So you've chosen to read this.
Congratulations!
All sarcasm aside, I do hope you enjoy it. It's all finished, but I'll take my time uploading it. Just for the suspense.
*evil grin*
Just so everyone knows, I don't have a beta reader, so if some mistakes pop up, feel free to relay them to me and I'll do my best to fix them. Can't always be perfect, right?
I appreciate reviews. Who doesn't? Constructive criticism is also very welcome. But most of all, I want to give someone amusement for a few minutes.
As you all know, I am not Epic Games and therefore do not own anything Gears related…
Except Epsilon Squad. I made those awesome people up. =) Anyway, I'm really proud of myself and this story. It's the second thing I've ever finished. Enjoy!
*COGCOGCOGCOGCOGCOGCOG* (Yes, lame page break.)
Jacinto Plateau. One month after Lightmass Bomb detonation.
I sat back at the bar and tossed back my second shot of the night, slamming the small glass onto the counter with a sigh.
"Rough day?"
I twisted around to see a dark-haired man leering at me from his booth. He slid out and sauntered over to me, obviously thinking he was some hot shot.
"If only I could explain it," I said plainly. It wouldn't have been too hard to explain. General Hoffman and I got into it again, arguing about everything from my being in Basic to my brother still being out fighting Locusts somewhere. I hadn't seen Marcus in going on five years now.
So I was just a little annoyed.
"I can give you a hand with that, honey," he purred, gently laying a hand on the small of my back.
I had been taught to let your enemy think he has the upper hand, so I keep as still as I could, only tilting my head just enough to see the vermin out of the corner of my eyes. I glared dangerously at him.
"Fuck off."
The man blinked in surprise, caught off guard by my response, but persisted. He leaned even closer, his breath stinking of whiskey, and stroked the back of my auburn hair.
"You don't mean that, darling," he said.
I was on my feet and pointing my Boltok pistol between his eyes in seconds.
"When a girl says 'fuck off', that generally means back the fuck off," I growled out, watching as his eyes played between shock and fear. "Now, I know your head is too far up your ass to really hear me, so I'll say it again. Fuck off or I swear to all that is holy I will shoot you in a heartbeat."
"I believe the little lady is trying to tell you to beat it."
I glanced up only briefly at the man that spoke. He stood behind my new "friend" with his arms crossed and an amused smirk on his face. My brother always showed up at just the right time.
My heart leapt in excitement to see him.
A slight whimper escaped the man as he immediately vacated his seat. Marcus slid into it easily and looked up at me over the barrel of my pistol innocently. I lowered the gun, slipping it back into its holster on my thigh, and returned to my own seat.
"Good to see you in one piece," I muttered to him, nudging his leg with my knee.
"You too, kid," Marcus replied. "Especially if you've been threatening to shoot everyone who touches you since I left."
I rolled my eyes as Sam the barman set another shot of whatever it was that I was drinking these days in front of me and a beer for Marcus.
"You keep scaring all my customers away," Sam joked with me.
I shrugged one shoulder.
"Not my fault they're all scum."
"What about this one?" asked Sam, giving Marcus a critical once over.
Marcus glowered at him. He didn't like to be sized up. I batted his arm playfully, smirking.
"He's my brother, the great Marcus Fenix," I told Sam.
Sam immediately brightened, grinning his toothless grin and shaking Marcus's hand.
"Mickey speaks very highly of you, sir," he said. "Your tab's on the house tonight."
Marcus gave me a sideways glance and thanked the man.
"Come here often?" he asked once Sam was out of earshot. "I never pegged you for a drinker."
"Not often enough apparently if these assholes can't get it through their head to leave me the hell alone," I grumbled.
Marcus let out a low chuckle, shaking his head and taking a swig of his beer. Just like that it was as if he and I had never been separated. Despite a fifteen year age difference, Marcus has been the protective but loving big brother, keeping an eye out for me when he was around. He went into Basic Training for the COG army when he was eighteen, immediately being shipped out to fight in the Pendulum Wars after graduation. It was always a treat when I got to see him and only made my attachment to him stronger.
"What have you been up to in the last five years?" asked Marcus.
I opened my mouth to respond, with what, I don't know because telling him that I'd joined the military was probably the last thing he wanted to hear, but never even got the chance to make a sound. A blonde man waltzed up to us, setting a hand on Marcus's shoulder.
"Hoffman wants to see us," he muttered.
Marcus gave a low growl but took one last swig of his beer and stood.
"I'll be around, kid," he said to me, musing my hair just a bit. "Good to see you."
"You too, Marcus," I replied, smirking even more. "And I'm not a kid anymore."
Marcus took a second to really look at me, looking slightly surprised at what he saw. I had been a mere fifteen years old when I had watched him get carted off to prison. I had grown a lot since then.
"No," he muttered. "I guess you're not. When'd that happen?"
We shared a quick laugh and Marcus was following his comrade out. I toyed with my still full shot glass for a moment before I heard my name.
"Mikaela Fenix?"
My head shot up in the direction of Marcus and his blonde friend. They hadn't left yet and judging by the look on Marcus's face, something wasn't right.
"Hoffman wants Epsilon, too," said the blonde.
Hiding my grimace with a roll of my eyes I tossed down my shot and waved to Sam. So that would be why Marcus was glaring so hard at me.
We walked in silence to the Control Tower, Marcus too proud to express anger in front of his comrade and me too frightened to mention anything. Marcus's friend could sense the tension between Marcus and me, preferring to walk a good twenty paces in front of us.
The rest of both of our squads were standing before General Hoffman when the three of us arrived. I took my place in the middle of Epsilon Squad 6 while Marcus stood beside another sight for sore eyes, his best friend Dominic Santiago. Marcus and Dom used to babysit me together.
Dom gave me a funny look, clearly confused by my presence, but turned his attention back to Hoffman as he began to speak.
Jerk.
Hoffman, not Dom.
"It has come to our attention that the lightmass bomb was not enough to kill off all of the Locusts," said Hoffman, getting down to business right away as usual. "I need both squads out picking up Stranded in unsafe places and bring them back here. There are a few scientists among these groups that have intelligence on the biology of the Locusts. We need them here to start work on a new weapon. Dismissed."
The dismissal was so abrupt that it took each squad a moment to process the information and actually move. I was willing to wager whatever little bit that I was getting paid (was I even paid to be a soldier?) that Hoffman had only called us all together to tell us something he could have easily mentioned over tac-com to show Marcus what I had done in the time he was gone. He knew Marcus would be angry and I'm sure he was hoping it was enough to get Marcus to force me out of the military.
Boy was I wrong.
"Fenix," Hoffman snapped out as we all moved to leave.
Both Marcus and I spun around, slightly unused to having the other around and unaware of who he meant to speak with.
"Mikaela," barked Hoffman, waving me over.
I tried not to let my apprehension show as I took a step closer to the general. We butted heads too much for this to be productive.
In my eyes at least.
Hoffman looked very seriously at me for a long moment before finally saying the last thing I ever thought I'd hear directed at me.
"Be careful, soldier," he said. "I'm starting you off easy."
He spun on his heel and strode away from me, leaving me to try and figure out if he was just trying to unnerve me or if he honestly wanted me to be careful.
Maybe he wasn't that bad of a guy.
"Thanks, General," I replied just loud enough for him to hear me. He paused for just a fraction of a second at my nearly formal (and appropriate, which was a first) address of him, but continued on in whatever he was going to do.
Marcus set a hand on my shoulder and led me out into the hall, immediately steering me away from our squad members.
"What the hell are you doing as a COG?" he demanded in a low voice.
I gave a sarcastic grin.
"Like I could let you have all of the fun."
"Fun?" asked Marcus, struggling to keep his tone even. "Is that what you think I've been doing all my life?"
"Figure of speech," I reminded him slowly, dropping my grin and leveling glares with him. "What else did you expect me to do? You were in jail and Mom and Dad were dead. I wasn't about to sit on my ass in control listening to Gears die while I couldn't do a damn thing about it."
Marcus was silent for a moment, sizing me up for the second time that day. This time he saw what he'd looked past earlier. He saw the COG tags dangling around my neck, the muscle all around my body, the pistol at my hip. I could tell that I was still the little fifteen-year-old in his eyes, crying as he was led away in handcuffs.
"You're coming with us," he commanded.
I tilted my head back and laughed.
"No offense, Marcus," I said, "but I think I'd learn better without you around. You'd be too careful with me. These guys throw me around."
Marcus obviously hadn't expected me to immediately refute his idea. He was stunned into a short silence.
"You'd better be careful, rook," he muttered gruffly, stalking away from me to his squad.
Ouch. The "rook" comment stung a little coming from the brother who only ever called me "kid", but I merely brushed it off as his anger talking. He would get over it once he saw I was capable of handling myself in the field.
"What was that about?" asked Corporal Matt Sanders as I joined them, frowning.
I gave a short shrug and didn't answer.
