When Alex woke up the next morning he noticed that Harley was nowhere to be found. Figuring that she had just gotten up before him he shrugged and got out of bed, gathering his cammies and heading to the bathroom to shower and get ready for another day of work. The office was busier than usual after Watcher 1-5 was shot down, news that the Blackhawk had been shot down and its crew murdered by the New Era so close to Gotham had caused many of Gotham's youth to enlist to combat the threat growing so close to home. Likewise, many of Gotham's criminal element and small handfuls of civilians dissatisfied with the Government found themselves flocking to the New Era's side, believing in their promise to create a better world after doing away with the old.
Alex knew that the nation was in trouble, that it's populace was divided because of politics and extremist views on both sides of the spectrum resulting in violent clashes across the country but now everything was coming to a head and everyday it looked more and more like another civil war was inevitable. Alex hated the idea of having to fight the very citizens he was sworn to defend. Sure he and his peers had often joked about the prospect, how groups like Antifa would crumble when faced against the military but the New Era was forcing the conflict in that direction and it sickened him to know that their leader would lead those under his command to their deaths for some misguided belief that overthrowing the worlds governments, and killing all the worlds heroes would bring peace.
But Alex could also see what was drawing people to their side. Much as he hated to admit the military and the League had been ineffective in ending the conflict plaguing the Middle East, a conflict that was affecting the rest of the world for the worse. It seemed that there was always some new terror group ready to ravage the land. Yesterday it was Al-Queda and the Taliban, today ISIS. Not to mention the powder keg that was North Korea threatening nuclear war for the past month. The U.S. was stretched thin between combating overseas and domestic threats. They needed to defeat the New Era before others could take advantage of the country's weakened state.
Already 2nd MARDIV was making plans to occupy the East Coast under the command of General Anderson with the Secretary of Defense and Presidents approval. It would be the first time since the L.A. Riots that the Marine Corps would be deployed on American soil but on a larger scale this time.
"Gonna take a lot of bullets to solve this mess..." Alex sighed to himself as he got out of the shower and dried himself off. Of course he knew it would take more than just bullets but the simplification helped ease his mind. Leave the politics to someone else and all that.
Now showered, shaved, and dressed in his cammies Alex stepped out into the living room to find Harley and...
"Kara? What are you doing here?" He asked confused, not expecting to see her for another hour at work.
"Oh, good morning Sergeant Westbrook. I'm sorry if I'm intruding but I needed to stay somewhere last night and Harley said it was ok." Kara replied softly, her head hanging low and a sad expression on her face.
"Hey it's no problem. My doors always open for my guys. So, what, you drink to much last night or something?" He joked.
"Uhh..." Kara muttered as she looked to Harley for help.
"Yes! She just had a few too much and called me to pick her up! Don't want her flying back to Bab's place drunk and, yeah..." Harley blurted out to cover for Kara before she told him about what happened between her and Barbara.
Alex raised his brow, silently questioning the validity of Harley's response but decided to let the issue go. "If you say so..." He replied before heading to the kitchen to make breakfast but as he set about doing so there was a sudden knock at the door.
"I got it!" Harley exclaimed as she skipped her way past Alex towards the door, thankful for the distraction. Her relief was quickly dashed however as she opened the door to find Batman waiting on the other side, holding an unloaded M4 by its hand guard.
"Hello Harleen, you're looking well. Is Sergeant Westbrook in?" The Dark Knight asked.
"Uh, yeah he's home. Why don't you come on in Bats." Harley replied with a nervous smile as she stepped aside to let him in.
She followed him back to the kitchen, eyeing the weapon in his hand as she remembered Kara had told her that Barbara had dropped it and presumably left it behind in the batcave.
Alex immediately spotted the weapon and felt a surge of anger rush through him. To a Marine, leaving one's weapon somewhere unattended was considered an unforgivable sin and since he was the one keeping track of every weapon going in and out of the armory he immediately knew who that weapon belonged to. "Batman, what a surprise. Am I correct in assuming that that rifle belongs to one of my Marines?" Alex asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, but there's more than just that.I have a security video from the batcave that you need to see." Batman replied, placing the rifle on the counter before retrieving a small tablet from his utility belt.
Alex saw Harley glance at Kara who was nervously staring anywhere but towards he and Batman's direction. Alex crossed his arms and looked past Batman at the two. "Girls, are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me before I see whatever this is?" He asked.
"I don't know nothin Sarn't." Harley answered innocently. Thanks to her stint as a criminal she had learned to lie pretty well and Alex seemed to believe her as he focused on Kara.
"Kara?"
She slowly looked up at Alex and Batman who waited for her to speak. "I...Barbara and I...we got into a fight yesterday, and she...I had to leave. That's why I stayed here last night..." She answered sadly.
"Mmhmm. I don't care about your personal affairs right now, I care about why your girlfriend is leaving her weapon lying around!" He snapped, startling Kara. "You're new here so I'll be lenient this time but she knows better!"
"Sergeant! There's more to it than just that. Watch this." Batman interrupted before he could continue to go off on Kara. Alex grumbled to himself, turning away from the two women to watch whatever it was that concerned Batman so much.
He thought it would just be a video of Barbara doing something stupid but what he saw instead left him feeling furious like he had never felt before. The recording lacked audio but he could tell that Barbara and Kara seemed to be arguing about something, and that Barbara was still holding her weapon but then it seemed to escalate. Kara reached out to take the weapon only for Barbara to back up and point it at her, only to realize what she was doing and drop the weapon before Kara ran away from her and off the screen.
"Harley...You and Kara wait at the office." He ordered, now in full on Sergeant mode. The two just stood there however, wanting to stay and figure out what was going to happen. "NOW!" Alex snapped again, causing them to quickly walk out the front door.
Once they were gone Alex turned his attention back to Batman. "This is bad, you know that right?"
"I'm well aware of how it looks Sergeant. I don't know if Kara will want to press charges but Barbara needs to be held accountable for her actions."
"Oh, believe me she will be. I'll have to inform the General about this and let him decide what to do with her in the admin side."
"And you?"
"Hazing doesn't exist in the Marine Corps anymore, but I will make sure that Barbara's physical fitness is up to par if you catch my drift." Alex frowned. He had mixed feelings on the issue of hazing. On one hand it could serve as a great disciplinary tool but all to often Marines took things too far resulting in the Corp's no tolerance policy. As a junior Marine Alex had been subjected to some forms of hazing, usually if he fucked something up or forgot some of his knowledge. But he learned from it due to the simple fact that he didn't want to be punished in that way again. Pain retains as they say. And this was one situation that he felt that Barbara should be subject to the same experience.
"She's not under my command anymore Sergeant; do what you have to do to make sure she doesn't do something like this ever again." Batman told him before turning around and heading for the door. "Let me know if you need anything from me in the meantime." He said over his shoulder as he left the apartment.
Alex sighed as he leaned back against the counter and rubbed his forehead. He wasn't looking forward to the phone call he was about to make but it was out of his hands due to the situation. Reaching for his cell phone Alex scrolled through his contacts until he found General Anderson's number and hit the dial button. "Good morning Sir, I got some bad news that you should be aware of..."
...
Alex drove to the RSS in silence, his talk with the General still fresh in his mind. Upon hearing what Barbara had done the General had been even more furious than Alex was and threatened to have Barbara Dishonorably Discharged and sent to a federal prison for jeopardizing their alliance with the Justice League so soon after it was solidified. Thankfully he had managed to talk him down from such a course of action, citing Barbara's past contributions to Gotham and the Military and that her actions, while damning, were brought on by some form of psychological stress. The General had relented but informed Alex that he would be flying up from Quantico to personally award Barbara a Non-Judicial Punishment and that she would not be promoted come September. He also told Alex that he would turn a blind eye to anything that could be defined as hazing between now and his arrival. While the General would be taking care of Barbara's NJP Alex still intended to make her pay for losing track of her rifle.
Finally arriving at the office Alex parked outside and retrieved Barbara's rifle from the truck before heading inside. Harley and Kara were already there waiting for him as instructed as well as Ivy but there was no sign of Barbara.
"Ivy come with me, Harley find out where Barbara is and get her down her now." He ordered as he walked through the office.
"What's going on Sergeant? Those two won't tell me anything." Ivy asked as she caught up with Alex.
They stopped at a supply closet where Alex grabbed a shovel before continuing through the office and towards the back lot. "You'll find out once Barbara get's here." He answered as they reached the back lot. "Take this and strip it down for me will you." Alex ordered as he passed of Barbara's rifle.
"Uh, sure thing..." Ivy replied as Alex took the shovel towards a large patch of dirt and started digging several small holes. "Wait, you're not going to..?" Realization hit her as she separated the upper and lower receiver and removed the bolt, buffer, and buffer spring.
"Bury that? Yeah I am, and I'll give you three guesses as to who's weapon that is." Alex answered as Ivy joined him at the dirt pit.
"Well It's not mine and Harley's has a grenade launcher. Kara doesn't have a weapon and you have an IAR, so this is Baby Bat's? What did she do?"
"She left it behind in the Batcave yesterday."
"What? That's...You'd think she'd know better?"
"Yeah, well I thought so to but apparently I didn't push that enough. So you can guess how surprised I was when Batman showed up at my door this morning holding that."
"Well I guess she'll learn after digging this up." Ivy said as she handed Alex the weapons parts one by one, watching as he set them in the holes he'd dug and covered them with a layer of dirt.
"Oh this isn't even the start of it. You'll figure out the rest once she get's here." Alex told her. He finished covering the last part and stood up just as Harley popped her head out through the back door.
"Barbara's on her way, should be here in five minutes." She informed them.
"Good. Ivy take them back to your place and learn them some knowledge. I'll take care of Barbara myself..."
...
When Barbara arrived at the office she noticed that it was unusually quiet. Harley, Ivy, and Kara were nowhere to be found, much to her relief. Barbara couldn't face Kara yet after what she had done and she was glad that her girlfriend was here, if she could even call her that anymore. She looked around again and noticed that Alex wasn't at his desk and she grew instantly worried that something was up. Suddenly her phone buzzed and she checked it to find a text from Alex.
"Come outback when you get here. We need to talk..."
Barbara reread the message a second time as she felt her nerves shake. She had never been in trouble with him before, but if he knew what she did she could only guess at what was going to happen. When she messed up under Batman that issue was resolved immediately and a lesson was learned but in the military it wasn't that simple. Well, actually it was, but she was aware that as her NCOIC Alex could make her life a living hell for however long he saw fit and she was obligated to obey.
She slowly headed down the hall, passing by a freshly used shovel leaning against the storeroom door. As she walked through the back door and out onto the back lot she found Alex setting on crate, a .50 CAL receiver resting in his lap.
"Uh, morning Sergeant..." She greeted nervously.
"Is it? Because my morning was going pretty well until Batman showed up at my door. Care to explain why?" Barbara knew he was asking rhetorically but spoke up anyways.
"I...Uh, you see what happened was..." Barbara stammered nervously. The look that he was giving her told her that Batman had definitely told him what happened.
"Shut... up." He told her, setting the fifty receiver on the crate as he stood up. "Are you out of your damn mind! What the fuck were you thinking!?" He suddenly shouted, catching Barbara off guard.
"I..." She attempted to explain but was quickly cut off.
"You weren't fucking thinking were you!? Never in my years have I ever had one of my Marines threaten to shoot one of their brothers, let alone someone they care about!"
"Sergeant I didn't mean..."
"I don't give a FUCK if you meant to or not! You still did! I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with you! You've been damn near a model Marine since I met you but you just screwed it all up with one stupid decision! How the fuck am I supposed to trust you to have my back when you threaten one of our own!?"
"I know I fucked up Sergeant..."
"That's an understatement! You should know that the General is flying up here this weekend and you are being NJP'd for this." He informed her, his voice lowering as he had already made his point.
"I understand Sergeant."
"Don't think that's the end of it. There's still the matter of you losing your weapon." Alex reminded her.
Barbara felt her heart jump at that, remembering how she had dropped the weapon. "Oh shit! I know where it's at I swear!" She exclaimed, knowing that she'd be in more trouble if her weapon didn't show up.
"Oh don't worry about that. I have it, but you're going to have to earn it back the hard way." Alex informed her.
"What...what do I have to do?" She asked nervously.
"Well, since you can't keep track of your own weapon I guess you'll have to keep track of this one." He answered, nodding his head towards the Fifty receiver behind him.
"I don't understand?" She replied as she looked between him and the machine gun.
"How much does that receiver weigh?" Alex asked, seemingly out of blue.
"Uh, eighty-four pounds." She answered, confused as to why that was relevant to their current situation.
"Hmm, eighty-four pounds huh? That's not that heavy. Drop blouse and hold it above your head."
"What?"
"Did I fucking stutter? Hold it above your head!" He snapped. Barbara quickly removed her woodland cover and blouse, leaving her in her combat boots, woodland trousers, and green skivy shirt and grabbed the heavy receiver and hefted it above her head, locking her arms out. "Now, you lost an M4 right? So I think forty squats should be sufficient enough to get it back." Alex told her, but something told Barbara it wouldn't be as simple as that.
She set about doing her first squat when Alex stopped her. "I know we say Squat's aye aye Sergeant..."
"Squat's aye aye Sergeant." Barbara repeated before starting again, already the weight of the Fifty was starting to weigh on her arms. She completed her first squat only to be stopped again.
"What no volume? Start over."
"Squats aye aye Sergeant!" She repeated louder.
"Still can't hear you!" Alex said again, holding his hand to his ear.
"Squats aye aye Sergeant!"
"You know I've been blown up a few times before, my hearing isn't that good!"
"Squats Aye Aye Sergeant!" Barbara shouted as loud as she could, straining under the weight of the large gun she held above her. She managed to quickly bust out five before she was stopped again.
"Count out loud!" Alex instructed.
"Aye Sergeant! One! Two! Three! Four! Five!" She quickly counted only to be stopped again.
"Oh I guess I said single count right?"
Barbara looked up in disbelief at Alex from where she was squatting, the Fifty causing her arms to start buckling as sweat began to run down her face.
"Aye Sergeant! One two three, One. One two three, Two. One two three, Three..." She counted out her three-counts as Alex watched, an amused expression on his face.
"This is what you asked..."
"FOUR!" Barbara cried out, her grasp on the Fifty slipping.
"You drop my baby and it'll get much worse." Alex informed her as he noticed her straining. He was being very generous with this punishment. Back in the day his Corporal's would have made him run up and down the hills of Camp Pendleton carrying that receiver, stopping every so often to do some form of exercise similar to what he was having Barbara do.
Not wanting to risk dropping the gun Barbara paused to readjust her grip before continuing, finally reaching forty when in reality she had done close to ninety. Her arms shook and burned as she set the gun back down on its crate and as she went to wipe the sweat from her brow her arms protested in pain. "Can I... have my weapon... back now... Sergeant?" She panted.
"Hmm, I think you've earned the right to find it." He replied.
"Find...it?" She questioned. Then she remembered the shovel she had passed in the hall. She looked over to the large dirt pit and saw freshly dug dirt layered on top, a CMD (Compact Metal Detector) laying on the edge of the pit.
She groaned internally as she realized what she had to do and approached the pit picking up the CMD, unfolding and extending it. Once the detector was switched on she began sweeping it over the dirt, her already sore arm burning in protest with each swing of the stick. After five minutes of sweeping the detector finally beeped. Digging out the spot with her hands Barbara uncovered just the bolt of her M4.
"Well, find the rest of it." Alex instructed. Stuffing the bolt into her cargo pocket Barbara continued sweeping, finding her weapon piece by piece over the course of an hour.
"I...I have my weapon Sergeant..." She informed him once she had dug up the final piece of her weapon.
Alex looked up from his phone and saw that Barbara was drenched in sweat, her skivy shirt sticking to her body and her hair unruly. Looking like she was going to collapse at any moment Alex decided that she had had enough and got up to help walk her into some shade.
"It would seem you have. What have we learned today?" He asked as he sat her down against the building.
"To not lose track of my weapon, and to not point my weapon at anything I don't intend to shoot." She replied quietly.
"Good. Barbara I don't like having to fuck with you this way. I'm your friend but I'm also your Sergeant and if that means I have to take disciplinary action against you then so be it. Understand?"
"I get it Sergeant. I'm sorry I had to put you in this position."
"I appreciate that but I'm not the one you need to apologize to."
"You're right, I just can't face Kara yet."
"You're going to have to sooner or later..."
...
The weekend came and soon Barbara found herself standing in front of the General as he read off what articles she was being charged under as her Peers, Bruce, Tim, and Kara watched from the side. Barbara was beyond shamed to have her former mentor and fellow sidekick watch her be tried for pulling a gun on her girlfriend. Speaking of her girlfriend this was the first time Barbara had seen Kara since that night in the Batcave, but Kara didn't look like her normally happy self and she was avoiding all eye contact with Barbara to her dismay. Kara hadn't pressed charges personally but the General wanted to NJP her regardless, charging her with Article 80: Attempt, Article 92: Failure to obey order or regulation, and Article 134: General Article.
She had plead guilty to all articles and was currently listening to the General award her punishment.
"Private First Class Gordon, for your actions, which have dishonored our prestigious Corps, I award you reduction of one pay grade, forfeiture of half months pay for two months, and sixty days restriction to be specified by your NCOIC. Sergeant Westbrook, please remove her chevrons."
"Aye aye Sir." Alex replied, stepping out of formation and removing Barbara's PFC chevrons from her collar. He pocketed the chevrons, saluted the General, and returned to formation.
"Private Gordon, I want to make it clear to you that any further misconduct will result in processing you for administrative separation with a minimum of an other than honorable discharge. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir."
"Good." He replied before addressing everyone. "Ladies, Gentlemen. Private Gordon has made a terrible mistake, but we will not allow it to define her. We are all a part of the same team in the same fight. As such we must pick her up and help her when she falls."
Barbara was slightly relieved that she hadn't been completely written off, and she would do her best to earn back the trust she had broken. After a few more words the General dismissed them, everyone going they're separate ways. Alex had stuck around to inform her of her restrictions, she was to be confined to her home on weekends and off duty hours, requiring an escort if she wanted to go out anywhere. In addition she would have to make hourly check ins with him or Ivy over the phone. After he left Barbara gathered her things and headed for the door when she noticed Kara sitting on the couch in the main office.
"Your Sergeant is a good man, fighting for you like he did." Kara said, her gaze focused on the ground in front of her. Alex had spoken up for her during the proceedings, reminding General Anderson of all the good she'd done and how this was all a one time thing. She also knew that he had talked the General out of separating her dishonorably, a discharge that would essentially ruin her life indefinitely.
Barbara hesitantly sat next to her and sighed. "Yeah, he is. Kara I...I've been meaning to talk to you, I just couldn't face you after what I did..."
"You hurt me a lot Barbara, more than any kryptonite ever could..." Kara looked up and Barbara could see the sadness in her eyes.
"Kara I never meant to...I am so sorry that I hurt you like that. You deserve so much better than me. I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to speak to me again."
"You're right. I do deserve better..." Kara replied and Barbara felt as if a knife was being driven through her heart at her words.
"I get it. You don't have to say anymore." Barbara interrupted, turning away so Kara wouldn't see her cry as she began to stand, but before she could leave she felt a hand grip her wrist and she looked down to see Kara's hand holding her in place.
"But I still love you Barbara, and I realize that you only hurt me because you were hurting yourself. And it's because I love you that I want to help you, even when you don't want to help yourself." Kara said as Barbara sat back down.
"You...You love me?" Barbara was stunned. They had been friends for years and dating for little over a month. She had always felt something between them but wasn't sure what it was. Until now.
"Of course I do. You're my best friend and so much more. Yeah you hurt me but that wound will heal with time. Time that I want to spend with you." Kara answered, moving her hand from Barbara's arm to grip the other girls hand.
Barbara loved the feeling of Kara's hand in hers and she smiled softly as she looked into Kara's eyes. "Kara, I don't deserve you. I never will. But I'm yours for as long as you'll have me. And I promise you I'll never do anything like that ever again." She was crying now as her feelings overcame her.
"Kara, I...I love you too."
...Mission Complete...
No Marines were hazed in the writing of this chapter