Jake stared at the TV screen in disbelief. Currently, a female Yuatja was in the frame, and behind the camera was Marcus. The Yuatja had a playful smile.

"Do you have to record everything?" The Yuatja asked.

"No. But I want to anyway." Marcus replied from behind the camera.

"Oh come on! Can't we have a quality night without a camera?"

"We could… But you're so beautiful; I need to capture your beauty whenever I can."

"Aww… that's sweet. Turn the camera off and I have a treat for you."

"Ooh… That's an offer I cannot decline." Marcus turned the camera on himself. "Sorry for anyone watching this, but I gotta go. You know what I'm saying?"

"Turn it off!"

"Say goodbye to the people of the future." Marcus pointed the camera at the Yuatja girl again.

The Yuatja covered herself with a sheet, and shook her head.

"I said turn it off!"

"I'm just having a bit of fun. Relax baby." The screen went fuzzy.

Jake began to laugh uncontrollably. He couldn't believe how much alien tail Marcus got as a kid. That's what he signed up in the Marines for, but nope. He was in a hotel filled with uptight soldiers, aliens, and other unreachable goals. At the moment, Drew and Paul were both in the Xeno section of the Stronghold. Tristan was reading about the inner workings of women (which was written by a private scientist, who used Science to study the minds of the fascinating creatures we call the female species… what else do you think the boys in the labs are doing?). He was being chaperoned by more responsible human Marine- who desired to not be named. Everyone else was scattered around, trying to capture whatever they could whilst their time lasted.

"Damn dude. You get more head than shampoo!" Jake said with a grin.

Marcus slapped Jake. "First of all, this is a sacred place. Thou shall not defile it with such crude terms. And second, I got more head than shampoo. Not anymore. I've given up that lifestyle."

"Why? It seems like such a fun life." Jake replied.

"It was… but after a few years, I found a small basket sitting on my doorstep. I found a note that said 'Dear Marcus, I know this is subtle, but I think you deserve to have this. Take good care of it. PS, use protection next time asshole! Love, Sheila.' So, I took a closer look and found a little Xeno egg inside the basket. And for some reason, the egg was filled with Royal Jelly. Two days later, Camille was hatched from that egg. It defies all forms of logic, since Xeno's hatch from inside a host usually. But instead, she just straight-up hatched. I took the first shuttle home after that. Camille is two years old, if you didn't know." Marcus explained carefully.

"Alright… seems like a solid enough reason."

Marcus, Jake, and Frank all walked out of the small white room half an hour later. Jake had a box of books, a stack of DVDs under his arms, and a smile on his face. After spending ten minutes rounding everyone up, the large group left. Frank was the only one who was silent, mostly due to the fact that in his thousands of years of life, he'd seen almost everything to be seen. However, Marcus had seen something Frank hasn't, and he was about to find out what. Jake invited every adult male in the house to the surprisingly large room shared by all the male Marines. He locked the door, and turned on the sound-absorbing walls (which were originally installed so the Marines could curse without being beaten by Marcus). He plugged in the DVD player, and the speakers. He put in a DVD he got at the library, and hit "PLAY".

Marcus was once again holding the camera, but this time it was pointed at Marcus himself. He had an uncontrollable grin.

"Ok, for anyone who's watching this, this is Marcus. I am video-taping this because… hell, I like to video-tape shit… but, that's beside the point. My girlfriend, Nicole, is coming home from a weekend trip with her friends. And I'm gonna surprise her with one of the most romantic nights of her life. She should be home any minute now…"

Marcus spent the next hour video-taping himself getting ready for his romantic night with Nicole. He lit candles, turned on a soothing song, scattered rose petals all over the apartment, and dimmed the lights. After another hour of waiting, Nicole finally came home. However, she seemed incredibly frustrated. Marcus tried his hardest to calm her down.

"Hey baby. How'd your weekend go?" Marcus asked, snatching the camera from a counter.

Nicole set her purse down, and sighed. "Terrible. My friends got arrested and I got detained. The bouncers thought we were prostitutes!" Nicole replied.

"What? Alright, whose ass do I need to kick?" Marcus said in a serious tone.

"No, it's fine… But if we ever go past that one club in downtown, I wouldn't mind stopping in to say hello to those asshole security guys at it…" Nicole hugged Marcus.

"You sure I don't need to kill someone? 'Cause I have a license to do that."

"No, it's fine, really. What's the camera for?"

"Oh, I thought you'd like to return home from your trip and be greeted with a little romance…"

"That's sweet… But do you need the camera?"

"I like to document my expeditions."

"Of course. I almost forgot about that… where's that romance you where talking about?"

"I think you know where it is."

Paul's eyes widened, Jake and Drew high-fived, Frank shook his head, Marcus nodded with a grin, and Tristan was kicked out. It was a good thing the room was sound-proofed, because Eleanor, Jennifer, Caroline, and Carrie were two rooms over getting things ready to go to the pool.

An hour and a half later, everyone walked out of the room. Drew was reading the book Marcus co-wrote with DJ-Z.

"Marcus, you wrote an erotic book?" Drew asked.

"Damnit, how many times do I need to say it? It's not an erotic book! It's a book about keeping your woman happy and healthy! For fuck's sake!" Marcus snapped.

TWO DAYS LATER

Drew, Jake, Tristan, and Paul ran in with huge grins. From outside, Marcus heard Eleanor, with a much too familiar voice complaining about being soaked with orange juice. The four idiots ran into the back room.

"You morons! This means a Prank-War of the sexes!" Eleanor yelled as she opened the door. She was dripping with an orange liquid.

Marcus was shocked to see who followed behind Eleanor. It was a person he knew all-to well.