Author's Note: Hello friends! Just an FYI, I'm in the process of moving all my Gears fics over to AO3. I'm not deleting them from here, nor will I stop posting here, but if you prefer to use AO3, know that it is now an option. You can find me on there under the same name.


28. promise

"Dom… Dom didn't make it."

For a split-second, Baird thought he misheard Marcus. Dom, dead? Impossible. But as Baird watched Marcus, he saw the sergeant's face crumple and the complete and utter agony in his expression, and then the unbearable truth of that sentence hit Baird square in the gut.

He had to turn away. "Oh, fuck, no…"

Beside him, Cole tipped his head back, trying to process. Then he exploded with rage. "Somebody's gonna pay. Somebody's gonna fucking pay."

Marcus was showing remarkable composure, but that wasn't anything new for the stoic sergeant. He was back in Soldier Mode now, pushing the pain away to deal with later. Years of practice made him an expert; Baird was still learning. It had been easy to act like he didn't care when nothing bothered him, but over the past couple months the walls had come down. And while his newfound allowance of feelings opened him up for deeper relationships, it also left him vulnerable to heartache.

"He got us this far," Marcus said, all business now. "Let's finish it. Sam, Jace—get back to the ship at help 'em out. They need intel on where to land the troops."

Jace didn't take that order well. "But Marcus… you need us here, with you. We—"

But Marcus wasn't open to suggestions. "It's not negotiable, people—ship out."

Baird was still reeling from the shock, but this sent him into emotional upheaval. For some idiotic reason, he thought of Garron Paduk, whom he had seen only hours earlier. Seeing him again after so long had been jarring. Not just running into a familiar face without any warning, but noticing just how much Paduk had changed in the last sixteen years. He'd never been the happiest guy during their brief days in Kilo Squad, but the present-day Paduk was so jaded and bitter. Losing Sofia to the COG had destroyed him.

Baird couldn't fathom what it must have been like for Paduk, watching as someone he cared about was taken away and being unable to do anything about it. Beside Baird, Jace and Sam started to walk away; the movement in his peripherals jolted him back to reality. A sudden panic flared up inside him. Jumbled thoughts of Sofia and Paduk clouded his faculties and before he knew what he was doing he had started towards Sam.

"Hey, uh… Sam."

She stopped and turned towards him. The coward inside Baird warned him to back off. But he pushed that impulse down as he thought of Paduk, angry and broken and aching from all the things he'd never said to Sofia.

"Take care of yourself, okay?"

Sam blinked at him in surprise, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. Baird half-expected her to just ignore him and follow Jace, who was trudging crossly down to the beach, oblivious. But then she smiled at him—a small, somewhat confused smile—and he did everything he could not to flush.

"Yeah…" she said quietly. "You too, Baird."

And then she was gone, jogging to catch up to Jace. Baird couldn't help the grin that tugged at his mouth. It hadn't been what he'd wanted to say, but that was about as good as it was going to get without prior planning.

Baird turned back to Cole, Marcus and Anya. Marcus seemed to be eyeing him suspiciously; his stern gaze made Baird's insides churn but he didn't react in any way the sergeant would notice.

"Okay," Marcus said, "we're heading for the main tower. This is where it ends. One way, or another."

As the remnant of Delta Squad headed for the main building, Baird got the feeling that this really was it. He was on the precipice of change; the next few hours were going to be the most important in his entire life. If they somehow managed to survive the last-ditch attack that Myrrah was undoubtedly planning, things were going to be a hell of a lot different afterwards.

And Baird didn't just mean living in a world without monsters.