Hector woke up a few times throughout the course of the day but he didn't really leave his bed unless it was for the bathroom, the others noticed that he didn't say anything at all-he just laid there, whether he was sleeping or lying awake staring up at the bottom of the top bunk. Occasionally they'd look over and see silent tears falling from his eyes or he'd roll over and cry silently but his shaking body gave it away that he was. They knew it was hard for him right now, knowing that the attack that killed Sean, and the one that killed Cody, and Drake were planned by Douglas Hill, a now former General in the military. News traveled quickly about what happened-he was already stripped of his rank and imprisoned on base, heavily guarded until he was taken back to the Archipelago to be charged with various crimes against the military, and Hector himself. They'd never seen Hector get so cold before, ever in the five years they'd known him. Hector could get upset, happy, mad-but they'd never seen him colder than ice, a look in his eyes that could rival the devil's. What worried Tallon the most is what Hector had said to Doug:

You can't break what is already broken. I've been broken for a long time.

By some grace of Odin when lunchtime came, Hector actually agreed to go eat with them but stayed silent and stared down while he did. Tallon was grateful that Hector was at least eating. Hector had gotten in touch with Holgerson-who told him that he nearly died but Cody, Drake, and Sean must have been looking out for him because the place the RPG had just missed him. Hearing it made Hector want to go find Doug and beat his ass but he contained himself. After lunch, Hector went back to the barrack and just sat on his bed.

"Tal, we gotta do something..." Darius said after Hector had left the chow tent.

"I know that, but he's not willing to talk right now and I won't push him," Tallon sighed.

"If you won't, then I will. I'm not gonna lose my brother," Darius stated firmly.

"Leave him alone, Darius. He won't hurt himself, or try to kill himself. You need to take into account the last few days, even the last year," Tallon stated grabbing Darius's wrist when he tried to go after Hector, "All of it was a sick game to Hill and Hector still stood firm against it. Even if he cried, it doesn't matter. It means he knows it hurts and he wasn't afraid to show it. He didn't bury it-and as long as he doesn't do that...he will be okay with time. So leave him be for now,"

"How can you say that for sure, Tallon. Hector...admitted that he was already broken..." Darius looked down.

Tallon let go of Darius's wrist now and sighed some, "Because I know my husband, Darius. I've watched him, I know his looks, his eyes, his emotions when certain things happen. Like that day we heard him in the music room when he thought he was alone. He started crying and I just knew to hold him because that's all he wanted. Someone to be there for him because no one ever had been before. But for this, he wants to be left alone with his thoughts-a way to sit with them, accept them, and when he is ready...he will talk. I know he will, he knows he can come to me for anything and I will listen to him. That is why we are married, he knows he can trust me, and he knows I will always be there for him when he needs me to be and he knows that I will give him his space until he's ready. That's why I just tell him that I love him and if he needs anything, to let me know. You'll see," Tallon closed his eyes now.

"We believe you, we just want him to be okay," Thaxter nodded to him.

They continued breakfast quietly and then made their way back to the barrack, Hector just like before was sitting on his bed staring off at nothing in particular. Tallon made his way over and kissed the top of his head gently then prepared to walk away but Hector reached for his hand and stopped him from leaving, Tallon stopped and looked back at his husband now,

"Will you stay?" Hector asked.

"Of course babe, I'll do anything you'd like me to do. I just want you to be okay," Tallon replied as he moved closer again and sat down on Hector's bed and held his hand gently. Hector had him lay down on the bed and then he laid on him, between his legs with his head on Tallon's chest.

"Just hold me..." Hector said, his tone starting to crack again. Tallon wrapped his arms around Hector's arms and rubbed them a bit.

"Sssh...it's alright, Love. It's alright...I've got you," Tallon soothed him gently, he glanced over at Darius now with a look that clearly said told you so. Hector didn't cry but he laid there a good fifteen minutes comfortably before lifting his head and leaning in to kiss his husband-it took Tallon by surprise but he kissed him back, they broke it moments later. "What...was that for?"

"Because I love you and you're the best. You've been...so understanding about everything the last few days with my...well, nonexistent mood." Hector said softly.

Tallon stroked his short hair a bit, "Of course. I'm your husband, Hector. And I'd never push you to do something you weren't ready for or didn't want to do-not unless I was scared for your life. I know the last few days have been hard, and you needed your space. That's why I just remind you that you aren't alone and I am here when you're ready, or if you need anything,"

"It helps, it really does. I'll tell you what happened, all of it. I just...I've needed time to get my thoughts together before I did," Hector admitted.

"Are you sure, Hector? I'll understand if it's too soon and you need more time. I know most of what happened anyway, I want you to be okay, that's all that matters to me." Tallon said gently looking into his eyes.

"I'm sure. I'm gonna use the bathroom, and go get an aspirin from the medic. Will you call the higher ups so that way I can just tell them too? I'll be back in fifteen minutes," Hector sighed.

"Alright, Love. I'll call them over. Do you want to do it in here or somewhere else?" Tallon asked as Hector got up slowly.

"Wherever they want to do it is fine with me," Hector replied as he headed to the bathroom, then came out a minute later and left the barrack to go to the medic. Tallon got his radio and contacted Caleb to get the others and meet in the barrack saying Hector was ready to talk about what happened. They arrived a short ten minutes later and then Hector walked in.

"Sorry, there was kind of a wait to see him and I had to get my bandages changed-took longer than I thought," came Hector's voice as he entered the barrack and made his way over to his bed, Tallon greeted him with a light hug. "You said you needed to know what happened so I just assume bring you all to one place to do that," he added after hugging Tallon.

"Whatever is...easier for you, Major Furysen. We can go talk in one of the offices, or in the chow tent, even here if you like." Caleb offered.

"It doesn't matter to me, but I am telling my husband and the rest of my platoon what you wouldn't allow me to tell them before," Hector stated as they nodded.

"Alright, Major. Whenever you're ready, just tell us everything from the beginning," Harold asked softly, "And...please touch base on how you discovered Douglas Hill to be a traitor, when you get to that of course,"

"That wasn't hard to figure out-he gave himself away. But sure," Hector shrugged. "I guess the beginning would be when the I was placed in the program for extensive training," Hector said as he got a few metal chairs from the back closet for the higher ups to sit down, Hector moved to his bed and sat down now with his forearms resting on his thighs, hands connecting in the middle. Tallon sat beside him as the rest of the platoon got comfortable on their beds and closer to hear the story. "I was aware of the mission, the deployment, and all the training I'd have to do when I returned to duty after being shot that night at Berk Hall,"

"Wait, when did this happen?" Caleb asked.

"Save the questions for later if you wouldn't mind," Hector said, he nodded and Hector looked up now. "That was October 2020. I got briefed about it when we got there that Friday, that's why I didn't take part of the exercises. I met all these guys that day, including Caleb. I was told about the deployment in March 2021 and that there would be a top secret mission to complete: search and capture, or destroy if necessary. I wasn't aware of the who the target was or anything until after the training. I was told that I was selected with twenty nine others as possible candidates for the mission. And that only the soldiers who survived the training would be chosen for the mission, one of which who had the top scores would be leader of the other nine when the deployment started and things for the mission were finalized. The soldiers chosen-they'd been picked from around the Archipelago, ones who scored high in marks during their BCT and AIT, made expert shooter, and were promoted for their outstanding skills, and other bullshit." he stated as the others just listened.

"There were specific things they were looking for, skills, high rank, could lead and execute missions with the least amount of problems. They were trying to make a small team of elite soldiers to carry this mission out and only the best of the best were selected. But of course, they had to undergo the training first. To keep the suspicion down about what was going on-it was done over the course of five months, and then the one week before the deployment in March. And it was two day training during drill weekends. Its why I never took part Fridays or Saturdays. Any soldier taking part in this little operation was sworn to secrecy, we had to sign contracts and if we broke them...we were immediately subjected to discharge from the military and then following that was severe prison time because the operation was a case of Archipelago Islands Security. The training was intense and those who didn't pass were ones who couldn't handle what they put us through," Hector continued to explain.

"How...intense?" Skylar asked.

"We had to sign waivers, allowing the trainers to put us through Hell and then some. This training, it was nothing like Basic or AIT. It was...situations set up to test everything we had, how much we could handle physically, mentally, emotionally. Set up to be exactly like what the mission would be like. Having to reach a location, find the target, and capture but also deal with close range firefights, being captured ourselves, tortured. The waivers to say that we gave them permission to kick our asses to see if we could withstand it. So many exercises had to be done. Isolation for hours, torture, hand to hand fighting, seeing friends die, being captured, being shot at, interrogations...everything. Thirty soldiers entered that program and only ten survived it. And those ten were myself and the other nine who were sent on the mission a few days ago, because we were the only ones who were able to handle everything thrown at us without breaking down, freaking out, and begging to be let out of the program because they couldn't handle it." Hector sighed some.

"Explains why you were always exhausted when you reached the barrack on Saturday nights," Thaxter stated.

"Yeah and we weren't allowed to say a word about it. I hated lying to all of you but...I just...couldn't. By the third month, there were only fifteen of us left. This training, it took the utmost mental stability to handle. I guess that's why I did so good-because I've been through so much shit already that nothing else can really affect me. The week I had to be at Fort Striker for what you thought was meetings and preparations was the hardest of the training. Being captured for hours, tortured to see if we'd break under it. On the last day when it was just me and the other nine, we were sat down to be told about the mission. It was going to involve everything we'd been training for and I was chosen as leader. From that moment on...everything involving the mission became my responsibility to make the calls on. My only order from the higher ups were not to tell anyone other than who was directly involved." Hector looked at his friends again.

"So you were the one making calls on what to do for the mission?" Trent asked.

"Yes. When to send a team to check location, terrain, how heavily guarded. I was...running missions from Berk still, Hill's team were on my orders to check things out. Of course, we know now that it was just a ploy since he was setting up a trap for me and the others. When we arrived here...every meeting I had to go to was for updates on the situation. Target location, and all that. I insisted so many times that me and the team go ourselves-it was going to be us in it so it made sense to send the team who would actually be carrying out the mission. Hill made up excuses why I shouldn't, his main one being that you all would get suspicious why I was running missions without you so I backed off. That night I came back and yelled at Steele was the night it was decided to strike. I made that call to do it because the target hadn't moved in two months and I was sick of waiting around." Hector cracked his neck slightly now.

"Why were you yelling at him?" Tallon asked.

"Because the entire walk back after that meeting-he kept asking if I was sure I wanted to go through with it. If I was sure that I understood what I had to do. Of course I did-I'd been calling all the shots since March 2021 when I got chosen at team leader. I was stressed out about the mission-it was big, and incredibly dangerous. I hated it and just wanted it over," Hector sighed closing his eyes.

"So...what happened next?" Caleb asked seeing as now the story was entering the parts of the mission.

"The team and I arrived at the location at 0400 hours. We hid the chopper and walked the rest keeping our guard up. For awhile, most of what we did was watch close and gather information, then we'd either hide or move according to that info. We reached the target location at 1700, before making a move, I checked for how guarded and saw that it was just a family home. I was about to radio back to base about it but the house was bombed with two RPG's and we were caught in it. There was a lot of smoke and fire, then gunfire. I remember getting so mad realizing it was an ambush, and then one of the others tripped over something and I rushed over to get her out of a line of fire and I...saw a body-it was just a little boy. Couldn't have been older than seven, he'd been killed in the explosion. A bullet grazing my arm brought me back to reality, there was hardly any place to take cover but we covered each other and fired back. We were in that fight for forty five minutes, no one got hurt-except me. Enemy came out of nowhere and knocked me out. Next thing I remember was waking up in the cell with the others. I checked my watch and it was 1900, we'd all been stripped of our gear and weapons." Hector kept his head down.

"It's okay, take your time...or we can take a break if it's too much, babe," Tallon told him with a hand on his back.

"I'm alright. Anyway...I asked if everyone was alright and they nodded to me. An enemy came into the cell and tried to get near the others but I fought him, snapped his neck. After that, they sent five more. I handled two of them before getting tackled down and tied to a metal chair. I told them they could do whatever they wanted to me but leave the others alone. Seemed to work, they kept their focus on me-I guess they liked that I was a fighter and gave them a hard time," Hector stood up now as he pulled off his shirt, then untied the wrappings and let them drop as Tallon could see the full extent of the damage these people put him through. Whip and cut marks, burns, bruising, his neck had hand print bruises-clear sign they tried to choke him out until near unconsciousness, his wrists had rope marks. Hector's face was pretty banged up too, bruises from being punched or slapped, cut marks, split lip, little cuts from general breaking the skin.

"Odin almighty, Hector..." Darius breathed out, shocked and almost afraid of the state his brother's body was in. "And you didn't black out at all?" Hector shook his head silently.

"All this...was five and a half hours of never ending torture. I heard them step out for five minutes, and then return with handcuffs-which went on my wrists behind my back, tied to the chair. They cut my shirt off me, then got my belt and pants off. I don't even know where I found the strength to do it but I snapped the handcuff chain and got my arms free. I grabbed the chair and knocked one of them into the wall, the other two pinned me stomach down and tried to tie my wrists again, the other one attempted to get my boxers off but I kicked him off and hit him in the nuts because he didn't move after that. I headbutted the one who was trying to secure my wrists. It was back and forth for thirty minutes, just fighting to keep them off me. One of the team had managed to get a knife off the leg of an enemy, she tossed it to me and I caught it just as I got slammed down hard..." Hector's fist tightened and Tallon noticed it.

"Hector...what happened?" Tallon asked.

"I felt a hand touching me and snapped." he said coldly.

"Touching you where, Major Furysen?" asked Ralph.

"Where the fuck do you think? I took the knife and stabbed him in the throat, then slit the necks belonging to the other two. I got my pants and belt back on, one of the guys gave me their undershirt. The enemies left us alone after that, when there was a guard change, I faked being dead to trick them. They opened the cell, and was gang rushed by my team. We all got out, and ran right for the chopper. As soon as we got within in three feet of it, it exploded and we had no way out and no radio either. I tried to keep us hidden but we got found, we were lined up to be executed...they all looked at me for help just as the command was given to shoot. Two soldiers held me, one forced my eyes open-made me watch them all get shot. The target came out to shoot me himself, at the time-I really just didn't care if I died or not. Not with the shit I'd seen and had to go through...but the Americans showed up, and in the confusion-I grabbed the gun and turned it on him. I had the American's secure him to be taken with us, I rounded up the bodies of my team...put them in the chopper and told them to follow us...we stopped at their base so I could be treated first, then we came here...and you know the rest." Hector stated.

"You said they tried to rape and molest you, Major. If one actually touched you, that's molestation. Any form of unwanted physical contact is molestation." Harold said quickly.

Hector's eyes went cold, "I'm very well aware of what I said and I know what was done to me. I'm warning you right now, to fucking drop it." they didn't say a word. "As for how I figured out Hill was a traitor: it wasn't difficult. Like I said, he gave himself away."

"Would you...elaborate on that, because none of us caught on." Keith asked calmly.

"After Tallon yelled at all of you, Hill stated something that didn't make sense: Not our fault that he ran his team right into the ambush location-which happened to be a chopper that they left unguarded for hours and was hidden terribly, it's not our fault his team got killed execution style. And then Caleb mentioned, What are you saying, it's not Hector's fault. How could he of known their hidden chopper was found while they were captured and then set up as an ambush that would leave them stranded. What really did it was hearing Hill refer to where the chopper was as THE ambush location. Basically saying he knew that it was one, and if he were trying to hide he was a part of the whole situation then he would have referred to is as AN ambush location. And how did he know that the chopper was hidden when I never said that it was. I never told anyone we hid the chopper and walked for an hour to target location." Hector informed.

"And you also mentioned something about enemy soldiers knowing where you were?" Gary asked.

"How did the enemies know where we'd be. Hill was the one gather information on the target-sent us to the home and you remember, I did check in when we were in range. You told me to get a clear shot and take it, but I noticed it was a family home-I went to radio in that something wasn't right, and then two RPGs hit the house and we got surrounded within seven minutes. Point being, he got my update of where we were and sent enemies after us. Then set up a second ambush after we escaped the prison hold. It took us thirty minutes to reach it, plenty of time for them to set up a bomb. He was having us watched on the mission. No one noticed how shocked he looked when I came back alive, or the look on his face when I brought out the prisoner? Everything just fit after he said what he said, I knew I wasn't wrong. He admitted to it-saying it was all part of a plan to break me. Guess he didn't take into account that you can't break what is already broken," Hector retorted.

"And...what do you mean by that, Major Furysen?" Keith inquired. "Forgive my curiosity but it sounds like you're saying you aren't stable after everything that happened."

"It's nothing you need concern yourself with, Lieutenant General. I had a...shall we say, challenging past. Come now, you were in here when Hill told you everything. I suffer from bipolar depression-it has it's ups and downs but I'm perfectly fine. I can assure you with 100% certainty, I'm not a danger to myself or others. Unless you do what Hill did, then I'm likely to snap. You can put me through evaluation if you need proof but I think after all I've done for you, you can trust my word." Hector stated.

"Very well, Major. We believe you, and thank you for telling us everything. Though Hill did what he did, the mission was still a complete success and we are indebted to you for what you did. You still captured the target, and it was something that will bring forth big changes to this war," Gary stood as he offered his hand to Hector-who shook it, and the the hands of the others.

"Thank you," they all said with a salute to him.

"Major Furysen, I...hope you haven't forgotten. You...remember what we told you, yes? You know it's time sensitive." Keith asked.

"Enough. I haven't forgotten. I will contact you after I speak to my commanding officer about the situation. And please, remember who takes orders from who right now. Now go. Good day, gentleman." the higher ups nodded and left as Hector plopped down on the bed. "Ugh...so much bullshit to still do," he sighed out with his eyes closed.

"Wait, hold on...the mission isn't over yet? What the hell was all that about. They are your commanding officers, Hector." Tallon asked quickly.

"Not by a long shot. It's actually only just beginning-about to get harder and more dangerous." Hector replied slowly.

"Hector...tell me what's going on, please?" Tallon held his hand with worried eyes.

"I can't. Not yet anyways. I'm...still under contract. All I can tell you is that the mission isn't over and I'm going to have to go back in to finish it. I will tell you soon, I promise. I just need permission from the president of the Archipelago first," Hector sighed.

"You're taking orders from him?!" his soldiers said in shock.

"Yes. And that's all I can say for now. I've already said way more than I was supposed too. I ask that you respect that and not push the issue...please. And don't tell anyone about this. What you've heard today, doesn't leave the barrack. Understand?" Hector asked softly. The platoon looked at him worried, but they nodded to him as he closed his eyes and laid down with his arms behind his head. He hated not telling them-but he couldn't right now. There was still a great deal more to do but the bottom line was that the mission wasn't over yet and Hector had to figure out what to do in order to finish it.