Chapter One, Secrets and Heartache
James lies out on his barracks bunk, staring at the ceiling, wishing he was more forgiving, didn't have such a temper. He berates himself for walking away, losing an opportunity to make a connection… Plus, cleaned up, she was pretty. He told himself, as in the upstairs room of the factory, Julia lays awake, wishing she had thought out what she had said. Both people, strangers in most aspects, had secrets, and were hurting. They both tried to reason with themselves. They didn't even know the other that well yet… why should it matter? Even with all of the reasoning, when they both fell into a troubled sleep, they dreamed of each other. The next morning they met in the hangar.
"Hey James… I'm sorry for what I said last night… I didn't mean any offense."
James pauses, not having expected an apology, "No… I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. My bad…"
She looks at him surprised, having thought him still mad at her, "I should have watched what I said… You have zero fault in the matter."
James blinks, and looks at her, "How about we agree to forgive the other?"
At that, she nods, and they smile, and then he says, "So… Now what?"
She shrugs, "I don't know… work on my pretty little goliath?"
He laughs, and walks over, getting to work on the hellfire missile packs. She works next to him, on the cooling system. She stands up, checking on how he's doing, and he turns, and their faces are very close and she blinks at the proximity of their lips, contemplating her opportunities
"…You're in my bubble." He says with a chuckle and a smile
She nods, "I am, at that."
"…Why?" He asks softly, wondering if she is going to take advantage of her opportunities, almost wishing she would.
She wishes she had the nerve, oblivious to his same wishes, fighting with herself. Finally she turns back to her work, where she feels safer, where everything is defined and clear cut. He does as well, both oblivious to the others sadness at the loss of an opportunity.
"No reason" Says Julia after she turns to her work, slower than before.
He crouches, twiddling with the leg hydraulics, and the rest of the day is spent working over the mech together, she pauses, looking at him. He looks back with a questioning look on his face.
"Yes?" He says after a second.
Before she has time to think about it, she kisses him, and he blinks, surprised and flushing. He just sits there blinking and trying to formulate a sentence, for a good minute or so.
Finally he succeeds, "What was that for?" He says softly
"A while." She says happily.
"…I see." He says, slowly getting back to work.
She blushes, going back to toying around with the cooling system, glad she did what she did, but also embarrassed. His thoughts are hesitant, him not having realized how she felt, trying to figure out how to feel about this. He knew how dangerous it was to become attached, and yet he couldn't help but want to be closer to her.
"So, what's your mission here anyways?" She asks after a while
"…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even told you I'm in black ops, so it follows that I'm not allowed to tell you my mission." He says, showing sadness that he cannot tell her.
After a minute, she nods, and goes back to working on the various systems of her mech. He walks away, picking up his rifle, and begins to clean it. She quietly walks away, up to her room. When he realizes he's alone in the large garage, he gets up and walks to his room.
The next morning, he wakes up, and walks downstairs after going through his morning rituals. He walks into the garage, and picks up his stuff, and suits up. He jogs out, getting to the perimeter, and deactivates the alarm just long enough for him to get through, and then starts running to the far off mountains. The snowstorm that had begun brewing throughout the night chose that moment to open up. The wind whipped the snow past his face, and snow quickly stuck and began to drift. He reaches a cave in the foothills of the mountain, and pulls out his sword, flipping a switch, comforted by the buzz. He allows himself a moment or two of rest before beginning his work. He drills into the rock, straight down at the back of the cave. The current running through the sword causes it to vibrate at high speeds, allowing it to cut through most substances.
When the hole was about two inches in diameter, he places a small stick of explosives in it, and lights it, and walks out of the cave. The shaped charges detonate straight down and out, blowing a hole in the cave, through the bedrock, and into the soil beneath. He walks in, and as he expected found tunnels and caves further in, and crawls through the opening, and starts walking.
A zergling suddenly bursts out of one of the walls, and he spins, cracking its neck with a quick kick, and looks around, waiting for its friends to join him. He pulls out a pistol, pointing down and as a hydralisk leaps out of the ground, blades first, he pulls the trigger three times, the rounds flying through its skull, driving it back underground. He places his gun in its holster, and draws his sword, activating it and leaping down the tunnel he sensed energy pulsing from, the path of highest resistance. He drives his blade through a broodling, which appeared out of nowhere, and flips over it, pulling out the blade, slicing the head of the next creature in half. A baneling starts barreling down the chamber, he can see the glow from the creature, and he pulls his pistol and puts a round through it, detonating it and clearing a path through the tunnel, for now.
As the tunnel widens out into a large cavern, he growls as he sees an ultralisk, with spine crawlers grafted to its back, as well as small holes in its belly, which drop zerglings at a steady rate. He sighs, and runs up on it, dodging the attacks from the spine crawlers, and cutting zerglings out of his way. James leaps up, landing on a zergling and pushing off, catching the tentacle of the spine crawler, and leaps off as it whips back, landing on the creatures back, dodging the continued attacks of the spine crawler, causing them to kill each other. He slices the spine of the last one, and walks to the head of the creature, which roars and jumps up onto its back paws, throwing him down, but he catches its tusk.
He pulls out his blade, switching it back on, driving it into the skin under the tusk, causing the creature to scream. James loses his grip on the tusk, and the blade rips through the skin of the creature, and he lands at its feet, jumping over a zergling, he slices up the belly of the creature, crawling inside, and tearing it apart. Leaping out, he runs away as the brood goes crazy from the loss of its relay to the nearest cerebrate, on the moon of the planet.
Meanwhile, Julia is getting up, and looking for James, seeing if he's in the chow hall, the garage, anywhere. After she looks for a good hour, he arrives on base, running into her as she walks along the perimeter.
"Where've you been, James?" She says impatiently
"Hello to you, too Julia." He laughs as he says this.
She glares at him, her gaze piercing and angry. He smiles back, innocent and happy. Her gaze doesn't waver, slowly his smile fades, and she continues to glare at him.
"What's up?" He asks, but she just glares and walks away.
He watches her go, and just walks along the edge of the base for a long while. She gets back to the barracks and slowly calms down, and makes herself walk back and find him.
"Yes?" He says coldly, his walls back up.
"I… Never mind." She says sadly, walking away.
He catches her arm, "Hey wait! Julia, hold on!"
She stops and just stands there, facing away from him. James looks at her for a short while. After a few minutes of this she turns around.
"…Want to know why I was angry?" She says slowly
"Sure." He says curtly
She hesitates, and then says, "Because I was worried about you. I thought maybe the zerg had gotten you… or maybe you just got hurt in an accident."
"Couldn't you have a little faith?" He asks, teasing her a little.
She just sighs, looks at him with softness in her eyes, and walks into her room, slamming the door behind her. He stares after her, wondering what is up with her. He shrugs and goes to eat, meeting up with a friend.
"Hello." He says as he sits down at his usually empty table, someone new there.
"Hey. I'm Brian. New guy in the unit. You are?"
"…. James. I assume you're an outgoing person, Brian?"
"Whatever made you think that?" Brian says, laughing "Yeah, I'm just a little outgoing."
"Well, nice to meet you Brian." James says, sitting down.
"Nice to meet you too. I'm bored. Spar you after chow?"
James blinks, surprised a marine would challenge a ghost to hand to hand combat and nods, pondering what this guy could be thinking. He almost thinks he's crazy for challenging him, considering that they just met. The two men finish eating and walk outside, and James gets his sparring pads on and so does Brian, and he spins, dropping back onto one elbow, kicking for Brian's chin. Brian ducks under the leg, catching it and pushing up, throwing James off.
James curses internally, and spins on his hand, taking out Brian's legs, and then jumps to his feet, taking his own momentum and using it to drive an elbow towards Brian, but he intercepts it, turns, kicks James in the stomach, and flips, landing in a crouch. James catches a corner, and catches his feet on the wall, and pushes off, slamming Brian off balance. The men fight it off like this, each getting a hit or two in, but in the end, James stands as the victor.
"James, I swear to god, you're the first marine to stand up to me in hand to hand."
"That's probably because I'm a ghost. But why wouldn't a marine be able to stand up to a marine? You all get the same hand to hand combat training…"
"I'm a ghost too… Black Ops. Are you just the resident ghost in the unit?"
James just stares at the guy for a bit, "No, I'm black ops as well. You with the Dominion or the Confederates?" He laughs as he says this, meaning it's a joke.
"Confederates, you?"
"Dominion…. Jeez man, since when does this happen? I should probably be trying to kill you right now."