November 8th, 2062

Dormitory 10, Echo Base

0830

Hyena wakes up to weight on his chest. He looks down to see that Ingram has both her legs across his chest. She sleeps quite nicely, her chest calmly going up and down at a steady pace.

Hyena lets out a scoff and roughly pushes her legs off his chest. She wakes up with a startle and sits up in the bed.

"What'd you do that for?"

Hyena sits up and wipes his eyes. "Your legs are heavy." He says in low grumble.

Hyena looks around the room to see that besides Ingram and himself. He feels a vibration in his pocket and checks it. He takes out his idroid to find that someone is trying to contact him. He takes out a pair of earbuds from his shirt pocket and inserts them in the idroid then answers the call.

"Hyena!" A voice calls out in almost a shout.

Hyena winces at the loud voice. "Yeah?" He says, his tiredness is still noticeable.

"It's me, KS-23!" The voice says even more enthusiastically.

Hyena yawns. "Yeah, I can tell." He looks around the room again. "Where are you guys? All I see in the room is Ingram."

"Yeah about that…." 23 trails off.

As she says this a sort of small fight is heard.

"Hey, I'm still talking to him!" 23's voice is heard but slightly far away.

"You take too long I talk now." A more mature voice says its sound way closer than 23's. "Hello?"

"Hello?" Hyena responds cautiously.

"Ah, comrade Hyena. This is PTRD."

"Ah PT. How's it going? Where are you guys?" Hyena says getting off the bed. Ingram wraps her arms around his waist preventing him from leaving the bed.

"We are currently with the Commander at a festival for G&K Commander's and their dolls. Oh and everyone is fine."

Hyena pulls away from Ingram and falls off the bed with a thud.

"Are you okay comrade I heard a bang." PTRD questions.

"Yeah, I'm fine….. Wait did you say a festival?"

"Yes, sort of. All the echelons of the base came with Alexei."

"So what is it just me and Ingram here?"

"No comrade Hyena. There's still the dolls of the garrison as well as some dummies."

"I see."

"Anyway, we must go to Alexei." PTRD's voice goes muffled. "PKP do you want to say anything to Hyena?"

A muffled "Tell him he's an asshole." Is heard. A few Russian curses are spewed from PTRD and PKP before PTRD returns to the call.

"PKP isn't here right now is there anything you want me to tell her," PTRD says, trying to subdue her anger.

"Tell her she's adorable when she's angry," Hyena says getting off the floor.

"Understood comrade. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah did Alexei have any orders for me?"

"Yes, he did actually. He said to enjoy the time off and to check out the new baths on floor 12 and the new diner on floor 13."

"A bath and food, huh?" Hyena scratches his chin. "Alright, thanks PT."

"Your welcome Hyena. We must go now so this is goodbye for now."

"Alright PT. Represent us well." Hyena says turning off the idroid's call function.

"Who was that?" Ingram asks from the bed.

"The rest of the squad," Hyena says, stretching. "Apparently they were at some festival and left us behind."

"Well isn't that swell," Ingram says with a smile. "Does that mean this is our time to bond." She says sarcastically.

"We don't have too if you don't want to," Hyena says looking at her.

"No let's bond," Ingram says with a devious smile. "I know it'll make KS-23 jealous when she comes back."

"Whatever you say," Hyena says, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to hit the shower." He lifts his arm and smells himself. "I smell like a trash fire."

"Alright, I'll come with," Ingram says, getting off the bed with a hop.

Hyena nods and heads towards the door. He opens it and they both head into the hallway. They walk side by side to the elevator and Hyena presses the descent button. The elevator comes down within a few seconds and opens. The elevator is empty and both Hyena and Ingram step into it. Hyena presses the twelve button and the elevator descends. It only takes a few seconds for the elevator to reach its destination. The doors open.

What greets them is a short hallway with a singular door facing them. Hyena looks around curiously for other doors but finds none. He leads the way with Ingram behind and opens the door. For an instant, it feels as if Hyena has entered another world again. The room has a large rock laid bath in the center of it. The ceiling and walls have some sort of screen on them as the ceiling displays a clear night sky while the walls display the edge of a cliff to give off the effect of being on the side of a mountain. The floors have been replaced with some sort of bamboo flooring.

"Ingram….What am I looking at?"

Ingram pops her head from behind Hyena. "Oh, this must be the traditional Japanese hot spring I've heard about."

"Japanese….hot spring," Hyena says curiously. He looks around the room once more. "I see there's a lack of showerheads and borders. In fact, there are no borders at all."

"I suppose we just jump in," Ingram says, starting to take off her shirt.

"Eh, I suppose your right," Hyena says, unstrapping his equipment.

It's only when Hyena starts to unstrap his belt does he come to a realization. He looks at Ingram whose shirt is completely off. He can't help but stare at Ingram's naked body.

"Jesus when's the last time I got any." Hyena thinks to himself. He quickly shakes his head as he feels something growing in his bottoms. "Jesus christ when did I become like this!" He thinks.

Ingram barely notices Hyena's internal crisis and quickly removes her bottoms and jumps into the spring. She goes near the edge of the spring and looks at Hyena who has yet to remove his bottoms.

"What are you looking at?" Hyena growls.

"Just waiting for you," Ingram says with a devious smile.

Hyena looks down at his bottoms than at her. "Well, best get comfortable cause I'm not removing anything till you turn around."

"Ugh, no fun," Ingram says, annoyed turning her back towards Hyena.

Hyena quickly removes the rest of his clothes and bends down to grab the pack of cigs from his shirt pocket. He turns around to see Ingram facing him.

"What'd I say," Hyena says opening the pack and placing the singular cig in his mouth.

"You said you wouldn't remove anything if I was watching," Ingram says. "Seeing as you're not wearing anything I can turn around."

Hyena lights the cig. "I suppose your right."

Hyena walks over to the edge opposite of Ingram and steps into the spring. The spring is surprisingly hot and Hyena can feel the sweat start to form on his brow. He settles into a place and relaxes his body letting himself sink into uncaring. Just as he's about to reach bliss a splash of water hits him in the face.

Hyena opens his eyes annoyed and sees Ingram with her signature smile. Her hands are folded in a way that allows her to squirt water out of them with sniper accuracy. Hyena lets out a sigh, but nothing else as the water has yet to put out his cig.

He looks around the bath in search of soap and spots some on the far end by Ingram.

"Ingram, pass me the soap behind you." Hyena orders.

Ingram looks behind her and takes the soap. She places it in front of her right underneath her chin. "Come and get it." She says with a devious grin.

Hyena lets the air out of his nose. He stands up in the bath, making sure his lower half is under the water, and walks over to Ingram. He reaches for the soap, but as he reaches he feels something soft touch his crotch region. He quickly grabs the soap and jumps back like a cat.

Ingram lets out a devilish laugh. "Never knew my squad leader was a cat!" She says barely containing herself.

"Yeah yeah laugh it up…" Hyena says seriously hiding his blushing face. He leans back into the bath and starts to soap himself. He looks at Ingram with a confused face. "You always like this?"

Ingram stretches her arms out and relaxes against the stones. "Well it's what my previous commander liked…...so I just kind of adapted to his preferences."

"He liked the teasing?"

"Yeah it got him off real good." She says cracking a smile.

"Well you don't have to do that here." Hyena says struggling to get his back. "I'll accept you for what you truly are."

Ingram bites her lip with an annoyed expression, but it quickly fades before Hyena can notice. "Need help with that?" Ingram asks with a modem of concern.

"Yeah." Hyena says defeated.

Ingram walks over to Hyena's corner of the bath, but before she can reach him he puts out his hand.

"No funny stuff, yeah?" Hyena says seriously.

"No funny stuff."

Hyena nods his head and turns his back towards Ingram. She presses the bar of soap against Hyena's back and begins to scrub it. Hyena starts to close his eyes as the feeling of having his back scrubbed is a pleasant feeling. Just as he shuts them the feeling of soft skin pressed against his back awakens him. He tries to get up, but hands wrap around him keeping him in place.

"What did I say!" Hyena starts.

"Just shut up for a sec." Ingram responds.

Hyena lets out a gruff and calms down. He can feel Ingram's chest on his back gently exhaling and inhaling. "She's warm. Warmer than the bath." Hyena thinks to himself. He can feel his mind wander as Ingram maintains her hold on him. He had already gotten an eyeful of her chest from when they were changing, but now he feels his mind crave her lower regions. He quickly shakes his head trying to abandon the idea as fast as possible.

Ingram releases her grip around Hyena and moves back to her side of the bath. She gently lowers her head into the water until only her eyes are visible above the water.

"Do I need to ask what that was for?" Hyena says.

"It's better if you don't."

"Alright. Do you want me to wash your back?"

"That would be appreciated."

Hyena walks over to her side as she turns her back towards him. He takes the soap and gently scrubs her back. It's only now does he notice the many scars that her body bears. He can't help but feel so sort of anger looking at the scars. "Who did this and where can I find them?" The thought races through Hyena's head and out of it as quickly as it came. He finishes his scrubbing and washes her back off.

As he finishes he hears the sound of a blunted alarm. It's quiet, but it's there. The alarm then blares as it reaches the bath. It's loud like a siren and lights the room in red.

"Ugh just when we were bonding." Ingram says with slight sarcasm.

"Never a dull day huh?" Hyena says jumping out of the bath. He looks around the room for his clothes and spots them in the area he left them on.

As he reaches for them Ingram quickly intercepts him grabbing at his clothes. Hyena quickly grabs onto something of his clothing knowing this is one of Ingram's games. He grabs his pants, his socks as well as his tank top. Ingram gets her hands on the rest of his gear snatching up off the floor and running into the corner of the room.

Hyena starts to frantically put on what remains of his clothing as the siren wails. He looks over to Ingram who already has her clothes on. She looks at Hyena and, maintaining eye contact, throws the clothing she stole from Hyena into the bath.

Hyena squints his eyes at her, but doesn't say a word as he starts jogging towards the elevator, hair still wet. Ingram follows after and both reach the elevator. Hyena frantically pushes the up button on the elevator.

The elevator descends at breakneck speeds and opens for the duo. They step inside and Hyena presses the "1" button causing the elevator to ascend.

As the elevator ascends Hyena searches his pocket for a hair tie. He finds one and hastily puts the back of his hair into a ponytail leaving the front of his hair covering his face. The doors of the elevator open revealing a lobby to the duo. Hyena, without question, steps out of the elevator and briskly jogs to what looks like the exit. Ingram keeps up with Hyena as he opens the doors and takes in the morning breeze.

November 8th, 2062

Exterior, Echo Base

1130

Hyena and Ingram look around seeing what was the cause of the alarm. As they search two women approach the duo. Both carry LMG's and wear their long blonde hair out. The taller of the two wears a white top and has a brown jacket tied around her waist. She wears a tan skirt for her bottoms with brown boots. The other, shorter one, wears an open brown trench coat that reveals a gray dress with white stockings and brown shoes.

"M1919A4….." The shorter one starts

"...And M2HB." The taller one says

"Reporting for duty, Commander!" They both say in unison saluting Hyena.

Ingram grins and nudges Hyena. He looks at her with a grimace and places a hand to his face.

"I'm not your commander." Hyena starts.

"According to our sensors you've been given authorization." M1919 says.

"That son of a bitch-" Hyena whispers under his breath.

"We have a problem Commander." M2 starts. "If you would follow me."

Hyena nods and M2 leads the way towards the outer perimeter wall. The wall is not very tall, only a couple feet taller than Hyena. Its fortifications are made up of brick and though not very tall it makes up for it in sturdiness. In the middle of the wall is a great metal gate that for some reason is taller than the wall.

M2 leads the group up the stairs of the wall until they can see over it. Hyena looks below.

"Oh for fuck's sake." He curses under his breath

White hair done up in twintails greets Hyena's vision. The girl who bears them spots Hyena and instantly her face starts to twist and turn.

"You again!" The white haired girl shouts almost frothing at the mouth. "I bet you weren't expecting me again!"

"Ugh." Hyena says just loud enough for her to hear. "Why're you here senorita?"

"UGH!" She screams. "Why I-" She lets out an animalistic growl. She starts to move towards the gate, her hip launchers at the ready. "I'll kill him! I'LL KILL HIM!" She tries to whisper to herself, but ends up shouting.

Before she reaches the gate however another figure comes from behind her and playfully restrains Destroyer. Long black hair and a black outfit with white stripes to match. Hyena doesn't recognize the newcomer, but from what he sees she is on par with Gager.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it, Destroyer." The figure says playfully dragging Destroyer away from the gate.

"Let go of me Architect!" Destroyer shouts. "I'm going to blow him to smithereens!"

Ingram looks at Hyena with intent curiosity. "What did you do to her?"

"I let her live that's what." Hyena responds looking around the wall. He looks at M2. "Where's the rest of the garrison?"

"It's just me and M1919." M2 says slightly remorsefully.

"Christ is G&K this incompetent, or is it just the Commander." Hyena curses. "Well it seems we have to make do with what we got." He looks at M1. "Please tell me the turrets are online."

M1 looks away from Hyena. "Unfortunately the turrets aren't turning on at the moment."

"Holy shit we are so fucked." Hyena mutters. He looks over the wall to see Architect and Destroyer still arguing. He looks behind them and does a rough count of the number of troops they brought along.

Ingram notices Hyena counting. "How many?" She asks

"Looks like about forty not counting Architect and Destroyer." He lowers his head and lets out a depressed chuckle. "That's ten for each of us."

"Doesn't seem that bad." Ingram says loading her MAC.

Hyena lowers himself and lies against the wall. "It's a paltry force to siege a military base to be sure….." He closes his eyes and thinks.

"What's wrong Commander?" M2 asks

"Huh? Nothing." Hyena says. "Just thought of something, but it couldn't be true."

"Hey Hey!" Architect calls out from below.

Hyena pops his head above the wall. "What do you want?"

"I've thought of a way we can avoid this siege without anyone dying." Architect says happily.

"Oh yeah what's that?"

Architect smiles. "You, the Commander, fight against our chosen fighter in hand to hand combat. Winner can ask the loser to do anything they want."

"You must be joking." Hyena says.

"No jokes I assure." Architect starts. "It prevents any needless bloodshed and we all get some entertainment."

"How can I trust SF?" Hyena barks. "Last time I did that I got this!" He says raising his robotic arm.

"I heard of your run in with Gager." Architect says remorsefully. "I promise that no harm will come to you if you come out victorious."

"And what of my dolls?"

"No harm will come to them either."

Hyena thinks. "You can't seriously be considering their offer." Ingram says uncharacteristically seriously.

Hyena kneels behind the wall and looks at her. "Your right, as of right now we hold the advantage." He forms a fist and gently knocks the wall. "These walls look sturdy enough to hold off whatever they throw against them." He looks at M2. "Where and how are we on supplies?"

M2 points at a storehouse across the way. "All our supplies are over there."

M1 moves close to Hyena. "We have enough supplies to survive an elongated siege, but they won't last if this lasts months." She whispers to Hyena.

"Luckily we don't have to wait months, we just need to hold out till Alexei gets back." Hyena assures. "Alright I've made my decision." Hyena pops back over the wall. "We decline your offer."

Architect's face becomes sad. "Are you sure?" She innocently says.

Hyena, though taken aback by the cute display, remains firm. "Yes we decline. You want this base? Well you'll have to get it the old fashioned way."

Architect shakes her head. Destroyer comes from behind her and whispers something in her ear. Architect smiles again and looks up at Hyena. "Tell you what. I'll give you a day to reconsider our offer."

"We'll accept that." Hyena says.

"Good then till tomorrow, Commander." Architect gives a curtsy and starts to leave. As she turns away from the base Destroyer follows behind, but not without turning towards Hyena and sticking out her tongue at him. Their troops follow behind in two neat lines.

Hyena watches as they leave and continues watching until they are barely visible on the horizon. Once satisfied he lets out a deep breath and slouches his shoulders.

"That could have gone worse." M1 says standing up and looking over the wall.

Hyena looks at her with tired eyes. "Yeah that was tense." He yawns. "We need to prepare for a siege." He looks at M2. "Can you get the turrets online?"

"We would need the key from Commander Alexei." M2 says reluctantly.

"Shit." Hyena mutters. He looks around and spots a building opposite of the supply center. "Is that the garrison's barracks?"

"Affirmative Commander." M2 says.

"Alright me and Ingram are going to join you both in the barracks until the siege is over." Hyena looks towards the main building. "I need to grab a gun from the armory."

Understood Commander we'll make preparations for your stay." M2 says saluting. She starts to leave, but is stopped by Hyena grabbing her arm. She turns around to face him.

"Don't. Go. Overboard." Hyena states pointing a finger at her. He releases his grip around M2's arm. She nods and leaves with M1. Hyena turns to Ingram who stands behind him. "Ingram, with me."

Ingram nods and the two descend the stairs of the wall and head towards the main building to make preparations.

November 8th, 2062

Garrison Barracks, Echo Base

1830

"I know I said not to go overboard….." Hyena says looking around. "...But….you guys actually live like this?"

The barracks, in comparison to the dormitory 10 room, is extremely different. Where nice beds should be are cardboard boxes. The floor is some type of packed dirt. The ceiling bears one singular ceiling fan that from first looks is broken. The door to the barracks was once a very beautiful door, but has since been eaten by termites and hangs off the frame by a thread. The walls have spaces for windows, but no actual windows allowing every wild breeze in.

"I apologize for the state the barracks is in." M1 bows apologetically.

"No, it's fine." Hyena puts a hand up. "I've slept in worse places."

"This place looks and smells like shit." Ingram says from behind Hyena.

Hyena turns to her at break-neck speeds. "Ingram. Not now."

Ingram shrugs. Hyena looks around the room.

"I spot two beds." Hyena sighs. "Looks like me and Ingram are going to take first watch."

"We can't allow that Commander." M2 cuts in. "You need your sleep in order to be ready for combat."

"Ugh." Hyena lets out. "Fine. But if anything happens you wake me up. Got it?"

M1 and M2 both salute. "Yes Commander!"

Ingram looks at the duo and smirks. She looks at Hyena and gives him a slight nod. M1, M2, and Ingram leave the barracks leaving Hyena alone.

"Well best leave it to them." Hyena says while yawning. "Shit I'm tired." He reclines on the cardboard box bed. He closes his eyes and nods to sleep.