A/N: Important note at the end of the story.

Chapter 19: Reminiscence

One week after Incident at Sector 12

- Unknown Location -

- Team 404 -

"I'll be glad when this contract is over, I'm not a big fan of working for a Sangvis ringleader." UMP 9 confessed aloud.

"Of course not," HKM4 snapped, "because it's a bad idea that's sure to get us all killed."

"That's why I brought you here to protect everyone." UMP 45 teased, "time to finally prove your worth."

The team sat under the moonlight in what remained of a roadside gas station in the middle of nowhere that had clearly fallen victim to a massive firefight. Judging by the skeletons out front that were still wearing their old uniforms, the battle had been a forgotten affair by whichever side lost.

"She's here." G11 called out to them from her perch atop the roof of the gas station, "East side, she's brought a friend."

UMP 45 turned and saw Alchemist waving to them like old friends as she approached. Scarecrow was content to glare at everyone and remain silent.

"Do you have what I asked for?" Alchemist asked when she was closer.

UMP 45 pulled a small thumb drive from a jacket pocket and held it up, "Everywhere Zhenka's been, including his main base of operations, and where he was during the attack on Sector Twelve."

Alchemist started to move closer to retrieve the thumb drive but HK 416 snapped her rifle up, "That's close enough Sangvis scum."

Scarecrow flicked her wrist and one of her drones was airborne in an instant.

Alchemist rolled her eye, "Are we really going to do this again?"

"Just observing formalities." UMP 45 said, her eyes shining mischievously, "but you're not getting this until we confirm payment."

"Give it a minute." Alchemist told her.

"Annnnd, payment received and…hold on." UMP 9 frowned as she trailed off.

"Did she try to underpay us?" HK 416 asked frostily, "Because then that will give me a reason to put a bullet through her last eye."

"The opposite actually," UMP 9 looked at Alchemist in confusion, "she overpaid us, by a lot."

"Feeling charitable?" UMP 45 sneered as she tossed the data to the ringleader.

Alchemist nimbly plucked the thumb drive out of the air and handed it to Scarecrow before producing one of her own.

"Not at all," she explained, "I have one more delivery for you to make."

"Do it yourself," HK 416 snapped, "we're not a courier service."

"We are for the amount she just paid us." UMP 9 quipped.

"I would, but it needs to get to the commander of Sector Nine," Alchemist explained as she tossed the thumbstick to UMP 45.

UMP 45 held the drive up and examined it, "Trying to get us to sabotage the enemy?"

"Not at all," Alchemist said, "In fact, it would be very beneficial to my enemy."

UMP-45 and HK416 shared a look as she pocketed the drive, "Fine, but this is the last job we do for you."

Alchemist nodded, "Of course, after this we both must go on playing our roles."

With that, Alchemist and Scarecrow left the team standing alone in the abandoned building.

"She's creepy." G11 yawned from the roof, "I'm going back to sleep now."

UMP 45 pulled the drive from her pocket and flipped it over in her palm a few times.

"Now I wonder what could be so important about this?" She asked HK 416, who only shrugged in response.

- Outpost 17 -

"Alright," Colette called to M2 as she hopped down from her helicopter, torque wrench in hand, "now we just need to push her out to do some balancing run ups and she'll be good to go."

M2 nodded in agreement, "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Because I did most of the work." Colette pointed out.

M2 winked at her, "Like I said, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Colette rolled her eyes as she grabbed one of the ground handling wheels and shoved it into M2's hands. After they hooked the wheels onto the skids and pushed the Huey outside, they did their maintenance run ups and powered the helicopter back down.

They were about to push the helo back inside the barn when they heard shouting. Colette looked around and saw MP-40 running towards them and waving frantically. Unfortunately for MP-40, the maintenance barn was a good two hundred yards away.

"What's her deal?" M2 asked in amusement as they watched MP-40 slowly get closer.

"No idea," Colette replied, "hopefully it's not another supply mission to the village."

"I thought you liked the village, seeing as you used to live there." M2 teased, not taking her eyes off of MP-40.

"I did, but that old man who acts like the 'village elder' is way too handsy." Colette groaned as she made air quotes.

M2 turned and made a show of looking Colette up and down, "What was he trying to grab?"

Colette rolled her eyes, "Look, not everyone can have tits the size of watermelons, besides," she motioned to her medium sized, and perfectly acceptable, breasts, "I got plenty to work with."

"I'm sorry," M2 began before looking down at Colette's chest, "I shouldn't have said anything, I was always told not to mock the less fortunate."

"Keep it up and I'll shake you out of the helicopter, then we can see if those airbags are drop rated at five thousand feet." Colette laughed.

M2 looked down thoughtfully, "You know, they just might be."

MP-40 finally arrived and stopped in front of the duo, panting and huffing. M2 was about to ask if MP-40 was okay, but the adjutant held a hand up before she finished catching her breath and straightened up.

"I'm glad I caught you, before you put the helicopter away." She said, still panting.

"Why are you so out of breath," Colette asked in bewilderment, "can dolls even get out of shape like that?"

MP-40 shot Colette an irritated look, "I've been trying to do Owen's shooting drills and I'm overheated, if you must know."

"Wait," M2 said holding up a hand, "the one that he helped plan with Freya?"

MP-40 nodded, "That's the one, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm really struggling with it."

M2 shook her head, "You do realize that was for Freya, right?"

MP-40 stared at M2 for a solid five seconds before she let out a relieved sigh, "I'm such a dummkopf, I thought my Commander was actually outperforming me."

"Well, he has fought at least three ringleaders now and survived." M2 pointed out.

MP-40 said something in reply but Colette didn't hear it. In her mind, she was spraying Owen's blood out of her Huey. She saw the red water fall to the ground and run around her boots. She blinked a few times to clear her mind and noticed the other dolls staring at her.

MP-40 was clearly expecting an answer to something, but M2's was nothing but concern.

"Er," Colette began, "I'm sorry?"

"I was hoping you could fly a few of us to visit Commander Owen later today," MP-40 repeated, "you haven't had a chance to visit him yet, have you?"

"Oh, um," Colette's brain ground to a halt, "I've just ah…"

"We'll know once we complete our checks." M2 interjected, her eyes not leaving Colette, who's gaze fell back down to her boots.

"Okay," MP-40 replied, "well, just let me know, okay?"

"Will do." M2 said, dismissing the German doll.

MP-40 walked off, but not after sparing a concerned look for the pilot before departing.

M2 snapped her fingers a few times and Colette jerked her head back up to find herself being scrutinized.

"What's up?" Colette asked nonchalantly.

"We need to finish the run up so we can go visit Owen." M2 stated.

Colette shook her head, "I have a lot to do an-"

M2 clamped her hand down onto Colette's shoulder and squeezed, causing the pilot to wince.

"Cut the shit," M2 growled, "I don't know what the two of you have going on, but it's pretty obvious that you're torn up about him being injured, and I'm getting sick of dealing with it."

Colette was about to argue, but M2 raised a finger to her lips, "Shhhhhhhhut up," she whispered, "I'm not done yet."

Colette did what she was told, but more out of surprise than anything.

"So," the MG doll continued like nothing happened, "we're going to visit Owen, and you're going to visit him, get all weepy, and get your head back in the game before we have an accident."

Colette had no argument, and just gave a single nod.

"Excellent," M2 said with a cheer that didn't meet the glare she had fixed on Colette, "let's get started then."

- Critical Care Unit -

- Sector 09 -

Nines had been here before. More specifically, an uncomfortable chair, next to a reclining bed in a hospital. Though technically it was the medical wing in Gentiane's new base in Sector Nine. She thought back to the first time she was next to Owen when he was recovering, and part of her wished it was the same as last time.

This time is worse. She thought as she looked at Owen.

Much worse.

She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back in her chair. She thought back to the day they had brought Owen to Gentiane's base.

It was so bad, that Persica had been called in to help with the multiple operations needed to help Owen survive.

There was a quiet knock at the door, it opened to reveal Springfield holding a small paper bag.

"Good morning," Springfield greeted with a warm smile, "I brought you a little something, I thought you could use a pick me up."

Nines took the bag and gave a polite nod, "Thank you Miss Springfield," she said quietly, "I appreciate this."

Springfield waved Nines off as she studied Owen's face, "How is he, any change?"

Nines shook her head but said nothing.

Springfield's normal cheery demeanor faltered a little as she took his features in, "He certainly has looked better, hasn't he."

"Everyone who comes to check on him keeps telling me to prepare for the worst." Nines shook her head in frustration, "I'm supposed to protect him and I failed, it's my fault he's like this."

Springfield studied Nines for a moment.

"Our commanders aren't as sturdy as us dolls, which is why they stay far away from combat," she motioned to Owen, "Well, most of the time anyway."

Nines turned to Springfield, who was regarding Owen with a distant expression as she spoke.

"You could be out on a patrol with a new commander who wants to better understand what the dolls under their command go through. Most of the time, nothing happens."

She reached out and placed a hand on Owen's cheek, "But sometimes they felt like they had something to prove." She shook her head, "Even though you can see they're afraid, that they don't want to be there."

Springfield's voice gained a hard edge as she continued, "No matter how much you try to explain to him that a few basic combat courses doesn't make him qualified to go on patrol into an area where there's armed bandits, and in the end, you're proven right in the worst way possible."

"You try your best to save him, you put pressure on the wound as you're taught, but the blood still keeps coming, and your hands are soaked in it. So you try to look for the first aid kit he should have. Only, your commander didn't bring a first aid kit because he didn't think he would need it, and since he decided to join your team at the last minute, no one packed anything besides the standard field repair kits."

Nines said nothing as Springfield, who was clearly no longer in the room with her, reached up to stroke Owen's hair, "His stomach is starting to swell, he's trying to tell you something, but the blood is coming from his mouth too and he can't speak properly."

Springfield jerked her hand away like she'd been electrocuted and then brought it to her face, as if checking for something.

"Sometimes," she continued as she studied her hand, "we can do everything right, and bad things will still happen to our commanders," she looked Nines in the eyes, "There is nothing you can do about that."

"But if I had been able to eliminate Lilith, or if I had been able to keep her busy, then…"

"Then what?" Springfield snapped, then shook her head, "You can run through everything again, and again, and again, until you've exhausted every possibility, but nothing will ever change. What's done is done, nothing will change that, and it's not your fault," she gave Nines a brittle smile, "it's not your fault it happened to him and not you."

"Do you actually believe that?" Nines asked, "or is it what you want to believe?"

"A little of both." Springfield admitted as her old personality started to return, "it also helps that I have the cafe to keep me busy when I have my bad days."

"It would do you some good to get out of here for a bit, a change of scenery, you know?" Springfield suggested.

Nines turned back to Owen, "Maybe later."

Springfield nodded, "Whenever you want, don't feel obligated to on my account, but if you change your mind, I'll be more than happy to watch over him for you."

Nines smiled just a little, "Spasibo."

Springfield grinned, "Of course, I have to go, but if you need anything, you know where to find me."

With a wave, Springfield left and Nines was alone with Owen again. She looked thoughtfully at the unconscious man and thought of the day they had 'met'.

Nines had recently been reactivated after being repaired by Persica, who explained that NInes had been caught in an EMP blast. Apparently the scientist had been forced to completely reprogram her in order to get her operational again.

The loss of who she was before the incident didn't bother Nines like it did most other dolls. She didn't know what her mission was before Persica assigned her as a personal guard for Nate, but she knew it was bad. There was this sense of dread that tugged at her neural cloud, and if she really focused, she could almost catch a glimpse of whatever caused that feeling. A muzzle flash, the smell of cordite, the sound of someone crying.

The distinctive sound of Colette's helicopter snapped Nines from her thoughts. She walked over to the window and looked out in time to see it slow to a hover over the rebuilt airfield. Nines suppressed the urge to scowl.

If Colette was here, that meant she'd want to see Owen, and she never liked seeing the two of them together. There was always a sort of tension there. Something left over from the war. She wasn't sure why that bothered her so much, but whenever she thought about the fact that Owen and Colette had some sort of relationship, she also thought about the time she had spent with Owen in the hotel. When he had tried to drink himself into oblivion. When he had joked with her while eating pizza, and when he had taken the job at Griffin.

Nines shook her head and sat down in the chair beside Owen's bed. None of that mattered, her job was to stay by his side and protect him, and that was what she was going to do.

- Sector 09 Airfield -

"Valkyrie you are cleared to hover taxi to park at landing pad four via taxiway alpha, cross runway two-one, ground crew is waiting for you."

"Cleared to taxi to landing pad four via taxiway alpha, I have the ground crew in sight, you have a good day tower." Colette answered as she followed the instructions given.

"Same to you Valkyrie, see you next time."

Colette landed at the designated spot, and MP-40, along with SVT-40, Micro Uzi, and Sig-510 were already out and walking towards the main base before Colette had a chance to start the shut down process.

M2 hopped out and watched everything from the outside. Colette was seriously impressed with how quickly her door gunner had picked up the job. When she had told M2 as much, the tall blonde looked at the helicopter with a grin and a shrug and said, "Always liked helicopters, don't know why."

The two had then become fast friends as they teamed up to keep Valkyrie in as best of shape as they could with what they had.

The rotor blades slowed to a halt, and before Colette could climb out, M2 was already climbing atop the helicopter and removing panels to check and make sure nothing had gone wrong during the flight. Once that was done, they finished by tying off the rotor blades and locking everything up.

The two bumped fists and made their way off of the landing pad. The two walked in silence for a while, it wasn't until they were off of the ramp and following the dirt road that led to the main building that anything was said.

"So," M2 began, breaking the silence, "you gonna go see the Commander?'

Colette was quiet for a few steps, "I guess I have to, don't I?"

M2 shrugged, "Not really, it just seems like everyone else has been all worked up ever since he got dropped off here."

Colette kicked at a pebble with her boot and watched it skip off the road into the grass. She then looked thoughtfully at M2.

"You're right," she told the tall blonde, "everyone has been pretty upset, except for you."

Another shrug, "Surprised I don't fall head over heels for him like all of the other dolls?"

"I mean, yeah."

M2 chuckled, "I used to be like that, but then I lost one commander, and the last one was an absolute dick so," she gave Colette a sly grin, "last time I went to the repair bay, I had Alexander tweak me a bit."

"Is that what you're calling it now?" Colette teased, "Getting 'tweaked'?"

M2 rolled her eyes, "Don't be gross," then gave Colette a questioning look, "you're a T-doll, you should know as well as I do how easy it is to get attached to your Commander."

Colette coughed, "Well, different manufacturers and all that."

M2 frowned, "But you and Owen had that fling during the war, wasn't that because he was your Commander?"

"Different circumstances." Colette explained quickly as she waved off a truck that was slowing down to offer them a ride.

M2 stared thoughtfully at Colette for a minute before shrugging it off, "Well, most of the IOP T-dolls are programmed to get attached to their Commander, as long as he's not a total asshole, plus the human interaction is good for us, keeps us from going crazy and ensures that we're loyal to our commander and will easily follow his orders."

"So you won't follow Owen's orders anymore?" Colette asked.

"I wish," M2 snorted, "He hasn't been very good at Commanding us lately, but no, it just means I won't follow blindly, I'll still be able to do something if he starts getting too dangerous."

M2's face darkened, "Like if he starts hurting dolls, or getting rid of dolls who start asking too many questions."

Colette was silent, it seemed like Zhenka's shadow still hung over the dolls at the Outpost, she wondered if Owen had noticed.

Probably not, he was terrible at picking up on things like that.

"But," M2 said as she opened a door for Colette, "enough of you dodging my question, are you going to visit Owen or not?"

Colette looked up and saw that M2 was holding the door to the new medical wing with a smug grin on her face. Colette blinked a few times as she realized that the entire time M2 had been talking, she had been leading Colette here.

With a defeated sigh, Colette stepped through the door and ignored M2's increasingly smug aura. She had wanted to go to the cafe instead, but of course, M2 wanted to 'help'.

"So what's the story with you and Commander Owen anyway?" M2 asked as she guided Colette through the halls to Owen's room, "how did you two y'know," she made the universal 'let's bang' gesture with her hand, "that."

Colette rolled her eyes, "Are you twelve?"

M2 affected a somber tone, "I'm actually quite old, and will be treated with the respect granted toward one's elder."

Colette smacked M2 on the shoulder with the back of her hand, "No you're not you bimbo."

M2 looked mortified, "I am not a bimbo."

"You are too."

"I'm going to throw you again." M2 threatened.

"Fine you're not a bimbo, you're an idiot with big tits and bleached hair." Colette snarked.

M2 reached up and adjusted her hat, "Explaining what a bimbo is, does not mean you're changing the insult." She pointed out, "Now stop avoiding my question, how did you two hook up?"

They stopped and Colette realized that they were standing in front of a closed door. She froze.

"We thought we were going to die." Colette whispered.

The placard on the door simply read:

Room 10

Owen, N.

M2 watched as all of the color drained from Colette's face and she began to back away from the door.

"I can't do this." Colette said as she backed away, "Not again."

Colette spun on her heels and took off as fast as she could. She shoved past a nurse, leaving a bewildered M2 standing alone. Before M2 could follow, the door opened to reveal MP-40.

"M2, you're here, sehr gut." MP-40 looked around, "I thought I heard you talking to someone else."

M2 looked down the hallway where Colette disappeared, "Just saw someone I knew."

MP-40 nodded slowly and stood to the side to let M2 enter. Once she was inside, she saw that everyone who had been on the helicopter earlier was there, with the inclusion of Nines. Then she got a good look at her Commander, and she could understand why Colette didn't want to see him like this.

"He looks like shit." M2 thought aloud.

Everyone turned to either glare at the machine gunner, or, in SIG's case, stare at her in amusement.

"Well he does," she said defensively, "I feel bad for the guy."

"What do the docs say?" SIG asked Nines.

"To me," Nines began in her soft tone, "not much, and none of what they did tell was good."

Nines closed her eyes and let out a sigh before she continued, "From what I've overheard, is that without these machines, he would be dead."

The room went silent, and M2 felt a heaviness fall over the group.

"Isn't he supposed to be a super soldier or some shit?" M2 asked. "I mean, he's supposed to be closer to us than a normal human right?"

Nines gave a helpless shrug, "Not close enough."

They all looked at Owen's emaciated form. M2 could count each individual rib, which was surprising given that a week ago he had been in perfect physical health.

"How much longer?" MP-40 asked.

Another shrug, this one more helpless than the first, "Not sure, but not long at this point."

The room fell silent again.

"I don't want another Commander," Uzi blurted out, "I like Commander Owen."

"We won't need another Commander," SVT-40 said unconvincingly, "he's going to pull through."

"I hope so." Uzi sniffled, "we already lost Freya."

M2 watched the mood go from bad to worse. She decided that it was the perfect time to bail. She needed to place an order for new barrels for her weapon anyway.

"So," she began stepping towards the door with a thumb extended in the same direction, "I'm gonna go, I got stuff to do and..."

"Where's Colette?"

M2 stopped mid step and turned back to Nines, "She's… busy."

Nines studied M2 intently, "Tell her, if she wants to see him, she should do it soon."

M2 gave a thumbs up, "You got it, I'll let her know."

M2 then spun on her heel and bailed out as quick as she could.

The others stayed and chatted quietly, and slowly trickled out of the room, one by one, until it was just her and MP-40. For a while the two were silent. MP-40 stood at the foot of the bed and studied her Commander.

"Do you think he can hear us, that he knows what's going on?" MP-40 asked suddenly.

Nines thought for a moment, "I'm not sure, I wondered the same thing when we were stuck underground together."

MP-40 briefly regarded Nines before turning her gaze back to Owen, "I almost forgot about that, I suppose this is a lot like how that was isn't it?"

Nines shook her head and smiled, "Nyet, this time I'm not underground, which makes things a little better."

MP-40 gave a sad little chuckle, "I wonder if it's like being in level three for us?"

Nines nodded slowly, "I think so, Owen told me he had no idea how much time had passed when I woke him the first time."

MP-40 shuddered, "I hated being in level three, you never knew what was happening to your body while you were out, you never knew if someone was…" she trailed off.

The two sat in silence again.

"Makarov is doing well" MP-40 said, as if she was giving Owen her usual report.

"Alexander did a good job fixing her up, and we even managed to use this incident to order a dummy link for everyone." MP-40 took a shaky breath and continued, her voice a little stronger, "The Outpost is almost fully operational again as well, the construction crews are really putting in the hours, it's kind of impressive. Along with that, the automated defense systems arrived, so the human guards will be rotating out soon. I know you were worried about them being stationed so far away from their families."

Tears were streaming down MP-40s face as she continued to talk.

"Speaking of families, Frankie's wife had her baby, it was a little boy. He's healthy and Frankie wants you to meet them both when you get the-" her voice caught, "when you get the chance."

She sniffled and kept going, "Olena is doing well in her lessons, I still teach her everyday like we talked about, but she's been asking about you and I don't know…" she stopped and looked at Nines, opened her mouth to say something, but instead walked quickly from the room.

Nines could hear MP-40s sobbing as the door closed. She sighed, reached out and grabbed one of Owen's bony hands and gave it a small squeeze, "You're causing a lot of problems, you know?" She scolded him gently in Russian.

- Cafe -

Colette sat at a corner table, away from everyone else and surrounded by empty bottles of whiskey. She absently scratched at the label of a bottle that was in front of her before pouring the last of it into a glass and knocking it backt. She put it with the others and waved to Springfield for another one.

While she waited for Springfield to bring over a fresh bottle, her mind wandered back to the war. Specifically when she had first met Owen.

Her squadron had lost three helicopters already that day, and the officer in charge of their wing didn't want any more of his birds flying in the area. But Colette heard a man with a southern accent cussing out one of the radio operators in the TOC as she passed by, and hovered at the entrance of the tent to listen.

As it turned out, the southern accent was a soldier, Colette would later learn it was an angry Owen, who had just been told they weren't able to get an evac. The soldier had apparently been having a bad day and took exception to the news.

Technically, Colette was grounded due to the fact that her copilot had been killed the day prior by a stray round that caught him in the neck. She could still hear him choke on his own blood as she tried to get him back to the CSH* as fast as she could.

Her copilot's death was the reason she snuck to her helicopter, which still hadn't been cleaned or repaired, and technically went AWOL*. The entire cockpit smelled like blood, and it was all Colette could do not to vomit.

The pickup went smoothly, she came in skimming just above the ground, and took off as soon as everyone was on board.

On the trip back, her bird got tagged by anti air, and the christmas tree on her instrument panel started lighting up. She heard someone tell her that they smelled smoke.

All she could smell was the blood.

She wanted to vomit, but couldn't. It was when they finally got back to the base that things began to go sideways.

They were hovering a few feet over the ramp when the engine of the UH-60 she was piloting finally quit. They slammed down to the asphalt hard and she could hear the team in the back let out whoops of glee.

"So that's why they call it a Crashhawk." Someone joked.

As she shook her head to collect her bearings she realized her stomach was heaving, she was going to puke. She unbuckled herself as fast as she could, unfastened her helmet and opened the door to the cockpit, only to be greeted by one of the soldiers she had just picked up.

He looked like he had just met his first crush.

She couldn't hold it anymore, and vomited in his face. One of the other soldiers started laughing. As she ran, she heard the soldier's friend say, "I think she likes you."

Colette chuckled to herself as she remembered the soldier's face. It wasn't until the next day that she had learned that it was Owen, and that he was coming to thank her for saving them.

She had gotten into deep shit for her stunt, demoted, grounded, and facing a court martial. It wasn't until Owen and his team pulled almost every string they could and got her transferred to another medical unit instead of getting kicked out.

As Colette reached for the bottle to refill her glass and was surprised to see it was gone. She looked up in time to see M2 chugging the full bottle like it was a beer and slumping into the booth next her. She motioned to Springfield for two more bottles and let out a loud groan.

"Jeeeeeesus that room is depressing as hell." M2 complained.

"What room?" Colette asked, even though she had a feeling she already knew that answer.

"Your not quite dead boyfriend's room," M2 said, "everyone in there is just," she let out a huff, "so damn depressing."

Springfield set two full bottles and an empty glass onto the table, then began clearing the empty bottles away.

"It's good to see you M2, it's been a while since you've paid us a visit." Springfield said as she worked.

M2 cheerfully raised the bottle and took a drink before responding, "Thanks Springy, good to see you too." She jerked her head to Colette, "I've been busy helping out at the outpost."

Springfield looked to Colette and her expression softened, "How are you holding up, do you need anything?"

Colette blinked in surprise, "I'm… fine?" she answered slowly in confusion, "Why would I need anything?'

"I dropped off something for Nines earlier," Springfield explained, "having your commander in such a condition is sure to be upsetting."

"I'm fine." Colette repeated curtly, after she realized the direction this conversation was headed.

M2 and Springfield shared a look, M2 gave a subtle shake of her head. Springfield nodded to Colette, finished her work and left.

"I really am." Colette told M2 defensively.

"The fuck you are." M2 criticized.

"Why, because of earlier?" Colette spat the question.

"Well yeah." M2 nodded, "There's also how you've acted all week."

"I hav-"

"We have completely overhauled that helicopter just so you have an excuse to stay at the Outpost," M2 interrupted in annoyance, "anytime we needed anything from the main base, you sent me to pick it up so you wouldn't be anywhere near this place." M2 slapped her thighs, "Do you know how many miles I've put in this week?"

Colette said nothing.

"Shit, I even went to visit him before you. Me." M2 emphasized, "And I could give two shits about the guy."

Colette's grip tightened on her glass but she remained silent.

"I mean, damn, I had assumed that you two were about to rekindle that old fling, but I guess I was wrong." M2 said before taking another drink.

M2 was about to start talking again but Colette slammed her glass down, stood without a word, and stormed out.

"Well shit," M2 grumbled to herself as she grabbed the two bottles and stood, "this is why I hate dealing with all the touchy feely bullshit."

She told Springfield to put everything on her tab, and followed Colette out of the cafe.

Once Colette had left the cafe/bar she had made her way back outside and found that the sun had started to set, bathing everything in red.

She couldn't figure out why she was acting this way. Owen and herself had never been that serious, even before he came back. There had been some flirting, sure. But more than that, whenever they met, they mostly gave each other shit, hung out with Owen's team, and drank. A lot.

But there was that one time.

That one time meant nothing.

Are you sure?

We were burnt out, needed a way to blow off steam, it wasn't real.

Then why did he want you to come back?

He needed a pilot he could trust.

Griffin has plenty of pilots, he wanted you with him, he said so himself.

Colette ran a hand through her hair and let out a frustrated groan. She looked around and realized that during her argument with herself, she had made it back to the airfield.

As she walked past an open hangar she noticed a Blackhawk that had clearly been flown through less than friendly skies. Scorch marks covered its fuselage, most likely from Sangvis units firing at it.

Colette saw a neat hole burned through the tail boom and winced. This bird wasn't flying anytime soon.

She climbed into the back of the wounded bird and sat down in one of the jump seats. It always felt weird, sitting in one of these jump seats. It was like sitting in the passenger seat of your own car, it didn't feel right.

Except that one time.

She leaned her head back and thought about that time. Owen hadn't realized what that time meant for her, and she doubted he ever would. It was the first time in a very long time that anyone had treated her like she was human. It had been a surprise to Colette that the reason for that was the fact that Owen really thought she was human.

It was nice.

She thought back to the other times their paths crossed. Whenever he found out they were at the same location, he would always track her down, beers in hand, and invite her over to wherever his team had set up shop. There she was welcomed as one of the gang, and they would spend all of their free time grilling out, making jokes, and overall finding a way to make the best out of being in the middle of a war.

Until one day, there was no beer, no gang, and no Owen.

She had gotten back from a mission of her own when she heard about the three birds getting shot down on their return leg from picking up a special forces team. They had reported everyone as being KIA.

She remembered going to the team's area, sitting in an empty chair, listening to the quiet and realizing that they would never come back. Owen would never come back.

One of the few constants in her life disappeared in an instant.

But then he came back and that's when the night in the back of the helicopter happened. Because she was the first person he came to find once he was able to walk again.

Even after ten years, after she had moved on, along with the rest of the world, there he was. The only difference that time was that he was almost the same as her now.

Almost being the key word.

She let out a sigh and stared up at the roof of the Blackhawk. It was time to go see him.

More than that, it was time to tell him how she really felt, without playing it off as trying to get laid.

"I thought I'd find you somewhere around here." A voice teased, shaking her from her thoughts.

She turned to see M2 leaning against the fuselage holding up the two bottles of whiskey, "I bring a peace offering."

Colette smiled and climbed out of the bird, "Sorry about that."

She accepted one of the bottles and toasted with her friend.

"So," M2 said after taking a drink, "what's up?"

"...I'm going to go visit Owen." Colette told her after a long pause.

M2 let out a loud groan, "But I just got here."

"You don't have to come." Colette pointed out.

"Yes I do," M2 said in exasperation, "If I don't, you'll just mope in front of the door for half an hour and walk away all sad and shit."

Colette ignored M2 and started walking.

- Medical Room 10 -

Nines heard the room's electronic lock die with a small pop and watched as light from the hallway spilled into the darkened room.

Nines watched from her darkened corner as three dolls entered the room. She trained her sights on the middle doll but refrained from pulling the trigger.

The moment she detected signals from an electronic warfare doll that was nearby, she shut her own Zener network adapter so it wouldn't transmit. She then turned off the lights and waited in the corner of the room that was behind the door.

She was expecting Alchemist, but these three were T-Dolls, which was the only reason she didn't fire. She recognized them as the team that occasionally came by the outpost for ammo and supplies.

"Is he even alive?" UMP 9 asked aloud.

"I wonder if she knew how bad he was when she hired us." Her sister remarked, "he doesn't need anything she put on that thumb drive, he needs a mortician."

"He was the one who was dumb enough to take on two ringleaders," HK 416 stated in a bitter tone, "the dummkopf needs to quit acting like he's one of us."

Nines finger was dangerously close to the trigger break, it would be too easy to incapacitate their bodies. Then she would destroy the cores and strip them of anything that looked useful to bring back to command an-.

She shook her head and safetied her weapon. The movement, followed by the quiet click as the safety engaged, made the three 404 members freeze and look towards her corner.

"Why are you here?" Nines asked, her quiet voice dripping with venom.

UMP 45 studied Nines curiously before a grin spread over her face, "We're just here to pay our respects, after all," she motioned to Owen's body, "he treated us better than most Griffin personnel do."

"Fine," Nines said, "you did that, you may leave now."

"Relax," UMP 45 said as her grin widened, "we'll be going and you can forget we were ever here."

The four dolls stood facing each other unmoving. After a moment, Nines grew annoyed.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

UMP 45's grin faded as she concentrated on Nines. Nines then became aware of something trying to access her memories. She activated her electronic warfare suite and pushed the intruder out.

At the same time, she raised her weapon and aimed right between UMP 45's eyes.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

UMP 9 and HK 416 raised their weapons as well, but looked from UMP 45 and Nines in confusion.

UMP 45 went from confused to amused in a matter of seconds. She chuckled and motioned for the other two to lower their weapons.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you." UMP 45 stated.

"I think it's time for you to leave." Nines told them forcefully.

"You heard her ladies," UMP 45 said, "we've worn out our welcome here."

"Besides," she continued with the same grin as she locked eyes with Nines, "we need to go visit Gentiane anyway."

Nines' weapon followed the trio as they made their way out of the room. Once she was sure that they were gone, she powered down her EW suite before it used too much energy. She then made sure Owen was comfortable and after promising that she would be back, quietly stepped into the hall.

She quickly made her way from the medical wing and entered the dormitories. As she half jogged through the hallways and passed an open door, she heard Owen's name. Curiosity getting the better of her, she paused to listen.

"You guys remember that recording of him shoving a live grenade into that ringleader's mouth right?" A doll was saying, "I'd take Owen in a heartbeat."

"Of course that would win you over Ingram, but I want someone who doesn't think violence is the answer to everything." Another doll teased.

"Violence ain't the answer Tokarev, violence is the question," Ingram said wisely, "and the answer is yes."

Nines made a mental note to never let Owen meet this Ingram, they would just feed off each other until they started destroying cities.

"I want someone who's shy, awkward and inexperienced, someone I could teach the ropes to." Tokarev was telling everyone as Nines stepped away from the door.

She left the dolls' dorm area, sprinted through the armory, and stopped at the hallway the commander's office/living quarters were at. She peeked around the corner and saw 404 enter Gentaine's office.

Nines made sure she wasn't transmitting any signal to give her away and crept to the edge of the door to listen to the conversation being held inside.

"So, what brings you here?" Gentiane was asking.

Nines heard the sound of something being placed on a hard surface.

"What's this?" Gentiane asked.

"We were hired to deliver this to you," UMP 45 explained, "It's to help your guest in the medical ward."

"Owen?" Gentiane asked in surprise, "You know what's going on with him?"

"Nein," UMP 45 said, "we had just learned about it yesterday."

"However," UMP 9 added, "Our employer seemed very aware of what was happening to him."

"A little too aware, since he's supposed to be on a Griffin base." HK 416 said.

"Who would this employer be?" Gentiane asked.

"You know we can't give our clients up that easy," UMP 45 said slyly, Nines could almost see the grin that came with it, "However, if you wanted to pay us double what our employer offer-"

"I don't care that much." Gentiane cut the leader of 404 off.

"If you say so~" UMP 45 said in a sing-song voice.

"Now that this is done," Gentiane's voice was dry, "I suppose you're going to go through my base wiping all the dolls' memories and stealing all my stuff?"

"Not all of them," UMP 45 said thoughtfully, "Owen's bodyguard is not normal."

"How so?"

"I'm not sure yet." UMP 45 hummed.

Nines slipped away when she heard someone start moving towards the door.

- Medical Room 10 -

Colette stood outside the room, staring at the door handle for a long time. M2, bored of watching Colette lose a staring contest with a door handle, reached over, opened the door, and motioned for Colette to enter.

When Colette looked at M2, her face was the old swirl of emotions that M2 had come to expect when Owen was involved lately.

"Would you mind letting me do this on my own?" Colette asked.

M2 snorted, "Trust me, I have no intention of dealing with all of the one sided emotional baggage that's about to be unpacked in there."

She held up her now empty bottle, "If you need me, I'll be at the bar, not acting like a hormonal teenager."

Colette rolled her eyes as M2 strutted down the hall, waving as she went. Colette took a deep breath, and went inside. She turned the light on and immediately regretted it.

Colette could barely recognize the man lying in the bed. Owen's muscles had completely atrophied, and his skin, which used to be bronzed from all his time in the sun, was now a blueish gray with a waxy sheen to it. His eyes looked too big in sunken sockets, and his cheeks were sunken in as well.

"Jesus." Colette whispered aloud in horror.

"I was starting to wonder if you would visit." A quiet voice said behind her.

Colette spun to see Nines' blue eyes studying her intently, "I know you're important to him, I was surprised when you never showed."

"I was, um," Colette swallowed, "I was busy."

Nines raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I was, the helicopter needed work done, it couldn't fly until then, and…" she trailed off with a sigh, "I was afraid."

"That he was going to die?" Nines asked, "Because I'm afraid of that too, but I've been here all along."

"Well good for fucking you." Colette snapped, "You sat here and made sure he didn't run away."

"And you hid from the reality of what was happening to him like a coward." Nines shot back.

"I told you, I was busy." Colette said lamely.

"So I've heard," Nines said waspishly, "it's interesting that this is the busiest you've been since Owen convinced you to fly for him."

Colette glared at Nines, but said nothing.

Nines was right and she knew it.

Colette took a deep breath and looked Owen over, "What's happening to him?"

Nines sat down in her chair next to Owen, "Miss Persica explained it to me once," she began, her tone still frosty "He was a test subject for a program experimenting with nanotechnology," Nines explained, "But they were never able to get it completely under control and a lot of soldiers died."

"So what made Owen so special?" Colette asked.

"They realized they couldn't regulate it, so they essentially made the nanites go dormant, until given an activation signal. The nanites were activated and now they're stuck in a loop." Nines was wringing her hands as she explained this.

Colette frowned, "What do you mean 'stuck in a loop'?"

Nines motioned to Owen's body, "Owen was severely injured, the nanites had a lot of work to do, and they needed a lot of energy to do it. Owen's metabolism shot through the roof to compensate which is why he's wasting away. The nanites see that there is a problem with Owen's body, so they're trying to fix it, and using more energy in the process."

Nines no longer sounded angry, just tired.

"So the nanites are killing him, because they won't stop trying to help him?" Colette asked.

Nines nodded but said nothing else. Colette sat on the opposite side of Owen as she tried to process the information she had just been given. The two sat in silence as the moon outside rose.

The door to the room suddenly slammed open as Gentiane stormed into, flanked on either side by medical personnel.

"They're taking him into surgery, you two need to leave." Gentiane ordered.

"What's goin on?" Nines asked in alarm.

"Things that are above your pay grade," Getniane told her as she pointed to the door, "now go."

The two found themselves being forced out before they even knew what was happening.

"If anything happens, I'll let you know." Gentiane said before closing the door in their faces.

The two stared at the closed door, before Colette started walking away without a word. Nines hesitated for a moment, but ran to catch up. The two walked the halls side by side, but said nothing to each other.

"He speaks of you often." Nines said, breaking the silence, "He cares about you, even if he won't admit it."

Colette let out a humorless laugh, "I think you've got it backwards, it's you he has a thing for."

"Actually, I think he's struggling with the fact he has to deal with both of us at the same time." A hint of amusement could be heard in Nines' voice.

Colette's laugh was genuine this time, "Yeah, I can only imagine how hard it would be trying to figure out which one of us he wants to actually seal the deal with."

"Many people in his position would try to 'seal the deal' with both of us." Nines pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm not cool with that though." Colette said.

"Me neither," Nines agreed, "but I'm not going to give him up easily."

Colette led them back outside, "I'm not either," she began as she started to make her way back to the bar, "and unfortunately for you, I know what he likes."

Nines smile, her eyes alight with mischief, "I think I may surprise you."

Colette grinned, "Well, I guess to the victor go the spoils."

"I shall." Nines deadpanned, "don't worry."

Colette laughed as she opened the door to the bar/cafe, "You're a cocky shit, I'll give you that."

As the two entered, they were met with a loud cheer. All three Misfit teams, minus Makarov and M500 were there, and by the looks of things, were already heavily intoxicated. M2 was standing on a chair, reenacting shooting something. When she saw Colette, she raised her glass.

"Now it's a pa-oh shit." M2's chair collapsed, causing the doll to go crashing to the floor.

AK 47 and SKS laughed with drunken glee as Nagant tried to help, but stumbled and fell on top of M2. SVT-40 tried to admonish the other Russian dolls, but kept erupting into giggles every time she tried to tell them to stop.

Spectre and M3 were trying to talk an annoyed looking SIG 510 into ordering them more explosives to use, but they kept going on and on about 'cleansing Sangvis in a holy flame.' K11 was standing behind them, nodding in appreciation of their new devotion to explosives.

Garand and Uzi had both lined up shots, and were racing to see who could finish them first. Meanwhile, G3 and MP-40 were quietly discussing something in rapid fire German.

M2 got back to her feet with Nagant holding on for dear life. She picked the small scout up in one and hand plopped her onto a nearby barstool. Nagant swore vengeance for being treated in such a way, M2 ignored the threats and walked over to greet Nines and Colette.

"I was wondering when you two would get the news." She said with a wide grin.

"What news?" Nines asked.

"Gentiane and Persica came up with a cure for Owen about an hour ago, he's gonna make it," M2 turned and gestured to the chaos behind her, "which is why everyone's here celebrating."

"They look like they've been celebrating a while." Colette pointed out.

"Well, it started out with me convincing them that they needed to drink to help with how whiney and depressed they were," M2 admitted, "but hey, now it's a celebration!"

M2 placed an arm around each girl's waist and led them to the table, "Now come on ladies, let's see who I can take advantage of tonight!"

No one from the Misfits remembered what happened after that point, but Springfield was forced to close her cafe for two weeks in order to repair the damage that was done.

Two things happened to Owen when awoke from his surgery a few days after his surgery.

The first was that Kalina appeared with a cost estimate to cover the repairs of Springfield's cafe and a promise to finish what the nanites started if he didn't agree to have his pay docked.

The second was that, at some point, someone had delivered a Get Well Soon card.

He knew who it was from before he even opened it, because it looked exactly like the one he received the first time he was hospitalized.

Darling,

I'm glad to see you're starting to recover from those nasty injuries you got. I was worried and that's not something I think I've ever done before.

I'm also glad to see my fix for your little nanite issue is working well.

But Darling, I warned you to be careful and you didn't listen.

So rest up and regain your strength, because I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you for disobeying me.

And trust me, the punishment will be very, very, intense.

See you soon, Darling.

All my love,

~A

Owen let out a groan and slammed his head back into his pillow.

He absolutely did not get paid enough for this shit.

A/N: So this seems like as good a place as any to say that I'm taking a break from The Misfits.

I want to clarify (mostly to my beta, who's going to try and murder me after he sees this) that I'm not abandoning The Misfits, but I do want to work on some other stuff as well.

This includes a side story that ties into the Misfits verse.

I also want to get caught up on a few other GFL stories here on FFN that I haven't had a chance to read in a while.

Whiskey out.

B/N: Whaaaaaat? Nooooooo! I would NEVER try to murder my author…-ish
*Slowly pulls out Kimber 1911*