So Ana fished, like the rest of her squad. Actually, no. They did not fish. They jumped into the open waters and swam until they bumped into someone else. They threw themselves into what came next, and boasted about it in the mess hall the next day, voting for which escapade was the most worthy of bearing a hangover for.

"Ana!" Ebo boomed, smacking his hand on the table. "What about that chick in your lap last night? Hot or not?"

"Scalding." Ana smirked, taking a bite out of the most tasteless flatbread she ever had the misfortune of eating. "I can still feel the burns."

She could not remember much of the night, to be honest. Just the heavy bass of house music pounding in her ears, the most gorgeous fucking green eyes she had ever seen, set in a face clouded by alcohol and lust that barely parted from hers in the darkness of the club. Needy hands tearing off pesky clothes, loud moans at the stoking of wet heat, nails raking across skin, sounds of similar carnal indulgence passing through thin motel walls. The sting all over her body was definitive proof of satisfaction. Then Ana realised she never really caught the woman's name.

Ebo hooted in laughter. "You want some relief before going back on duty? Oi!" He barked at their medical colleagues eating with them at the long table. They turned towards him looking purposefully bored – their tactic for dealing with Ebo's crassness.

"You called, meathead?" Captain Deyab replied, calmly chewing on his food.

"Got any pain relief for a good night's fuck?" Ebo nodded at Ana, who rolled her eyes in response.

"We have pain relief, yes. Why don't you drop by later, Amari? Then we'll see what kind of pain you have. Maybe even check for an itch, as well."

Through the roar of laughter and pounding that shook their table, Ana made eye contact with Kamilah, of all people. Her grin dimmed at the inscrutable gaze from a few seats down, induced high taking a sharp dive when the doctor returned to her meal looking thoroughly unamused.

Fuck. Does she think…

She calmed down much faster than the rest, and stuffed the remaining piece of flatbread into her mouth. Somehow this affront to the culinary gods managed to taste even worse, like the ashes she accidentally inhaled during a joint exercise in Jordan.

Lieutenant Kamilah Shadid was well known for her intolerance for stupidity. In particular, stupidity that landed people in the hospital. Getting shot in the foot by a pistol with its safety off. Broken fingers and noses from drunken brawls. Head injuries from not sitting properly in transport trucks when they moved off. But, most of all, unnecessary heroics in battle. And Ana's squad was chock-full of heroes. Kamilah was transferred to Heliopolis last year, and had them all cowed within a month. Kind of. Though they still had a fondness for achieving seemingly impossible feats, their visits to the med bay dropped noticeably. It was not as easy to feel full of themselves under a doctor's barely disguised disapproval.

That was why Ana and Khalid breathed a simultaneous 'shit' when they walked through the med bay doors to find Kamilah on duty. Ana adjusted her hold on Khalid's waist, helping him limp over to a bed.

"Injuries?" the doctor asked when he sat down.

"Bruise," Khalid said, unnecessarily pointing at said bruise on his cheekbone. "Sprained ankle. I think."

"Cause?"

Khalid raised his brows at Ana, who kept her shoulders straight while her stomach shriveled up inside.

"He fell down the stairs."

"Because?" Khalid prompted in a sing-song voice.

Ana gritted her teeth. "Because I ran into him. By accident."

"'Accident', my ass."

"Shut up," Ana snapped.

And Khalid did. They kept their eyes on each other, suddenly aware that the doctor had crossed her arms, looking decidedly unimpressed.

"How old are the two of you?"

"22," Khalid replied.

"Don't you know that already?" Ana asked, regretting her decision to look Kamilah straight in the eyes.

"I do. But it seems you don't."

Ouch. Ana stepped aside to let Kamilah examine Khalid's swollen foot. Then thick wiggling eyebrows caught her attention. She cocked her head, watching Khalid quickly swivel his eyes between the doctor and her. Ana raised a hand in silent threat, but whatever response he had was interrupted by a new arrival in the med bay.

"Doctor." The man snapped his fingers without sparing them a single glance, and leapt onto the bed opposite theirs like it was his throne. He had a standard buzz cut and wore a t-shirt with fatigue pants, polished boots reflecting the stark ceiling lights. Though muscled, his frame was much leaner than Khalid's. Ana frowned, already disliking him for the way he stared down his nose at them.

"Attend to me."

"We were here first," Khalid said.

"So?" He snorted and snapped his fingers again. "Do not make me ask again, Doctor."

Ana's blood boiled, and it went even higher when Kamilah made her way over to him.

"Name and rank."

"Ayman Saad. Sergeant."

Khalid and Ana exchanged glances. Saad. They had heard of Major General Saad's son being transferred to their base, and even more about his delinquency. Looking at him now, she gave thanks that they had not crossed paths sooner.

"You look fine to me," Kamilah said.

"Thank you." He gave Kamilah an obvious once-over, wearing a smirk that Ana wanted to claw off his face. "But business before pleasure. I'm ill. Give me three days' medical leave."

"What do you have?"

"Does it matter? I'm ill, unfit for duty, and need time to rest. No," he said, when Kamilah brought out a thermometer. "No need for that. Just give me my leave, and I will make it worth your while. Money. Promotion. A night out."

Khalid's hand clamped onto Ana's wrist, stopping her from raising the fist. He gave her a small shake of the head.

"No. Now get out before I report your behaviour to–" She stopped when Ayman grabbed her arm. Any bit of patience he had disappeared in an instant.

"You will give me what I want, or you can bid your job goodbye." He barked in pain when Kamilah reversed the hold with ease, gripping onto his forearm and twisting it at a painful angle. There was a jolt through Ana's chest that definitely was not sympathy.

"Leave now, or I will personally ensure that you are busted down to private," Kamilah intoned.

"My father–" A small squeak replaced his words when the doctor twisted his arm even further.

"Your father may be a general, Saad. But I could not care less. This is my med bay, and I will do as I see fit. Not bow to the whims of a child." She loosened her grip so Ayman could yank his arm away.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" His voice rose a few octaves, sounding more like the spoilt brat described in gossip. "Just sign some papers to give me the goddamned time off!"

Surprisingly, Kamilah's mouth curved upwards. But it was not a friendly expression. "Time off? Very well. Amari." She turned to Ana. "Break his legs."

Ana quirked a brow. When the doctor's mirthless smile did not waver, she gave a crooked grin of her own and stepped forward. "With pleasure."

"The fuck?" Ayman scooted backwards when Ana reached the foot of his bed.

"You want medical leave. I cannot give one without proper reason. This is the compromise."

"You're bluffing." He narrowed his eyes between the two women.

Ana glanced at Kamilah, who nodded. "He had an unfortunate accident during combat training. Isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

Grin growing predatory, Ana grabbed onto the man's calves. But she was forced to step back when he kicked out at her and flung himself off the bed.

"Fuck you–," he spat, glancing at the doctor's name tag. "Shadid. And Amari." He glared at Ana. "The Brigadier's brat, aren't you? I'm going to fuck you both over."

"Good luck with that," Ana called after him as he stormed out of med bay. "Dipshit."

The doctor, on the other hand, did not bother watching Saad's exit. She strode off towards the back, rummaging in a supply locker.

"What an asshole," Khalid said when Ana went back to him. "How'd he even get to be sergeant?"

"Daddy power, probably."

"I dare you to shoot him in the ass. You know, if we ever get deployed with him."

"Do not shoot him," Kamilah said, having returned with a frozen gel pack and a roll of elastic bandage. "I don't want to deal with him again."

"Then we'll shoot him when you're off duty," Ana replied.

The doctor merely sighed, wrapping the first layer of bandage over Khalid's ankle.

"I have a question," Khalid said. At Kamilah's flat hum, he continued, "Were you really going to let Ana break his legs?"

"Yes."

"Aren't doctors supposed to 'do no harm'?"

"Yes. That's why I asked Amari to do it," Kamilah said, tone giving nothing away as she reached for the gel pack.

"You were just using me?" Ana asked.

"You seemed more than willing to be used."

"You have no idea, Doc." Khalid's laugh turned into a cry of pain when Ana pushed him, his ankle bending in Kamilah's hold.

"Amari!"

"What now?" Ana growled into the phone as she made her way to med bay again.

"Could you pick up some supper too? I'm thinking kofta and…ooh! Umm Ali, why not?"

"Eat my ass, Issa." Ana ended the call before Khalid could reply. The man had been playing the victim card and sending her on so many errand runs, she felt an insane urge to push him down another flight of stairs. Not that she did it intentionally the first time. But now she wished she had.

"Do you ever take a break?" The words involuntarily left her mouth when she entered the med bay. Kamilah looked up from her computer.

"I do," the doctor said, as Ana approached the administrator's desk at the back of the bay. "But it seems my shifts always coincide with your visits."

"Lucky you." Ana's smile did not last long under Kamilah's poker face. "I'm picking up painkillers for Khalid."

"It's been a week. His sprain wasn't that bad." Dark eyes scrutinised her. "Something happened. Again."

"It wasn't me this time, alright? The idiot tripped over a push cart."

Kamilah threw a hand up in the air, standing from her desk. She withdrew a small white bottle from the supply cabinet, quickly filled it with pills, then tossed it to Ana.

"This should suffice for another week. If it doesn't, then it's his own fault and he will get no more painkillers."

"Harsh."

"Practical. It's time you people learnt we're not candy dispensers." Kamilah sat back at her desk, tapping at the keyboard. She paused when Ana did not move at the silent dismissal. "Was there something else?"

"Well. I just–" She rolled the bottle in her hand nervously. How did one say, 'I didn't mean to pick you up like a one night stand. Could I try again?', but more…nicely? No, she did not know. So she settled for humour instead. "I was just wondering how old you are."

Kamilah tilted her head. "24."

"Really? I would've taken you for fifty." A lop-sided grin grew as Kamilah narrowed her eyes.

"If you're implying I look old, Amari…"

"No, you look great. It's just that you act like my mother, sometimes."

Ana laughed at the offended expression and ran for her life, feeling a pen bounce off her back.

"I've been thinking more about that implant," Ana said quietly, scanning the area through the spotter's scope.

"Eye or breasts? Oof!" Bits of food and spittle flew out of Khalid's mouth when Ana's fist rammed into his stomach.

"My breasts are perfectly fine."

"I agree."

"Thank you."

"So, the implant?"

"I've asked the captain about it, and she says they'll most probably sponsor it."

"Then go for it! You'd be stupid to pass this up." Khalid crumpled his ration pack and stuffed it into his bag. "Ana Amari, armed with a sniper rifle and cybernetic eye. You'll conquer the world. With me, of course."

"Of course. I'd never dream of world domination without my brother." Ana lifted her eye from the scope when Khalid poked a ration pack at her shoulder.

"Good," Khalid said as they switched positions. He reclaimed his spotter's scope, and Ana settled beside him for a break. She ripped the top off the pack, squeezing its contents into her mouth without looking. Chewing the disgusting slop rapidly, Ana swallowed it before the taste could spread around her mouth.

"You'd think we'd have made a move on the shit eaters by now," Khalid said, moving the scope slowly over the wrecked city they were in. The insurgents – 'shit eaters' in Khalid's words – had launched a full-scale assault on this city a month ago. Armed platoons rolled in with a complement of tanks, mowing down any civilians caught in their path. Apparently the killing did not stop upon their victory. While sneaking in, the sniper pair came across too many burning piles of rotting corpses on the streets. The dead were not even given the benefit of a mass burial. Just stacked on top of one another like wood and set alight like some twisted bonfire.

They had been at the top of this abandoned office building for four days, transmitting information back to base camp on an encrypted sub-frequency. In that time, they witnessed so much brutality that Ana wished they could carpet bomb this place and be done with it. The civilians did not deserve the hell they had been thrown into, not to mention the nightmares that would follow if they survived.

Two resounding explosions sounded off in the distance, catching both their attentions.

"It's like I'm psychic or something," Khalid said.

Ana did not bother with a reply. She moved forward with Khalid to the broken window, and set her rifle on the ledge. A quick scan through the scope showed great columns of smoke on the southern edge of town, and VTOLs swooping in on watch points the snipers had told them about. One insurgent squad ran up the street right below them in an attempt to flank the incoming army. Ana tracked them, until she spotted one fighter wearing a bandolier with grenades.

She pondered over a risky idea, focusing on the pin of the topmost grenade. If she missed, the enemy squad would be alerted to their presence. But the pin was just…sitting there. Begging to be shot. It would remove one annoyance from the battlefield. So Ana took the chance and fired. She held her breath at the muffled shot, bullet flying at its target, hitting the pin just so and–

"Holy shit," Khalid whispered when an explosion blew the squad apart. "Did you just…?"

Ana did not reply, keeping her eye trained on the squad. Then she spotted two survivors: one with both legs blown off, the other with an arm attached to the shoulder by thin threads of sinews. They could hear the agonised wails from their perch. She hissed in time with Khalid, and put them out of their misery.

The next thirty minutes were rather uneventful. They kept a constant lookout as their comrades rolled through the area with seemingly no trouble at all. Khalid kept tapped into their main radio frequency, updating Ana on their progress. Then his head jerked up from his scope.

"Emergency transmission," he said, pausing as he listened further. "Shit. It's Cairo-2."

Cairo-2. Kamilah's squad. Ana tapped on her earpiece, patching through to the appropriate channel. Her heart leapt to her throat at the sound of gunfire in the background.

"This is Lieutenant Shadid of Cairo-2, requesting backup! We were caught in an ambush, only one other survivor, tangos on our tail. Transmitting coordinates."