Still remember the world

From the eyes of a child

Slowly those feelings

Were clouded by what I now know

Where has my heart gone

An uneven trade for the real world

Oh I, I want to go back to

Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

I still remember the sun

Always warm on my back

Somehow it seems colder now

Where has my heart gone

Trapped in the eyes of a stranger

Oh I, I want to go back to

Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

Where has my heart gone

An uneven trade for the real world

Oh I, I want to go back to

Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

Where has my heart gone

Trapped in the eyes of a stranger

Oh I, I want to go back to

Believing in everything

Field Of Innocence: By Evanescence

If there's one thing I hate, Katerina Pulaski thought to herself as she settled the stock of her rifle to her shoulder. This is it. She swore as her target managed to duck in among the civilians still crowded in the court. Damn people! She swung to acquire another target.

"Pulaski!" Mercer's gruff voice cut through the comm circuits. "I hear ya got a bird's eye view."

She smiled slightly. "You could say that Lead, but the scenery sucks."

Mercer snorted. "I want you to do a one-eighty and get your smart ass to the back, we had reports of Destro heading towards the center courtyard."

Kat quickly slung the rifle over her shoulder and wiggled back from her vantage point. "Your wish is my command, O fearless leader."

"Can it, Kat!" Steeler's tone left little room for argument. "And move!"

"Copy gramps." She muttered as she slowly crawled back from her position, pausing long enough to grab a fresh clip from the dead Cobra sniper. Proceeding towards the back of the building, she paused, considering her options for a good location to set up. Kat decided on a shadowed corner where the concrete ledge had crumbled away, allowing a clear view of the courtyard. She settled into as comfortable position as she could and turned her scope down on the vista below. Destro and the viper were expected targets, however she froze when her sights passed over a figure crouched near the idling jet. "Lead, I've acquired target-" she said into her comm, "-and you wouldn't believe who else dropped in."

"Keep Destro pinned down. And if you say Santa Claus, I'll shot you myself." Mercer growled.

"Negative on a jolly man in a red suit lead, but I do have a visual on Asia." Kat cringed at the swearing through the comm. "Say again Lead? Your colorful metaphors were garbled."

"Pulaski, you hold position and do not, I repeat, do not let Destro escape."

She winced slightly at Mercer's tone. "Copy Lead." She swung her weapon back towards Destro. "Shit! Lead, she just jumped him!"

"Kat." Steeler's calming voice broke through the comm chatter. "I've got a team heading your way."

"Copy. Lead, Eagle One just showed up. Orders?"

Mercer's voice was ice cold. "Destro does not leave. Even if you have to shoot through Asia or Shane."

"Received." The word was not even out of her mouth when there was a gunshot from below. She watched in shock as Destro clutched his chest and slowly fell to his knees. "What the hell?" She quickly noted that Shane's rifle not in a position to be fired and then she saw him. "Lead- Destro is down! I repeat Destro is down!"

"Hold your position till we get there Kat!" Steeler ordered.

Shane was in shock as he watched the viper step forward, holding his hands out in a show of no aggression. He glanced at the slumped body of the evil that had held most of the world in his fist and back to the viper. "Why?"

The viper ignored him, instead looking towards Asia. "You have the look of my sister," his voice suddenly took on a hint of a Scottish accent. He turned his attention back to Shane. "I have my reasons. Take care of her." He bowed and stepped back, heading towards the jet.

"Wait!" Asia's confusion was evident in her voice. He paused and looked over his shoulder. "Do I know…?"

"No." He smiled sadly . "I am no one you need know." He turned and slowly walked up the ramp.

Shane shook himself out of his shock and raised his rifle to take aim only to have Asia's hand stop him. "Let him go Shane," she whispered. "Just let him go."

"Asia…"

"Please Shane," she glanced over at Destro's form. Keying her comm, she stated in a clear voice: "Hold your fire - tag departing air traffic as friendly."

"What the… who the hell is this?" Blaine's voice pierced over the comm lines.

"This is Eagle One. Tag 'em friendly, Mainframe." Shane confirmed as the jets engines whined up. "Just let 'em go." He pulled Asia back quickly as the dust kicked up from the VTOL jets kicked in and the plane slowly lifted away from the ground.

"Copy Eagle One," Mainframe's voice conveyed his insecurity. "I hope to hell you're right about this…"

"McBride!" Mercer's voice cut over Blaine's. "I expect a full report when I get there."

Shane winced at the tone of Mercer's voice. "Copy that Lead. What's your ETA?" He glanced left at the movement from a door. "Cancel that request Lead, I see ya."

Kat saw Mercer and his team come running out of the building below and at the same moment Steeler and his team entered from the opposite direction. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and swung herself over the side, using an old storm pipe to climb down. She joined Steeler as he crouched over Destro. "Is he?"

Steeler looked up at her and nodded. "Who got him?" he asked.

Kat pointed at the jet disappearing into the sky. "Didn't even blink, just shot him in the back." She glanced over at Mercer and Shane. "If he hadn't they wouldn't be arguing about it right now."

Steeler nodded his agreement. "Let them get it out of their systems now. Let's make sure the perimeter secure." He pulled Kat off to the side, away from the two men and signaled to his team.

"-What the hell were you doing leaving you post?" Mercer ground out.

Shane didn't even blink at the man's obvious barely-contained anger. "I had my position covered."

"That's not the point and you know it!" Mercer leaned in closer. "You had orders. I expect you to follow them. Not go running off like some rookie!"

"Who ya callin' a rookie—"

"I ain't done yet!" Mercer shouted. He took a deep breath. "That being said, good job kid."

Shane blinked in surprise, speechless as Mercer about faced sharply and headed over to Steeler who was spreading out his team in a perimeter. He looked around for Asia and saw her standing to the side, alone. "You ok?" he asked when he had come up beside her.

She nodded, her eyes locked on the body lying in the dirt. "He's really dead." She started to tremble and felt Shane's arm around her shoulders.

"It's over," he whispered into her hair as he pulled her close. "He can't hurt you anymore." He felt her lean into him and wrap her arms around his waist. Moisture gathered against his neck and knew she was crying. "Let it go," he murmured. "Let it all go."

She held onto him with all her strength, using him as her connection to reality as her mind spun out of control in all the grief she had bottled up for most of her life. In one great explosion, the walls she had built around her emotions burst and flooded out uncontrollably. She could hear in the distance Shane whispering to her, offering what comfort he could as the flood drowned her already frayed psyche. Then suddenly, there was nothing but comforting darkness.

"Asia?" He caught her as she suddenly went limp in his arms. "Asia?" He released his pack and dropped to his knees to keep from dropping her as Steeler and Kat came rushing over to help. "She just went limp!" He looked up at Steeler in panic as the older man took her from him.

Easing her on the ground, Steeler checked her pulse. "Her pulse is fine, and she's breathing. Asia?" He shook her gently. "Asia? C'mon honey, it's over. Come back to us." When she didn't respond, his eyes met Shane's. "Let's get her to Lifeline just to be safe." He scooped Asia up in his arms and got to his feet. "Kat, stick with my team for now."

She nodded. "No problem gramps." Her gaze followed them as Steeler and Shane headed off and then turned her mind to the mop-up.

"Ok listen up people!" Mac shouted into the cavern of cheering people and waiting a moment for them to fall silent. "We still have work to do. The teams are going to be coming in with wounded. Kay," he turned to the exhausted woman. "Take Sarah and whoever you need to help you set up."

"Max and I have our team picked already, Mac." She stood up, hands going instantly to her aching back. "We might need more depending on how many come in. I haven't gotten any numbers from Ed."

Mac nodded. "Beth, round up something for chow, and all the coffee we can scrounge. I think we're gonna need it."

"I could use some of the older kids for scroungers." Beth said.

"Take as many as you need." He heard several of them already volunteering. "Savannah and Stasha- "

"We know," Stasha Pearlmutter broke in with a chuckle in her voice. "Babysitting duty."

Mac turned towards the voice. "Smart ass. Go." He smiled to himself. "Everyone else, pitch in where you can." He turned back after closing the curtain between the outer cave and Ann's workstation. "That should keep everyone busy and their minds off of everything."

"Lucky them," Ann-Marie sighed as more comm traffic jumbled through. "What's going on out there Mac?"

Mac shrugged as he replaced his headset. "You know the drill Ann, we sit and we keep our heads so they," he pointed to the curtain behind him. "Don't lose theirs."

"I know, I just hate the not knowing, and being expected to know it anyway." She turned back to her station. "Go ahead, Blaine."

"Things are starting to get organized out here finally." Mainframe's voice betrayed his exhaustion. "We have secondary confirmation on the Commander and Destro and the mop-up has officially begun."

Ann-Marie smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Mac. "That's great news Hacker, we'll be sure to pass it on here. Everyone could use some good news."

"It's not all good babe. Stand by to receive the current causality list." Ann watched as the data scrolled across her screen. "Next contact is scheduled in fifteen, that is one-five, minutes."

"Copy that, data received." Ann-Marie replied as she printed off the list. "Let Lifeline know we're set up here to receive any wounded he can move."

"Will do." Blaine sighed heavily. "ILY Ann-Marie. Mainframe out."

"Me too Hacker. Me too." Ann whispered as she pulled her headset off. "Mac? Can ya mind the store? I need to get this list to Sarah."

The former sniper nodded. "Ann?" he turned towards the sound of her voice. "Is…?"

"No Mac. Shane isn't on the list."

"Thanks." He felt the knot in his chest relax as Ann-Marie's footfalls drew further away.

The streets were eerily empty as Shana and her team wandered down the main arteries of the city. Most doors that lined the main streets were barred shut and windows locked tight against the gunfire heard in the distance. It felt as if the very buildings were holding their breath waiting for the outcome of the battle. Shana shuddered slightly at the unnatural silence that held the night.

"Anyone else feel like we walked into a ghost town?" Bill asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Clutch fought down a chill. "I don't blame them for hiding. But this is just creepy."

"Cut the chatter boys," Shana ordered. "Most of the civilians were taken to attend the assembly." She pointed in the direction of the gunfire in the distance. "I have a feeling that's where we'll find our teams."

"How bad do ya think it is darlin'?"

The redhead shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine Bill. Let's look on the bright side here, gunfire at least means some of us are still fighting."

"You always this cheerful Red?" Clutch asked.

She shook her head, "Comes with old age. Stay sharp. Let's move it."

LeClair, Daniel. LeClair, Ethan. Pearlmutter, Stanley. Longstead, Seth.

He stared at the row of cloth-covered bodies that lined up along the deteriorating concrete wall of the building. In his mind he had kept a running list of the names of those he knew and a count of those he didn't and to him it was too many, as it had always been since this damn war had started. So many that had never known more than the world that crumbled around them. So many that had never known anything but living from hand to mouth and the loss of those around them.

"You look like someone with a lot on your mind." Sissy said softy as she came up beside him. "The incoming are starting to taper off."

"Good," Ed commented with a deep breath. "How do the supplies look?"

"Plasma is gone, we've resorted to using volunteers for transfusions when we can, and we're nearly out of morphine." Sissy sighed. "Sterile needles, bandages, gloves, hell sterile anything is a memory."

Ed nodded. "As soon as we can send a team to check any available medical facility for antibiotics, dressings or anything we need."

"Already did, so far zilch. Cobra made sure they didn't leave much behind for us." She shivered. "Not that they really did much for their injured. And before you ask I already got what I could from the cells."

"We just do what we can Sissy."

Kay's eyes scanned the medical cavern until she caught sight of the man she had come in search of. "Max, "she called. "I need you to come with me."

Max looked up from the patient he had just finished with and frowned at Kay. "Can it wait? I've got more people coming in."

Kay shook her head. "You have to be there when I do this." She handed him the list when he walked over to her.

Max suddenly felt the world crash in around him as two names leapt out at him from the paper. "God, not both of them." His gray eyes begged Kay to deny it, her expression told him all the truth he needed. "She's in the nursery with the kids."

Savannah smiled at the ordered chaos that the children produced around her. She had found her niche away from the endless patrols and dangers outside the caverns and into the dangers and endless running amuck of the nursery. She never denied that she wanted a hoard of her own children one day…if Max was willing. She looked up and smiled as Max and Kay appeared in the entrance to the cavern, and then he smile faded as she realized the seriousness of their expressions. She stood, shooing the toddler she had on her lap off to play with the others. "What's wrong?" She glanced from Max to Kay and back again.

"We need to talk Savannah." Max whispered softly. "It's about…"

"Wait, not here." She turned and motioned to Courtney she was leaving the room. "In there." She pointed to a small storage nook. "It's my dad isn't it?" She asked softly once they were out of earshot of the children.

"I'm sorry 'Savannah." Kay placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder

"Was it quick? Did he suffer?"

"Ed said from the injuries it was instant…" Kay stopped, unable to continue.

Savannah looked up, her eyes filling with tears. "What? What is it? Max?"

"Ethan."

"No. No no no…" Savannah slowly shook her head, denying what Max was trying to tell her. "Not Ethan… not him too… not both of them!"

"I'm so sorry 'Anna," Max whispered. "He took a hit to the leg. Lifeline did everything he could but the bullet hit the artery and-"

"Noooooooooooo!" she sagged against him sobbing.

"Kay?" Max jerked his head at the doorway, and she nodded in understanding. "Come here, my Anna." He wrapped his arms around her and simply held on as she wept. "You're not alone. I'm right here."

The old mine was a hive of activity when the first group of wounded and teams marched back in. As they entered wounded were sent in one direction while the others were handed a hot bowel of soup and sent to a tunnel off to the side to rest and eat.

"How bad was it?" Kay asked Clutch as he wandered in behind a group of walking wounded.

"It could have been better," he reported as he glanced about the area. "Damn troopers opened fire into the civilian crowd. There were a lot of dead innocents." His frown turned to a smile as he caught sight of a familiar figure making her way through the crowd to him.

Kay looked over her shoulder. "Already found you I see." She handed Clutch a bowl of soup and moved to allow Beth her greeting.

"Thank God," She threw her arms around her husband and clutched him tightly to her. "I…"

He held her trembling form to him as the others continued their work around the couple. "It's ok Beth, I'm here." He whispered into her hair as her emotions slowly grew under control. "Look at me, not even a scratch." He slowly pulled away from her and wiped an escaping tear off her cheek. "I told ya I'd be fine."

"I know, I know." She took a deep breath. "I can't lose you again." She blinked and looked down and the soup now soaking the front of both their clothing. "Lance, I'm sorry…"

"I just hope Kay doesn't see, ya know she hates wasting good food." He teased and winked. "And hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman." Beth hid a laugh behind her hand. "There's a smile finally."

"I heard that." Kay thumped Clutch in the back of the head as she came up from behind. "And this is yours I believe." She released the child pulling at her hand before turning back to her patients.

"Daddy!" Toby wrapped himself around his father's legs with a huge smile. "Up!"

Lance leaned down and scooped his three-year-old son into his arms then reaching and pulling Beth into his embrace. "I'm home."

Around them the tide of chaos continued without notice as one family reunited, took serenity in each other among the broken.

It was into an eerie silence that Shana Hauser walked in on at her quarters. Duke was as she left him, almost a full day ago. Lying in their bed, the only sign of life was the slow, rhythmic rising and falling of his chest. She pulled off her gloves and tattered jacket before sitting carefully on the edge of the bed beside him. With loving, tender hands she brushed his graying hair off his forehead and silently prayed for him to open his eyes. He had declined quickly in the last year after suffering a series of small strokes and now, despite Ed and Kay's best efforts, Shana knew she wouldn't have him with her much longer.

"Conrad?" She whispered as her fingers continued to lightly run through his hair. "If you can hear me please open your eyes." She sat waiting in the silence. "Please…" She fought back the tears that always welled up when she saw him like this. "Just one more time." She held her breath as slowly, so slowly, she watched his blue eyes appear from under near transparent lids. "Hi." She smiled at him and brushed his lips with her own.

"Girls?" He croaked out after several attempts.

"They're fine." She was quick to reassure him about his daughters. "You'd be proud of them Conrad."

He tried to smile, the left side of his face not cooperating. Weakly squeezing Shana's hand, he managed, "A-always was." They sat in silence for several minutes while Duke regained the strength to speak again. "D-destro? C-c-commander?"

"Dead." With one word, for the first time since they had lost the base, Scarlett saw a glimmer of the man she had fallen in love with and married. The man that had fought to keep his people alive, the man he was before he had accepted the weight of all the dead they had left behind.

He sighed a heavy sigh and looked at his wife with a moment of clarity. "It's over Shana." He murmured. "I love you."

"I know," She leaned down and again gently kissed him before lying beside him. "I love you too."

They lay together, his fingers twined in her hair, her hand resting on his chest. Together, as slowly a heart that had held the death, pain, and betrayal of so many others thumped a final beat-

-And stilled.

Shane made his way through the mine tunnels lost in thought. He had left Asia, who insisted he do this, sleeping under the medical staff's watchful eye. Her episode had given him a bad scare. However, Ed had assured him that she had a fainting spell, brought on by all the overwhelming experience she had just gone through in the courtyard. So here he was, searching for the last person he had ever thought he would actually attempt to find willingly.

"Looking for someone Shane?" He turned and frowned at the woman leaning against the tunnel wall. "Merd, but your father has that same look when he's caught off guard." She pushed herself off the wall and offered her hand. "We've never actually met. I'm Rissa."

He took her hand after a moment's pause. "I know who you are," he replied, his eyes catching the small bump at her waistline.

She smiled softly at Shane, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Believe me, it was a surprise to me and Mac as well, especially at my age." She studied him a moment. "You've probably hear this a lot, but you look like your father, especially in the eyes."

Shane pulled his hand free. "Yeah, whatever." He turned and started to walk away.

"He's not in the command room."

"What?" Shane stopped and turned to face the woman again.

Rissa walked over and took Shane by the arm. "Your father, that's who you're looking for isn't it?" She used her momentum to pull Shane along after her.

He stumbled after her. "What? No I was…" He tried to stammer out.

She smiled over her shoulder at him. "Sure, sure, and I'm the Prime minister of Quebec." She came to a halt outside one of the many openings lining the tunnel. "And just like your father, you clench your jaw when the subject of you two comes up." She released his arm and gave him a gentle, but firm shove into the doorway. "Mac, love, you have company." She pulled the curtain shut with a snap and disappeared back into the hall.

"Great," Shane muttered to himself as his eyes scanned the room. "First Asia now her." He looked over his shoulder at the curtain-covered entrance and for a moment thought to just leave and forget the whole thing, but his father's voice ended that idea.

"Shane?" Mac stood up from the chair at the table and moved to the center of the room not believing his ears. When he did not get a response, he barked, "I can hear you breathing. Either talk or leave." His blank eyes stared towards his son. Mac froze at the sound of feet scuffing on the dirt floor away from him. "That's right, too much of a coward to face me. Go on, run away like you always have." His senses warned him and he managed to tense up just as Shane's tackled him to the ground.

Shane threw himself at his father before he could even think of stopping the motion. In his anger, his fist flew out on its own volition. "Coward?" he yelled out while his fist connected with his father's jaw. "You're the fucking coward! You left us to die! You left us!" He couldn't even see his father's face through his own tears. "You killed them! You killed them! I fucking hate you!"

Mac did little to protect himself as his son's fist slammed into his face. He was numb to the pain that the attack caused, his mind instead focusing on his son's words. You killed them! You killed them! I fucking hate you!

"It was my fault."

Shane pulled back from delivering another blow and stared at his father's bleeding lip. "What?" He flung himself back off Mac's chest. "What did you say?" He gasped as he tried to catch his breath.

Mac sat up, absently touching the cut on his lip. "I said, it was my fault. And don't think there hasn't been a single day that I haven't thought about eating a bullet to save you the trouble to hating me Shane, but I couldn't let them win."

"Let who win?"

Mac snorted, "The same people who killed your mom and sister." He tenderly rubbed his jaw. "Ya got a wicked left, kid. Good to know something I tried to pound into that thick head of yours stuck."

"Don't get used to it." Shane countered. "This doesn't change anything." He pushed himself to his feet.

"Never said it would." Mac replied as he got to his feet to blindly search for a rag to staunch the bleeding. Shane grabbed one off the table and place it in his hand. Startled, Mac muttered, "Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever." Shane shrugged and scuffed his feet; for the first time in his life he had no idea how to deal with this man. Hating him? That was easy, something he knew how to do. But to actually want trust him, even a little? "Look. About…"

"Forget it Shane, don't mean nothin'. Hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you." Shane nodded, realizing that like himself, his father was groping for familiar ground. "I gotta report to give." He turned sharply on his heel and headed for the hallway. "Bye… Dad."

Rissa waited a moment, allowing Shane to disappear down the tunnel in the opposite direction before she entered her living quarters. "If I had known you two would try to kill each other I would have stayed." She shook her head at Mac as her eyes took in the damage. "Course he didn't look as bad as you." She took the rag from him and fetched the small first aid kit from her pack. "You're lucky you have a steel jaw MacBride." She clicked as she dabbed antibacterial cream on his open gashes.

"He called me Dad," he reached up and took her hand in his. "He hasn't called me that since he was thirteen."

Rissa smiled to herself. "Maybe next time you two decide to talk you can do it like civilized people…use boxing gloves." She squealed when Mac suddenly pulled her down to his lap. "Mac?"

He just smiled and pressed his lips to hers.

Steeler surveyed the street from his vantage point on the rooftops above. The first week after the attack on Cobra had seen some of the worst fighting in city since the beginning, but for the last five nights the city had been fairly quiet with only the occasional sound of gunfire from the remaining Cobra insurgence. His team, like most of the other cells that had called the city home, ended up drawing the clean up detail for the inner portion and thus some of the harder battles. He had lost count of the number of his own people he had been forced to bury after the battles, but he would always remember the names…and the faces.

"Gramps? You up here?"

He grinned to himself and answered without turning. "Over here Kat." He felt her come up beside him and looked down at her petite form. Rifle slung over a shoulder, clothing covered in dirt and dust. Her shoulder length blond hair held back with a bandana, her face smeared with oil and grim from her patrol. Like most of his kids, she would rather have the look of a vagabond then give the enemy a clear view at what she looked like. "So?"

"All is quiet now, TJ's cronies had a small scuffle with two regulars trying to steal some ammo." She shrugged her rifle off her shoulder. "I didn't even find a mouse on my walk about."

"Any one hit in TJ's group?"

"TJ got nicked, but maybe he'll learn to duck now." She smiled up at Steeler. "Although I doubt it." Her smile slowly disappeared as she caught the look on the older man's face. "Something wrong?"

He took a moment to again glance down at the dark streets below as he gathered his thoughts. "About your mom…"

"I wondered when you were going to bring this up." Kat sighed and leaned forward, resting her arms on the ledge of the building. "What do you want me to do? Wallow in grief for a woman I hadn't seen since I was three? Hell before that I never saw her, Sarah was more a mom than she was."

"Kat, I know you too well, hell I practically raised you, and I can tell when something's eating you." He turned towards her. "I was there when Alexia was hit remember, I saw your reaction."

"And I cried my tears and moved on, just like always." She took a deep breath. "You want me to admit that I miss her? Fine, but I came to terms with that along time ago. I look back at my life and I don't see her there. I see you and Sarah. Family ain't just genetics, it's being there when I needed someone to hold me when I was scared or sick. You're the one who taught me how to survive here, not her and not the father who died before I was even born." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "Far as I'm concerned you're my dad- always have been."

Steeler looked down at their hands then back up and the young woman he had considered a daughter since she was three, then smiled. "Just what I always wanted. A smart ass for a kid."

She laughed. "Yeah well you did raise me." She ducked the mock punch he threw and danced away. "Catch ya later…Pops."

He grinned as he watched her go. "Pops?" He shook his head and decided he could live with that.

"Right now most of the fighting is taking place west of the city." Wild Bill accounted as he pointed out locations on the map. "It's mainly Crimson Guard and a few regulars, nothing a splinter team can't handle."

Shana nodded as she regarded the points on the map. In the three weeks since the last battle they had managed to weed out all but a few scattered groups of major resistance from the remaining Cobra forces in the areas around the city. "Send Steeler's group out, he's been complaining that his kids need something to keep them out of trouble."

"Communication is stable with all the groups now." Blaine spoke up. "A.M. is still threatening to blow up the computers every two seconds, but so far we're as secure as we've ever been. Reports have been coming in from just about everywhere, most favorable." He took a deep breath before continuing. "However, I received the casualty list from Jack just before I got here."

"How many?" Shana steeled herself for the added burden of more losses.

"Less than here actually, most of them were in the civvies…"

"But?" Sarah asked.

"We lost Cross-Country and Rock 'n Roll."

Silence followed the statement for a few moments.

"How's-" Sarah had to stop and clear her throat, "-how's Mollie?"

Blaine looked up. "Dial-Tone's taking care of her."

"Send our thoughts to them next time Blaine."

He nodded. "I will Red, I will."

"I'll pass the word on here." Bill made a note on his list then scanned the next item. "Lifeline is still looking for a clean up crew so he can set up a clinic in one of the hospitals."

Shana pulled herself back into the necessary items that needed to be done. Time to grieve later…a lifetime. "Do we have enough people to provide security for personnel there?" She asked as she turned her attention to Dusty.

"We got a few who volunteered to help out with this Red, it would do a lot of moral in the city."

"Agreed?" She glanced around the table at the other camp CO's. Everyone returned nods. "Done then." She turned to the medic. "Draw what ya need from our supplies here, but don't drain us dry." She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

"Don't worry Kay wouldn't let me if I tried." He looked over to Courtney. "Can I steal some of the older orphans to help with the clean up?"

The former model nodded. "Try and stop them, they've been cooped up too long with nothing to do." She smiled fondly as she thought of the hoard of kids she had taken responsibility for. "Couple of them are pretty good scavengers too."

"I'll leave it to the two of you to sort out the work parties and a schedule. Now we have one more matter here." Shana took a deep breath before speaking again. "Mercer." She sat, turning the floor over to her co-commander.

The ex-cobra stood and regarded the group with his hard eyes. "Destro and the Commander are dead and yeah the troops are scattered and we're weeding them out one by one." He paused. "But it ain't gonna be over any time soon and we got people that wanna get on with re-building not fighting."

"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like where this is going?" Clutch spoke up as he leaned forward and steepled his fingers.

"Where it's going," Shana broke in, "is the fact that we still need a armed force ready to keep what remains of Cobra at bay, but we also have people that are tired of fighting and being on guard all the time. That, coupled with the fact that we must start rebuilding and get as much done before winter hits means we need to make some hard choices."

"Darlin' this whole thing's one hard choice after another." Bill leaned back in his chair. "How ya plan on pickin'?"

"We don't…"

Mercer cut in. "This ain't something that we're telling you so you can agree with us, it's already done." He paused until the mutters around the table stopped. "And just so ya know we-" He indicated himself and Scarlett. "-Didn't pick anyone, everyone volunteered." He tossed a paper on the table. "Some of ya won't be happy with the names on the list, but it was their choice." Several frowned as they took in the names. "If ya got objections take it up with them personally."

Sarah slowly laid the paper back on the table. "We should have expected this." She motioned to the list. "Right now their world is more upside down than ever. Cobra and livin' from day t' day they understand, but tell 'em they don't need 't be afraid anymore and it scares 'em more than Destro."

Clutch glared at the others around the table. "You can't mean you're not going to try and talk them outta this? You're gonna let them just keep right on fightin'?"

Scarlett regarded the man with sad, tired blue eyes. "If I could go back in time and change this nightmare I would Lance, but I can't. We have an entire generation that knows what hell is and nothing else. They know death, war, survival, and Cobra, probably in that order. In time some of them might be able to remember what it was like before, but I'm not going to be the one to tell them they need to suddenly give up the only thing they know."

"Survive, rebuild, then heal." Sarah added. "Not all the scars can be seen and not all our casualties are dead."

Clutch slowly lowered himself back to his seat. "Yeah I know, live now, grieve later."

"I figured I'd find ya here." Clutch groaned as he settled on the rock beside her. "I'm getting to damn old to be climbing up here."

"So why do ya keep doin' it?"

"Cause you're too damn stubborn to pick a spot that's easier to get to."

Cammy smiled and tossed a rock down into the gorge her feet dangled into. "Yeah well, I've been told it's one of my best qualities. Along with my witty sense of humor."

Clutch chuckled lightly and regarded the woman sitting next to him. He had watch her grow from a stubborn, willful teenager into a stubborn, willful woman over the years and part of him loved her like a sister, while another wished there could have been more, but in the end Beth had been the one who had wrapped herself around his heart while Cammy had kept him at arms length. "I heard that you volunteered."

"Straight to the point?" She sighed and tossed another rock. "It was my choice."

"You really want to keep fighting?"

"Someone has to." She pulled a leg up resting her chin on her knee. "It's not all just gonna go away cause we won. What's t' stop the next person in line from deciding they want to take over where Destro stopped?"

"There are others that can stand the guard." He reached a hand out placing it on her shoulder. "Haven't you done enough fighting?"

"What else can I do?"

"How about living?"

She shrugged his hand off. "It ain't that easy…"

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Is anything in this world easy?"

She shook her head. "Ya can't understand. You've been here what nine…ten years now?"

"Nine and a half and that's not the point…"

"Yeah it is." She turned facing him. "By the time ya dropped into our world I had already missed everything most kids take for granted. I never got to go to a prom, never had a first date, hell I never even went to high school."

"Cammy,"

"No, let me say this." She grabbed another rock tossing it out into the abyss below.. "I was thirteen years old and I had a gun put in my hand and was told I had t' kill or be killed. Eleven years I have hid, scavenged, killed, and watched my friends and family die." She reached over and held up her rifle. "I don't know anything else but this."

"Then maybe it's time you learned." Clutch reached out and took the rifle from her. "This is not the be-all-end-all of life."

Cammy pulled herself to her feet and grabbed her rifle back. "You're wrong, this is my life. It's what I know and what I understand." She looked out toward the horizon. "I can't get back what I lost all I can do is live with what I know." She turned and started down the narrow trail.

"That's not living…" Clutch called after her.

She paused and turned back to him "I know, but it's all I got."

The wind cut across the valley floor, sending dust flying up through the canyon and the sound of thunder in the distance preluded to the coming storm. While once it would have brought a sense of danger- was it thunder or artillery- this day it brought a sense of cleansing, as if washing the blood from the ground for a finial time would allow people to truly begin to rebuild their lives. The first drops of rain softly padded onto the dry ground until others followed and fed the starving soil what it had hungered for so long.

And in the shadow of the mountain where many had fought and even more had given their lives, amongst the rocks at the remains of a cave in at the entrance to a cavern, a single blade of green came forth in the midst of unmarked graves. Greedily sucking up the falling rain.

It was life… it was hope… it was simply…

A new beginning.