AN: Sorry about the wait, I'm currently working on about seven stories right now, and that isn't including the ones in my head I have yet to jot down… But I shall continue to write this story, though again the posts will each take a while…

Now enjoy the taste of a battle…well, a pre-battle.


The smell of blood and charred flesh drenched the area as Tori surveyed the destroyed remains of the Sparrow that had saved the Rose. Beck's remains had already been recovered and buried; Jade had delivered the memorial speech herself. Tori had dozens of other casualties to deliver speeches for, but none of them had the same impact as the words spoken about the lieutenant by her dear captain.

She is drawn from her thoughts as a slightly older female lieutenant with short golden hair approaches,

"Major? Major?" Tori leaps down from the small pile of rubble to meet the officer,

"…Yes, Lieutenant." The lieutenant stands at attention before continuing,

"We need to keep moving, ma'am. Captain Harris needs your immediate attention."

"Of course, let's move." The Major nods and follows the officer near the outskirts of the secured sector of the city.


The Major approaches the waiting team of soldiers very casually, rather enjoying the temporary distraction,

"Andre, what's so urgent that I have to come out here myself?" He smiles,

"Well, to be honest Tori I figured that you would want to be the one to recapture Hollywood Arts." Then motions to the hauntingly familiar building standing before them. A few of the ghosts of memories past steal her steel and softens her voice considerably,

"…I wasn't there as long as you, Andre."

"Regardless, I thought you'd like the honor all the same." He pats her arm as he smiles.

"Are there any mongrels in there?" Recovering her iron she motion to the building. He turns to face it as well,

"Couple of scouts saw a few heading in, but haven't seen anything since."

"Rifle." At the order a sergeant surrenders the extra assault rifle he had been carrying,

"Ma'am." He also provides to clips and grenade, when he notices her lack of ordinance as well. The extra gift garners a smile,

"Thanks. Well, let's clear 'em out then." She begins walking toward her former school.

"Yes, ma'am." Andre is the first to follow, then the others.

The major takes point and leads the unit of seven into the mostly undamaged building. With the flashlight at the end of her gun illuminating the dust and light debris of a few fallen tiles she moves slowly and carefully as not to unnecessarily alert any mongrels to their presence.

Having cleared the entrance she steps over to her locker still adorning 'Make It Shine'…her brief period of nostalgia is cut short as she turns and drops to one knee while bringing her rifle to bear on the mongrel who tried to sneak up on the lieutenant. After three bursts to the chest he drops to the ground bleeding a sickly green. The lieutenant fires a single shot in its head as per protocol, before turning back to the major,

"Thanks, ma'am."

"Let's move we're too exposed and we're about to have company." As she finishes she's already moving down the hall toward the Blackbox. It may not be the world's best defensible position but it does have a catwalk and more than enough crap for a barricade.

As they take up position outside the door the major nods to Andre before she speaks,

"Breaching." Then he turns the knob and she slams the door with her shoulder as she drops forward to one knee and raising her rifle in one fluid motion. Andre is right behind her with his shotgun floating just above her head. They swiftly survey the room before he lifts his gun and she begins to rise,

"Clear." She motions forward with two fingers and the others file into the room past her and Andre. Andre then follows them in leaving her to take one last look down the hall. Narrowing her vision she slowly traces every scrap of debris…then turns and enters the room, closing the door behind her.

"Commander, take two and clear the costume room… Then bring me the mannequins and a few costumes."

"Yes, ma'am." Andre nods as he motions with his free to a private and a sergeant.

"Sergeant. Private." Another two soldiers move over in front of her at attention,

"Ma'am."

"I need a makeshift barrier half-way from the door to the stage." She guides her hand across the general area in which she wants the barricade.

"On it, ma'am." They answer in unison before heading off to gather up chairs, tables, and anything else they could find in the storage closet.

"Lieutenant, take the corporal and secure the catwalk."

"Yes, ma'am." Turning to the last soldier left the major directs her final order,

"Private, keep both eyes on that door." She points sternly at the intended choke point.

"Yes, ma'am." He moves just to the left of the door with his weapon raised.

Prior to the Lieutenant reaching the catwalk a mongrel that had been hiding there leaps down at the one who was obviously leading these soldiers. Tori is knocked backward to the ground as the Jackal (five foot tall dog-man with a thin lanky body, which was fairly light) lands on top of her. She maintains her situational awareness and easily brings up her right arm to block its attempt to stab her. The sharp boney forearm of the jackal makes her wince as it hits her own forearm, but that is far preferable to the glowing dagger a few inches from her chest.

It snarls at her with its elongated maul before trying to bite at her… but she punches it in the side with her free hand. It winces and releases the pressure on its dagger arm, which allows her the opportunity to punch it in the side of its head near the eye with her right fist. Almost in the same motion she draws her knife from its sheath on the chest of her vest. Still reeling from the impact to its face it has no time to react as Tori drives the blade into the bottom of its skull. In one fluid action she rolls the alien to her left and forces it onto its back, completely reversing their positions. Now she pulls the knife from under its head and stabs it into its forehead. With the mongrel lying there completely lifeless she throws her head back and releases a deep breathe.

Leaning forward she pulls her knife free then cleans it on the jackal's grey uniform. As she rises she snatches the jackal's dagger. Sheathing her knife she begins to turn to alien dagger in her hand. The nine inch slightly curved dagger is nearly paper thin and barely weighs anything. Then she finds and activates the control for the projected energy blade. Two inches of glowing energy hums around the metal blade. She smiles before releasing the control and letting it grow cold once again.

Now she looks around to see that her soldiers didn't break position to assist her,

"Not even an 'are you okay, ma'am?'?" She smirks, but is glad they kept their wits and were prepared to engage any others instead of foolishly trying to help her.

"Sorry, ma'am. Are you okay?" The private guarding the door doesn't break his focus on the door, fully expecting one to come through at any moment.

"Yes, Private. I unlike this bastard am completely fine." She to the corpse with her new dagger.

"Good to hear, ma'am." He nods maintaining his concentration.


A few minutes later Commander Harris returns with a mannequin under his arm, followed by the other two each holding one as well. After setting the doll down he motions to the alien dagger held at her side by her belt,

"And how many does that make?" She looks down at the blade and shrugs,

"I lost count in Washington." Not thinking of the implications of mentioning her time up north she regrets her comment immediately. But it was too late as Andre's flattened,

"How is the Captain anyway?"

"West? Or…" She sighs before providing the entire reason she hated mentioning Washington,

"Shay?"

"Either, both." He isn't trying to force the answer he's looking for, only encourage it.

"Jade's handling it as best she can. And as for Carly, well…last I heard she was running the fifth Striker brigade." She smiles thinly, hoping that he will stop this inquisition. The strikers were designated as a covert ops unit, tasked with precision surgical strikes on key targets behind enemy lines.

"And you?" He keeps his gaze firmly fixed on her eyes.

"Fighting is nothing, just par for the course anymore." Tori shrugs off any emotional attachment to having to kill countless enemy invaders.

"And that doesn't concern you?" Andre is growing worried about his friend's hardening soul and fears what will happen to her after they win this war, what exactly does a killer of her level do after the war is over.

"Should it?" She looks at him as if wanted these bastards to live. He shakes his head,

"I have my answer then." However the major isn't going to get away from his actual question that easily,

"But when I was asking about Captain Shay…"

"I know." She looks down as she knows exactly what he was asking.

"Did you tell her?" Despite not looking him in the eyes she can feel his gaze intensifying. Feeling a lot weaker than she should the answer barely comes,

"No."

"Coward." He knows that calling her out is the fastest way to get her to talk more fluidly. And she does bring her eyes up to meet his,

"How exactly do you tell someone that saved your life no fewer than six times that she was just a convenience screw?" Her tone is harsh, but her eyes are pleading for an answer. He lightly shakes his head,

"It wouldn't be so hard if you had told her that up front."

"Hindsight." She sneers. Any other soldier would have stopped there, but Andre was far from just any other soldier and he has no problem reminding her of that,

"Doesn't change the fact that you should tell her." She sighs,

"I will…eventually… Besides what's so wrong with her thinking it's something more, she could die at any moment? Isn't better she thinks she's fighting for someone?" She gets defensive and somewhat pleading.

"If said someone actually cared for her, then yes." He has no intention of surrendering to her beseeching logic. Especially as he begins to draw out things that she should have already talked about,

"I care…just not that way." He smiles,

"Then tell her you want to be friends." She frowns,

"This really isn't the time for this." His smile widens,

"You know that you think your clearest after a fight, so if not now when?" He knows full well that he has her, but knows that he might want to slack up before she shuts him down.

"If we survive this war." And her solemn tone is the signal to cease his assault, so he simply adds a little more optimism,

"You mean when." Then looks over at the mannequin and changes the subject,

"Anyway, what exactly were you thinking with these mannequins?"

"Bait." She lets the word slide out like she is planning on actually cooking the bastards up afterward.

"Always the master of complicated battle-plans." He chuckles lightly.

"Complicated plans have more variables that could result in failure; the simplest plans are almost always the most effective." Having fully returned to her combat ready self she begins figuring the best possible locations for the dolls.

"And now you're back, Major." He straightens his stance a bit, knowing that share time is over and now the major is ready to get back to what she does best… killing mongrels.

"Prepare for company. It shouldn't be long." At her words every soldier present looks to the door and does not still constructing the barrier grip their weapons tighter.


AN: I honestly have no idea where the whole include Carly thing came from, it just felt right for whatever reason…not going to make it a big deal, but it does provide some personal demons for the heroine…

I guess I should add this:

Disclaimer: I don't own ICarly, or…Big Time Rush… (just to be safe. Not that I plan on using them, but you never know…I may have to turn this into a cross-over if the story progresses too far, but then again technically the Victorious and ICarly universes are one in the same so it shouldn't require the cross-over status…right?)


Now ignore the following unless you like mindless chatter:

Interesting, this could actually be a Syfy channel movie, albeit minus the Victorious angle, I mean we have aliens, a big war, a romance, and now we have personal issues, perfect B-movie filler, oh, I almost forgot a conniving politician willing to sacrifice us all for power and a mysterious president. B-movie Gold. Think about it.