Prologue: Insecurities
Kuwait, 2003
"Sketch!" a man called out, "Watch where you fucking shoot that thing, fucking liberal!" He shook his head as he tightened his grip on his 50.
"R-right!" A timid voice replied, "S-sorry, Garza!" E-2 Ronnie Nguyen, private first class, stood on the roof of a humvee. Manning the 50 cal gun attached to the vehicle. How the hell did they end up in the fucking marine corps? They never intended on joining the corps, they wanted to be in the army! From the inside of the humvee radio static and garbled voices could be heard.
All Hitman 2 Victors, maintain speed, maintain dispersion, 50 meters.
Ronnie bounced and wobbled about on the roof of the vehicle, they could hear the faint chuckles and sneers of their fellow marines in the vehicle, their cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as they tightened their grip on the 50 cal and lowered their head.
Hitman! This is Hitman 2.1, enemy contact! 4 T55s, one o'clock, 2 kliks, how copy?
"Better hit your target, Sketch!" a man yelled from inside the vehicle, "If not, we're gonna leave ya!" he chuckled. Ronnie cursed under their breath and adjusted their helmet before maneuvering their 50 to the target. The 19 year old sucked in a breath and bit their bottom lip before firing about 5 bullets, 3 missed while 2 hit the preferred target, Ronnie quietly cheered as the sounds of an aircraft hovering above droned over.
"Wooh!" a marine could be heard yelling, "Get some!" a missile was launched at the targets, leaving a large cloud of dust and smoke in its wake. Ronnie sighed in relief, training was over, they were just getting settled in their calm when one of the humvees careened off from the others.
Hitman 2.1 Bravo, what's your status? Over?!
"He's stopping!"
Bravo 2.1, we got a man down!
"Lilley's hit!"
2.1 Bravo, this is 2.1 Alpha. Interrogative?
Push, push, push! Get out of the kill zone!
All of the humvees sped out of the kill zone, everyone keeping an eye on the still vehicle, once they were all clear they stopped around 2.1 Bravo. Marines hopping out of their vehicles to check on the casualty. A corpsman was called for as everyone scrambled about hysterically, Ronnie tried their best to get to the center of the commotion but they were pushed and shoved left and right like a pinball by other, bigger, marines. In the middle of all this sudden movement from left to right, Ronnie's helmet slid off their head and hit the ground. They stopped briefly to snatch it back up, gripping it tightly and continuing to make their way over to the others.
"Don't waste your morphine doc," Sgt. Espera muttered, "My boy's been smoked." the corpsman just blinked at the sergeant before attending to the wounded in front of him.
"Anybody else hit?" someone asked.
Garza could be seen walking towards the seemingly 'dead' Lilley, the man fixing his glasses before speaking, "How's it feel, motherfucker?" Garza teased, "How's it feel to be fucking dead?"
"Bro, it feels sad," Lilley responded, "I feel very alone, and also... I gotta take a shit." he sat back up with a smile. Everyone chuckled and joked around with him, someone claiming that they had dibs on Lilley's video camera when he died, all of this would sound horrid and terrible to a regular person. Thankfully, these weren't regular people, these were marines. Hell, even the most liberal of marines- Ronnie- was giggling.
"Lilley!" a man weaved his way to the side of the humvee, "You make a nice combat casualty, congrats." Lieutenant Fick grinned at the man in approval, everyone praised Lilley for his somewhat decent acting. A marine gently nudged Ronnie to get their attention, gesturing that the two of them hang out after the LT was done speaking.
"Team leaders!" Fick hollered, "Let's do a little after action report." And with that, everyone went their separate ways. As the crowd cleared, Ronnie realized that they were all alone. The poor idiot couldn't even find the marine that was gonna hang out with them, anxiety and dread began to wash over Ronnie as more and more left, looks like they were by themselves again. Ronnie lowered their head in disappointment, turned on their heels, and started to shuffle off to their "spot" that they always hid in...
"Ronnie!" A voice called out, Ronnie's head shot up quickly at the sound of their name, "Ronnie, over here kid!" A marine, Rudy, was waving them over. At that very moment, Ronnie's anxiety and dread faded and was replaced by a small grin. The little marine quickly made their way over to Rudy.
"Hey there kid," Rudy smiled and ruffled Ronnie's hair, "Thought we lost you!" Ronnie shot Rudy a look of confusion, we?
"Hiya, Sketch." A man poked his head over Rudy's shoulder.
"Uh... hi...?" Ronnie sheepishly replied.
"Ronnie," Rudy smiled, "You remember Pappy, don't you?" Ronnie furrowed their brows in concentration, the other man's face did seem familiar- but then again, there were too many names and faces to remember.
"I was the one who shielded you when you had to fix your bra." Pappy mentioned, "Ya know, so the boys didn't ogle you?"
"Oh," Ronnie peeped in realization, "Yeah, I remember you. Thank you again for-"
"Don't mention it, sweetheart, you're one of us. Remember?" Ronnie nodded politely as the memory flooded back to her mind.
6 months ago, Camp Mathilda
Ronnie was helping carrying boxes to somewhere, she was fairly new to the platoon and she knew little to no one in it. Other than Rudy, Godfather and Fick. Everyone else just assumed, because she had short hair, that she was a boy, a quiet, timid and weak boy who somehow made it into the corps. Ronnie decided to keep it that way, she didn't care if she was seen as a boy or a girl, afterall she was just another marine.
"Thank you for helping, Nguyen," Godfather acknowledged her assistance, "How many more boxes?"
"About 5 left, sir." Ronnie answered calmly, "Is there anything you want me to take care of after?" Godfather pondered for a minute before shaking his head, Ronnie nodded and headed right back to the boxes.
Thinking she could carry all 5 of them herself, Ronnie stacked the boxes on top of each other and lifted from the bottom. This was indeed a bad idea, yet the girl was too stubborn to realize. The boxes wobbled this way and that, the girl could hear the taunts of the other marines, "Aw, look at the little baby!" A marine exclaimed, "Be careful little boy, or you might hurt yourself!" The marine laughed as Ronnie struggled helplessly, it was then she realized that she bit off more than she could chew.
Ronnie's view was obscured by the boxes, she wasn't aware of the rock in front of her, she lost her footing and tripped. All the boxes flew out of her arms and into the air, Ronnie landed face first in the sand. Sputtering and trying to assess what had just happened, she heard the laughter and mockery from the other marines.
"Let me help you there, son," a shadow loomed over her, "You alright?" Ronnie glanced up to see who was speaking to her, only to see a mustached man holding his hand out.
"I'm fine," Ronnie ignored his hand, stumbling up on her own, "Thanks." She began to pick up all the boxes only to be accompanied by the man.
"Name's Pappy," the man introduced himself as he took three boxes from Ronnie.
"Ronnie." The girl replied flatly as she picked up two boxes "Thank you, but I don't need any help-" she stopped in her tracks mid sentence, her eyes widened in shock as she quickly dropped her boxes. "Shit!" She muttered under her breath.
"Everything okay, son?" Pappy asked. By now Ronnie was on edge, looking around for a place to hide, "What's wrong? See a ghost or something?"
"Hide me!" Ronnie pleaded desperately, Pappy was both shocked and confused. "Dammit, do I have to say it in Viet? Hide. Me."
"Why...?" Pappy raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Fuck it." Ronnie groaned and turned around so that her back was facing Pappy and the marines. She started to pull her shirt off, the other marines jeering and pointing in response, Pappy grew more and more confused until he saw it.
A white bra popped out from all the bland colors, Ronnie glared at Pappy before tossing her shirt to the ground, all the marines went silent- some even whistling at the sight of a bra. Pappy snapped out of his confusion and quickly placed himself between Ronnie and the other marines. "The fuck you pussies staring at?" He snapped, "Go back to your jobs."
"Ronnie?" Rudy's voice yanked Ronnie back to the present, "You listening to me?"
"Huh?" Ronnie replied cluelessly.