29th October, 1996.

'I spy with my little eye…something beginning with T.'

'Tree.'

Huntress didn't even bother to open her eyes when she answered the stupid question, already knowing exactly what it was. It was hardly difficult to figure out considering that there was nothing else around them aside from trees, water and the occasional dead body. The fires from the blast had finally stopped burning and the air was gradually clearing of smoke, allowing the strong midday sunlight to beat down on them unfiltered.

Kicking her legs against the side of the boat, Huntress sat and looked down at Archer who was still draped over the capsized base, his hands tucked under his head. She nudged his leg roughly with her foot and he spared her a brief sideways glance.

'I'm bored,' she announced. 'We've been floating here for hours.'

He heaved a sigh and sat up as well, leaning back on his palms, 'it could always be worse.'

'How?'

'We could look like those guys,' he nodded down at one of the dead bodies which was floating in the water just by the shore line.

She could hardly disagree with that, considering that the body had the back of it's head blown completely apart. It was one of five deceased combatants, an insurgent group that had tried to ambush them, but had failed. It had been a simple fight really, as their opponents had underestimated them at every turn, having obviously thought that the explosion and subsequent capsizing of their boat would have softened them up. Instead, Huntress and Archer had fought back with even more vigour than usual and had taken down their attackers quickly and precisely. So now all they could do was sit on the bottom of their ruined boat, waiting for someone to come and pick them up.

Archer collapsed back and squinted up at the sun, 'perhaps we should just start swimming?'

'And risk being eaten alive by crocodiles? No thank you,' Huntress slumped back beside him. 'We just need to sit tight and wait. They'll come for us. Either that or they think we're dead and we'll be left here to rot on this stupid boat.'

He glared at her and she snickered. Silence descended, broken only by the occasional cry of a distant bird and the constant chirping of insects in the leaves around them. Both of them remained alert, listening out for anything that was out of the ordinary, anything that could signal either a rescue, or another attack.

It was Archer who heard the approaching boat first, and he sat up slowly, peering down the river to the east. Huntress also pushed herself up and followed his gaze, her ears catching the soft buzz of an engine steadily coming towards them.

'It could be Avenger,' she whispered.

'It's coming from the wrong direction,' he shook his head. 'We should take cover.'

'Where?'

'At the shoreline,' he pointed to the thick trees and branches that had hidden their attackers earlier. 'Quickly, go.'

They both dived off the boat, hitting the murky water with twin splashes. As quickly as they could they swum over to the trees which lined the shore, covering the short distance in only a few seconds. Huntress wasted no time in heaving herself up and out of the water, using the branches as support. Archer followed suit and they both scrambled as far back into the trees as they could, making sure that they were fully concealed by the web of leaves and branches. They were just in the nick of time for, right as Huntress pulled herself up one final branch, helping Archer up behind her, the mystery boat arrived at their position.

This boat wasn't a swamp runner like theirs had been. Instead, it was a small, silver dingy, which was hardly ideal for traipsing through swamps and marshes. Perhaps it could have been mistaken for a simple fishing boat, had it not been for the guns and various other weapons that the men on board were carrying.

They pulled up alongside the capsized swamp runner, cutting the engine as they did. Watching with baited breath, Huntress clung tightly to her branch, only partially aware that she was still gripping Archer's sleeve. He held on just underneath her, watching through a tiny gap in the leaves as one of the men on board hoped lightly over onto the swamp runner. He stood with his hands on his hips, studying the scuffed and bullet dented underside with a scowl.

'Can you see who it is?' Archer whispered, craning his neck to get a better look.

Huntress narrowed her eyes as she studied the mans face. He was a relatively small fellow, with sunken eyes and high cheekbones, although the latter were mostly hidden beneath his thick, black beard. She frowned, then had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop the sharp gasp when she recognised him.

'It's Mustafa Zaeed,' she breathed and Archer snapped to look up at her.

'The Black Priest?' he gasped.

'Yes.'

Using Huntress's branch for balance, Archer pulled himself up a little further so he could see what she could and he swore under his breath. It was indeed the Black Priest and he didn't look happy. Jumping from their swamp runner back to his boat, he shook his head.

'Check the bodies,' he ordered. 'Make sure you identify them all.'

His orders were followed promptly, and Huntress and Archer had to back themselves further up into their tree as the boat was steered closer to their hiding place. Each body in the water was pulled up and checked over methodically, before they were dumped back into the swamp. Clearly they had no interest in recovering their dead at all.

Zaeed watched impatiently with growing anger as each body was turned over and positively id'd. When the last one had been thrown back into the water, he turned to glare at the swamp runner.

'So they're not dead in the water,' he growled. 'Which means they're still alive.'

'Perhaps they're trapped under the boat?' someone offered.

Zaeed didn't look impressed, 'well, why don't you check?'

The other man went to disagree, but didn't get much of a chance before Zaeed turned to him and shoved him roughly over the side of the boat. The man burst up spluttering, but Zaeed was hardly sympathetic and simply pointed to the swamp runner. There would have been no point in arguing and the man obeyed, paddling around their dingy so he could duck underneath the swamp runner's rubbery sides.

Huntress risked a look down at Archer, 'what should we do?'

'How much ammo do you have left?' he asked.

She turned out her pockets and shook her head, 'nothing. You?'

'I have one bullet.'

'You mean one round?'

'No, one bullet,' he held it up so she could see and they both scowled at it. 'Most of mine was with my rifle, which was on the boat.'

'Same,' she grumbled. 'So, what do we do? We have one bullet and a potential shot at killing the Black Priest. Do we take it?'

He bit his lip, but she could already see what he was thinking. It was the same thing that she was thinking. One bullet for one target and a shot that was difficult but certainly not impossible for either of them. The issue they faced was that Zaeed was not alone. That single shot would reveal their location and would undoubtedly that they would both be killed by Zaeed's companions. And that was assuming that they even succeeded. However unlikely, it was always possible that they could miss and then they would both die and would have achieved nothing at all.

'I think it's too risky,' he whispered at last.

'As usual, you and I are on the same page,' she agreed. 'I guess we just have to hope that they move on-'

'Search the area!'

'Shit,' they both hissed in unison.

14 March, 2006,

6 Days before Tartarus.

Zoe sat with Lily, comforting her gently as the little girl continued to cry, mourning the loss of one of her guardians and someone who was arguably one of her closest friends. Big Ears sat opposite them, trying to provide some sort of comfort despite his own grief at the loss of Noddy. She wouldn't have been surprised if this loss hit Big Ears the hardest out of all of them, considering the strong bond that the two had shared. All she could hope was that her brother would remember his training and would be able to keep it together until the mission was over. For most of them, mourning would have to wait. But for Lily, it couldn't and that was alright.

The rest of the team sat not too far away, all concerned for Lily, but not wanting to crowd her. Pooh-Bear was the closest, sitting on a couch just beside Fuzzy, watching and waiting to be told if there was anything that he could do. By comparison, Stretch was the furthest away, slouched forward over one of the tables, rubbing his brow absently as if he was lost in thought. Jack was no where to be seen as he had gone to his bunk to shower and sleep. It was what the others wanted to do as well, but none of them could bring themselves to leave Lily.

When the little girl sniffled and reached out for a tissue, Zoe quickly moved the box closer to her, only to see that there were no tissues left. She looked to her brother, seeing if he had anything, but he just shrugged and shook his head.

'Give me a second honey, I'll go and find more,' Zoe whispered, moving to gently push Lily off her lap.

She paused when another box materialised in front of her face and she looked up to see Stretch standing by the couch. He smiled softly and placed the box down on the table beside them after Lily had taken another fistful of tissues.

'Thanks,' Zoe smiled and he nodded in acknowledgement as he took a seat beside Fuzzy.

A door opening nearby made them turn to see Jack emerging from his room. He glanced around at all of them, seeing Lily's continued tears and everyone else's grim faces. He sighed and came up to them, dragging one of the chairs over so he could sit.

'Alright everyone,' He finally broke through the solemn silence, 'I know that this isn't easy on any of us and getting off to such a bad start isn't good for moral, but we can't let ourselves fall apart this easily. We have to see this through to the end.'

They all nodded, even Lily who had looked up when he had started speaking. Jack smiled sadly and rested a hand on Big Ear's shoulder, providing the best comfort that he could as he looked around at his forlorn team.

'We can do this guys,' he emphasised. 'I have faith in each and every one of you and I have faith in what we can do as a team. We just need to keep on going. Are you all with me?'

They all looked to each other fleetingly, then back to Jack before they all nodded as one.