(A/N: I know it might seem irresponsible of me to write a new story for this franchise when I've barely started not too long ago. This just suddenly appeared in my head and I haven't gotten rid of it, no matter how hard I tried to.

I think it's easy to agree that Dutch was the character that made the original movie, but it's also a bit of a disappointment because he never appears again outside of the extended universe. However, it's thanks to the extended universe that we get a little more backstory to him and we meet his brother, John. It's all of this that I think gave me the idea for this story in the first place.

Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoys this story, not sure how it'll be in the end, but we shall see! Again, enjoy the story, everybody.)

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John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City - April 2007

Inside the famed airport, a woman in her mid-twenties in a United States Army uniform stood in front of the baggage claim. She had landed there a little while earlier after she was finally allowed to leave after being honorably discharged after seven years of military service.

As soon as she saw her green military-issued duffle bag, she was making her way to the entrance. She got a couple of odd looks from people in the airport because of her uniform and bag, but she ignored them.

On her uniform was the name 'Schaefer', her last name. Her father was Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer, a Major in the Army during the Vietnam War. He disappeared when she was only five and she had only vague memories of him. Although she didn't remember too much of him, she still had his military blood in her veins, and that alone was enough for her to enlist in the Army.

There was a crowd of people in front of the entrance and when it cleared, she saw a muscular middle-aged man with blonde hair holding a sign that read 'Schaefer'. She smiled when she saw the man, he was her uncle, and her father's brother.

She practically ran into with excitement when she embraced him, "Uncle John! So glad to see you!"

"You didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" he smiled at her, his voice thick with his Austrian accent.

They left the airport and went outside to the parking lot. She put her duffle bag in the backseat and she and her uncle sat in the front.

He pulled out of the parking lot and drove out of the airport. They hit a red light almost immediately and he heard the faint growl of her stomach.

He laughed, "Some things never change."

She playfully hit his arm, "I flew in from France after departing from Israel."

He still laughed, "Hey, I get it. It's lucky they let you leave at all, with the war in Iraq and all."

She frowned slightly, "Yeah, I lost a lot of my friends there."

"Hey, hey, chin up. They served their country and that's what matters. Your Dad would be proud of you," he mentioned.

Instead of smiling, her frown only deepened, "Yeah, I know."

Soon, they were driving through an area of the city with numerous fast food restaurants. Seeing them brought back warming memories to her mind, she hadn't seen them since she was deployed to the Middle East not long after the start of the war.

She had actually been in the service longer than she had signed up for. When she first joined in 2000, she never thought she would ever be sent overseas because there was no major war at the time. Then, September Eleventh happened and it was only a matter of time before she was on the other side of the world with her platoon.

"You want me to pull in and buy you somethin'?" he asked. "We're going to dinner tonight, but I'd wager you're pretty hungry, aren't you?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I am."

"So, what do you want?" he asked her again.

They arrived at John's apartment after stopping for a meal, they got chicken sandwiches and sodas. She carried her food and duffle bag, which her uncle offered to carry for her, but she declined.

When they stepped inside, she thought her heart must have sunk. She hadn't seen the inside of the apartment she was raised in for a long time.

She remembered her first night there without her father when she was five, she cried herself to sleep for over a month. Her memories of him began to fade as she got older, but he would never be forgotten.

She wished she could say the same for her mother. She lost her mother at eighteen months when she died of a sudden stroke at the young age of thirty. Her father tried his best as a single parent, but he was away from home often and would have her uncle look after her.

Her uncle was away from home often as well as a homicide detective and he would have a friend or her aunt, his ex-wife, look after her. He didn't like to ask her for favors, but it was either her or his brother's in-laws, who disowned his deceased wife after she and Alan eloped.

She remembered how he was gone for a couple of weeks and her aunt filed with the courts to become her legal guardian and for her to live with her. He returned just in time and nearly lost custody of her.

He narrowly won the battle by citing the simple fact that they were related by blood and his ex-wife was not. He strengthened his case by using DNA testing, which was brand new technology at the time, it intrigued the judge and the request for a change in guardianship was denied. His ex-wife won a lot of things, including their son, but his niece was the only piece of his brother he had left, he would not lose her.

After finishing their food, he asked her, "You still remember where your room is?"

She smiled at him and laughed lightly, "Of course."

She took her duffle bag and went to her room, her childhood bedroom. The bedroom had been changed from when she was a child, the walls were painted a new color, the bed was larger with a different blanket and pillows, and a carpet that had been there was taken out. The changes were her decision, her uncle helped, but it was all her idea.

She sat on her bed with a sigh, dropping her duffle bag to the floor and removing her cap. She looked at her nightstand and saw a picture of herself and her father. She picked it up and looked at it, her tiny, three-year-old body sitting on his broad shoulders; a teardrop fell onto the glass frame.

She sniffled and wiped her tears, "Dad… where are you?"

She set the picture back on the nightstand and unzipped the jacket of her uniform, revealing the standard issue brassiere she wore, it was nothing more than a sport's bra. She laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling above.

She laid there for a while, perhaps as long as an hour, before she got up from the bed. Although her uncle said they were going to dinner that night and it was still the afternoon, she decided to get ready anyway. If her time in the military taught her anything it's that it's better to be prepared than not.

There were two bathrooms in the apartment, one in her uncle's room and one in the hallway. She went into the one in the hallway and shut the door. She took off her uniform, neatly folding every article, including her brownish-green socks.

Out in the field, she didn't have the opportunity to shower every day, even when she did it had to be no longer than five minutes maximum. Now that she was no longer dodging bullets and jumping over landmines, she felt like she could finally relax and take her time under the warm water.

The hair products and body wash from the last time she was home were still in the shower for her to use. She smiled, she was glad her uncle kept them for her, knowing full well that she may never come back home.

She washed her hair first, she had dark blonde hair cut short because of the military protocols regarding hair. She then washed her body, the smell of cucumber floated in the steamy air, and then used a coconut oil and macadamia nut exfoliating scrub. Finally, she softened her hair with hair conditioner before washing it out.

She stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her wet body. For a second, she thought the towel was a blanket, it was much larger, fuller, and softer than the towels the Army provided. She picked up her folded uniform and left the bathroom for her room.

She set her uniform down and removed her towel to dry off her body, taking her time to do so. Under the light of her ceiling fan, her body seemed to glisten with a golden glow.

Once she was completely dry, she started to get ready to go out to dinner. She wasn't sure where they were going, her uncle wouldn't tell her, but she didn't expect anything too fancy or formal, although he had surprised her before.

She opened her drawer and took out a thong panty and strapless brassiere, along with pantyhose. She put them on and looked into her closet for a dress to wear. She didn't like to wear dresses, she thought they were too revealing, but she made an exception for that night because it was her first time going out to a restaurant in over a year.

She had only two dresses and picked the one she thought she would be more comfortable in. It was a red dress with short sleeves that was blanketed with a layer of black lace, it did expose her chest but not her cleavage.

She found a pair of black heels in her closet and slipped her feet into them. The shoes were from the outfit she wore at her high school graduation ceremony in the year 2000, the same year she joined the military.

She had her outfit on, but she still had to take care of the mess that was her hair. For that, she went back into her bathroom and took out her hairdryer. She slowly brushed her hair as she blow-dried it, it wouldn't take long because of its length.

She put her hairdryer away and opened a cabinet above the toilet, it was filled with makeup sets her aunt bought for her but she never used. She took out eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara.

Before she put the makeup on, she picked up her toothbrush and squeezed out a little bit of toothpaste. She brushed her teeth and rinsed her toothbrush before setting it aside, washing her face afterwards. Then, she proceeded to use the mirror and put on the makeup.

She put a forest green eyeshadow with a darker color surrounding it to make the green stand out more prominently, along with a little bit of white to highlight it. She used the eyeliner to enhance her eyes and give them a sharper, fiercer appearance. Finally, she finished by using the mascara on her eyelashes.

She didn't bother with any other type of makeup, she had very little blemishes on her face, and they were very small. She simply put the makeup away and left the bathroom for her room.

On her dresser, she had a jewelry box, custom made by her paternal grandfather for her mother as a wedding gift, and in it was the jewelry her mother once wore before she passed away. She opened it and took out pearl stud earrings and a necklace.

She put the earrings on her earlobes, then the necklace around her neck. The pendant of the necklace was a smoothed and polished piece of onyx embedded into a silver teardrop with ornate and intricate designs.

And with that, she was done, she was ready to leave for dinner. She hoped she hadn't finished too early, otherwise it would be a while of waiting.

She walked out of her room and down the hallway, her heels tapping on the wooden floor. She looked around for her uncle and when she couldn't find him, she called out to him, "Uncle John?"

"Yeah?" he responded from his room, which was closer to the living room than hers was.

He came out of his room, closing the door behind him and tucking in his shirt. It was a mint green button-down shirt that clung to his body because of how muscular he was. He had the musculature that would give a professional bodybuilder a run for their money, all of his clothes seemed to cling to his skin.

"Ready to go? Is it time?" she asked.

He looked at the clock above the stove in the kitchen, "Oh, yeah, it is."

They left the apartment and went back to his car to go to his 'surprise' location. She tried asking him about it, but he still wouldn't tell her anything about it.

Although she wasn't sure what to expect and was trained to expect the unexpected, she was surprised when he drove all the way to Manhattan. They lived in Brooklyn, and Queens was the closest borough, why would he drive over the East River?

He ended up stopping in front of a restaurant, a restaurant she recognized as one of the best in the borough. Where could he have gotten the money to take her there on a detective's salary?

"Uncle John-" she began, but she stopped herself when she saw the smile on his face.

"Surprised?" he asked.

She returned his smile, "Yeah, I am. But I have to ask, how could you afford this? This is an expensive place."

"A group effort," he answered.

"Group? Who else is coming?" she inquired.

He opened his door, "You'll see."

He got out of the car and she did as well, looking up at the restaurant as she closed her door. They walked up to the restaurant and she saw two familiar couples waiting for them.

One of them was Errol Rasche, John's ex-partner and the current sheriff of a small town in Oregon, and his wife, Shari. The other was Dr. Melinda Winston, a medical examiner and friend from John's time in the Army, and her husband, Jamie.

She covered her mouth with both hands, she hadn't seen these people in a very long time. She could feel the tears rising in her eyes, but fought them so as to not smear her makeup.

"Oh, my God!" She went up to Shari and Melinda and gave both of them hugs. "What are you doing here?"

"John told us you were coming back home and we decided to pull all our money together for the night," Melinda explained.

"Errol and I came on the first flight when he told us when you would be here," Shari smiled.

"Great to see you, little girl," Errol said when she gave him a hug.

"Nice to have you back in the states, Cora," Jamie gave her shoulder a playful slap after she hugged him.

"It's- It's great to be back," she grinned. "I'm happy to be back home."

They went into the restaurant and they were seated by the hostess. A waiter came up to their table and took their orders.

She was honestly surprised by how nice the people were, considering how expensive the restaurant was. She didn't like to leave Brooklyn for other boroughs too often because of her uncle's work as a homicide detective, and she once went to school with someone from Manhattan who was very spoiled and arrogant, even calling everyone around them 'servants'.

"So, Cora, what rank were you when you were discharged?" Errol asked.

"Staff Sergeant," she answered, taking a drink of water. "Got promoted just a month or so before I was discharged. Seemed like I was a Corporal forever before they finally let me become a Sergeant."

"What was your career?" Shari inquired. She gave a look to her husband as she said, "Someone wouldn't tell me." Errol just laughed.

"Infantry," she responded. "Backbone of the Army."

Melinda smiled, "Back when I was in the Army, I had hordes of infantrymen coming in. Sometimes, I'd go out into the warzone and save their asses myself."

"That's how we met, you know?" Jamie said.

John chuckled, "Yes, Jamie, we know."

"A lot of macho men who only think they're badasses, but they're only baby birds leaving the nest," Errol said. "I'm sure you had a lot of dicks in your division."

"You don't know the half of it," she remarked with a sigh. "I was only one of two or three women, and, yes, I was a target of harassment and discrimination, but I always made sure to protect myself. A lot of them were acting tough, but they were screaming like little girls in their last moments. Soon, I was leading those cowards across the desert, and I left with one of the lowest casualty rates of any platoon."

"That's my girl, you showed them," John smiled at his niece proudly.

"Those boys wouldn't have known how to get across that warzone if they had funny paper tattooed on their asses," she uttered, holding back the urge to laugh.

"Exactly how it was back during the Vietnam War," her uncle commented.

Melinda laughed, "I still remember how the men would joke about another Marilyn Monroe entertaining everyone during Desert Storm."

"Oh, yeah, I remember," Jamie remarked. "One of the teammates said he hoped there'd be a Marilyn Monroe and a Playboy bunny for everyone."

For the next couple of hours, they talked, ate, and drank, congratulating Cora and catching up with each other. Occasionally, they talked a little bit more about the military and even made a couple of jokes using military jargon.

Eventually, it was time for them to leave after having dessert. They paid for dinner and left the restaurant to say goodbye.

"Oh, take care of yourself, sweetie," Shari said after she gave Cora a hug.

She and Melinda exchanged hugs next, "Good luck with civilian life."

She gave a hug to Jamie after her, "We're happy to have you home."

She gave her last hug to Errol, "Congratulations and glad to have you back." He then turned to his former partner and they shook hands, "Nice seeing you, John, and congratulations on your niece serving her country. I would stay and talk all night, but it's time to say "au videsen" and get some rest for our flight tomorrow."

"Auf wiedersehen," he corrected. "Thanks for coming out to New York."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," he said. Before he and his wife left, he said to Cora, "Your Dad would be proud."

As soon as she heard that, she suddenly frowned. Her uncle took notice of the expression on her face almost immediately.

Errol and Shari got into their car, parked across the street from John's, and drove away. Melinda and Jamie started to walk down the street to their car a block away.

When they left, John and Cora got inside of his car and the engine was started, but they didn't drive right away. Instead, they sat in the car in silence, he could tell there was something on her mind.

Finally, she spoke, her voice almost cracking as the emotions flooded her, "Why did he have to bring up my father?"

"Rasche… never was the brightest, but I'm sure he didn't mean to bring him up on purpose." She calmed down a little, but now she was crying and the tears smeared her makeup. "Your Dad's my brother, I miss him every day, and I want to know what happened to him just as much as you do."

She wiped her tears, the makeup smearing on her skin, she suddenly turned very serious, "Be completely honest with me, uncle John, do you know where he was when he disappeared or what he was doing?"

He was silent for a few seconds before he finally told her, "Cora, your Dad was a part of a private military team. They were sent to the jungles of Guatemala to investigate the disappearance of a team of Green Berets."

"Is that all you know?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yes. It is."

She suspected that he might have been omitting information from her, but what that could be was a mystery. It also made her wonder if perhaps her father was involved with something more than he was telling her, or if he saw something he wasn't supposed to.

Regardless of what she thought, all she could do was frown, having lost hope that she would ever see him again. "I see."

"Hey, look at me," he told her, and she did so. "Whether or not Alan is still alive, it doesn't have anything to do with how much he loved and cared about you. If he could see you know, he would be a proud father of a veteran of the United States Army."

She smiled softly and spoke to him in German, "Danke, onkel."

He put the car into drive and started to drive to the bridge to cross the river to go back to Brooklyn. She leaned her head against the seatbelt and closed her eyes.

Unbeknownst to them, a transparent figure stood perched on top of a building directly across from the restaurant they left from. It watched them using the advanced technology it had at its disposal, using it to listen to them as they talked as well.

It heard John talking about Cora's father and where he had been when he disappeared. It wanted to hear his words just as much as she did, but for its own reasons.

Having the information it needed, it turned to leaving, speaking in a gravelly voice, "Proud father."

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(A/N: How did everyone like it? I personally think I did a good job with it and I hope someone agrees.

This story might end up being a bit of a challenge for me because I rarely establish stories in a specific time. I normally leave it to the imagination to establish the time frame for the story, so this is different, but I'm sure I can do it. And there is a reason for it, but that won't be until much later on.

Translations:

1. Auf wiedersehen. - Goodbye. (German)

2. Danke, onkel. - Thank you, uncle. (German)

3. Funny paper - Map (a military term popular during the Vietnam War)

For those of you who aren't familiar with John Schaefer, I would highly recommend reading the comics "Predator (1989)" (also called "Predator: Concrete Jungle"), "Predator: Cold War", "Predator: Dark River", and "Predator: Hunters III". Personally, the ones I enjoy the most are "Concrete Jungle" and "Dark River".

I really wanted to establish Cora as a strong character early on and I hope I've been able to show that, however subtle it may be. It will show more as this progresses, just you wait.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, but hopefully not too long. But until that happens, please stay safe, everybody.)