*The Federation's rise to power had started years ago. When the great energy-producing deserts were destroyed, the world powers that depended on them collapsed. And in their wake, the Federation began to rise. The Federation united all of South America under one banner, and devoured everything in its path as it moved relentlessly to the north. After turning ODIN against us, the Federation stood on the doorstep of America, poised for the kill. They thought we were weak, crippled; prey waiting to be taken. We fought hard and we fought well. We fought them to a bloody stalemate. And here, just beyond the craters of "No Man's Land", we find ourselves in a defensive war against a more powerful enemy.*

"Viking Six, you there? Hesh? Logan?" I heard a voice over my comm in the distance.

"Copy, yeah, we're here. Go ahead." Hesh's voice was the next thing I heard, along with a steady thud of something landing repeatedly.

"Reports are coming in. Dallas got overrun last night. Command wants another sweep of The Wall ASAP." The previous voice, which I'd identified as Private Roper, informed Hesh. I was amazed that I could tell who was speaking since I had yet to wake from my slumber.

"Ah, shit. Any survivors?" I could hear the sadness in my older brothers voice and I found myself becoming more alert as I wauted for Pvt. Roper's reply. When he did, it was as expected.

"Negative." That short reply somehow commanded my brain to fully awake and my eyes to open. In the dimly lit space, I realized that the thudding noise was Hesh bouncing a green tennis ball against the wall while our dog, Riley (cutest damn dog ever, just saying), jumped back and forth following it. He seemed pretty content, really. Well, as content as you can be in a war zone. Hesh turned his slightly and took notice of me. His gaze wasn't on me for long since as soon as he noticed my open eyes, he turned his attention back to Riley.

"Sorry I didn't wake you." My brother spoke while bouncing the ball. "Thought you could use the sleep."

"Its alright. Thanks, Hesh." I quietly uttered. Over the years, you'd think that being in the military and all, I'd begin to speak on a more regular basis. Truth is, I talk even less. Dad always says that when I do speak, it's both a blessing and a curse. That may have something to do with the fact that I'm crazy as hell, but I don't know.

A loud bang has meme completely alert with my hand on my sidearm. Seems I'm not the only one, as Riley instantly forgets about his little game with Hesh and turns towards the doorway and growls. Hesh is quick to silence him since Riley growling could be a very clear indication to Federation soldiers that we were there. Once he's quieted down, Hesh turns to me.

"Hey, Riley's got something. Grab your gear, let's move." As Hesh begins to stand, I move my hand from my sidearm to my Honey Badger and stand. My brother nods to me and we both turn to follow our dog. Hesh follows directly behind Riley and I'm behind him. I shift ny eyesight from side to side, checking for any type of hostile activity. My boots barely make any noise against the hard ground; just a faint tap-tap-tap. So far we've come up completely empty. Hesh turns around slightly to look at me and I know it's time for me to be silent again. I smile at him in understanding.

"Team Two, are you near our position?" He questions over the comms.

"Negative. We're outside. You boys got something?" I grit my teeth at the inquiry, but I don't dare say a word. It may make me uncomfortable but it doesn't make me reckless.

"Riley does. We're checkin' it now."

"Roger. We'll secure the exit. Two-One out." The comms went silent We continued on our way until we reached another room that was seperated by a large white sheet. I paused behind Hesh while he cut open the sheet. I kept my weapon ready and covered him, wondering why this seemed to be routine. As kids we would run courses and Hesh almost always took point. Of course, I didn't mind. I was always right behind Hesh. I'd follow him anywhere. Hesh told me to file him in and we found the auditorium empty.

"Cover me." Hesh told me. 'Like I need to be told.' He called for Riley to continue and found myself wondering where we would be without him. Riley's saved us so many times.

Hesh began ascending the stairs and soon confirmed that the area was clear. I started to climb through the old rubble and, me being me, tripped on an broken piece of cement and almost fell. The sudden movement caused both my brother and Riley to spin around. When Hesh realized what just happened, he struggle to contain his laughter. His face contorted in concentration and I scowled. My cheeks were on fire as I gave him the finger. He just shook his head and motioned for me to continue. We were still smiling when we reached the next site and heard it. A noise similar to the one before.

"That's close. Take the door on the right." I did as I was told and let out a small giggle when I realized that it culprits were a couple of deer. Startled by my sudden entrance, they ran off while Riley barked viciously. I looked over at Hesh to discover that he was smiling, too. "Guess Riley was getting hungry. You don't want to eat anything out here, boy. Let's head back and get you some real food." I rubbed Riley's head and he leaned into my touch. I grinned at the memory of a puppy always fucking up our shit. At least until we trained him. Out comms crackled to life.

"Six-one, sitrep?"

"Just some local wildlife. We're good." He smiled at me. It was times like these that I truly enjoyed my job. For a split second, we weren't working, we weren't soldiers. We were two sibling joking around. To be honest, I missed that.

"Check. We're moving up to RP "Silver", copy?"

"Yeah, we'll join you. Meet us at the Wall. We're on our way out." I internally groaned. Federation will almost definitely be there.

"Rog'." We both began climbing the stairs and came out downtown, right next to the wall. Now, I'm not going to sugar coat it for you: the thing looks like hell. Hesh saw it too. It was still standing though.

It didn't take long to find Two-One. They were only standing a few feet away. There must've been some knew people because some greeted me by name while others just have wary glances.

"Yo." I shook my head at my brother's words.

"Sergeant."

"Your area secure?" 'Please be secure, please be secure...'

"Just about. Need to sweep this side of the wall and we're good." 'Fuck! Of course.' Sweeping the Wall is one of my last favorite tasks right next to bathroom cleaning. It's boring and the Federation are always so goddamn persistent.

"We'll take the left side, should go quick. Regroup at the gas station."

"You got it." They turn to leave and so do we.

"You're welcome."

"Hey," Hesh warns. "Remember, you may not like it but it's still your job." I nod, my cheeks burning, thanking God for my mask hiding my blush. A small tremor forces Hesh to turn his attention on Riley, attempting to calm him as he whimpers. Faintly, I can hear radio chatter. Pausing, I look to my left and see that Hesh must've heard the same.

"You hear that? Someone's out there. Wait for Riley. If he attacks the target, shoot to kill."

"No problem." I confirm. Hesh smiles and the attack begins.

"Drop these guys! Riley, go!" Riley bolted into action, attacking enemy after enemy. We didn't let any of them get close to us, so compared to other fights, this one was child's play.

"Riley, stay! Fed recon, again. That's five this month, already. Two-One, we just engaged another Federation recon team. Meet us at "Overwatch", we need to regroup now."

"Check. We're on our way."

"Why the hell do we always get the shitty part of the Wall?" I questioned. I expected Hesh to scold me again but instead he just chuckled and let it slide. 'It's because he knows it's true.'

"Riley, here." Riley comes to stand between Hesh and I. I reach down and scratch between his ears briefly.

"Holy shit." I lift my hand from Riley's head and look in the direction that everyone else is. My jaw drops. Federation are executing civilians.

"Este país caerá tan fácil como su gente." I gasp, suddenly thankful i bothered to learn Spanish. 'This country will fall as easy as its people.' I gripped my gun tighter.

"Come on! They're executing civvies! Move in, move in! Riley, go!" At the order, I burst into action, firing at anyone with a Federation uniform. There are Federation seemingly in every direction. I soon find myself out of ammo and as I move to reload, a seering pain shoots through my left thigh and I feel a warm liquid running down my leg at an alarming rate. I grit my teeth and shoot the soldier, officially clearing the area.

"This way. Riley, come." Hesh stops next to me and give me a look of concern and looks at my leg.

"I'm fine, Heshy." I mutter softly. Truthfully, my head was beginning to pound and my vision began to blur. I shook my head and walked beside Riley.

"All available units, we have a Federation contact at the wall! We need back up, now! Repeat, we are under attack!" 'Fucking hell.'

"We've got you lima charlie! Pop smoke, we're headed to you!"

"Roger that! Popping green smoke in our position!" We begin to pick up our pace but every step sends a new wave of blood down my leg and pushes me closer to screaming.

"Push to the Wall! C'mon boy!" This assault is worse than the last. I ran from cover to cover. Cars, cement blocks.. whatever was there. I helped as much as I could, but thankfully, another seemed to notice that I was slowing down and helped to cover me. At the speed of the blood flow, I was kind of worried that I'd grazed an artery.

"Riley, here! That's friendlies at the green smoke!" Finally getting the chance, we push up to regroup at the green smoke. For the second time today, I'd thought we were finished until I heard Ramsay's next words.

"More birds inbound!"

"Logan! Grab a launcher! Take care of the birds, we'll cover you!" I quickly jogged/waddled over to the launcher and picked it up. I could hear Riley baking aggressively and I took a second to steady my hands and make sure my aim was accurate. I fire and take down the hind on the first shot. I grin beneath my mask until I realize that I can hear another one closing in. I readied myself for another takedown and repeated my previous actions. The hind blew and went down. 'Two for two.'

While I was taking care of the hinds, the rest of my allies were taking down the foot soldiers. Soon, they were all down as well and we turned towards out transportation.

"Corporal Davis, you're on transport."

"Roger. Commandeering for transport."

"Logan, you're on security in the back." I nod and climb in.

20 minutes later, we're at Fort Santa Monica and I smile beneath my mask. 'Home sweet home.' Riley barks at a Sergeant who greets him. The people on base love him just as much as we do.

"This is us, Sergeant." I feel the truck halt beneath me. I distantly hear Hesh order Riley to stay and though he looks slightly unhappy about it, he complies. We walk into the building.

"C'mon, let's go find the old man." Hesh speaks.

"I've been good today, Heshy. Maybe he'll give me a cookie." I spoke softly. Hesh laughed loudly, earning strange looks from surrounding soldiers. He turned to me and glared though he was still smiling.

Soon we're in there main office and Hesh is calling out to Dad.

He turned at the sound of his voice and I smiled. He may be intimidating to others, hell he was intimidating to me, but I loved him more than anything.

"I heard about the attack. You kids okay?" That's one thing about my Dad. He's never once referred to me as his son, unless he absolutely had to. He knows how it makes me feel. I mean, sure, the government know I'm a woman, but nobody on base does. We work hard to keep it that way.

"Always."

"Walk with me." He turned on his heel and began walking up with stairs.

"Dad, they were executing civilians..." Hesh voiced my worries.

"I know. Their recon teams round up scavengers, drifters, hoping to find a way into the city. It's how they took Dallas practically overnight." I couldn't keep silent anymore and decided that nobody would really be listening.

"So how can we help, Dad?" he seemed surprised to get my voice. Sometimes I wonder if he forgets that I have a voice. I winced at the amount of stairs, sending a white hot burning sensation throughout my leg. Hesh turned to me in silent question and I just shook it off. We finally reached the top floor and I sighed in relief.

"Listen, you kids... you're the only thing I've got left in this world."

"Dad, listen..." I began, only to be cut off. 'Talk more, they said. Can't cut you off if you don't talk.'

"But you're also the only ones I can trust."

"Hey, look, whatever it is, Logan and I, we're ready." I nodded, smiling, even though he couldn't see it.

"You two are going to No Man's Land." My smile fell and my heart sank.

"Wait, for real?" We started walking again, this time or onto the balcony overlooking the beach.

"We've been on the defensive for far too long. So I'm sending you outside the wall. You'll link up with a recon team, gather any intel you can on the enemy and get your asses back here." His voice screams urgency and seriousness, so I know that this must be important. Yet, an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach.

"So where in No Man's Land are we going?" Before Dad even answered his question, I knew.

"Somewhere you know better than anyone. You're going home."

I clench my fists and stare dead ahead. I fought the urge to protest. I almost should have.

If there was anywhere I didn't want to be, it was home.

Hey guys:) I'm sorry if there are mistakes or inconstancies;) R&R