A/N: I think we start to get back into the swing of things here. And this is the only chapter for The Giant as it's the smallest fudging map and has only one major EE to continue the story. The rest of the maps, not so much. Also, a big shout out to my best friend Adam, who is basically my beta as he reads the chapters as soon as I release them! Yeah, I'm talking about you! You're the best! And you also put up with my Bullsh*t :'D

And the rest of y'all, this story has gotten over 300 views but aside from follows/favourites, not much feedback has been given on it. Even if you don't have an account, you can still make reviews for stories! Any feedback on this would sure be great! And also forgive me for the length of this chapter - it was starting to become drawn out and awkward so I had to put an end to it. Sorry

Chapter Genre: Action, Friendship

Chapter Rating: M

Rating Content: Coarse Language, Scenes of Violence, Scenes of Blood

Although it was sunrise, Samantha had not sent in the zombies. Feeling on edge, Scott and Daren decided to patrol around The Giant, checking to make sure that there wasn't a horde of zombies nearby.

Although they had taken the high ground, they weren't going to be paying much attention to the inside, so Richtofen and Dempsey had both volunteered to patrol the inside of The Giant, on the ground, making sure that there weren't any zombies trying to sneak in that way.

Takeo and Vivian, both of which were just starting to have their wounds completely healed, were basically forced to stay back at the safehouse no thanks to Edward. He insisted they stay, with Nikolai there as a 'bodyguard' in case a zombie somehow made it in.

Although he seemed pretty calm, Daren still had a bit of an idea as to why Tank might've volunteered to patrol along with Edward. He didn't know what was going on between the two, but he'd rather let sleeping dogs lie and not get involved with their rivalry. If there was an issue, they'd sort it out themselves.

Daren brushed at the snow in his dark, wavy hair, wiping his hand off on his pants. He either needed to get his hair cut, or he needed a hat of some kind to keep the snow out of it. It wasn't overly long, as he tried his best to keep it cut while they had been traveling around Germany, but it was long enough. The same went with Scott; his hair had gotten longer than he'd normally allow it, but he used a knife to keep it as short as possible. With the mix of slightly uneven dark blonde hair as well as the stubble on his face, he could've easily passed as a stereotypical surfer.

He brushed at the peach fuzz over his top lip, laughing quietly to himself. Now that he thought about it, all of the men, including him and Scott, had facial hair. Well, they really didn't have any tools to shave with other than knives (which they made sure were extra sharp), but it was still kind of funny. Kind of.

"What's so funny?"

Daren looked to see that Scott was making his way towards him and he just shrugged. "Nothing, really. Just... all the guys have facial hair. I dunno why, but that's just funny to me."

Scott chuckled and he looked out into the distance. "Nothing on your end?"

"No, not really. A few stragglers, but they aren't making their way towards this place."

Scott shuddered and his grip tightened around his sniper. "I don't like it. Normally the zombies would come out in the daytime."

"Well, we gotta remember, 'The Giant' was a night-time setting."

"So?"

"So wouldn't that mean that the zombies will only come out at night?"

Scott paused for a moment, considering his words. His brows furrowed. "Wait, when did you first think about this?"

Daren shrugged. "A while ago."

"And you didn't mention it to me?"

He raised his hands exasperatedly, an incredulous look on his face. "I didn't think it was important! I just needed something to do!"

They heard distant laughter and they looked to see Richtofen and Dempsey checking the area around the main teleporter in the courtyard. Richtofen was the one who was laughing while tying the broken chain fence together, most likely so the zombies had one less way of getting in. It looked like they seemed to be getting along, although Tank did look a bit peeved. Well, at least they weren't killing each other, that was the important part.

Whatever else they were saying to one another was lost as they were too far to even hear anything. Dare nodded his head to them, "Do you think that maybe their rivalry is what got them stuck in France for so long?"

Scott shrugged. "Maybe. But, I don't think they even really have a rivalry. I mean, in the game they had some kinda passive aggressive banter but that's it. It's not like the one-point-ohs; now they had a rivalry going."

"True."

Daren, feeling the chill of the air starting to get to him, zipped up his leather jacket and pulled on his leather gloves. He then pulled his grey scarf over his mouth (as he had found that, when it was chilly, his breath could often get in the way of his sight and fog up the scope). "Well, I'm getting back to it. One more walk around the place and we should probably be good."

Scott nodded and quickly zipped up his own jacket. Once Daren actually thought about it, they were all pretty lucky to have found the clothes necessary to 'brave the elements', as Vivian had once put it.

Granted, some of the clothing was taken from corpses, but occasionally they found an abandoned town and was able to loot it. Daren was able to find workers' boots for himself and Scott had found some good winter boots. Vivian had been wearing the same leather biker boots they had looted from a town almost a week after they were teleported to Germany, so shoes wasn't a problem for her. She also had been wearing the same pair of jeans (as she refused to wear pants from a corpse and, most women's bottoms were skirts and the men's pants were too big when they looted the towns) and she had managed to find some decent tops. She actually managed to find a leather jacket for herself (and, to this day, Daren still didn't understand why she loved leather; if it was hot, you were hot and vice versa with the cold), as well as a denim jacket (which he also didn't understand, since that didn't block out the cold too well). Thankfully, for her, those two jackets hadn't been burned when the Hell Hound had grabbed her. Daren had to carry both in his own pack as she ran out of room in hers (which was a makeshift pack, once he thought about it - it had just been a large pillow case).

The others; Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and Dempsey, hadn't changed their own clothes, which was strange. Takeo wasn't even bothering with a sweater or anything and how the Japanese man wasn't cold was beyond him. Nikolai was dressed for a mild blizzard, Tank was more than ready for the winter and Richtofen looked more ready for a jungle expedition than anything. Well, it was their choice, but they still had some spare clothing in case they needed it.

Yeah, they were lucky to find the clothing.

With a final nod, Scott and Daren passed each other to do one more walk around. Hopefully, they wouldn't find anything.

Knock on wood.

/ / /

They had been patrolling in silence for the majority of their time, but Richtofen knew that Dempsey had something to say to him. He didn't know what, but he would most likely find out soon enough.

The German scientist knew that Tank had some sort of vendetta against him, and he knew it was most likely because of his counterpart. He did not blame the man, but he needed to learn that just because his counterpart was evil, didn't mean that he was. Sure, he had done some questionable things, but it was all for the sake of a better tomorrow. For the sake of a better future.

For the children.

"Don't think I don't know what you're up to."

Richtofen pulled out the thick twine from the pouch on his belt and he unraveled it, briefly looking to Dempsey before turning his attention back to the chainlink fence. If they got this patched up, the zombies would have to find a different way in. Less zombies was a good thing. "I am afraid I do not know what you're talking about."

"Cut the shit." Tank snapped. "Don't pretend you don't know, Richtofen."

He sighed as he pulled the string through the fence, starting off in a zig-zag formation. "Again, I am afraid I don't know. Care to tell me what you think I am doing?"

The American was getting angry, but he didn't care much for it. Sure, the man could break his neck but he knew that Tank knew that the group needed him, whether he liked it or not.

"I know that you have some sort of little agenda that you're keeping from us," He said, "And I know you're trying to suck Blue into it."

Richtofen suddenly laughed, as if Dempsey had just told him a joke; he finally knew why Tank was suddenly so distrustful of him, and to Edward, it was actually funny. Tying off the twine and cutting the end with his knife, he turned to the American. "Vivian? Is that what this is about, Dempsey?"

"No, it's about you." He took one step towards Richtofen, but the man didn't back away. "You've been all over her since you came back through that teleporter, trying to gain her trust by flirting with her."

Richtofen raised an eyebrow at that and the corner of his lips quirked. "I am a doctor, Dempsey; after her injury, I need to be near her. I hardly call that flirting."

"Don't pretend to be stupid; I saw you holding her hand last night."

Immediately, the Doctors' face fell and Tank then had a smug grin of his own, believing that he had caught him, and he crossed his arms. "Yeah, I saw that."

Richtofen was stunned for a few more brief moments before he gently shook his head. "Nein, what I did was to comfort her, not flirt with her."

"And why would she need that?"

The man was jealous, for whatever reason. Edward didn't understand why, however, as from what he had seen they weren't romantically involved in any shape or form. However, despite his burning need to clarify his actions, it was not his place to tell Dempsey about Vivian's situation. "She was in need of emotional support. That is all that it was."

Tank uncrossed his arms and he glared at the German. "Better have been. 'Cause if I find out that you have been trying to turn her against us, you better watch your ass!"

Before he could respond, Tank turned and stormed off to the safehouse. Richtofen shook his head and pulled the twine out once more. Another weave should make it a lot more sturdier...

/ / /

"How do you know so much of my language?"

Vivian snorted as she wrote in her notebook. "Nikolai, I hardly call a single word and a phrase 'a lot' of your language. The same goes for you, Takeo. I only learn the basics of most languages."

Nikolai raised his eyebrows slightly. "Still, how you know any of our languages is extraordinary! Not many care to learn, Vivian."

She shrugged. "I liked to research stuff for other things in my spare time; languages included. Where I come from, it would go a long way to know even just the words 'hello' or 'goodbye'."

Both Nikolai and Takeo nodded in understanding. They were both still shocked that someone, especially a woman, was educated (even if only slightly) in other languages and the cultures behind those languages.

Vivian looked up and, about to say something else, could only chuckle as she saw Nikolai gently running his fingers over Takeo's hair (which was still miraculously in its braid). She heard him mutter something in Russian and Takeo only rolled his eyes. "Y'know, Nik, if you wanted me to trim your hair, I can. Like, I don't have much experience, but I have enough."

He gave her a warning look (in a joking manner of course) and shook his head. "Net, I am fine."

"Trying to grow it out?"

When he didn't respond she tsked and pointed the end of her calligraphy pen at him. "Y'know what, some day you'll just end up with something sticky in your hair and you'll have no choice but to let me cut it! I'm not the best hair-cutter, but I'm alright."

Takeo couldn't help but chuckle. "You seem to have a great deal of skills. Just what else are you able to do?"

Before she could respond, the door to the safehouse practically slammed open (seemingly in a passive aggressive manner), and everyone looked to see Tank (an angry looking Tank) storming into the safehouse. "Everything alright, mate?"

He didn't respond.

"Hon?"

Tank removed the pistol from his belt, removing the magazine and quickly setting it on the desk, and went into the 'storage' room and Vivian immediately sighed. Removing the remaining ink off her pen with a cloth and closing the jar of ink, the Canadian stood and followed after Dempsey, hoping to get to the bottom of whatever was upsetting him. It was most likely Richtofen, but she wanted to know what it was that they argued about.

This was a habit of his; he'd sometimes take apart a gun and clean the various parts before putting them back together. A habit, one he often did whenever he needed to be left alone or was angry at something. Or someone. Sometimes he did it just to think. Sometimes, it was a little mix of everything.

Vivian opened the door to see that Dempsey was already taking apart his pistol, leaning against a table and setting aside the various parts. She didn't know the names of the parts, but she sort of knew what made which part of the gun. "Tank, mate, what's up."

"Nothing."

"Uh huh, sure, nothing." She sarcastically replied. She then crossed her arms. "What did you and Eddie argue about?"

He took a cloth out from his pocket and started cleaning the pistol (or rather, the skeleton of it, really). "We didn't argue about anything, Blue. And don't call him 'Eddie'."

Jealousy alert, she thought. She never thought that this version of Edward and Tank would have a rivalry like their counterparts did, but then she realized that it was most likely because of her that he was now only slightly more hostile towards the German. It made sense, but it was still somewhat childish. "Sounds like you did argue about something, that something being me. Look, Edward is a good man. Wrong actions, but good intentions. There's no need for you to get so jeal-"

He set his gun down, hard, onto the desk and she silenced herself. Should've worded myself better, she thought. "I'm not jealous." He spoke through gritted teeth.

She raised an eyebrow and leaned against the desk (only slightly further from him). "Then why are you acting this way?"

Once again, the American didn't respond and she scoffed. "You know what? Forget it." She removed herself from the desk. "I'll talk to you once you stop acting like a child."

She turned to leave, intending to leave him to his own thoughts, but he held her back by her wrist, making her look at him incredulously. "Excuse you?"

Tank let go of her wrist immediately and rubbed at the back of his neck. Normally, she would leave, but she could tell he had something to say. He was a 'tough guy', as many would put it, and not normally someone who would openly talk about his feelings or emotions. She just had to be patient with him. "Look it's... I'm just... worried about you, is all."

"Oh?"

"Look, Blue; you're... kind and caring. And trusting. I just don't want you getting hurt."

She shook her head. "Eddie isn't manipulative. His counterpart? Most definitely, but our Edward Richtofen is not as deranged as him. He has his moments, but he's still a good man."

Tank nodded. "Yeah. But still, if he does anything to hurt you-"

"You'll be the first to know." She patted his shoulder. "Thanks, hon."

He nodded and returned to cleaning his pistol and she left him, now a bit more at ease in knowing what was disturbing him. Could've still been jealousy, it was more than likely, but at least she knew for certain what else was making him defensive.

It was understandable.

/ / /

Once everyone was back at the safehouse, they continued to plan what they should do in case the zombies did come back in the evening.

"It should be pretty easy," She explained, "Getting the last of the blueprint pieces. So should playing 'Hide and Seek' with Samantha, and activating the Riese. If things go well, we should be able to get these things done tonight! Knock on wood."

"What about the radios?"

She shrugged. "Daren, I don't even know where any of them are, and I personally don't think they're important."

"What about hell dogs?" Nikolai asked her. "I do not wish to see anyone die because of those beasts."

She shrugged again. "We do what we planned earlier. That's all we really can do."

"Another thing we should focus on is Wonder Weapons," Scott suggested. "I already have the Ray gun, and someone should have the Wonder Waffle, doesn't matter who."

He heard Vivian snicker and he looked. "What?"

"I don't think they know what the 'Wonder Waffle' is." She then chuckled. "They know what the Wunderwaffe is, though."

Edward looked to Vivian, then to Scott. "'Wonder Waffle'?"

Scott waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind. Anyways, if we all get some sort of wonder weapon, or if we just have good guns, we should be fine. Along with the Monkeys, and if we all have them then-"

Tank held up his hand to stop him. "Hold on, doesn't anyone else think this all seems a bit too easy, or is it just me?"

Vivian instantly rapped her knuckles against the wooden desk that she was sitting on. "Knock on wood, mate! Take what you get, don't complain or Samantha might get a few ideas. Besides, do you want things to be complicated after France?"

"No."

"Then shut up. Or the next thing we know, there's gonna be Hundesoldat or whatever the word is."

She saw an almost mischievous gleam in Richofen's eyes and she pointed in a scolding manner. "No, bad idea! If we have hell hounds mixed with mechanical armor, we're for sure set to have our lives fucked up!"

There was a loud thunderclap and even without the prompt from Samantha, everyone was up and moving around, grabbing their guns and whatever else they needed for the battle ahead. Vivian did her best to try and get her leather jacket on without hurting herself. Although the wounds were healed, the scars still stretched and ached, along with her muscles and joints. Once she got moving around, she would be fine of course, but she just needed to be careful.

Everyone quickly filed out the door and, getting into their respective groups, split up and set off to do what they did best.

"Remember to meet in the courtyard if the hounds come around!" Vivian shouted.

/ / /

Samantha cackled in mockery and Vivian kicked at the box as it floated away and she desperately hoped it spawned just outside Teleporter C, near the power switch, so she wouldn't have to walk all the way across the map again. "The box hates me!"

Richtofen, who had been leaning against the wall, held back a laugh. "And you hate the box."

"Fair enough."

Vivian had been trying for several rounds to get the Wunderwaffe or the Cymbal Monkeys, and she had not had any luck. After nearly getting downed by a horde of Zombies, Richtofen actually had to remind her to get her Perks to prevent any further complications.

The plan that they had was running fairly smooth, however; all the papers for the blueprints had been found, all Teleporters were active, the Riese had been activated (thanks to Takeo getting the Monkeys) and uncovered the hidden perk machine, and everyone nearly had enough points to get at least one Pack-a-Punched gun, including Vivian. She had intended to save the points for when she got the Waffe, but at this rate she was better off with getting her SVG Packed.

She looked around and, seeing that there were no zombies around them, Vivian blew a bubble and the gobblegum disintegrated in her mouth, leaving a light flavour of grapes on her tongue, as a Blood Money power up spawned in front of her. "Okay, one thing I want to point out is that it looks like it's made of gold. Why that colour or material?"

Richtofen studied the item carefully. "Well, it certainly stands out. But why does Sam not simply gift these... power ups, instead of making a physical item representing it?"

She shrugged. "I know, eh? Like, maybe she just wants us to work for it, like she does everything else. Like you keep saying, it's a game to her."

The item started blinking and Vivian rolled her eyes. "We get it." She muttered.

She slowly reached her hand out, seeing just how close her hand could get before the item disappeared. As her fingertips neared, she could feel a faint but cold aura, like she was putting her hand near ice. Just when she thought she was going to touch it, it disappeared, and Samantha's voice boomed across The Giant (which wasn't normal to her, considering that Samantha never did call outs for Blood Money in game). Vivian shivered and absent mindedly rubbed her hand on her shirt, like she had touched something dirty.

"And?"

She shrugged. "Not much, other than it was cold. So, it's possible that it is made of a metal material."

Richtofen's brows furrowed. "Interesting..."

Vivian's eyes strayed to outside the large room to see the familiar blue beam of light by the power switch and she breathed a small sigh of relief. "Okay, we don't have to go too far for the box, then."

Without another word, Richtofen suddenly jumped from the balcony, landing gracefully on his feet. She looked down and her face deadpanned. "Meanwhile, I'm taking the stairs."

Normally she would have jumped down with him but she wasn't in too grand of shape to be pulling off any jumps or stunts, so she was doing the more practical ways of getting around. She also had a heavy sniper on her back so she didn't want to end up falling backwards from the weight and hurting herself further.

As the Canadian sped down the stairs, Edward waited patiently for her. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she rubbed at her thigh, which was suddenly sore. "I'm not even close to thirty and I already feel old." She muttered.

The German chuckled, if only slightly. "Times such as these can do that to you."

She patted his shoulder. "Truer words were never spoken."

As the two approached the box, they both couldn't help but notice how the weather began to shift slightly, the air suddenly becoming warmer and the fog slowly starting to appear. Before Edward could even touch the box, Vivian grabbed at his arm. "Eddie... I got a bad feeling."

Once he paused, taking a moment to listen and feel the area around him, only then did he feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention and something clenched tight to his heart and stomach. Nodding in agreement, he gently ushered Vivian towards the courtyard, near the mainframe, and she needed no further urging.

No sooner then they had walked through the gate leading into the courtyard, where Takeo, Tank and Nikolai were already waiting, Samantha shouted, 'Fetch me their souls!'.

Vivian looked up to see Scott and Daren crouching on the wall, aiming their snipers and ready to fire. Vivian got her Argus ready and Richtofen pulled out his Ray Gun, to which she did a double take. "And when the fuck did you get that thing?!"

He shrugged. "A while ago."

Everyone gathered on top of the platform, in front of the Pack-a-Punch. Hell Hounds, for whatever reason, could jump down, but they couldn't seem to jump up. This was a good thing, because that way the hounds only had one way of reaching them on the platform and that was by going up the stairs.

Everyone waited, on edge, their trigger fingers starting to become itchy. The first hound started to make an appearance, the lightning beginning to crackle on the ground. The bolts of electricity increased in intensity, and then it finally spawned in, immediately making a bee line for the stairway. Before any of them could react, Daren fired his Locus at the creature, instantly making it combust.

That is when all hell broke loose.

Without warning, several hell hounds started to spawn in, either far from them, or right in the courtyard. Either way, no matter where they came from, they were barely giving anyone on the ground enough time to fire at them or to even reload. There was starting to become one too many close calls for Vivian's liking and, judging from the looks on everyone else's face, she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Vivian fired her Argus, only to hear a clicking sound. With a growl, Vivian set the shotgun aside and quickly pulled out her SVG, aiming down the ELO sights. The last time she had fired a sniper, it hadn't gone too well. Her aim was off and although her grip was strong, the recoil on the sniper took her by surprise and she had ended up with a cut underneath her right eye and a dislocated shoulder. The SVG had the worst recoil, but it was the only sniper that she had received from the Mystery Box, so she took it.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied her aim and quickly pulled the trigger. Once again, the recoil had taken her by surprise and the pressure from it nearly knocked the weapon out of her hands. Gritting her teeth, she tightened her grip and got down onto one knee, resting her elbow slightly on her leg to help steady the weapon.

Once everyone started getting a slight rhythm, their shots were a lot more precise as well as timed. Although the amount of hell hounds was shocking, they were beginning to handle themselves a lot better

There was a sudden large pause and everyone physically eased themselves, taking their time in reloading their guns. "Where's the last one?" Tank asked.

They heard a sniper shot and looked to see that the Hound had been sneaking around the courtyard, judging from where they could see the Max Ammo power up. As the fog slowly lifted, Vivian gently nudged her way between the men and presented her SVG to the Pack-a-Punch. An invisible force pulled the sniper in and, after waiting for a few moments, slowly eased it back out. Vivian took it and cocked the weapon, aiming down the sights for a brief moment. "Nice!"

Nikolai, who had jumped from the platform, grabbed the Max Ammo and looked to the rest of the group. "Shall we gather back into squads?"

Vivian hesitated. "Well, yes and no. See, now that we have something Packed, we can start playing 'hide and seek' with Samantha. It's just three objects and are easy to find. One is in an empty furnace, another on the balconies, and the other in the boiler room. Not that hard."

The cries of the damned could be heard and everyone quickly grouped back up. Vivian whistled sharply, catching Scott and Daren's attention. "Scott, go with tank to the boiler room! Help him look for a teddy in one of the boilers! We'll all meet back in the courtyard once all the objects are found!"

Scott nodded and quickly made his way down from the wall and Daren continued to snipe the incoming zombies from the top parts of The Giant.

Richtofen fired at zombies that were trying to grab Vivian and she dodged between the ones he hadn't shot, making her way to the entrance to the Testing Labs. "Keep them off me for a bit!" She exclaimed. Aiming her SVG, she carefully aimed at the console at the far back of the area. Holding her breath, she pulled the trigger.

And missed by a mile.

So, she tried again. And again and again. For whatever reason, she couldn't shoot the damn thing! She growled in frustration and reloaded her sniper. "Fuck this shit, man!"

Edward gently touched her arm and she handed him the sniper without another word. The German aimed down the sights and instantly pulled the trigger, hitting the console dead-on. Handing her the sniper back, he watched in fascination as the shimmering objects spun around and around.

'I want to play a game...', they heard Maxis, or rather, the voice of Maxis. His spirit. 'Let's play Hide and Seek. Those were her exact words.'.

When Edward turned, he was met with a very-pissed looking Vivian. "How the hell did you shoot the thing so smoothly?!"

Edward gave her a small chuckle. "Perhaps, when we have the time, I can teach you."

She nodded and then gestured with her hand. "One object is this way."

They both made their way through a horde of zombies, creating a pile of corpses just outside the doorway, and then they got into the teleporter room past the animal testing labs. Edward did his best to keep the zombies off of Vivian as she knelt down and looked inside the empty, unlit furnace. Aiming her pistol, she fired a round at the monkey and a small wind blew at her hair.

'Yay, you found one. I can hear her, even now...'

Vivian frowned slightly and she got back up onto her feet. He sounded so sad, she thought. He must truly miss his daughter. His real daughter; not the Demonic Announcer that she is now. If it wasn't for Richtofen, that family would never have been broken.

Perhaps that's why Primis Richtofen had changed time. Of course, she knew it was for a 'better tomorrow', to make a safe and happy place for the children, but also because he knew that, with what they had all done and gone through, the Ultimis crew deserved happiness and a better life.

She just hoped that they would all make it.

/ / /

Scott carefully aimed his pistol and fired at the teddy bear that was inside the boiler (which was a really weird spot to have an easily burnable/meltable object in) and they heard Maxis speak once more. 'Wow, you found another one. There must be a purpose to this...'.

"To get the heck out of here!" He shouted.

Tank slowly backed away from the door, watching as the last few zombies neared. Cooking a grenade, Tank tossed it away as quickly as he could. The grenade landed at the zombies' feet, killing all but one, making it into a crawler. The zombie seemed to scream more out of frustration, now, as he crawled his way towards the American, leaving a dark crimson trail behind it. "Hey, Scott, lemme' ask you something."

Scott turned and raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

"Is Blue gullible? Not ignorant, but... naive?"

His face deadpanned for a moment, not sure how to respond to the question. "Like... she doesn't have a sense of humour? If you mean something as a joke, she can take it seriously."

Tank rolled his eyes. "I mean does she tend to, you know, fall for things easily?"

Scott instantly waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Pfft, no way! She has like, a pretty good bullshit meter. And she also can tell when she's being tricked."

"What if she's emotionally involved with someone?" Tank kick at the head of the crawling zombie as it reached out to him, stunning it for several moments as he backed away. "Like, if it was a friend or someone close?"

Scott considered the question for a moment before shrugging. "I dunno, really. Why are you even asking?"

"No reason." He replied.

"There's gotta be a reason with that kind of a question." Scott narrowed his eyes, almost threateningly. "What is it you're wanting to do, anyways?"

Suddenly realizing how he must have sounded, Tank was quick to clarify. "I don't want to hurt her! But... I'm just worried about her, is all."

"She can handle herself." He snapped. "So just... fuck off, man."

Scott, stepping over the undead crawler, practically stormed out of the boiler room, leaving behind a (somewhat) frustrated Tank Dempsey. The Marine sighed heavily and looked at the crawler, which was still stunned from the kick to the face. "I thought Canadians weren't supposed to be jackasses..." He muttered.

A sniper shot echoed throughout The Giant and Maxis' voice was heard once again. He sounded... excited, relieved even. 'That's it... The beacon is lit! I know where and when you are!... Sooner or later, I will find you. Together, we will ensure a better future for the children.'.

Tank was instantly confused by the man's words. The children; what children? There was kids involved in all of this?! Jesus, how much more fucked up was this going to get?

His trigger finger started to become itchy and he quickly walked out of the room. He didn't want to end up killing the last zombie again, because last time he did that, that was when those hell dogs got sent in.

And that's when Blue got hurt. Badly.

Tank smacked the railing of the bridge in frustration and then he jumped down off the ledge of the platform, making his way to the courtyard. Why was he so concerned about her anyways? She could easily take care of herself, just like Scott said.

Maybe it was just because she was a woman. It wasn't very normal to see a woman being so... capable. Most were lady like, and proper, dainty, and sometimes just plain fragile. Not Blue. She was... something else.

She was brash and fiery, always spoke her mind, she also loved getting dirty, which was something that shocked him the most (seriously, what woman would roll around in mud?). She was also very kind and caring, but also prideful and snarky. Strong (even for a woman), loyal, trusting, and damned beautiful.

"Wait, what?"

Tank, far too absorbed in his own thoughts, had failed to notice where he was going. Of course, he was going to the courtyard, but he didn't have muscle memory for the place.

Which is probably why he ran into the fence.

The chainlink fence rattled and Dempsey nearly toppled backwards. Shaking his head and then straightening out his jacket, he looked around and hoped desperately that nobody had seen that.

Snickers coming from the courtyard suggested otherwise.

"Shit."

/ / /

Vivian couldn't help but laugh when she had seen Dempsey run into the fence. She didn't know what was distracting him, but whatever it was, it distracted him enough to make him unaware of his own surroundings.

Tank Dempsey, a Corporal in the Marines, running into fences.

Once the American rounded the corner and came down the ramp, she couldn't help but poke at him a bit. "You okay? You ran into the fence pretty hard."

Everyone chuckled and Tank merely shook his head. "Just fine, thanks."

She suddenly broke out into a grin. "No offence," She started, "But maybe you should get your eyes checked!"

Both Nikolai and Edward burst into laughter and Daren groaned loudly. "Did you just make a fucking dad joke?!" He asked, slowly breaking down into a fit of giggles.

"It was the perfect opportunity!"

Despite himself, Tank started laughing as well. "Alright, pretty good one, Blue."

Takeo, whom of which was the only one not laughing (well, Scott wasn't really laughing either, but he was smiling like an idiot), cleared his throat loudly. "Perhaps we should focus on our main goal. The items have been found, what now?"

Vivian did her best to sober herself up and she straightened out her leather jacket. "Well, we need to get out of here. And, as far as I know, the only way we're doing that, is with that thing."

She pointed to the giant robot and everyone looked to it, then immediately back to her. "How?" Tank asked.

Vivian simply shrugged. "I dunno, but that's how we're supposed to get out of here."

"I took part in creating those machines," Said Edward. "I know how some of it works. Some. It is powered by Element 115, so the energy will never run out."

"Then let's get going!" Tank exclaimed. "I don't want to be here any longer than we have to be!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and then they made their way to the other side of the courtyard, to the wall where the zombies could come in. It was strange how they were all able to work together so well, moving as a collective mind as Blue would put it, but if someone said something wrong it would be like they weren't even a group at all. Just a few knuckleheads who enjoy picking fights.

Once he thought about it, ever since Blue and her two friends arrived, there had been a lot less complications between the four of them. Back in France, they'd have a plan and would be ready to execute it. Then things would go wrong and it was more often than not that they'd get each other killed. They all had died, so many times. Tank thought he was going to go mad with how many times they had to start over!

Then Vivian, Scott and Daren came along.

Although the four of them had a good thing going, the trio of friends really knew how to get things done. They actually used each others strengths and managed to do things in a better and more efficient way. As far as weaknesses went; the only thing that could eventually throw them off was their bad-timing with their jokes. He found it hard to believe that they were still alive with how seriously they took things (and they barely did, most days).

He continued to ponder these thoughts as they approached the robot and he absentmindedly kicked at a small chunk of ice. Still, despite that they could act like a bunch of kids, they could handle themselves very well. Blue especially. She could be delicate, almost timid some days, but she could beat the hell out of anyone who crossed her! He should know; there had been more than one time where they had gotten into a fistfight. First time it had happened, she had first slapped him. Slapped him so hard he ended up flat on his back. She didn't stop there, of course! Blue crawled right on top of him and began to throw punches; not the crappy kind either, but the punches that only experienced fighters would throw. It had taken him a moment to actually start fighting back because he had been so shocked!

Something about a woman being strong enough to knock him down was enough to stun him. He liked it.

What?

"Tank!"

Once again, his distractions had costed him and he ran directly into the giant robot. Not so hard this time that he almost fell back, but enough to make him stumble.

"Second time in not even ten minutes that you've done that, mate." Vivian set a hand on his shoulder. "What's up?"

She was laughing, he saw, but she was also just as concerned as she was humoured. "Nothing." He quickly dismissed her. "Let's just get out of here."

Getting inside the robot was no issue - the bottom of the feet were open and although they weren't able to go up via teleportation, there was a series of ladders they could go up. Richtofen was able to get it started in no time and even though the robot had to elevate itself, none of them had stumbled because of the imbalance. Richtofen had said it was because of the energy in 115 that they were able to stay upright.

Although they didn't know their location, the robot seemed to. Without any sort of prompts from Richtofen, the mechanical giant made its way towards... somewhere. Tank didn't know exactly where, but they were off.

Hopefully, nothing would go wrong. Get in, get what they needed, and get out. Simple as that. Right?

Tank laughed quietly at himself. Yeah, right. If anything was simple, then everyone would be doing just about everything. With their luck, they were going to have one helluva hay-day with what they had to do.