Angela, Meryl & Estelle were imprisoned at New Hope by the evil Niles Samson. after Niles succesfully put these good girls into they're stasis tubes, he put a kind-hearted scientist named Charlotte E. Wagner into stasis and chained her to the floor. after leaving them for dead for 15 years, Delta squad comes in and rescues them from New Hope. the girls want to repay the kind, honorable and handsome gears of Delta, but don't know how. but when the chance araises to repay them, will the girls have it in them to repay them. or will some hidden emotions for the gears tear them all apart. one thing is for sure, though, delta won't be sleeping 2nite!

disclaimer: i don't own GOW, but Angel, Meryl, Estelle & Shalott are my ideas!

Break the Ice

I move in and out of consciousness, but I can hear bits of they're conversation. The words "Help", "No" and "Escape" stick out the most. I should know. They're exactly what I said at night: Help, no escape!

Then I hear shouting and before I knew it, I heard the glass shattering. The alarms pierce through the air as I flop onto the ground. I hear more glass shatter and the other two flop onto the floor as well.

We all gasp for air. Our lungs flaring at the attempt of using them without much practice. Our muscles ache with pain from the lack of use. A thousand things rushing through our heads as we try to gather our wit. I'm the first one to make contact.

Meryl, Estelle.

What's up, bitch!

Hi.

Are you two alright?

Bitter, but fine. Health wise, anyway.

Fine and fine, on all levels.

That's good. I look up from the floor and look at the men. Who are these men? What are these men? When did they come to New Hope? Why did they help us escape? And why are they so huge!

I hear Estelle mentally giggle at that. Meryl scoffs at Estelle's response. Meryl is not a pleasant person after awaking to the new day.

The bigger they are, the funnier they fall off they're ass!

First of all, not true. Second of all, damn straight!

I mentally chuckle at that. The man realizes that I've been staring and that my breathing is becoming more stable. He comes to me, slowly, and speaks soothing words. He helps me remove my air mask from my mouth and nose. His friend goes over to Estelle.

Trust him, Estelle.

Estelle lets the other man help her remove the mask. We both agree that Estelle should help Meryl with her mask. She's about ready to bit someone's head off and she's going to kill anyone who she doesn't know. I don't blame her. We all understand her pain and logic.

Once the masks are gone, we gasp for air. Our lungs burn with each breath we take. It's one thing to breathe with the masks, another thing to do it without one. Especially after not using our lungs. Ha-how long has it been . . . since we last escape?

The two men help us to our feet and stay by our side. They walk with us until we can stand on our own. Meryl just sits on the floor until she's strong enough to get up on her own. Meryl, Ms. Independent. She walks and we all gasp in pain.

Our muscles ache and flare with the pain. I can feel my thighs straining to keep me standing up straight. After a few minutes of sheering pain, our muscles relax. The pain goes away.

We stand on our own. Depending on each other's strength to stand up. We look the men in the eyes. Yin and yang. One is dark and the other is light. One has blue eyes, pale skin and black hair. The other has black hair, brown eyes and lightly colored brown skin.

That white boy could be you're twin, Meryl!

Ah, hell no! There isn't shit resemblance!

Enough, you two! Now, it's time for some answers. We turn our attention to the two men in front of us.

"Thank you," I said aloud. "For getting us out of those tubes."

"What the hell where you doing in them in the first place," the dark one said.

"I-I . . . I don't know," I said.

I don't know how to explain it. It was so insane, no one would listen. I never even thought about trying to explain it to anyone.

Not to mention getting them to believe us.

Good point, Meryl.

"State your names, soldiers," the other man said.

our names? I clear my throat, just tell them.

"Angel," I said.

"Estelle," Estelle said.

"Meryl," Meryl said.

"Dude, how long have you been in there?" the dark one asked.

We give him a confused look. What on earth could he mean?

"You did it wrong. It's like this. Corporal Dominic Santiago, Sir. You state your rank and then your full name," the dark one said.

"Oh," I said.

we all go to attention. Something we all know from movies.

"Sergeant Angela Dawn," I stated.

"Corporal Meryl Winters," Meryl stated.

"Private Estelle Riggers," Estelle stated.

"Damn," Dominic replied.

"Wait, Dawn. As in, Victor Dawn. The guy who made the original design for the Hammer of Dawn?" the other one asked.

"Yes, sir. He is my father," I replied.

"Damn," Dominic replied.

"As you were," the other said.

we all relax our aching muscles with that. we stretch a bit more.

"You mind telling me why in hell doing you're here in the first place, Sergeant?" he said.

"Aye, Marcus, take it easy on them. They just got out of a tube," Dominic said.

"Yeah, well, I'm still healing from the last thing that escaped from a tube in here," he said.

oh shit! Sires!

We all thought that at the same time. sires. How on earth did they survive?

"Because," I stated. "Most of us were forced here. I came here of my own free will."

"What the hell?" Marcus asked.

"Let me explain," I said. he nods and I go on. "This place is a research facility. The goal was to make a super soldier from Imulsion and animals that were exposed to it. anyone that got the DNA of an animal that was exposed turn into a Sire. That is, if they lived. Hundreds of people were tested, less than half survived, most of the survivors turned into Sires. Only three humans survive the mutation of the Imulsion.

"That would be Estelle, Meryl and myself. but we weren't perfected. We were stabile unsound for a month. after we regain our sanity, we were tested. After Niles Samson decided that we were ready, they sent to fixing the problems at hand.

"He never finished. Meryl heard the funding got cut. We didn't believe her," I told.

"I told you, bitch!" Meryl replied.

"Anyway, the last day we have memory from is the day we got into the tubes. They gave us dog tags and then put us in the tubes. Now that I think about it, they were acting very strange that day," I told.

"Let me get this straight, this is a testing facility to see which combination of Imulsion and animal makes a super soldier?" Marcus stated.

"Pretty much, yeah," I replied.

Insane, isn't it.

We're screwed! There is no way they believe us.

"You expect me to believe that shit?" Marcus said.

"No," I sighed heavily.

Screwed!

Meanwhile:

"COLE! Cole, damn it! Cole, I need you," a man shouted.

"Ay oh, what's up Bird man?" another replied, Cole.

"Woman down. Chain to the floor," Birdman replied.

Cole comes closer to Birdman. The man who's called Birdman softly brushes away the hair in my face. I am aware that they are in my cell, somewhere is this hellhole known as New Hope.

Then I hear engines revving up. Then I hear chainsaws tear through the thick shackles that bind me to the floor. Once the shackles are broken, the man gingerly gets me into his arms.

He holds me in his arms. I finally force myself to open my eyes. The first man I see is a fair-haired, blue eyed man with goggles on his forehead. He's the most handsome guy I've ever meet.

The second man I see is a black man. It's not very dark skin, but still, dark than both of our skins combined. It's a nice brown color. He has black hair and black eyes.

He's pretty, but not handsome. not like the other man. The man lifts me up higher so that my head is resting on his collarbone.

"Cole, try to make contact with our asshole of a leader. I'll see if she's alright," Birdman said.

"Uh, Baird, she's wants you," Cole said.

He points to me and Baird, is that really his name? Baird looks down at me.

"S-static. Shoulder," was all I could muster.

He gives me a confused look. Then he realizes what I'm talking about. He takes his radio and puts it on speaker.

"You rang," Baird said.

"You called me, asshole! You're the one trying to contact me!" the other man barked.

"Yeah, well, there's a good reason for that. We found a Stranded woman inside one of the cells," Baird replied.

"No, it's a Caucasian woman of her twenties. Not a depressed Mexican. It can't be Maria," Baird replied

"Well the weather turned to shit. I wouldn't be surprise if there's razor hail," Baird replied.

"Good-bye," Baird replied sarcastically. "Asshole."

He turns his radio to another dial.

"You two sound real close," I replied sarcastically.

Cole's mouth drops and he gives me a surprised smile. What, a chick can't use sarcasm?

"Yeah, the best of friends," Baird replied sarcastically.

"So, you got a name? sarcasm," Baird asked.

"Charlotte, Charlotte E. Wagner," I replied. "What about you, twinkle toes, you got a name?"

"Baird, Damon Baird," Baird replied.

"What about you, mug shot waiting to happen?" I asked.

The man booms with laughter. God, I think there was just an earthquake.

"Augustus Cole, the Cole Train, baby," Cole said.

"Cole Train?" I replied.

They give me a look. One is questioning my sanity and the other is amazement. If my eyes were closed, my guess would be Cole is giving me the 'are you insane or just plain stupid' look. I wonder why Baird is looking at me as though I were a god?

"You don't know who Cole Train is?" Baird stated.

"Nope," I replied.

"Thrashball, defensive lineman for the Cougars," Baird said.

"It doesn't ring a bell," I replied.

"Number 83," Cole said.

"I got nothing," I replied.

"Oh shit, little girl," Cole said surprised.

"My god," Baird said.

they stare at me for along time.

"How long have you been here?" Cole asked.

"For over fourteen years I've been in stasis," I replied.

Back with Marcus:

"Marcus, I got to know, ha-how long have we been in these tubes?" I asked.

Marcus looks away from all of us. I hear him clear his throat. The tension grows so thick, we're practically choking on it. I think I'll be in tears if I don't know how long. I just hope I take the news well. I don't want to seem an ungrateful bitch.

"Fourteen years, according to Charlotte," Marcus told.

My god, 14 years.

Oh shit.

Wow, that's almost half our lives.

Has it really. . . been that long? Things must have changed dramatically while we were in the tubes. I want to know. I want to know what I have missed out on. and I don't want to miss anything more.

We'll do it together. We all want to know.

Yeah, you got us babe! We're like family. You can't ditch us for shit, 'cause we'll find y'all.

I smile at my teammates. They are my family. And I wouldn't want anyone else to have besides me. I mentally chuckle. First thing first, get the freak out of here.

Halleluuuuujah, hallelujah, hallelujaah!

Damn straight! but first. . .

Weapons!

We all mentally laugh at that. I end up smiling, and Dom and Marcus giving us confused looks. Just let them look at us. They couldn't even begin to understand the connection between the three of us. There is a bond that connects our minds, and bodies together. But there is also a sisterly bond that makes us look out for one another.

We all turn on our heels and walk towards the weapon area. The two confused men follow us to the weapons area. The three of us get our especially made armor and weapons.

I have a lightweight lancer that has an extendable chainsaw. Meryl has this desert eagle that she can hold a knife with. It also comes with a silencer. That way she can snip fools with it. Estelle has these special grenades. She can either detonate them herself or they go off on their own. Simultaneously.

"What the hell?" Marcus said.

"I told you, they were trying to make super soldiers. They injected us with Imulsion to do it," I said.

"I know that, but why are you here. you said it yourself, you came of your free will," Marcus said.

"That I did. I had sold my body to science. I thought they were just going to use some stable drugs and see if I got better at anything. I had no idea they were going to mutate into one of the X-men," I told.

"Okay then, why do you have COG dog tags?" Marcus asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Who?" Estelle asked.

"COG! The Coalition of Ordered Government" Dom replied.

"They don't know who the hell that is," Meryl stated coldly. "Duh."

"Meryl, please explain," I asked.

"Alright, listen up bitches, because I'll only explain this once. Several governments help funded this hellhole. During that time, they all expected five to ten super soldiers out of it, each. When they found out only three had made it, they decided that it was a failure.

"They decided to cut they're loses and withdraw they're funds. Since this was a dirty secret to all sponsor, they all destroyed any evidence of it. one such sponsor was a man who believed in Cee Oh Gee, a.k.a., COG. This man lost the most money to the program. Niles must thought that the idiot would have come to claim us regardless of the situation. So he gave us COG dog tags to know who we were and what our abilities are for when the man came to claim us," Meryl said. "I guess Niles was right about that."

"Now listen up, we came here to investigate a military outpost that was on our computers. Not to claim some mutated freaks," Marcus barked.

For a moment, I was stunned with fear. My legs failed me. I was shaking with fear. My core was violently shaking. My heart almost stops. I was genuinely afraid for my life. Which has never happened, even in the face of Sires.

It was only for a moment, but damn, did that moment change me. I felt fear. Real, unadulterated, fear. And now, I shall forever know what true fear feels like. It's an animal that rips through your heart. The ripple affect shakes your body from the core. Forcing your bones and muscles to collapse. Thus, destroying everything in you. that is real fear.

And I felt it for Meryl. Even though the bark was towards her, I felt the blast. I didn't affect Meryl or Estelle, but it destroyed me. Like body armor absorbs and takes the force of a bullet, I took the blunt force of Marcus's rage.

Marcus returned to his monotone self after yelling at us. Evidently it's not Marcus's way to become angry with people.

"Damn, Marcus!" Dom shouted.

Marcus looks at the floor with regret. I stand up, strong and ready. We have everything needed to escape. We could raid the place for food, but that would be a fruitless search. We got all our weapons supplies. Girls, let's get out of here.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go."

Marcus looks up and nods. He radio's in with the rest of the team and tells them to meet up at the Centaur. Whatever that is. We leave the rooms and head out the back door.

Marcus yells at the top of his voice, "Locust."

We all take cover and rain hell upon the creatures. They're almost as hideous as Sires. Almost. Sires are uglier because we have seen what they looked like before the transformation. We once knew the people behind the monster.

It makes it that much sadder to kill them. Because, honestly, we could be them right now. We just got so lucky that we didn't.

Anyway, we kill the locust and move on. Then it started. The razor hail. Then a bunch of locust show up and die. The glass that was shielding us from the razor hail breaks and comes pouring down.

"Okay, guess it's not always so bad!" Dom said.

Estelle and I break out laughing with that. We have no experience with razor hail, but we guess its nightmare to try and face it. Marcus and Meryl shake they're heads at us. We leave the building and go outside.

Think, we're free. Once we get pass the gate, we're free. We never have to see this place ever again. no more crying ourselves to sleep or screaming in agonizing pain. No more tests or small meals. No more tubes or Sires. No more.

We are free at last. Freedom, it tastes so sweet!

Let's rob a liquor store on the way home!

Estelle and I mentally laugh at that. Even Meryl giggles a little at that. we are forever free from New Hope.

"Let's make a run for the train carts," Dom suggested.

"Alright, but we'll need to find away around," Marcus replied.

We find a shelter and we run through that to the cart. We get onto the train and Marcus starts it up. We take cover from the locust. we kill them as we go.

"Last stop, freedom," Estelle yelled.

Just as good as any old and stuffy conductor. But she put her unique twist to it. It's just like Estelle to make things fun and new.

We jump off the train and run through the hail. We make it to a shelter. Then the rest of the team calls. Not good. Our ride home is taking a beating. Do any of us know how to fix a car?

How the hell am I suppose to know?

Nope.

Great. We're dead.

Is we stay here, we are.

Meryl, Estelle and I work with Marcus and Dom to get rid of the locust. we move from shelter to shelter too. with little hope of escaping this god forsaken place.

Another hole comes and more locust follow. They're two of them, maybe three. We kill them and take they're shields. We saw them walk through the hail with them. This is our answer to getting through this.

Estelle and Meryl share one, Dom gets his own and Marcus grabs me. he pulls me in close so that our armor is touching.

"They're all taken, looks like we'll have to share," Marcus said.

we raise the shields and walk through the hail. We get to the next shelter and lower our shields. Marcus made it so that I was completely covered from the hail.

But the minute we make it, more locust show up. Don't they ever give up! But with the locust came a gift we never thought we would welcome.

"Alright, there we go! Regular ol' shitty weather!" Dom exclaimed.

"Heeelll Yeah!" Estelle rejoiced.

The bullets fly but we sooner or later kill all the locust. we make it to the Centaur. We meet the rest of the team. One man is blonde with goggles on top of his head. The other is a black man without sleeves.

Hey look, Estelle, you're soul brother.

Estelle mentally laughs at that.

Mm-mph, I sure hope so, he's a fine piece of black ass!

I mentally chuckle at that. Meryl mentally growls at Estelle and her unwavering optimism. Estelle just laughs even more.

"Marcus, who are the kids?" the blonde man asked.

"Fellow Gears, got a problem with that?" Marcus dared.

"No," he replied.

"Baird, status on the Centaur?" Marcus said.

"Minor stuff, I'll have it repaired in a minute or two," Baird said.

"Reaver!" Dom shouted.

We all take cover and Baird gets underneath Centaur with Charlotte.

"That is, if we didn't have a Reaver swarm shitting down on us!" Baird replied bitterly.

"Just get the damn thing fixed, we'll hold them off!" Marcus replied.

"Yeah, baby, you're lucky, white boy! You gots us to cover you're skinny ass," Estelle shouted back, happily.

we fire at the Reaver, god, it's hideous. But it's all to no avail. Then Estelle comes up with a gutsy plan. That just might work! Meryl, are you for it?

I thought Estelle would be asking the question. But yeah, I'm for it!

Alright, now that's what imma talkin about! Team work baby, it's a beautiful thing!

"Yo, gears, cover me. I'm going in hot!" Estelle yelled.

She runs a fast pace and sticks the grenades onto the Reaver's legs. She gets away from the Reaver into its sight. she stands up straight and claps her hands as though she were a equisdor.

"Oi La," Estelle said.

The Reaver gives her a confused look. So do the locust riding it. they stare at Estelle as she holds her head up high. She's literally sticking up her nose to the locust.

I mentally laugh at that. Meryl mentally rolls her eyes to that. Estelle detonates the grenades and it kills the Reaver. I want to stop and applaud Estelle for her beautiful performance. But another Reaver comes and we got to kill that too.

"Baird, you almost done yet?" Marcus screamed over the gunfire.

"I'm trying," Baird yelled back.

"Get off his back, woman," Charlotte yelled.

Everyone except Marcus and Baird laughs at that. It looks like ol' Shalott has a sense of humor after all.

And here we thought Shalott didn't know how to crack a joke!

Hello, Reaver swarm, did everyone forget?

Calm down, we're getting to them. We refocus on killing the Reaver and getting out of here. we aim at the legs and it begins to weaken.

"Almost have it," Baird yelled.

Freedom!

The Reaver dies just as Baird finishes the repairs. Then enemy reinforcements show up.

"Good, let's get the hell outta here!" Marcus shouted.

We all run into the Centaur and make a speedy get away. the girls and I smile as New Hope disappears from our sight. for never again shall we see this aweful place.

A/N: hi, everyone! thanks for reading my story. first time with gears. so if there is any Q's or comments, leave them. it will help me improve my writing. i encourage you to review. hope you all enjoy!