Thank you for the wonderful reviews, they make the writing go so much faster. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and hate Burton (though he makes a pretty good villain) as much as I do.

Katie was lowered softly to the ground and instantly brought her flashlight up before unclipping herself from the rope.

"I'm down," she said into her earpiece. She walked carefully, stepping over and around the scattered pieces of wood and metal, searching for Howell.

"Copy that," Becker's voice sounded in her ear, "You see him yet?" Katie used the surprisingly dim beam of the flashlight sweep the room, stopping with a gasp when she saw a crumpled body on the floor. She was next to him in an instant pushing a few pieces of wood off him.

"Howell? James? Can you hear me?" she asked as she pushed the largest piece of debris. She gasped as it fell away.

"Shit," she said breathlessly and sagged back onto her heels for a moment.

"What wrong?" Becker asked. Katie fought against the bile rising in her throat as she stared at the piece of metal that was sticking out of Howell.

"He's been impaled on a piece of re-bar," she managed to say into her ear piece. She heard some muffled curses over the radio, but put them out of her mind as she took off the medical kit that was slung across her back and started working on the soldier in front of her.

"Do you need another set of hands down there?" Becker asked after he finally finished cursing, some of which hadn't even been in English. Katie looked around the small space Howell was trapped in.

"There's not enough room for anyone else," she said, "I'll have to do it on my own."

"Alright," he said, "We have to find the Anomaly and see if there's a creature, but I'm leaving a few men here if you need anything."

"Copy that," she said, as she began pulling out the supplies she would need to take care of Howell. She took out her ear piece for a minute not wanting anyone to overhear what she was about to say. She brushed some of his dirty blond hair off his face as she spoke.

"It'll be okay," she said softly, "I'm here to take care of you." She let her hand rest against his cheek for a minute before turning her attention to the piece of metal she has to immobilize. She pulled a pair of scissors from her bag and started cutting away his shirt. As the shirt fell away in strips she had a hard time keeping her gaze away from the firm muscles of his chest and abs. It had surprised her the first time she'd seen him just how much bigger he was than most of the other soldiers. They were all fit, they'd have to be with this job, but most of them were lean and wiry. Howell however was built like a tank with his wide shoulders and dense muscles. He obviously spent more time in the gym than the rest, and she often wondered why. She felt along his torso for any wounds that she couldn't see, and let out a breath when she didn't find any. The faint scars on his upper body also caught her attention, but she forced her attention back to the bloody wound in front of her.

The gauze in her hands shook as she packed it around the bar carefully, she bit her lip as tears threatened to spill. Half the time he annoyed the hell out of her, the other half he just pissed her off and she still went out of her way to see him every day. Not that she would ever admit it to him of her own free will, but she hated seeing him like this. He wasn't supposed to get hurt. He was supposed to grin whenever he managed to make her blush and be the one she went to when there was trouble, because no matter how much he aggravated her, she trusted him.

"It'll be okay," she said softly, "I'm here to take care of you." Howell knew it was Katie's voice and his rattled brain wondered how the hell she'd gotten there. He felt her hand brush the hair from his face and stop to rest on his cheek. He tried to turn into her hand, but his body didn't move an inch and Howell wanted to scream in frustration. He hated being helpless, he always had. Her hands moved away from his face and he waited for her to touch him again only to feel cold metal against his skin.

He felt her hands run along his chest and stopped where he could feel the cold iron running through his body. He actually groaned aloud in pain when she touched him there.

"Katie," he whispered without opening his eyes.

Katie worked mechanically at prepping Howell for transport. Doing her best to pretend he was someone else to make it easier.

"He's still unconscious, but his breathing is normal and he's responding to painful stimuli," she walked the medics that were waiting through Howell status, "The re-bar kept him from bleeding out, but he needs to get out of her really soon." She'd managed to pack enough gauze around the bar to keep it from moving, being extra vigilant because she didn't want to even think about what could happen if it moved even the slightest bit.

"Katie," the soft whisper nearly made her jump out of her skin. Her eyes darted to his face, hoping she hadn't imagined the soft sound.

"James? Can you hear me," she asked nervously.

"Can we go home now?" Howell still didn't open his eyes when he spoke, but his attempt at humor despite his injuries made her want to laugh, and cry.

"Soon," she said running her hands through his hair, though she wasn't which of them it was meant to comfort. "We'll get out of here really soon I promise." Katie put her hand to her earpiece and hailed Becker on the radio.

"He's coming round," she said, "What's the ETA on the rescue crew?"

"We've… um… got a situation," Becker said. Katie's hand stilled in Howell's hair and her heart sped up. Becker hesitating was never a good thing.

"What kind of situation?" she asked fighting to keep her voice calm.

"There's a creature incursion and we can't let a civilian rescue crew in until we take care of it." Katie was happy to hear anger and frustration in Becker's tone, but it didn't stop her from snapping at him.

"Who the fuck made that rule?"

"Burton," the name sounded like a curse coming from Becker. Not that it was a big surprise, Burton was not well liked by the ARC's military presence. He'd made it very clear that he saw soldiers as disposable.

"Don't we have a rescue crew on staff?" she asked desperately even though she already knew the answer.

"Anything else we should know about the incursion?" she asked, hoping it was something harmless and easily taken care of. Becker's silence worried her.

"Sir," she prompted again when he was quiet for too long.

"It's raptors. We don't know how many." Katie closed her eyes and took a deep breath to fight off the panic growing in her chest.

She felt Howell squeeze her hand and she looked down in surprise to see him looking right at her. Then she saw the light on his earpiece glowing brightly. Shit, she thought, He heard everything. Howell tried to reach his ear, but winced in pain and his arm dropped back to the floor. Katie stopped him before he could try again and pushed the talk button on his radio.

"Sir," he said weakly making Katie wince at the pain in his voice.

"Howell?" Becker sounded incredibly shocked that Howell was back on the radio.

"Do what you have to do sir. It's not like I'm going anywhere." He smiled at Katie who just frowned at him. They both heard Becker chuckle halfheartedly.

"You better not," he said, "Jess will kill me if you aren't at the wedding."

"Well, we can't disappoint the future Mrs. Becker." He said his voice getting a little weaker. Katie put a hand over his mouth before he could say anything else and shook her head at him. She took the radio from his ear and walked a few feet away, keeping her back to him as she spoke.

"I honestly don't know how long he'll last if he stays here," she told Becker bluntly. She heard him sigh into his radio.

"We'll get the rescue crew in here ASAP, but we have to deal with the raptors first," he said, "The last thing we need is a dead rescue crew because we didn't do our jobs."

"I know," she said, "I just…" an odd clicking noise in front of her made her stop.

"Katie?" Becker said.

"Something's down here." She whispered.