Reviews are love!

--Meggie

And so it was officially established between the three of them that walking was one of the most boring activities ever invented.

They covered about six or seven klicks an hour, and that was with all the extensive equipment that Marcus and Dom carried. Without, the two gears could probably make ten or twelve klicks an hour, making the trip a much easier trek, but Anya wasn't quite as conditioned as the two full-time soldiers, and walking long distances in the COG regulation pumps wasn't exactly her forte. So they reached the base in about three hours of strenuous walking, in the hottest part of the day.

As Dom crested the grassy hill littered with knobbly trees and branches, he spotted a small settlement no more than a few hundred yards below him. Maybe forty or fifty small, gray tents, probably made of a polyester canvas from the way they reflected the afternoon sun, were surrounded by a low, rolling wall, clearly man-made. In the middle of all the tents stood a single larger one, able to fit those tents surrounding it and probably more inside, but Dom didn't pay attention to that. What he saw was the large Death's Head emblem marked on the side of it.

"God, fi-nally." He breathed, sweat dripping from his nose as he leaned over, resting his hands on his knees. "Hey guys, we're here," He hollered, turning around to Marcus, still trekking through the scrub land edge behind him. In his arms was Anya, she almost passed out earlier from the heat, and Marcus refused to let her walk the rest of the way. So he ended up carrying her.

Grunting the last few steps up the hill, he stopped right next to Dom, also breathing heavy and using an arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His skull cap was absolutely soaked.

"Sweet." He said nonchalantly. "I need a fuckin shower."

Anya, her face beet red and sweating just as much as Dom and Marcus, turned her head around from Marcus's chestplate to see the base, and smiled. Dom was actually surprised she had made it this whole way without complaining once. He knew girls that were tough, real tough, but even Bernadette Mataki would have complained his ear off about the heat. Even when Marcus pretty much told her that he was going to carry her the rest of the way, she at least acted like she wanted to keep walking, but gave in graciously without making much of a scene. There wasn't much arguing with Marcus.

But they had made it, which, in Dom's mind at least, was a fucking miracle.

He barely remembered walking the last few yards to the base. Before he knew it, he was in the shower, just standing under the stream as cold water rushed over his flushed skin. It was like heaven from a spigot, which, at that moment, was all he could have asked for.

Marcus's entry was slightly more complicated. Instead of sprinting to the showers like Dom, in his first five steps into the base, he ran smack dab into Colonel Hoffman.

"Sergeant Fenix!" The Colonel shouted, calling Marcus over to his position in front of the Command Center, the big tent in the middle. Marcus immediately scoffed, rolling his eyes, but complied, trotting over to the Colonel with Anya still in his arms. He could hear the question exiting the head asshole's mouth before he even said it.

"Fenix! Why the hell are you carrying Lieutenant Stroud?"

The Colonel may have been an asshole, but he wasn't stupid. He knew these two... well, Anya at least. She had shown favoritism to Delta ever since he assigned her to them, especially Marcus. While exploring the New Hope facility, he didn't miss the frustration in the soldier's voice when Command, him namely, had taken over contact with Delta for the time being. Admittedly, Fenix was always disgruntled talking to him, but he gave the Colonel extra shit when he found out it wasn't Anya on the com line.

Now, from his current vantage point, Hoffman didn't miss the intimate way that Fenix held his favorite Control Commander, the way it was more cradling than carrying. If he had in fact, been carrying her, it would have been in a fireman's carry or something similar. No, her face was up against his neckline, turned inwards like she was sleeping. And Fenix himself didn't look in any way irritated from the fact that he was carrying her, in all actuality, the constantly tense soldier looked somewhat relaxed.

Hoffman felt himself raise an eyebrow as Anya shifted herself to face him.

"It was hot, sir," He said calmly, noticing the eyebrow but not really caring. "She almost fainted. I figured one more thing to carry wouldn't be an issue."

He set her down gently, making sure her feet were firmly planted on the ground before he let go. Hoffman saw her give him a stern look for him to leave her alone, and so he did, and to himself the Colonel mused that that was the first time he'd seen Fenix actually listen to any one person. The lieutenant then straightened her tattered skirt and pulled back her tangled hair into her normal tight bun, saluting him as best she could.

"Colonel," she said, shaky, but alright for the moment.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Hoffman replied, eying the decrepit state of her whole self. Her uniform was pretty much ruined, shredded in several places and stained with blood and who knew what else. He didn't miss the large, fading bruise on her forehead, or the conspicuous bullet-shaped holes on her left side, with gauze showing through underneath. This woman was a trooper.

"Come with me," He said to her, gesturing towards the Command Center. She walked briskly in the direction indicated, while Hoffman continued to give Marcus a skeptical look.

"I'm watching you, Fenix." He said, low and somewhat threatening voice, turning around to follow Anya.

Marcus just smirked.