Alright this chapter, like I said will show more of Megan's past. It will also reunite two friends, and introduce an important surprising character with no past. Please enjoy! I won't be able to update for another 2 weeks or so, maybe longer as I'm going back to school next weekend, so please enjoy this double update! :D

Chapter 10

Using their military id's they were able to walk into ESWAT HQ, which was next to the capital building. According to Mariah and Mathilda, who had been there many times, the Intel Division was on the 11th floor.

The Intel Division, as always, was very busy. Gathering intel was essential to the success of law enforcement. Mariah weaved through the desks towards the back of the room where a red headed women was typing furiously on a keyboard, the group following her.

"Em!" Mariah laughed, poking the women's shoulder. Emily York turned around to face her friend, revealing her grassy green eyes.

"Oh, hey guys." Emily smiled. "What's up?"

"Em, this is the Marine Squad from NYC, Master Gunnery Sergeants Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov and First Sergeants Ray Kon and Megan David. Guys, this is my good friend Sergeant Major Emily York." Mariah introduced.

Emily nodded. "Nice to meet you, what can I do for you?"

"Em, we need to see Marium Flores." Max said. "She's an old friend of mine."

Emily smiled. "Oh sure. She's right over there." Emily pointed. Max could make out Marium's blue hair about 5 desks away.

"Thanks Em." Max smiled. Emily nodded and Max walked over as the group talked to Emily.

"Marium?" Max asked coming upon his old friend.

"Yes? Ho-" Marium turned around and her amber eyes widened, seeing Max. "Oh my god. Max?" Marium smiled and got up so quickly that her chair spun. But she didn't care as she ran into Max's arms. "Oh my god Max, I haven't seen you in like forever." She laughed, hugging him tightly.

Max laughed, holding her close for a moment before pulling back so that he could take in her face. "And who's fault is that?" He teased.

Marium rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him. "Oh I know. Sorry about that. Damn military." She smiled. "So how have you been?"

"Great. You?" Max asked. "I heard about what happened on Earth. Why didn't you tell me?"

Marium's happy smile quickly faded and her eyes started tearing. "I-" She choked on her tears. "I didn't want to worry you. You were always such a happy kid. And I can see that you still are." She smiled softly, touching his cheek. Max smiled back.

"I am, but you are one of my oldest friends. After your parents died and then you transferred to Earth I had no connection to you. I know that I don't know anything about war and fighting, but please know that you can always talk to me."

Marium smiled sadly. "You were always a great listener." Her eyes flickered over Max's shoulder, seeing the group talking to Emily. "So those are your friends?" She asked, changing topics. "The 2 javas, and the 6 Marines?"

Max let it slide. "Yea, wanna meet them?"

"Of course!" Marium smiled, back to her old self, the one Max knew so well.

Max walked over. "Guys, this is Gunnery Sergeant Marium Flores. Marium, this is Tyson Granger and Hilary Tatibane, Master Gunnery Sergeants Kai Hiwatari and Tala Valkov, First Sergeants Ray Kon and Megan David, and Master Sergeant Mariah Wong and Staff Sergeant Mathilda Alster."

"Nice to meet you." Megan smiled, shaking her hand. "Heard that you know Ming-Ming."

Marium rolled her eyes. "Oh yea, she's something isn't she?"

Megan laughed. "Oh yes, yes she is."

"I try and be her friend, yet I just can't stand her." Marium laughed. "I don't know why I try, but I do."

"Well she's more of a girly-girl then Hilary and Mariah combined and thats saying something." Mathilda giggled. Megan laughed with her as Mariah and Hilary rolled their eyes at the 'tomboys'.

Suddenly someone started shaking their keys so that it started to resemble gunfire. Marium's eyes went wide and she froze for a moment, but everyone caught the look in her eyes.

"Quinn, Annabel, Ki, why? Why are you dead?" She started mumbling. Then she started rambling and the Marines all froze. Marium was reliving the battle.

"Woah, woah. It's ok Marium." Max said, holding her hand. "It's ok. It's not your fault. Easy." He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her upright as her free hand covered her face. Megan was by Marium side in the blink of an eye, holding her face in her hands.

"Easy Marium." Megan said, speaking soothingly. So unlike the sarcastic Megan that Tala knew so well. Her voice was soft and caring and he felt himself relax as she spoke, although she wasn't even talking to him. "You survived for a reason Marium. Your family and friends need you Marium, please don't do this, ok?" She asked as finally Marium's amber eyes met her own purple eyes. "Maxie here needs you too. He hasn't seen you in a while, remember?" At that, Marium's eyes flicked over to Max's worried blue gaze.

In that moment, Megan started reliving her own nightmare. Megan thought back to that day her mom and youngest brother died. She was about 6 at the time. It was a year before she went to the Academy.

Little Megan was walking around the family house early one summer morning. Her waist length navy hair swaying as she ran down the hall.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She yelled.

"Yes honey?" Liam David answered. He was currently a Major in the Marine Corp and he was on leave for the moment.

Megan poked her head around the corner, her hair falling of her shoulders. Her curious deep purple eyes zoomed in on her father's figure as he practiced his martial arts. He had his navy blue hair in a military haircut and his deep purple eyes were identical to his daughter's. "Where's Mommy?"

Liam stopped in mid-kick, his foot 7 feet in the air. He glanced over at his only daughter. "She went with Wyatt down to the market to grab some food."

Megan nodded and walked into the training room. "Ok, where's Patty?" She asked sitting on the edge of the mat.

"Right here squirt." A new voice chuckled. Megan turned to look behind her and saw her older brother of 4 years smiling down at her. He had silently entered the room without her knowing and was now standing over her. While Megan took after their father in looks, Pat took after their mother. He had dark auburn hair and blue eyes with orange centers. At 10 years old, he was only about 4'4", but he was a built 10 year old. While Megan, at 3'3", was lean, Pat was more bulky with his muscle.

"Patty!" Megan smiled. She worshipped her brother. He was always so sweet to her and always helped her out.

"Hey little Missy." Pat smiled and he sat down next to his sister. Megan immediately snuggled up against his side and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You bothering Dad again?" He teased.

"No! I was just wondering where everyone was!" Megan furrowed her brows. "I just came back from Jewels' house."

Pat smiled. "I was just kidding squirt."

Liam rolled his eyes at his oldest. "Hows Julia's father?" The two were very close friends and were on the same squad together.

"He's good." Megan nodded. "He says hi."

Liam nodded. "Good. Wanna practice?" He asked his daughter. Megan nodded and untangled herself from her brother and stood opposite of her father on the mats. "Go."

Megan ran at her father and went to do a spinning kick to his head, but Liam blocked it. Megan then turned her body in the air and went to punch her father's stomach, but Liam saw that too and blocked it. But just so. Liam saw that his daughter was improving right before his eyes and decided to step up his game a little bit in order to make it a little more challenging.

Pat saw it too. Megan was progressing very fast. She was a natural.

Suddenly the ground shook and the building vibrated with it. All three David's looked up in shock.

"Daddy..." Megan trailed off worriedly. She knew what that was. They happened every day. A suicide bombing.

"It came from the marketplace." Pat said. He looked at his father and their eyes locked. Mom and Wyatt.

"Mommy...Wyatt..." Megan whispered. Like a bullet, all three ran out of the room and out of the house, towards the marketplace...but there was nothing left...

Megan's deep purple eyes took in the charred landscape. If she didn't know better, she would have said that there was no way a marketplace could have been there. It looked like a war-zone. It was automatically apparent that it was more then just one suicide bomber. There had to have been at least 5 bombers there. Everything was black and some parts of the remaining buildings were on fire. Whoever had somehow survived the blast were picking themselves up with help from others. But what caught Megan's attention the most was a pink/purple scarf flapping in the wind. It was half under a charred body. Next to the charred body was a smaller charred body.

Not really aware of much else, but the scarf, Megan started to slowly walk towards the two bodies, or what was left of them. Random parts like legs or arms or chunks of the torso had been blown off. The smaller body was missing a head.

"Mommy..." Megan whispered. As she reached for the scarf blindly, someone picked her up from behind and turned her into their chest. Megan realized with a start that it was Pat. "Patty?" She asked, confused. Her brain was jumbled, not really processing anything at the moment.

"It's ok Squirt." Pat said tightly, trying to hold in his sobs. Thats when it hit Megan. Scarf = Mom. Mom was dead, and so was Wyatt. Then Megan broke down in her brother's arms.

All the memories came rushing back to her and she had to hold back her tears and maintain her composition. Megan blinked back into reality. Her memory flash had only lasted a second and she saw that Marium was still looking at Max. As she stared at Max, Megan continued. "See? He needs you too, and I as well. I'm your friend now." Now Marium's gaze shifted back to Megan. "We need you. Ok?" She asked and Marium nodded, finally relaxing, and Max caught her as her knees gave way.

"It's ok now Marium." Max said smoothly, just like he heard Megan do. "I got you."

"Oi! Idiot! Wake up!"

2nd Lieutenant Tyler Hathaway shook his head, coming back to the here and now after spacing out.

"We have in coming!"

Tyler's eyes widened as he saw the bombs heading straight for him. "Shit!" He shouted and he ran for the hills. Tyler was currently in Rome on the front-lines. He was tall and built with dark auburn hair and blue eyes with orange centers.

The high pitched whine of the bomb reached Tyler's ears and he ran faster, his squad all around him. Tyler poured on the speed and hide behind a solid looking wall just as the bomb hit the ground a mile behind him. The ground shook and the wall vibrated as Tyler held him breath, hoping that it would hold.

"Those damn Java-Lovers." One of his squad-mates hissed. It was the same one who broke Tyler out of his head space. 1st Lieutenant Andre Balkov looked over at Tyler in disgust. "And YOU! You almost got us killed!" Andre wasn't as tall as Tyler and had dark brown hair and icy blue eyes.

"Yea Tyler, why do you always space out like that?" Another squad-mate snapped. This time the squad leader, Captain Yuri Baskov.

"Sorry guys." Tyler said. "But it was about my-"

"Past, yea, we know. Total amnesia, we got it." Andre sneered. "Well get your head around the here and now so we don't get killed, got it?"

Tyler nodded. "Got it."

Captain Yuri nodded. "Good, now lets go get these damn Java-Lovers." The squad cheered and they were off again.

Tyler followed his squad as they went after the Union Soldiers. Even as he was killing the soldiers that they came upon, he head was somewhere else. He was found in the middle of the battlefield about 6 years ago when he was 19, with no memory of his past life at all. The Resentment found him and took him in. They gave him a name and a rank and put him in the army. He worked his way up the ranks with amazing speed and found himself a 2nd Lieutenant within 6 years. He always wondered where he came from and who he was. He was stronger and faster then all of his comrades, yet he wasn't a Java. Just who was he?

General William Thomas growled at the incompetence of his staff. He was a large man with balding blond hair, dark brown eyes and a mustache.

"You idiots! I said that we had to ship more troops to ROME not TOKYO! Idiots!" He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just do it or else!" His staff nodded nervously and ran out, leaving William with his second-in-command, Lieutenant General Gregory Hamilton. Gregory on the other hand was tall and wiry with light brown hair and dark hazel eyes.

Gregory smirked. "Honestly," He said with a very thick British accent. "You really should get some new advisors."

William grumbled, pacing. "Yea, well President Jamestown said they were supposedly the best."

"Well then we need new best." Gregory said. "The Union is starting to gain the upper hand. I'm sure its because of that damn Java Prime Minister up in Amenia. Their troops are starting to get stronger. The technology that they're starting to incorporate into the military is high grade. It's Java level genius at work. I'm surprised that they haven't started using the freaks on the battlefield already." Gregory snarled.

"Well lets just be grateful for that." William nodded. "Speaking of, what's going on with our own secret weapon?"

"2nd Lieutenant Tyler Hathaway is improving dramatically. He's becoming faster and stronger everyday. He has no idea that he is a Java. His previous memories of his old life haven't returned yet. Captain Yuri Baskov and the rest of his squad still have no idea that he is a Java. It's perfect." He smirked. "We keep putting him on the front-lines and he's destroying the union soldiers like they're little children. Honestly, why the union hasn't figured out that using Java would be to their benefit is beyond me. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."

William nodded. "Yea indeed. He's learning to hate his own kind. If thats not a brilliant plan, I don't know what is!"

"So we keep him on the front-lines and then what?" Gregory asked.

"We need to start using our mobile suits more freely in order to re-balance out this war." William said. "Have Chief Warrant Officer Greenway and his team start to roll out new mobile suits double time. We will need them. And start concentrating on NYC."

"You mean where that Union Marine Squad was evacuated a week ago?" Gregory asked.

William nodded. "Yes, the remaining Union Squads there are fighting harder then ever and are slowly retaking the city and the island. It's critical that we re-take that city. It's a perfect area to establish a mobile suit base."

"I still can't believe that that one squad took out a half dozen mobile suits on their own." Gregory hissed.

"Well, it's just like how our other mobile suits have been defeated mysteriously recently." William shrugged. "Thats why we need to up own game and finally destroy the Java race for good."

Gregory smirked. "Sounds like a plan to me."