He maneuvered his bulky body through the narrow alleyway, avoiding the searchlights glaring off the cobblestone streets.
All the windows and doors lay silent and dark as families cowered under tables and muffled their terror at every bang and snap above and around.
Pressing himself against the wall in a shadow, he held his breath until one of the Nazi trucks passed, the soldiers excitedly scanning the streets with their weapons for any movement they might terminate.
He didn't have a chance to turn by the time he detected the light steps coming from behind.
"Any last words?" She said it in an amused tone as if his final moments were to be taken lightly, her husky voice serious as death.
The cold steel barrel of a gun was pressed against his temple, but he didn't flinch.
"See you in hell." His fingers brushed against the pin in the grenade buried in his pocket as he toyed with the idea. His dilated pupils darted to the small figure shrouded in black.
If anything, he'd be finished with this damned war. But he wasn't willing to take out any of the civilians in the buildings around him when he made more Nazis come.
He stared into her eyes, waiting for her to pull the trigger.
"But I see you aren't a Nazi or I'd be dead already, so maybe we should save the bullets for those more deserving, eh?" She'd caught his American accent and dark complexion when he turned.
Lowering the firearm, she backed off a step, the moonlight fighting through the static of fog in the sky to illuminate her crimson lips and milky complexion, disembodied by the murkiness below her shoulders.
"I'm Captain Miller, 5th Armored Infantry." He saw a flash of another expanse of pale flesh when she tucked the gun back into her waistband.
"Katrine. It sure took you long enough. We've been holding them back all night!" Her cheeks flushed in frustration.
"Whoa! We got here as fast as we could." He swung his arm out to pin her by the chest to the wall as he fell back to the bricks to avoid another mounted patrol.
"Where are your men?" She urgently whispered as she struggled from his restraint once the soldiers passed.
"Coming in from the North. I'm here to make sure they don't have any surprises. Really, we should get you to a safe spot while we finish secur…"
"This is just as much our fight as yours!" She interrupted him and shoved his arm, her voice increasing in volume, straining the angry whisper against her vocal chords.
"And as a team endeavor, sometimes someone needs to just finish it," he growled as he looked up the street to make sure it was clear.
When he turned back, her hand connected with his cheek, stinging acutely.
"We ARE Sainte Claire. We will fight until no one is left or until we have her back." She pushed past him just as he heard another motor reverberating a few blocks away.
Thinking quickly, he grabbed her shoulders and wrested her backwards so she wouldn't step back into the street.
She bucked against him as he pinned her. When she opened her mouth to protest, he panicked. He couldn't release her arms, nor could he let her make a noise. She didn't hear the approach of the enemy in her exasperation.
Making a decision, he pressed firmly against her and kissed her hard, swallowing the curses effectively.
She froze as he inhaled, stealing air from her lungs, sucking her in.
He pulled away only a moment later. One of his hands came up to cradle her head as he crushed her against the cold stone, listening for patrols over their dizzying breaths.
Gunfire and mayhem erupted on the North and East sides of town as his men and the resistance fighters entered the deciding battle for the town.
"We need to go. Now." His lips caressed her ear, hot breath dampening her skin.
She turned into him, kissing him again, on her own terms this time, her hands threading through the hair below his helmet at his nape.
Katrine flinched and started to drop to her knees, a hand going to the sharp burning behind her ear, but he held her up as she gained her feet again.
"What was that?" He checked to make sure it was clear, then put his arm around her shoulders, prompting them to cross to another alley, closer to the center of town and the café that would be their last stronghold within the city.
He lifted her hair and checked to see if she'd been hit by something, only finding an old, oddly-shaped scar.
"Let's go." He kissed her briefly and turned his attention to the road.
"Chakotay? What's going on?" Kathryn shrugged out of his hold and peered around the darkness, trying to orient herself to her new reality.
"We need to get to your weapons and get into the headquarters. We really have to get moving!" He crouched and started running in the shadows along the wall.
She followed him.
The sky lit with explosions from both sides of the battle.
They heard a crack-pop-boom thrice in quick succession and the collapse of a building, headquarters, as they approached the square.
"They've already made it!" He exclaimed, then ducked as stray weapon's fire whizzed by.
"Oh, God," she gasped behind him, her hand coving her mouth as she looked at the destruction to the hologrid and the numerous decks around them.
Out of the smoke in front of them, two soldiers emerged and opened fire.
As he dove towards her, she was jolted into the ground as if by a force of nature, spinning as she fell, crying out while a bullet ripped through her thigh.
Quickly, he corrected his course, twisting and reaching for his gun.
His aim true, he put both scumbags down.
He went to Katrine, noting her hands gripped the new wound as she panted, curled on the debris riddled street.
"Come on." He situated himself, then bent and lifted her against him. He gripped his right hand over hers, where it put pressure on the bloodiest part of her pants.
"Where can we go?" He pleaded.
Before she could answer, he nearly dropped her as he grunted, fire situating itself in his veins in prickling pinpoints from behind his ear.
"What the hell? Captain?" He regained his sense and looked down. He felt the trickle of blood through his fingers and took in Kathryn's blanched skin and cloudy gaze.
"We need to find an exit. We need to get out of here. Chakotay, put me down. I'm okay." She moaned when he shifted his right hand to get a better grip.
"Not a chance. We can move faster this way." He ignored her protests and swept low along a half-wall, keeping an eye on the failing grid so he could aim for what would hopefully be an arch.
He ducked and swerved to avoid Nazi soldiers and Hirogen hunters.
Right when he turned a corner, he spotted a hole in the program at eye level, revealing a control panel he could use to call for an exit.
"Kathryn, I can't put you down. I need you to put in your code." He looked down as her head lulled against him, and her eyes opened momentarily.
"Stay with me. I just need you to use your free hand to type your code in so you can override the doors." He repeatedly whispered her name to pull her back to herself.
Her hand flopped to the wall, leaving bloody fingerprints on the brightly lit buttons as she pushed them.
The destruction outside of the holodeck was as bad as inside, but at least it was familiar territory.
"Chakotay?" She mumbled his name when he put her down to move some fallen fixtures and open the Jeffries tube hatch.
Hesitant to leave her so exposed while he went to the junction for a med kit, he helped her slide into the tube, where she pulled herself a few feet in as he closed them in.
"I've locked the hatch from the inside. Do not go out under any circumstances. I'll be back in a minute." He hauled himself to the junction, relieved to find the kit intact.
Once he made it back, he made quick work of a half-decent patch job, and injected Kathryn with an antibiotic and pain killer.
"The projectile is still in there. It'll have to do for now." He sighed when she pressed gently against the skin and flinched, but rose to her knees anyways.
"What deck are we on?" She turned back to see him following her into the junction.
"Six." He dropped behind her into the cavity.
"Well, let's take back our ship." She headed for the ladder across the room.
"Aye, Captain."
A/N: Inspiration from a Tumblr prompt from writing-central:
"Any last words?" She said it in an amused tone as if his final moments were to be taken lightly.
The cold steel barrel of a gun was pressed against his temple, but he didn't flinch. "See you in hell." His fingers brushed the grenade in his pocket. He pulled out the safety pin.