"I don't feel good about this." Meredith said for the nth time since they had separated from Buck. "We shouldn't have just left him there."

"For the last time, it was our only choice. Plus, Sebastien kept insisting so not much we could do about that."

"What of he bleeds out while we're gone?" Meredith asked. "Or if the white masks find him?"

"You seem awfully worried about them aren't you?" Jager said. "That's a bit peculiar."

"In case you're forgetting, they tried to shoot me out of the sky too, so they want me dead as much you do." Meredith said. "So stop trying to make it look like I'm still involved with them. I just want to help Sebastien then get out of here."

"There it is again." Jager pointed out. "Why do you want to help Sebastien anyway? You'll still be arrested when this is all over."

"I get that you see me as a bad guy, but thinking that I'm only doing this because I'm expecting something in return is downright insulting."

"You expect me to believe that you're helping Sebastien out of the kindness of your heart?"

"Don't believe me then, I won't lose anything." Meredith said, pushing past Jager. "Now get you ass in gear so we can find Zofia and the others so I don't have to be stuck with you."

Jager got ahead of Meredith again and climbed over a fallen log blocking their way. In doing so, he caught his foot on one of its branches and fell down causing the contents of his vest pocket to spill out onto the ground. One of the said contents caught Meredith's eye.

"You son of a bitch." She snarled. "You said you didn't have it."

"I didn't. That's a duplicate."

Meredith crouched down to grab the keys to her cuffs and proceeded to unlock herself. "That's the same thing fuckwit. You had the key this whole time."

"We all had a key to your cuffs in case if situations like this."

"Then why didn't you uncuff me!"

Jager got up and dusted himself off. "Harry told me to only set you free if we deem it necessary." He said. "I didn't."

"We could have carried Sebastien easier if I was able to use my arms properly you asshole!"

"We managed didn't we?" Jager said, although Meredith did have a point. "Besides, Sebastien had a key too, and he didn't unlock you either. And here you are saying you two were friends."

"He didn't want to choose sides."

"He chose not to unlock you so I think he chose mine."

"He didn't say he had a key either, but that's not the point."

Jager scoffed. "This conversation has a point?" He asked. "I don't see it."

"My point is you should have taken these cuffs off earlier."

"Well they're off now so can we please move on? I'm sick of your whining."

Jager began walking again, only to dive into the bushes mere moments after. Meredith got a glimpse of what made him do so and barely had time to duck into cover herself when two white masks walked by. She watched Jager, waiting for him to make a move so she can act accordingly. Thankfully he was smart enough to choose not to do anything.

When they were in the clear, Meredith slugged Jager. "Thanks for the warning asshole."

"They would've heard me." Jager dismissed her. "And if I grabbed you anywhere I'm sure you would've made a racket. We can't find Sebastien if we're both dead."

"But if only one of us died, it'd be fine right?"

"There you go, now you're getting the big picture." Jager said, his sarcasm not so subtle. "And stop being so irritable, I'm sure you'd want to leave me dead here as well."

"You're damned right I will."

"Then we're on the same page." Jager said. "Now come on."

Zofia, Frost and Harry stood around a table, looking over every tool from the shed that they could use as a weapon, as well as their pistols and the three spare magazines that it came with. Having decided to head back to warn Harry and Buck before continuing to look for their other companions, Zofia and Frost decided to arm themselves as well, but if the difference was just an axe or two then there wasn't much a improvement on their odds.

"Hey Tina." Buck called out from the corner in which he was supposed to be resting in. "Take this."

Buck threw her his spare magazines. "We have the same pistols so these should be handy."

"And what will be left for you and Harry? I'm not taking this."

"Whether its one mag or four, its still not enough if they find us." Buck said. "You two have the option to run so you two can put them to better use. Plus it gives you better chances, and knowing that makes me feel better."

Zofia handed Frost an axe and walked out of the shed. "Come on. We wasted enough time we could be using to look for them."

Frost sighed. "Harry, you keep him safe."

"I will Tina, don't worry."

Frost left as well and now Harry and Buck were left alone. Now that things were quiet again, Buck just realized that they had a long wait ahead of them, which was only made harder by the fact that he has to spend majority of that time with a person that he hasn't really been honest with.

"Those two really care about you, don't they?"

"Well, Tina's one of my closest friends." Buck said, trying his best to avoid this topic.

"What about Zofia?" Harry asked. "She cares about you just as much. In fact, those two argued a lot about you when we first got separated."

"Well she's a close friend too." Buck said, painfully reminded that they were, in fact, just friends now.

"I was right to choose you to go with her on that operation. You two got so close so quickly." Harry said, no knowledge of the minefield he just wandered into. "You played that husband role so well that I still caught traces of it even though you two were back."

Buck tried to chuckle in the most non nervous way he could. "I guess I got too into it."

"Yikes. That could be hard." Harry said. "If you caught feelings for Zofia, I mean. Not only was she married, she had a daughter. And even if she didn't, you two still couldn't exactly be together."

"About that, why isn't fraternization allowed anyway?" Buck asked, one part trying to change the topic, the other part genuinely curious.

"Aside from the obvious reason?" Harry asked, to which Buck nodded. "To be honest, I'm nit allowing them purely because the old Six wanted me to enforce that rule."

"So if she didn't, it would be?"

Harry shrugged. "I mean, why not? If they're able to handle it without affecting their performance on the field, then by all means. Plus most of you guys don't follow it anyway."

Buck raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Harry chuckled. "I'm the director Sebastien, I know everything that happens in Hereford and you would be amazed at the things I turn a blind eye to."

"I should be way nicer to you then."

"You should be nice to me regardless. I'm still your boss."

"So…, go on then."

"Go on with what?" Harry asked.

"Come on, with all the things you've seen don't tell me you don't have any gossip."

"Really? That's what you're worried about right now?" Harry asked.

Buck leaned back a bit further. "Well my leg's already fucked so what's the point in worrying about it?"

"Ugh, fine." Harry said. "What do you want to hear about first?"

"I see Zofia." Meredith said, grunting as she climbed higher up the tree she was in.

"Why do I have the feeling that's not all you see?"

"Because its not. In between us and them is way too many white masks for us to handle." Meredith said. "How many bullets do you have?"

"Sixteen."

"Why so few?"

"I'm a pilot." Jager said. "I'm not needed on the frontlines. I only need enough bullets to get by so that's all I'm given."

"Well we won't be getting by with just sixteen." Meredith said. "And the others weren't packing that much so even if we managed to meet back up with them, we'd still lose in a firefight."

"We're not supposed to challenge them to one." Jager said. "Can you find a way to signal them? Get then to know where we are?"

"Not a good idea. I can't get their attention without getting everyone else's."

"Fuck." Jager said. "Climb down from there and lets find a way to get to them."

Meredith was about to when she saw two figures coming from behind them, who spotted Jager before Meredith got the chance to think about whether she should warn him or not. She was safe though, the white masks more concerned about their enemy on the ground, and so she stayed in that tree as Jager ran.

The chase didn't last long, the two white masks having alerted everyone else so now, not only was Jager outnumbered, he was surrounded as well. There was a bright side though, with Jager having gotten the attention of every white mask in the area, Zofia and Frost were now able to move as they please. It also meant that no one would notice Meredith slide down from the tree she's on and make her way to the two people that don't plan on shooting her.

"You would have done the same." She whispered to herself as she climbed down, making a bit of noise when she did, but not enough to overshadow the loud conversation Jager and his captors were having.

"Tell me where your friends are and I will kill you quickly."

"I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Ok, I wouldn't have done that." Meredith said to herself, deciding to stay after hearing Jager cover for her for some reason. She wasn't going to help him, but she wasn't going to leave just yet either.

"Last chance asshole." One of the white masks said. "You know exactly who I mean."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Does it make a difference to what you'll do to me?"

Every white mask pointed their guns at Jager. "Not really, no."

Fuck it. "Good job guys." Meredith said, approaching them and redirecting their aim from Jager to her. "Took you long enough. Kill these fuckers and let's go already."

None of the white masks moved. In fact, they seem to have gotten even more tense. "Hey, did you hear me?"

"We're not here to pick you up."

"Oh? Oh, I knew that." Meredith said. "I was talking to Zofia."

The white masks all looked in different directions, looking for any signs of hostiles. They found none. "Was something supposed to happen?"

"I really hoped something would."

Before either of them could be shot, something did happen. The white masks closest to Meredith and Jager died first, and the rest followed, most of which didn't even get a shot off.

Zofia and Frost approached them. "How did you know we were near."

"I didn't." Meredith said. "That plan was a shot in the dark."

Zofia grabbed one of the discarded rifles and slung it over her shoulder. "Well thank god it worked." She said. "Come on. We need to get as far away from here as possible."

"Have you found Sebastien?" Jager asked.

"Yeah. He's with Harry right now, all the more reason we need to get a move on. They're alone and barely armed."

Meredith went to pick up a rifle, surprised by Jager's lack of disapproval. "You trust me now, don't you?"

"There are worse people than you." He said. "And I wasn't covering for you, I just didn't want to help the white masks."

"And I only came back for you because Zofia was here."

"Harry, we're on our way back."

Harry grabbed the radio. "Thank god you're alive. Did you find them?"

"Yeah. But the white masks definitely know we're still kicking."

"So those shots were you, huh?" Harry asked. "Hurry up and get back here already."

"Will do. Zofia out."

Harry set the radio back on his belt. "You hear that Sebastien?"

When he was given no response, he turned around to see Buck passed out. "Oh shit." Knelt down next to him and shook him lightly. "Hey, come on wake up. Wake up."

Buck slowly stirred awake. "Harry?"

"They found them Sebastien. They're one the way back here."

"How long has it been?" Buck asked. "Since we crashed, I mean."

"Three hours, roughly."

"Eliza had better sent that damned search party already."

"I'm sure she did Sebastien." Harry said. "Just hang in there."

"Don't worry, I'm not dead yet."

Harry nodded. No matter how much Buck assured him, he was still worried. His will to live was definitely there, but his body's ability to match that will, not so much.