Three days. That's how long it took. Three whole days for Alec to recover from the incident.

It goes without saying that Alec was immediately rushed to the medical tent following the incident. Though many were concerned for his well-being, the doctor assured them that he only sustained minor injuries. He also added that it was the shock of what happened that was the reason why he was still unconscious and suggested it was best for him to remain in the make-shift hospital till he woke up.

Though no one was severely hurt, Bremerton made a promise to never wear such tight-fitting clothes again.

After three days, Alec did indeed wake up, and after a quick check up with the doctor, he was cleared to return.

It didn't take long for word to spread to the crew of the Defiant, who proceeded to drop what they were doing and quickly went over to greet him.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk around Alec?" asked Tashkent, staying close to him "maybe one of us should help you."

"There's no need to worry about me," he said, with a smile "the whole thing just… caught me off guard, that's all."

"I don't think anyone saw that happening," said Rossiya, who was also next to him.

"Alec," called out a familiar voice ahead of them. The trio saw Reno, Richelieu and Bremerton coming towards them. Unfortunately for Alec and Bremerton, when they saw each other, the two immediately recalled the incident, causing them both to turn away in embarrassment.

This resulted in an awkward silence hanging over the group, a silence that came to a halt when Richelieu said "look at it this way Alec, at least you didn't faint from a nosebleed."

In an attempt to steer the conversation towards something else, Alec spoke "there's something important I want to tell everyone."

"I'll go get the others," said Bremerton, taking the initiative "shall we meet in the ship's dining room?"

Alec nodded and was led to the ship with by Tashkent and Rossiya. As they drew near, they wondered what was on Alec's mind.

It didn't take long for Bremerton to find and assemble the rest of the group at the designated meeting place. The trio of Alec, Rossiya and Tashkent arrived not long after.

"There's something important you girls deserve to know," he said, and began telling the girls about his ordeal in the forest and how he survived. Although the girls knew the story, they remained silent and listened to his recollection of the events. Everyone knew that this was an important moment for Alec, and chose to remain quiet.

To their surprise though, the incident was only one half of the story. Alec then recounted the part that was left out in Manny's reports. Everything from the families calling for his blood, to the media outlets labelling him a psychopath: he left no stone unturned.

"That's why I was always hesitant to become your leader," he said, lowering his head "I didn't want you following someone who had skeletons in their closet."

"Now that you know the whole truth, you're free to decide how things proceed," he added.

"Alec," said Richelieu, standing up "I speak for everyone when I say you have no reason to blame yourself for what happened. You did the best you could in a difficult situation and tried to save everyone."

"We believe in you Alec," said Bremerton, "we believe in your potential as a leader and well, its time you start believing in yourself as well."

"I agree with Bremerton on this," said Rossiya "its time to let go of that past and move forward in your life."

"Thank you," he said, sniffling a little "all of you. Thank you for believing in me so much."

"Alright, enough of this mushy stuff," said Gangut, in an attempt to keep things from getting too sappy "the day's only begun and we have plenty of things to do. What say we take Alec fishing?"

"Oh that sounds like a wonderful thing to do," said Essex, stretching herself a little "It's been a while since my sisters and I did some fishing."

Just as the group turned around and were about to leave, they were greeted by Manny standing outside the door.

"Alec, good to see you're up and about," he said, trying to make small talk. Alec knew the veteran didn't come all this way just to engage in idle chit-chat, so he turned to the girls and said "You don't mind waiting for a little bit, do you?"

Everyone shook their heads in response and Alec went outside the room then gestured Manny to accompany him to the deck.

"I know with everything going on, the last thing you want to do is get into another fight," began Manny "but the truth is, we need your help Alec."

"How bad?"

"A distress call came in from a Special Forces unit who liberated half a city's worth of people before they got shipped out to one of those Siren conversion facilities."

"When they didn't arrive here two days ago, I tried contacting them but to no avail. Today, I got a response. The message itself was mostly static and I could barely tell what they were trying to say, but there were two words that stood out like a sore thumb."

"Siren… and hybrid," said Manny and Alec's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"That was…"

"Yes, the same thing that Dr. Freeman was working on," said Manny "we should assume that Omega somehow managed to salvage his research and completed it."

"Alec, I want you and your team to go there, link up with the special forces unit, help rescue those civilians and find out anything you can about the hybrids."

"I'm sorry, but I can't," was Alec's response, which understandably took Manny by surprise.

"Alec I understand with everything that's just happened you want to take a break but…"

"No you don't understand," he countered "those girls are out there risking life and limb against an enemy that vastly outnumbers us. In their last encounter they faced off against Omega's elite and it took everything they had just to make it out of that ordeal."

"I can't just… I can't keep sending them into one battle after another, because eventually, our luck will run out."

Manny looked like he was about to say something but was cut off when one of the girls called out to Alec.

"Tashkent, were you listening?" asked Alec.

"Yes, and I wasn't the only one," she replied, stepping out, followed by Grozny, Pamiat Merkuria, Gangut, Rossiya and the rest of the group.

"Was anyone not listening to the conversation?" he asked and they all shook their heads in response.

"Alec," said Richelieu, coming forward "while we do appreciate your concern for us, don't forget that we're the only ones here who can meet the Sirens on equal footing. We are the only ones who can turn the tide of this war."

"And besides," said Essex "we could never live with ourselves if we ignored someone's cries for help."

Alec rubbed his temples, worried that their good nature is eventually going to turn around and bite them.

"Fine," he said "but we do this nice and quick. We go in, we get the people and if we can, we find out about the hybrids."

The girls nodded in agreement while Manny turned to Alec and said "Thanks Alec. I appreciate your help with this."

Throughout their journey to the location, Alec spent the time reflecting on Richelieu's words. At present, the girls were the only ones who could actively pose a threat to the Sirens and engage the enemy forces.

000000000000000

"Get down," yelled a man, running into a house. When he came inside, the two who stood near the door shut it, while everyone else in the hall immediately fell to the ground. Two seconds later and they heard an explosion coming from outside.

"Damn it," said the man, heading out to the window and looking outside "at this rate, there won't be much of us left to greet the cavalry."

"Ah," said the man with a wry smile "here they come."

The man, along with two other soldiers stood by the window and fired at the incoming attackers. While some did not avoid the incoming barrage, others quickly took cover behind some debris or a few vehicles.

In-between all that fire, the man paused for a moment, noticing something off about one member of the enemy unit. Nearly all of them had the same sleek black & grey metal exoskeleton, left arm attached to an energy rifle and metal head with four spikes jabbed into it, but the one that stood out to the man, also wore on a 'Keep calm and call Special Forces' t-shirt.

That was the same shirt a member of his unit was wearing when he stayed behind to give his unit and the civilians time to escape. As much as the man wanted to believe that one of those hybrid monsters killed the soldier and took his shirt, the truth was far sinister than that.

"Bastards," he said, "they converted Paul."

"What?" said the soldier next to him, then looked in the same direction his superior officer was looking at. Upon confirming it with his own eyes, the man's face grew pale.

"Sir," said the soldier by the other window "what do we do?"

Before he could answer that question though, they all started feeling the ground rumble. The man first thought the enemy forces were the cause, but found it was not the case.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked the solider next to him and the man could only nod in response.

While everyone else saw the cause for the rumbling, the man was busy thinking about how he was going to escort thirty people across a Siren-controlled city and reach the docks before the city was swallowed whole by the volcano that erupted on the hillside nearby.

(AN: sorry if this sounds a little rushed. Also please look forward to the upcoming Easter-themed oneshot that will hopefully be uploaded before Easter.