A/N: Next chapter's here. Still took longer than I wanted to, and it's a quicky, but the next chapter is almost done and is a bit more exciting.

Disclaimer - I do not own Metal Slug


"So? How was it?"

Fio closed the door behind her and looked at her blonde friend lazily sitting at her desk before answering with a big smile.

"Oh, it was great!" she spoke, and Eri couldn't help but smile back at the girl's cheerfulness. "Apparently Marco and Tarma's mission was a success! They'll be back soon!"

Eri's eyebrows shot straight up in surprise. That was a relief. Thank goodness everything went well. Morden was missing, but several rebel resistances and bases were still located across the globe, and the Regular Army had made it clear that they wanted them destroyed. Marco and Tarma had tried to resign again, much to Eri's inner conflict, but were denied and ironically promoted to Major and Captain. The outburst from the four friends-in-arms was real after learning of their first mission. The two Peregrine Falcon soldiers were sent to an island in the Southern Pacific, which had been used as a nuclear testing site in the past, while Eri and Fio were left gathering intel and working with both the PF advisors and SPARROWS members. The past week without Marco and Tarma had been hell to Eri. If she wasn't sitting through hundreds of mind numbing assemblies or filling out tedious paperwork, she was worrying about the Major and Captain. She was glad Fio had finally come with good news.

"That's good. Did you get any other information? There's always a catch, Fio."

Even Eri's ever-present pessimism wasn't enough to affect Fio's cheery mood. "They said everything went perfectly! I'm sure they'll be excited to tell us all about it. I can't wait to see those two!"

Eri chuckled as Fio practically bounced across the demolition expert's office and into a vacant chair. Fio sat still for a moment before springing back up in excitement.

"Eri! We should have a celebration for them!" she exclaimed while skipping towards the door.

"H-Hey!" Eri began nervously, reaching her hand out in an effort to stop her jovial friend. "Hold on Fio!"

"Hmm? What's wrong, Eri?" Fio looked back at her uptight counterpart with her hand slowly turning the doorknob. "Are you done for the day?"

"Uh… No, I have a meeting at three, but—"

"No need to worry, then! I'll take care of everything!"

"Fio, wai—" Eri began, but was interrupted by the closing sound of her door. All she could do was lean back in her chair and sigh. The SPARROWS sergeant wasn't sure if her friend was oblivious to her displeasure on purpose, or if Fio was just too innocent for her own good. Was a celebration really necessary? Yes, she missed them and all, but as far as she was concerned, a 'hi, welcome back' was good enough.

Eri shook her head and smiled. There was no use trying to stop Fio when it came to things like this. Over the past few months, after they had defeated the alien threat and ended the Second Morden War, the four soldiers had spent much time together. Of course, it was all thanks to Tarma. The girls were too shy to act on anything, and Marco quickly became fixated on their next line of action to care. The war was over, but instead of saying goodbyes and returning to their rightful factions, Tarma broke the ice and offered a celebration. After that, he consistently made efforts to bring the group together, and they all became fast friends and comparable allies.

And Eri, well, it was safe to say she found what she had been looking for her entire life. Despite the amount of meetings she had to go to, she was completely content and had never been happier. She was grateful to have Fio around most of the time as well, being the fellow SPARROWS staff sergeant she was, and to have the guys consistently spend time with them was more than she could ever ask for.

But the past few weeks had gotten bizarre, and Eri didn't like it. The Regular Army was obsessed with finding and destroying every lasting trace of Morden. The Rebel General himself was missing again, but reports from everywhere were coming in, and they got most of the responsibilities. The first mission was given to Major Rossi and Captain Roving, much to the girls' dismay. The reports were strange, but they left regardless. Eri and Fio were in the dark for an entire week and the recent news was more than welcome.

Eri sighed for the umpteenth time and looked at the stack of unfinished paperwork lying on her desk. Deciding that it wasn't going anywhere, she got up from her chair and headed out of her office.

Eri had always had a good poker face. She had tough skin and a tough exterior, regardless of what was on the inside. She wasn't affected by much on an emotional level, a trait which had become rather proud at, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop a huge, toothy smile from spreading across her lips.

In the hallway right outside her door stood Fio, along with the two expected guests themselves. Fio was absolutely ecstatic, and the men could only do so much to escape her barrage of hugs. It wasn't long until they noticed Eri.

"Hey!" Tarma laughed in her direction, immediately pushing his sunglasses up to get a better look at her. Marco smiled as well, a rare sight as of late. Eri gave Fio a confused look, silently asking how they had arrived so soon. Fio could only shrug in a fit of giggles.

"You're here early," Eri spoke nonchalantly as if they hadn't been away.

Tarma didn't seem to care, "Sure are!"

"Don't you know how fast our choppers can fly?" Marco gave her a friendly interrogative look, which she pleasantly returned.

Tarma slowly made his way past Eri and to her office door, "So how've you girls been? The paperwork treating you well?" Eri could tell when she was being mocked, and it being from Tarma to was certainly no better.

"You have no idea how bad it's been here. They won't leave us alone. Not to mention we had no contact with you."

He could only shrug as he opened her door, "What can we say? Duty calls."

Marco followed Tarma into Eri's office, motioning for the girls to follow, "I need to sit down."

"Is your back bothering you, Major? You must be older than I thought," Eri chided. Fio looked at her friend apprehensively.

Marco laughed, before turning completely stoic, "No, Sergeant, old age doesn't hurt my back. Running from giant war-trained hermit crabs does."

The two girls looked at each other in confusion, before following them in. Fio clumsily carried a case in and set it down on Eri's desk.

"I got some beer for you two!"

Tarma smiled, "You're the best, Fio."

"Hey," Eri threw her hands up, "What about me? I want some too!"

Tarma grinned, "You have work to do, Sergeant! Is this all yours?" He asked, lifting up the stack of unfinished papers from her desk. Eri jokingly turned to the side and started whistling. They all laughed and opened their bottles, keen on relaxing for as long as they could until someone saw them.

MS 3

Eri's POV

I flicked threw the channels for what seemed like the millionth time in the last ten minutes, finally stopping on an infomercial featuring combat knives. They weren't bad by any means, but I'd never stop using mine. We had been through a lot after all. I looked at my television's clock and read 11:38 p.m. and wondered what I was still doing up. I was tired after today. The guys finally returned home from their mission, much to my contentment, and we celebrated with a few beers before returning to our meetings. I only had one left, but it was a waste of time as usual. I knew gathering and sharing information was important; I had collected intel for nearly two years before coming here, but attending conferences all day certainly wasn't the most efficient way of doing it.

I sighed, turning off the T.V. and standing up from my couch to get some shut eye. As soon as I decided to head to my bedroom, I heard a knock on my apartment door and jerked myself alert. All intentions of going to sleep were immediately thrown out the window as I checked to make sure my knife was in its holster. I was in a loose white undershirt and a pair of clean shorts, acceptable sleep wear for me, but I hadn't gotten far enough to remove my thigh holster.

I approached the door, curious as to whom the knocker was. Not many knew where I lived. Not many knew me in general, save for my three companions and those who recognized me from the 'second war'. I turned the door handle and slowly opened it, preparing for the worst. However, what I was met with couldn't have been much farther from what I expected.

In front of my doorway stood none other than Captain Tarmicle Roving III, sunglasses and everything. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and focused my vision on him as if attempting to prove his actuality.

"Tarma?"

"Is this a bad time?"

I was completely out of it, but I tried my best not to act like an idiot.

"Uh… No, of course not. Come on in."

He gave me a smile, but I immediately recognized its uneasiness. He wasn't here just to say hi, considering it was twenty minutes to twelve.

"You want anything? I got some beer left in the fridge," I informed him lazily before plopping back down on my couch. He shook his head, turning down my offer of beer for the first time ever, before sitting down in the armchair next to me. We both sat in silence.

"So," I began as I stifled a yawn. "What's up?"

He twitched and turned to look at me, my voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Eh, not much. How have you been?"

I blinked in surprise, "I've been…ok, I guess." It was accurately true. The past week had been annoying without them. SPARROWS was giving Fio and I a hard time, and I didn't have their extra company to look forward to on free nights. Not to mention I missed them dearly, not that I'd ever tell them that. I couldn't believe the happiness I felt earlier today when Marco and Tarma walked in the door of our office.

"That's good," he spoke nonchalantly. I enjoyed seeing him now, but I could clearly tell something was wrong, and I wasn't going to waste my sleep waiting for him to tell me.

"Tarma," I began quietly, "What's the deal? Is something wrong?"

He considered my question before taking off his sunglasses with a yawn. I could see the dark circles under his eyes as he rubbed them in distress.

"I'm leaving for Russia in two days."

I shook my head in disbelief as if he had just suddenly begun speaking a foreign language.

"What…?"

"Flight leaves at 4 a.m. on Thursday. I'm booked with meetings tomorrow, so I wanted to see you and let you know."

"But… But you just got back?" I asked. It wasn't really a question, but it might as well have been. Why did he have to leave again?

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Who's sending you?"

He rested his chin in the palm of his hand before pointing up towards my ceiling with his finger. This wasn't the first time we had mocked the higher ups, and as far as I was concerned, it wouldn't be the last.

"Got some real strange reports, so they need someone over there. Turns out I got randomly selected."

Wait a minute…

"You're not going alone, are you?"

He frowned and withheld his answer from me for a good amount of time. Luckily for him, I had gotten the message.

"It's supposed to be under cover or something. You know, espionage? I'm just supposed sniff around and see what's going on."

I frowned and kept my anger in check, "And what happens if they want you to sniff around enemy territory? What then?"

He sighed, but I didn't back down. This was stupid, and I didn't need to know all the details to understand that the Regular Army officials were desperate for information.

"Let me come then."

He looked at me, but I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't hear me, or he just thought I was crazy. Was it that ridiculous of a request? I didn't really care to be honest.

"I'd love to have you, but I can't."

"And why not?"

If he thought I was just going to roll over and take it then he was dead wrong.

"Eri, I don't know what's going on. No one knows what's going on. It'd be better if you stayed here. I was the only one selected for a reason after all. I shouldn't be long."

I had to take in a deep breath to avoid slapping him upside the head and telling him how stupid he sounded.

"So what? We're just gonna let you go across the world into Russia of all places with no information? Do you know how many connections Morden had in Russia?" I interrogated. My voice began to unintentionally rise, but I couldn't help myself.

"We have reports about what's going on. It's just some more remains of-"

"And what if it's not remains? What if it's the real thing? You think I'm going to let you go alone? With respect, sir, I don't care how good you or Marco think you are. This is completely idiotic. It's the Regular Army being desperate for anything Morden related."

He sat there and took all of my sass without any hesitation. I felt bad, not exactly trying to tear into him, but I was always passionate over the few things I cared about. I had seen these kind of missions before in my spying days, and I'd be damned if I was gonna let any one of my friends go off alone like this. Tarma especially.

I thought of apologizing, but knew Tarma wasn't a two year old. I knew I was hot headed at times and could be unfair, but he was never offended by me. He always listened and contemplated my words, no matter how arrogant they were. It was one of the many things I'd never admit to loving about him.

In a last effort to persuade him, I leaned forward and laid my chin in my palm, matching his own position. He looked at me and I got a good glimpse of his unshaded eyes for the first time in weeks.

"Take me with you."

"Eri..."

"You can't do it without me, and I certainly can't do it without you. If you're so adamant on keeping us here, then spare Marco and Fio and take me. What is there to lose?"

He frowned, "Well, you, for starters."

I closed my eyes and sighed. I had finally gotten past the regretful drama of my life thanks to him, and I didn't want him bringing me back.

"Tarma, please don't go there," I both pleaded and warned. Analyzing the emotions held between our platonic relationship was not something I was ready for.

"Remember our second mission together? The one in the underground base with the mummies and the excavator?" I continued.

"How could I not?"

I took a hesitant breath and continued, "Well you did a lot for me back then and I never got a chance to thank you, Captain..."

"Hey, hey, Eri-"

"But I also distinctly remember you saying to me, on multiple occasions, that you were glad I was there. I don't want you to go to the most Morden-centric country on the planet and regret being alone."

He sat in thought; his five o'clock shadow made him look even more tired and worn than he was.

"Geez, Eri," he began with a hand rummaging through his hair, "When did you get so deep?"

I chuckled, "You made me. My yelling certainly didn't make it through your thick head." His laugh was music to my ears.

"Fine, you win. I can't argue with you."

"That's what I thought."

He stood from my armchair and stretched his legs, "Well we're gonna have to figure out how to get you on this mission tomorrow..."

"I'll go to one of your meetings on it and we'll ask like civilized lapdogs. If that doesn't work, I'll try and get clearance from SPARROWS as part of an intelligence assignment."

He nodded and I looked at him with an uneasy smile, "And if that doesn't work... I could always just sneak on the plane undercover?" I said, asking his permission in the process. He just laughed at me like always.

"Sounds good. We'll figure it out tomorrow. I'll keep you posted."

"Kay."

"Night Eri," he waved before walking to the door.

"Tarma," I called after him and he turned, "Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it."

"Sure thing. That's what partners do, right?"

Yeah, it was what partners did. He was my partner and I was his. Marco was his partner and he was Marco's. Fio was mine and I was hers. We were all partners together. But better yet, we were all friends. They had brought me into their crazy lives, and now they were stuck with me. I wasn't going to let them do anything stupid without me.

And that certainly meant something with Tarmicle Roving.


A/N: Woohoo! Next part of the story! This chapter was just a boring one to set the stage for the next few, so don't worry it should get better. As always, thank you so much for reading and all the reviews you've all given this story. If this story is getting worse and worse, please let me know. If it's getting better and better, well you can let me know too :D

Until next time.