A/N: Thanks also for all the birthday wishes last week. Mistakes are all mine.


Robert Warrington tried to tap down the fear he felt. It wasn't a fear that something would happen to him. It was fear for his brother-in-arms by his side. Never in the fifteen years that he fought with Dwayne Richards had he seen the man lose his cool. All the times death appeared to be the only way out his friend never showed any emotions. Until now.

The set of Dwayne's jaw, the long strides he took as he raced down the stone steps, which were lit by the lights from their weapons, and his eyes spoke of fear. It was something Robert never expected to see from the big Marine and it caused his own anxiety to heighten.

Warry heard a faint sound and his arm shot out. "Hold up."

Everyone stopped. They heard Lorne running down the stairs behind them, but more importantly they heard the sound of footsteps ahead of them and indecipherable shouting.

Dwayne was off once again before Raven or Warrington could react. "Damn," Robert muttered.

"If Victoria's hurt…" Raven started.

"We'll deal with it." Robert took off after Richards who was now running down the corridor at full speed. The further they ran the more torches saw and, if they took time to notice, several doors and cross-corridors as well.

"What about the Major?" Raven asked as he ran beside his friend.

"You tried to stop me but you couldn't." His friends had saved Warrington's life more times than could be counted. Their bond was beyond that of brothers. There was no way he'd let Dwayne, who finally found a woman to love, or Chris, who was about to get married, lose their careers to punish someone who hurt Victoria. "It was all me. Got it?"

"Warry…"

"I ain't facing Shyan while you're getting court-martialed."

"Forgot about that," Raven confided as they finally caught up with Richards at a large intersection of corridors.

The sound of footsteps came from a corridor to their left so they turned to head down that corridor, which was a little darker than the other two that intersected theirs.

"Oh no," Raven muttered under his breath.

Robert's eyes zeroed in on his newest friend as she emerged from the shadows. Victoria's hair was a mess, a sleeve was missing from her shirt and blood mixed in with tears ran down her cheek. Red-hot anger filled his veins after the initial shock. His worst-case scenario appeared to have happened, someone attacked Victoria.

"G-gunny," the young woman said as she surged toward Richards.

Dwayne covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye. His arms wrapped around her petite frame and lifted her off the dirt. She threw her arms around his shoulders and cried, "Y-you found me."

Dwayne didn't say a word as he held her in his arms. One arm locked securely around her waist while the other stroked her hair as she buried her face against his neck. The fact that she went to him was a good sign.

"Victoria?" Chris's voice asked quietly from his position on the other side of the couple. "What happened?"

Before the woman could respond, an angry shout came down the corridor. "What the hell did you do that for?" Ares was hobbling down the corridor and came to an abrupt stop when he came into the light. He looked to be in pain, but straightened when he saw the three soldiers.

Ares disliked Colonel Sheppard but generally respected most of the other soldiers when they visited. He'd even had Raven and Carter teach him some of their fighting techniques.

Dwayne turned to face him, gently disengaged Victoria's arms around his neck, kissed her on the forehead and set her feet on the ground. "Warry'll take you to Doctor Keller."

"Gunny…" Robert saw a flash of something else he'd never seen in Dwayne's eyes before at that moment-rage.

"No-no," Victoria protested as she grabbed his arms, tears streaming down her face.

"It'll be okay. Warry." Dwayne's deep voice sounded off as he cast a glance at Robert. His face was set like stone, but his eyes were as stormy as the Plains of Iowa could be in the summer.

Robert knew there was absolutely nothing he could do to save Dwayne's future in the Corp. Reaching for Victoria, he pulled her to him.

"Dwayne, no," she said, but it was too late.

One second Dwayne was looking at Victoria and the next he had launched himself down the hallway at Ares. The Marine slammed into Ares, lifting him off the floor and pinning him to the corridor wall with a broad forearm under his chin. The young man's head was snapped back with his arms and legs flailing. Gasping, croaking sounds issued from deep in his throat and Robert knew that within a few minutes the village leader would be unable to breath.


Victoria screamed and pulled her arm from Warrington when a silver object appeared in Dwayne's hand. Sergeant Warrington was so stunned at the ferocity of Dwayne's attack that he literally let Victoria slip out of his grasp.

"Dwayne, no!" she yelled as she ran to stop him from killing Ares. The seven-inch KA-BAR knife that was clutched in Gunny's right hand was pointed at Ares' face. "He didn't hurt me! Dwayne, don't do this!"

Victoria had never been so afraid in her life, not for herself, now that Dwayne and the others were here she didn't have anything to fear. This was pure terror that someone she'd come to love was going to do something that would effectively end his life.

The man who looked at her barely resembled the Dwayne Richards who held and kissed her tenderly just two days ago. His eyes were filled with so much burning hatred that Victoria knew that he was angry about far more than the injuries she'd suffered. Dwayne was fighting an old battle that Victoria knew nothing about. "Please don't do this."

Dwayne remained still with knife held aloft, ready to sink deeply into Ares' skull. He continued to press the younger, smaller man into the wall with his forearm only. His nearly-black eyes seemed to lighten as she spoke.

"I'm telling the truth. I fell. I really did. Ares didn't hurt me." She kept edging closer. Raven and Warrington appeared to be shocked into a stupor.

Dwayne's eyes lightened slightly. They surveyed her skeptically, then flashed back to Ares who started gasping.

"Don't waste your career like this," she said, stopping close enough to touch him. "I've found the most incredible things down here. Let me show you."

"You're injured," Dwayne stated as he glared at Ares, who was whimpering now and trying to pry the Marine's arm from under his chin. His feet were barely even with Gunny's shins and he dangled against the wall.

"I was running and I fell."

"Why were you running?" Dwayne didn't take his eyes off Ares when he asked the question and the young man couldn't make eye contact. Richards pressed his arm into the man's windpipe harder, eliciting more gasping.

"Stop! He-he thought I was like all the other women who'd come here and that I'd sleep with him. I told him no but he didn't understand why I was different. S-so he grabbed my arm and I got scared so… I kneed him in the groin and then I ran." Victoria knew she'd never be able to keep the truth from him.

A moment passed with Richards staring deeply into the terrified eyes of the man before him. Suddenly his arm moved backwards then forward.

"Richards!" Major Lorne shouted.

"No!" Victoria screamed.

TBC


A/N: You absolutely knew I was going to end it here. Many of you have followed me for over 2 years so you KNOW my style. I promise I won't take too long to update. And blame Betherdy Babe who told me to publish so she could review tonight before I had more time.