Disclaimer: I do not own any of The Old Guard characters or storyline. I only own Aidoneus of Sparta, Katherine Whitewood, and Thomas Whitewood. Any of the storyline that seems familiar, I most likely do not own.

Seven bodies were riddled with bullet holes, dead on the ground. Five men, two women. All dead from being furiously shot at by the enemies.

"I've been here before. Over and over again. And each time the same question. Is this is? Will this time be the one? And each time the same answer. And I'm just so tired of it."

A woman wearing sunglasses and dark clothing was walking down an alleyway in Morocco. In another part of the city she was in, a man was riding a motorcycle down the different alleys. The man weaved around people and caught up to the woman. He cut a little way in front of her before getting off of the motorcycle. The woman smiled and shook her head at the action.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah," she responded.

"You travel?"

"I did. I got you something." she handed the man a book.

"What's that?" he took the book from her to examine the spine, "First edition Don Quixote. That couldn't have been cheap."

"It wasn't." after the pleasantries were exchanged, the woman got down to business, "So, why am I here Booker?"

Booker, as the man was called, answered, "You remember Surabaya eight years ago, right?"

"CIA."

"Yeah. The guy who hired us, James Copley, reached out. He's freelance now. He has a hostage situation in South Sudan."

"No, Booker. We don't do repeats. You know that. It's too risky."

"Andy."

The woman dubbed Andy sighed, "Aiden, Joe, Nicky, and the twins?"

"At the hotel."

Andy shook her head and started walking towards the hotel. Booker followed behind her. When they got to the hotel's front desk, Booker went to check in with the guy at the desk. Andy got distracted with the news playing on a nearby TV. The headline was about people who had been killed or injured in Syria. A few feet away from Andy was a group of tourists taking a selfie together. Andy noticed right after they snapped the picture.

"Would you like me to take one for you?" she asked the tourists, holding out her hand for the phone.

"Oh thank you so much! I just really suck at taking selfies." the tourist confessed, handing her phone to Andy.

Andy made sure to delete the selfie with her in it before taking a picture for the group of tourists. The group thanked her as she turned to follow Booker to the hotel room. The duo came to double doors made with stained glass. A blonde-haired man opened the doors before smiling at Andy. Behind him was a man with black curly hair and a beard as well as another brunette man. Next to the brunette were a man and a woman. Both had strawberry blonde hair and looked startlingly similar to one another. The man who opened the doors was quick to embrace Andy. The black-haired man with the beard was next, causing her to laugh as he picked her up in a bear hug. The strawberry blonde woman gave her a fierce hug, followed by the strawberry blonde man. The last man, the brunette, embraced her last. He let out a quiet sigh as he held her tightly. While the six were having their reunion, Booker had closed the hotel room doors behind them.

"You look great!" the man with the black hair and a beard told Andy after the brunette had released her.

"You look okay." Andy teased.

"Thank you, thank you."

The seven settled together in the living room of the hotel room. The two strawberry blondes had settled on the floor on either side of the couch. The brunette was sitting in between Booker and Andy on the same couch with his left arm slung over the couch behind Andy. The black-haired man with the beard was sitting in a chair to the side wile the blonde was pouring cups of tea for everyone. Booker added some alcohol to his cup before drinking it. The blonde picked up a small, tightly wrapped package.

"I have something for you," he handed the little rectangle to Andy.

"Nicky," Andy smiled, accepting the gift. She raised the square to her nose before taking a deep inhale, "Mmm. Baklava."

Booker and the brunette chuckled at her reaction while the other three smiled.

"Five hundred Booker." Nicky bet, pulling out cash.

The two strawberry blondes snickered.

"No." Andy attempted to shoot it down.

"All right," Booker accepted the challenge, "All in, here it is."

"Really?!"

"All in!" Nicky added.

"All in!" the black-haired man and the strawberry blondes chimed in.

Andy unwrapped the baklava and took a bite of it. Almost immediately she let out a moan of enjoyment.

"Hazelnut, not walnut." she began as Booker counted her off on his fingers, "Black Sea. Rosewater. Pomegranate."

She let out another moan of approval and the black-haired man whistled.

"Eastern Turkey."

The dark-haired man started laughing as Booker let out a cry of victory. The two strawberry blondes were snickering at Nicky's defeat. The brunette had an amused smile on his face. Booker picked up the cash on the table and pocketed it as Nicky fell into a chair with his hands over his face.

"Admit it, boss," the dark-haired man spoke up after everyone had sobered, "You've missed us."

Andy nodded her head, "I did."

"The job guys." Booker began.

"We can do some good," Nicky added.

"Have you been watching the news lately?" Andy interjected, "Some good means nothing."

The brunette straightened, sending Andy a look of disbelief, "Since when have you not wanted to work on making an improvement? That's what we've been fighting for!"

Andy sent him a look before standing, "I don't know about this guys. We're not helping."

The brunette moved to say something, but the dark-haired man cut him off, "I know you needed a break, but it's been over a year boss."

"This is what we do, right?" Nicky added.

"We help people." the female strawberry blonde nodded, adding to the encouragements.

"Katherine's right," the brunette agreed.

Andy turned from her place at the window to look at the group. The brunette and Booker both nodded at her. She sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"I'll hear him out," she informed.

Andy, Booker, and the brunette were walking to the meeting point with James Copley. The plan was to hear him out then make a reasonable decision. Booker was with Andy and the brunette to be that voice of reason. It wasn't a secret that the two had been together for a very long time. But recently, their relationship had been strained. Andy was tired of fighting, the brunette hated seeing her want to give up so badly. Copley stood from the table to greet the trio.

"Mr. Copley," Booker greeted, reaching out to shake the man's hand.

"Mr. Booker," Copley returned the greeting, "Bonjour. It's a pleasure to finally meet."

Copley shook Andy's hand next as she fired off her response, "Last time I checked you had to be American to be in the CIA."

The brunette held back a snort and shook Copley's hand as well. Copley let out a small fake laugh in response to Andy's quip. The trio sat at the small table along with Copley.

"I was born in Boston," he began to explain, "Moved to London when I was three."

"So why did you leave the agency, Mr. Copley?" Andy got straight into business.

"My wife got sick. ALS. She died two years ago. Just haven't found my way back yet."

"Sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. You haven't aged a day Booker."

Booker looked up from where he had been scanning the area from his seat, "Trust me, I have."

"Yeah." Copley turned around a newspaper so the group of three could see it, "Yesterday afternoon local. A school southwest of Juba was attacked by a militia. They murdered the teachers and abducted seventeen students at gunpoint. The youngest was eight, oldest thirteen."

From a building across the square, Nicky and the man with the beard were watching the exchange. Nicky was holding a sniper rifle at ready while the dark-haired man was listening on with a radio. A few buildings down, Katherine and her male copy were watching from a different vantage point. Katherine was the one holding the sniper rifle out of the two while the strawberry blonde man was fiddling with their radio.

"South Sudanese asked the US for help, but current administration's policy is to deny aid to any nonstrategic allies. Some of my ex-colleagues at the CIA feel differently. They reached out to me and I'm reaching out to you. The last overfly confirmed the personnel onsite."

The brunette watched over Andy's shoulder as she swiped through the pictures on the iPad in front of them.

"No food or water being brought in."

The next picture was the group of children.

"Andy." the brunette breathed, pained at seeing these innocent children having to suffer.

"Aiden," Andy fired back his name in warning.

Aiden raised his hands in defense before turning his sunglasses covered eyes away from the pictures.

"That means they're moving them soon," Andy turned her next statement to Copley.

"And when they do," Copley began, "Most likely they'll be separated and odds are we'll never find them again. Has to be done quickly, by the best. And your team's the best I've ever seen. You can name your price."

Andy stood up. Aiden scooted his chair back and got ready to retaliate if she said no.

"We'll invoice you when it's done," Andy informed.

Aiden could feel himself relax at her response before standing as well, now back to towering over her smaller form. He followed behind her as they left the streets, Booker right on their tail. Copley turned and looked directly to where Nicky and the dark-haired man were staked out. He waved at the building. Nicky let out a soft snort. The next step was preparing for their raid.