After Mess, Delta made their way back to their barracks. They agreed to meet in Marcus's room after getting out of gear and cleaning up a little. Dom was the first to enter Marcus's living room. The kitchen bar had his Longshot dismantled on it while he cleaned the auxilirary chain for his Lancer. Dom sat in the worn out lounge chair near the window.

Even without their armor, Gears were huge men. Marcus showed this in the natural flexing of his muscles from under his black tank and issued fatigues. Dom was not as ripped, but was equal to Marcus's over six-foot-tall height.

Cole came next in, his voice entering before he was even seen. "Sup, guys." he waved at Dom and Marcus, who nodded in acknowledgement. Cole always wore a old jersey from his thrashball days while off-duty. The muscles that had grown bigger since then, and had filled in where the jersey would have usually housed light protective gear.

Baird came in wearing a tech jumpsuit, its upper portion tied like a belt along his waist, revealing a very rare white tank. Baird always wore white for some reason; all it did was show blood more.

They all greeted with one another and started to talk as Marcus finished putting together his weapons. He always took longer because he would clean weapons even if they were not used that day. This became tedious when he also started cleaning the spare parts. As he started putting together his rifle, the final member of Delta made the others stop in their tracks and take notice.

Talon wasn't wearing anything unusual. In fact, she wore the same standard-issue black tank and fatigues that Marcus wore. But the differences in anatomy between a man and woman became obvious in such articles. She had the perfect hourglass shape, her battle-hardened muscles showing through the tank. The fatigues had managed to accentuate her tight rear end as much as her tank did for her large chest. She barely had a scar on her body, except for the three large ones on her face, which seemed to hide under her now loose black hair. Dom noticed that her COG tattooes covered her entire left arm from her shoulder down.

Talon eyed everyone else as much as they were eyeing her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you all are very hot guys." She said with a smile.

Cole responded. "And if we didn't know any better, we'd say you were one fine-ass lady." Talon chuckled as she sat down on the floor where a television would normally have been stationed. "They all say that until I put them in a chokehold." This caused everyone minus Marcus to chuckle. "You wanna test it?" Baird said. He seemed to have short-term memory about nearly being killed by her chokehold, but his ego was quickly shot down.

"You have a tendency to lunge if you don't have a gun, which you obviously prefer. Anyone half descent at grappling can pin you."

Baird puffed at Talon's remark. "How the fuck you know that?"

Talon stared at him. "You reek of gunpowder residue, but not blood. This says you rarely get sprayed by blood, and not much even then. Your musculature shows strength, but it lies in places that don't help in hand-to-hand. You're probably good at..." She studied his body hard, which made Baird blush slightly. "Running." She said with a suggestive smirk. "You have great stamina."

Dom and Cole laughed as Baird turned bright red. Cole shoved Talon softly. "Do that shit to me, next."

"Alright." Talon looked up and down Cole, who was beaming. "Well, everyone knows you play thrashball. Defensive line."

"Number 83, baby." Cole said proudly.

Talon looked carefully over his muscles. "Hmm. A lot of the muscles for thrashball are still there. Your shoulders show you probably still hit things that don't particularly want to move. Old scar tissue seems to occasionally still bother your knee, but you probably still outrun most people. Probably prefer rushing an enemy with...Lancer? No. Wait. You like grenades, too. Calluses on the hands show close range shrapnel damage." Cole stared as if he had just seen a magic trick. "Stick 'em with a grenade and get the hell out of Dodge."

Talon's face shone from the new knowledge. "Ahh. That would definitely explain the shrapnel."

Dom was next. "What am I good at?" he said with a smile.

Talon looked at him softly. "Muscles show you probably were a Gear as soon as you could be, and even before then you were really active. You have great control over your strength, able to do things really gentle. I'll assume...kids. Probably two?"

Dom's face drained of life slightly. His kids. That was something rarely spoken of. The grim expression made Talon downcast her eyes. "Shit. I hit a nerve." Dom merely waved his hand. "It's alright. I...did have two kids. They died on E-day." A frail smile appeared on his face. "Please finish."

Talon swallowed deeply as she continued to study him. "You tossed them a lot. Almost the same muscles as a bench press, but you need way more control over it. Your muscles are riddled with knots. Lots of stress. More than anyone else. Could tell that even with your armor on. But being around the squad calms you. You probably couldn't work as well if you weren't with these guys." Dom nodded. He knew this, but didn't realize it was so readible.

"Read Marcus now!" Cole exclaimed as Fenix finished putting the last piece together on the Longshot at the bar. He had been listening to everything, but had made it a point to finish this first. He looked at Talon, a mix of interest and authority it his eyes.

Talon squinted at Marcus, closing one eye in an attempt to focus. "Um..." she started. "The muscles from your young age show you probably were made to stay indoors a lot. Teenage years you got really active. Joined C.O.G. at a young age, like Dom. Been in a lot of different terrain. Probably spent a lot of time in cold weather. You like running where you need to go, regardless of how far. You feel really protective of your team. Consider them family. I saw your jaw clench when Dom reacted." Marcus eyed her, which caused Dom to look at her as well. Marcus would have barely been in her field of vision when she was studying Dom and she had managed to see such slight movement. She continued. "You don't like people poking too far into your affairs, but you respect protocol. That's probably why Hoffman doesn't have a black eye already."

Marcus scoffed. "Anyone can see the Colonel and me don't see eye-to-eye."

Talon smiled. "Ah, but do many people see that the scar on your face is from anti-tank shrapnel. I bet...C.O.G issued. The slight burn damage tells me that. Stitched up probably by you without a mirror...or someone that's blind. I'd say it happened about a three years before E-day. Probably in a wetlands somewhere from the scars from infection."

Marcus quirked an eyebrow. "Extraction of personnel from Aspho Fields. Friendly fire. Got infected two days later."

Talon nodded, a broad smile on her face. She loved it when she was right.

The rest of Delta wore expressions of shock. "Where'd you learn this shit?" Cole asked.

Talon's smile seemed to dim a little. "You learn to read everything when you're a Stranded, especially a lone Stranded. I could tell who had a gun even if I couldn't see it. Saved my ass too many times to remember."

"Is that why you can predict E-holes?" Marcus asked dryly. Talon merely sighed. "A more complicated method, but the same pattern. Gravel starts to shift when they are about 100 meters from the surface. Gives you about 15 seconds to play with. You can feel them travelling up to a mile down if there are enough of them on the move. Even when they break the surface, I can tell each of their rank just by their demeanor to one another." She smiled weakly. "Another thing I learned from being alone."

"When did your parents die?" Dom asked. Talon smiled, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. "On E-Day. I was five. Got taken up by some Stranded afterwards. They died when I was seven. Been on my own ever since."

"Shit. On your own since seven?" Cole said surprised. Talon nodded. "Yeah." She motioned to her face. "The scar on my eye I got when I was ten. The other two when I was fourteen. I'm sure you read about that, Sergeant."

"The Sigma Incident." Marcus acknoledged. "You were asked to join them then even though you were underage."

Talon nodded. "The Lancer I got from them. I told them I didn't want to join, though."

"Sigma squad wanted you at fourteen?" Baird said. "Most Gears spend their entire careers hoping they're just in the running to be wanted."

"Why didn't you join?" Marcus injected. He was trying to hide his curiosity behind grit. Talon smiled. It wasn't working on her. "I was use to running on my own terms. Sigma's one of the most by-the-book squads. Not that great for someone that shits on the book." Her chuckle was strained, not sure if anyone would take offense. They all glazed over it. She continued. "Joined at sixteen. Been on....twenty-three different squads since then. All their rosters wiped while I was on them."

"That's what the tattooes are." Dom added. Talon smile and nodded. "Even got stationed on Omega Squad twice, both full KIA. Second one was my last squad." She sighed heavily. "Right now the only squads that'll still take me is Sigma and Delta. So here I am."

"What? Don't want Sigma to die?" Baird said without thinking. Talon took no offense though. "Nah. Just figured the team that's gone into the Locust stronghold twice is less likely to die. I doubt my shitty luck will effect you guys's godly luck."

"Amen to that." Cole said gladly. He stood up and headed to the kitchen. "Who wants a beer?"

They all raised their hands. "Stupid question, Cole." Baird said with a small grin. Talon stood up. "I'll help ya." She said as she grabbed three bottles. Cole nodded in gratitude and grabbed two for him and Baird. Talon handed one beer to Marcus, then Dom. She seemed to not notice everyone trying to stare at her ass as she sat back down. She popped the cap and chugged half the bottle in one hit. She licked her lips and smiled. "Been a while since I've even seen a beer bottle."

"There was a brewery about a klik down the mountain." Dom exclaimed. "It still had power when we got here. Five years worth of beer sitting in fridges for fifteen. Miracle something wasn't growing in there." The team laughed slightly. They each nursed their bottles, knowing they could only do this because tomorrow was their day off. Regardless, they learned not to get shit-faced ever.

--- --- --- ---

After about an hour of standard bullshit, Talon stiffled a yawn. "Alright, guys. Gotta head off." She looked down at an antique watch on her tattooed arm. "Standard lights-out time, right?" Dom nodded in reply. She smiled. "Then you guys have a few minutes to probably talk about getting action with me."

She stood up and threw out the bottle, everyone remaining shocked silent from her remark. Baird actually was forming a blush again. She waved her goodbye, and no sooner was she out the door did Cole lean foward to talk to Baird and Dom. "Shit. She's creepy at knowing what we're gonna do."

"She knows we probably haven't seen pussy in the last fifteen years." Marcus sighed as he sat on corner of his couch.

Baird was still blushing. "I swear, she does shit to get rises out of people." Cole shoved Baird playfully. "What's the matter, Baird? Embarrassed?" Dom and Cole quickly jumped on Baird's obvious uneasiness like one would to a kid brother, but Marcus merely stared off. She took pride in reading the unreadable. He could see it plastered all over her face. His jaw twitched. Great, he thought, now I got a chick that can get a rise out of anyone and then expose it for all it's worth.

Marcus was deep within his thoughts when Cole's booming whisper shook him back to reality. "So you think any of us got a chance?"

Marcus quirked an eyebrow. "Doubt it."

Baird waved his hand, trying to puff back out his ego. "She's a natural-born cocktease. She'll just give us all blue balls and delight in the fact we'll be masturbating all night."

"Maybe you," said Cole. "But I'll be getting some action."

"Yeah, from Manuela." Dom said as he mimicked jerking off with a clenched fist. The three laughed at their jokes, and even Marcus couldn't help but smile. The laughs turned awkward though when Talon appeared in the doorway. Instead of wearing fatigues, she now wore small, skintight bike shorts. Even Marcus gawked briefly before catching himself. "What time you want me up tomorrow, Sergeant?" Talon asked, acting as if her state of dress was nothing out of the ordinary. Marcus swallowed hard. "0800. We'll figure out things from there."

"Cool." She said with a calm smile. "Bye." She waved as she left the doorway once again. Marcus closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead from a forming headache. "I'll safely assume that everyone's leaving now."

Everyone nodded, still staring at the empty doorway.

After waiting a few moments, Marcus stood up. "Alright, guys. She's not in the doorway anymore. Stop gawking and go to bed." Everyone blinked away the image and quickly scurried to their apartments. Marcus could hear each door lock as soon as the door shut. He got up and slowly closed the door and locked it. He quickly rubbed his head to get the image of his new teammate in as little clothing as she could wear without being indecent from his mind. It didn't work.

He flopped onto his bed with a sigh. Just when he thought he would just fall asleep, he heard a gentle rapping on the other side of the wall.

A whisper of "Good night, Sergeant" from his neighbor was all it took for him to be going to sleep very, very frustrated.