Author's Note: Ok, so in some stories I have a habit of making the segments shorter when I'm in the climax of the story. Please just bear with me as I switch scenes.
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Hawthorne carefully sneaked around the camp, catlike, but with the deadliness of a wolf. She crept up to a certain tent, then stood, waiting for any noise.
All was silent. She walked into the tent, her eyes probing for anything out of place, then for anything that would give her information.
She spotted a box laying haphazardly on its side under the bed, and she walked over to it, then kneeled dow, pulled it out from under the bed, then opened it.
Her flashlight clicked on, and she looked into the contents.
The box was filled with pictures of young recruits and their journey through Heller's unit, eventually breaking. They all had cocky grins to begin with, then it showed them going through the courses. Through the pictures, their smiles faded, and eventually they had a surrendered posture, giving up to Heller.
There was one recruit who didn't stop smiling, though. He was a young male, smiling as he climbed the obstacle course. Like all of the other recruits, he didn't appear to recognise that there was somebody taking pictures of him, but he looked casual and relaxed anyway.
The next pictures were successive images of him going over the course, then in his barracks, brushing his teeth, pictures of him sleeping and eating.
Hmm. Heller's a stalker?
Dani flipped through the pictures, then finally saw one that made her blood boil: the young male recruit holding a gun to his head, obviously dead, and Heller kneeling next to him, smiling like the recruit was his prize trophy.
Dani quickly scanned the next pictures, not too surprised to see that they were images of Face and herself.
Suddenly, the sound of somebody approaching the tent alerted Dani, and she put everything back in its place, turning off her flashlight and hiding in a corner.
As Heller came into view, it became quite obvious that he was talking on a secure phone.
"...yeah, of course," Heller said as he approached his bunk, pulling out the box of photos. He looked like he wasn't very happy. "Fine."
Heller opened the box and pulled out the photos, jumbling them up together, then took a lighter from his pocket and lit the photos on fire.
Dani mentally cursed. All evidence was gone.
"Ok, it's done," Heller said bitterly. "But once I'm done with this job, that's it. I'm retiring with my share of the dough."
There was a long pause as the person on the other side of the phone began to talk, then Heller nodded. "Yes. Of course, he goes first, then I'll waste her. Nobody will be the wiser, I know what to do. Just cremate the bodies as soon as possible, understood?"
With that, Heller ended the phone call and left the tent.
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Hawthorne collapsed into her bunk, numb and confused. Heller was going to kill her and her brother. She laughed at the idea.
I mean, seriously, what were the chances that she would meet her long-lost brother, in the same career, with the same awful CO? An awful CO who had a death wish for both of them?
It was a strange feeling. Now, Hawthorne had something to live for, someone to live for. Before, she wouldn't have cared if Heller killed her (it was the moral of the thing that made her mad) but now, she felt that she had to protect Face and herself, if only for Face's sake.
Hannibal insisted that she not tell Face that they were siblings, although she wanted to. He didn't say why, but she knew that it was important not to. For some reason, Dani trusted Hannibal like she hadn't trusted anyone before.
As tired as she was, she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned, counted sheep (as dumb as the idea sounds, it had worked before).
Finally, she fell into a restless sleep, one that was plagued with nightmares of Heller murdering Face.
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Sunday passed quickly for Face and Dani. They spent the day by eating, taking naps, and talking. Thankfully, Dani was a great con man (or woman) and Face never seemed to pick up on the fact that something was wrong.
Monday morning came early, and as soon as Face and Dani had gone to the mess for breakfast, they were dragged out by Heller and ordered to- separately- run five miles before returning to the dreaded obstacle course.
Dani quickly ran the five miles and began to climb onto the course, when she looked down from the ropes and saw Face laying curled up onto the ground, getting repeatedly kicked by Heller. Blood had already stained his clothes, and Dani could tell that Heller wasn't nearly done.
Something took over Dani, and before she knew what was happening, she had attacked Heller and broken his nose. She repeatedly punched him before she was pulled off by somebody much stronger.
She let out a string of curses as her arms were pinned behind her back, then, as she was forced face-first into the ground, she recognised the feeling of handcuffs biting into her wrists.
She was going to the brig.
