Despite how strong she looked, Alexa was scared. This whole situation with their vechiles being had been giving her flashbacks... Flashbacks that she had thought she'd sealed away. Looking over Private Allen's face, she was determined to make this mission a success; and if it failed, at least get the kid out alive, regardless of whether it meant her taking a bullet, losing a limb, or even dying... That was just who she was.

"Prepare to engage!" Foley yelled, standing up beside her, peering out at the battlefield.

It was a worn-looking red brick building with all the windows already shattered; whether it was from the shooting or pervious events it was unclear.

Peering around the room, she found that there was six of them; herself, Private Allen, Coporal Dunn, Sergeant Foley, and two other Rangers that she didnt reccognize. Idealy, she wanted to devote her energy to protecting Allen, however she had to spread her efforts amongst the rest of the group as well.

"Sergeant, can I lead the way?"

Everyone's head turned around to face her. Foley's eyebrows knit together as he stood in silence.

"...Negative, Sergeant. Rangers lead the way." He finally replied. "Now, we need to get out there and assist Hunter 2-3! Hooah!"

"Hooah!" The group shouted in unison.

Alexa sighed, her cheeks flaring out. Her hands regripped tighter on her SCAR-H as she followed Foley out the door. Jumping down the few stairs from the house, the group ran out towards the playground, taking out some milita men in the process. They found the main door to the school blown open, one of the doors was laying diangonally on the two steps up to it, and the other was no where to be seen. As the group crept onto the stairs to the school, men suddenly started shooting at them. Alexa turned around, and was pleased to see that Allen was behind her as she had instructed them to be.

"Wait until 10 seconds after Im in, and then throw a flashbang to the back of the hallway." She whispered to him, and he nodded in response, looking confused. Turning back to the group inside the school that was firing on them, she counted to three before bolting inside the halls and sliding to cover behind a conviently placed sand-bag cover. As she was running, she heard Foley yelling at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" His voice echoed from the radio attached to her vest as well as behind her.

"Trying to give us the upper hand."

She counted in her head the seconds that she had to relax before Allen threw the grenade. Right at ten, she turned around and saw Allen ready up his throw. As it left his hand, she followed it's journey through the air until she heard an explosion and voices yelling in general disarray. Jumping up, she sprayed a mag of bullets over the end of the hallway and quickly dropped back down to reload.

"Go!"

Suddenly the rest of her group was crouching behind the sand bags with her, and Foley's eyes narrowed as they meet hers. "Dont be reckless."

"Woah, watch it! Some of 'em just went into the classroom on the right!" Dunn yelled, ducking down as he reloaded.

"Hunter 2-3, this is Hunter 2-1, we're in the school. Heavy resistance." Foley said into his radio.

"Copy that Hunter 2-1."

"Private, come with me!" Alexa called behind her as she got up and ran around the sand-bag's cover, aiming down the sight of her gun as she cautiously stepped into the classroom. Suddenly she saw some movement behind what she assumed a teachers desk and fired. A body crumpled behind the desk and Alexa moved on, reloading her gun in the process. As she proceeded through the door on the other end of the classroom, she was across from Foley and Dunn, who nodded and began up the stairs, with her and Allen in pursuit. As they turned the corner to find themselves on a flat level that was between them and the next set of stairs to take them to the top-floor, Foley took out two men who were laying in wait.

"Keep moving! We need to take the heat off of Hunter 2-3!"

As they proceded up the second set of stairs, they found that it was attached to the middle of a hallway. Foley and Dunn turned left, and Alexa and Allen turned right. Suddenly, a group of men started firing, and Alexa pushed Allen down behind some cover before giving some support fire to allow Dunn and Foley to turn around.

"Yeah, I'm cutting through the history class now," Dunn added over his radio as he ducked into a room on the right.

"Roger."

"Go with him." Alexa tapped Allens shoulder, and pointed towards the room. He stood up and ran behind Dunn as they entered the room.

The room must've been clear, because a grenade came flying out the other enterance of the history class that alarmed the milita. Alexa caught a man in her sights who had picked up the grenade and was in the process of throwing it back. She aimed down her sights at the mans hand that held the grenade, and shot. His hand was knocked clean off as he started screaming. As soon as the grenade exploded, however, the hall was silent.

"Hunter 2-1 this is Hunter 2-3, thanks for the assist1 We're leaving on Hunter-Three's humvee, over!"

"Roger that 2-3."

Just as Alexa stood up fully, she was forced to drop back down into prone as she heard shots fired. Just as she got back up to crouching position, the others had seemingly cleared the next room. Dunn and Allen crept out slowly from the history class. Alexa got up and caught up with Foley who was already on his way over to them.

"Eyes open." Alexa purred, her eyes scanning the room slowly.

"I think I saw one run into the next classroom." Foley replied as they cleared the room they had entered.

As the group turned their eyes to the next classroom, Dunn moved forward, examining the room.

"Clear!"

The group jogged up to him, their weapons still readied in the case of other enemies jumping out. As they saw an exit to the building, they all dropped their guard and relaxed a bit.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual to Overlord." Foley spoke into his radio as he leaned against a table.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual, this is Overlord, send traffic."

Foley nodded to the group, and they jogged out of the building as Foley continued his speech.

"The school is secure and hostiles are withdrawing from the area. We're just moppin' up now."

Following the road, they turned and moved down a sloped alley.

"Solid copy Hunter 2-1 Actual, proceed with caution to the rally point. EPWs may still be in the area, over."

Just after they had heard that and had turned another corner, they saw movement. They all began firing at a man who was hiding behind a car.

"Roger that Overlord, thanks for the tip. Out." He turned away from the radio mounted to his chest and looked at us. "Squad, watch for enemy stragglers! Lets get to the rally point!"

They all hid behind the cover of the car that the man had been hiding behind earlier. Allen stood up and walked cautiously towards a building that had no door. As he peered in, he slammed himself flat against the wall again.

"Fuckers!" He spat before turning back to the room and firing. When he didnt hear any more shots, he reentered the room. Alexa ran after him, cutting in front just as he approached the other door.

"Behind me, Private. We're almost at the rally point... Lets not fuck it up now." As they exitted the building, they caught Dunn and Foley and they all moved together down the alley, which suddenly had a roof over top of it.

"Clear!" Foley yelled as he knifed a man who had been backed into them while firing. They continued down the alley and through an arch, which ended the alley, and suddenly Alexa heard a familar voice.

"Get the wounded to the shock trauma unit! Use my helicopter!"

It was Shepherd. He was commanding two men in full uniform as the group of four approached. Suddenly aware of their presence, he turned towards them.

"Gentlemen, good work on taking the town. Private Allen, you'll be taking order from me from now on. I'll brief you on the chopper... Lets go." He motioned for him to follow.

As Shepherd started to walk away, Allen started off of after him, looking back at the group, slowing down his pace.

"Wait, General!" Alexa yelled, taking a step towards Shepherd and Allen. The gerenal stopped and turned around, staring at her while a scowl covered his face. "A word."

"Make it quick, Sergeant." He replied, troting back towards her.

She took a few steps away from the group, and he joined her. She let her SCAR-H hang loosely in her right hand as she scracthed the back of her neck.

"Sir, what are my orders?"

"Sergeant Young, you are to stay with the Rangers under Sergeant Foley's command until further notice. I'm taking Private Allen with me for the empty spot in TF141."

Her eyebrows furrowed together and her mouth hung open a tad. Granted that he had beat her time in 'the pit', but he was years younger than her and his experience would show just that... It was an undercover mission if memory served. Wait...

"...Whats the success rate of his mission?" She asked, trying to keep her cool. Was it possible that he was choosing Allen simply because of his rank that he deemed him 'expandable'? No, no... No one could be that cruel. Her mind was wandering to the worse case sceniro. Of course Private Allen would be back, and they could get to know each other better.

"Thats classified." Shepherd replied, looking her over.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she nodded.

"Alright, sir." The two parted, and as she past by Allen, she put one hand on his shoulder. Looking at her feetat first, she looked him in the eyes suddenly. He had dark brown eyes that were filled with obvious youth and inexperience. Forcing herself to smile, she wished him good luck before wandering back over to Dunn and Foley. Turning around once she reached them, she saw Allen step into the helicopter.

"Lets go home, boys." Foley shrugged, headed towards an empty jeep. Dunn followed, and even further behind him followed Alexa, who was walking in a daze. As Foley took the driver's seat, Dunn slipped into the passenger seat and Alexa dragged herself into the back. She was just in the dumps about losing control of the life of a Private that she had wanted to protect. As she sighed loudly, Foley started the engine and they pulled off the shoulder of the dirt road, following the convoy ahead of them back to camp.

As they pulled into Firebase Phoneix, they handed off the Jeep's keys to a techician who wanted to look over the car.

"Mess hall after we change?" Dunn asked Alexa as Foley excused himself.

"Yeah, sure."

The two had headed towards the armory, which had an equal crowd from earlier with men putting back weaponry and other various types of equipment. As Alexa slipped out of her vest, making sure that the radio was off, she turned around and set the SCAR-H back on its mount on the wall. Leaving the room, she found that Dunn had once more beat her.

"Here." She said, taking out the desert eagle from her holster that he had given her earlier. She wasnt about to ask why he had his own personal pistol, when she was sure that it was against policy.

He slipped it into his own holster, and the he led her to the mess hall. Without his helment on, she noticed that he had his brown hair shaved off, leaving him with only the stubble. Typical army-cut.

Dunn led her to a large looking building which was filled with activity since all the soliders were returning back from recovering BCT-One. Some of them were still dressed completely in their battle gear. The pair grabbed a place in line, standing there without saying a word to each other.

"You alright?" Dunn eventally asked, looking concerned. Alexa looked up at him from her feet, almost having been surprised that he was there.

"Yeah... Im just a little shaken. Sorry, Dunn, dont mean to bring you down." She apologized.

"No, no, its fine."

They shuffled along through the line, not exchanging any more words. Alexa knew that she was being a buzz-kill, but she was just in a mood. By tomorrow she knew that she would be fine, but until then, she just wanted to think about things. Reflect upon things, which she wasnt so great at but tried her best at. She just couldnt bring herself to focus on events long enough to try and run them through her mind differently.

When it was finally their turn in line, they grabbed lunch trays and she let Dunn go first; she had no idea what the Rangers ate. As soon as she saw the tan and beige colored packages, she realized that she should've known better; they were out on the frontlines, of course they would be eatting MREs. There were full meal packages that included everything, along with indivdual entrees and sides that you could make your own meal with. Dunn picked up a larger package that had "MRE Star Brand Full Meal" stamped onto it alonged with a water bottle and moved towards the exit of the line, waiting for her. She looked over the individual entrees, scaning over the beef and looking more at the chicken. She picked up a package of chicken fajitas as she moved towards the side dishes. They had mashed ptotatos, apple sauce, mac-n-cheese, black beans, corn, hash browns with bacon, and fried rice. Deciding on a classic, she picked up the package of fried rice. Quickly grabbing a water bottle and blindedly snatching a juice packet, she started towards Dunn. Just as she was walking away, a package name caught her attention; 'Brownies'. She picked one up as she exitted the line towards Dunn. Just as you were exitting, they had paper plates and plastic ultenisles. Grabbing a plate and pre-packaged set of ultensils each, they moved towards a table in silence.

As they sat down at a two man table, Alexa opened her waterbottle and poured in the juice mix, which had turned out to be lemonade. Dunn had torn open his package and pulled out a orange juice mix, adding it to his drink. They both shook our drinks before returning to the rest of their meal. Alexa tore open her fajitas package and emptied the contents onto her plate, followed by her rice. Ripping the utenisles packet open, she began stuffing the food into her mouth, taking huge bites and washing them down with her lemonade right after.

The thing about her and lemonade, was that despite the fact that she enjoyed it, it was too sour for her, resulting in her to pucker her lips after every sip. She was aware of this, but didnt really care.

As Dunn started on his meal, which was supposedly pork and potatos with a side of powered mangos, he couldnt help but notice the funny face that Alexa was making after every sip of her drink. He didnt want to call it out because it was too funny. Finally, she looked up at him.

"What?" She asked, her mouth still chewing her food.

"N-nothing." He sputtered, still chuckling.

She gave him a weird look before going back to her meal. They didnt say anything else as they munched on their food. Alexa wasnt a fan of MREs. She doubted that anyone was, really. They'd come a long way since she had started eatting them seven years ago, but they were still no where near the stranard of real food. Washing them down with a drink was the only way that she could 'enjoy' eatting them. Dunn had somehow finished his meal before her, which was both puzzling and somewhat annoying. Back home, she was the fastest eatter that the 3rd Special Forces had.

"Attention men, we are having an early curfew tonight because tomorrow will be used as an intense training session. I repeat, early curfew. Please report to your cabin as soon as possible." A voice called over the intercom.

The men in the mess hall all groaned, so obviously the important part of that announcement was "intense". As she took the final bite of her rice, she told him that she was good to go. She put her brownie package into her pockets. He nodded and they dumped their packages and plates onto the garbage, and placed their trays onto the increasing tall pile of them. Dunn almost let out a chuckle about Alexa nearly not being able to reach the top of the pile. He hasnt sure what it was about her, but she was just so... positive and innocent. It was uplifting to be around her... A change from the usual environment.

As they left the mess hall and began walking to their cabin in the grey-ish sky, Dunn tried to start a conversation as Alexa opened up a brownie package.

"What specificly is bothering you? I mean, its not being left here by Shepherd is it?"

"Oh, no, not that... Im fine with helping out the Rangers. Its just... Being back in Afganistan is just reminding me of things that I dont want to think about... Plus, Im worried for the Private."

"Ah, hell, Im worried for the Private too. Honestly, I think him going with Shepherd was the worst possible thing."

"Well, thanks for confirming that."

Dunn almost smiled at that remark, because it meant that she was back. She was certainly in a better mood now, as she munched on her brownies. It wasnt as uplifting as before, but at least it was something.

"Look, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you've got me, alright? We're all a band of brothers here."

Alexa looked up from her brownies, her eyes glassy. She smirked after some time.

"Yeah, Dunn, I know."

When they reached the Beta Cabin, they said goodnight as they each proceeded to their bunks. Dunn's was near the end of the room on the right. Counting the bunks to three, she sat on the lower bed, and began untying her boots. Around her, other soliders were getting dressed for bed and chatting as they, but no one was overly happy. They had lost a few men out there today. Those men had families, just like everyone else. Their names would be lost, and only their death to racking up the body count would remain.

After she took her boots off, she sat on Allen's bed for a little while. The soliders around her were busy getting ready for bed themselves, so no one called her on it. Leaning her head back, she looked back at the calender that was tacked into the roof of the bed. Two weeks from today, he had the day circled multiple times. Perhaps that was when his tour was ending... Maybe it was his birthday... It could've been his aniversery... She would have to ask Allen what it was when he came back to Firebase. Eventally he would have to come back, even if it was just for his stuff.

Pushing herself off his bed, she climbed up the wooden ladder to her bunk. She sat there for a bit before taking off her socks, followed by wiggling out of her cargo pants. The Rangers appeared to be the same as the Special Forces in that aspect. Slipping under her blankets, she mumbled something about turning off the goddamn lights. Ten minutes later, they finally switched off.

Laying in her bed, she stared at the ceiling for some time. She was certainly tired, but something inside her was telling her to stay awake. She was almost scared to fall asleep, because she knew that what would consume her mind wouldnt be anything pretty...

"...So how do I look?"

"Like one of the bad guys... Perfect for your undercover assignment."

As Allen stared into the mirrior at his new tattoos that almost completely covered his chest, he felt like he was outside of his body watching someone else. It was a rush to be experincing this. In less than an hour, he was going to board a plane to Moscow, Russia. Looking over his tattoos one last time, the words of Sergeant Alexa Young echoed in his head.

"Good luck, Private."