1625 hours, main office of Mack's Emporium

"Well," Skipper spoke under gritted teeth, ignoring the metal poking at the back of his head, "that went perfectly well." He glared at the ground before him as he struggled to get off the floor, but the boot on his back wasn't helping. "How's the date, honey?" He started off sarcastically, addressing the only unarmed female in the room. "I know it's nothing much, but I did everything I could. We're still on for Thursday, right?"

Marlene sighed softly with a hint of annoyance, though the concern and worry for him and the girls were clear on her face. She still hadn't seen where they had taken Selena, or if she was well and not...but she was still thinking about Kyle. Not seeing her meant that she was still out there, somewhere in the store. The down side to that was that she could also be-Marlene! Stop thinking of that, she's fine. The brunette shook her head to clear her thoughts and sighed again.

She shifted uncomfortably on her makeshift seat of a burlap sack filled with fresh coffee beans, and glanced over at Skipper, who was having a glare down with the others. He really doesn't like losing, does he? A piece of hair fell forward and she raised her hand, almost groaning out loud when her other hand came along. She itched to take off the ropes around her wrists, since they tied tightly around them, cutting the circulation off to the point where she could no longer feel them. She shifted again, ignoring the stray hair, but weary of the eyes watching her and just kept her eyes on Skipper, who was now making threats at their captors.

"You won't get away with this! My team's still out there! They will get you!" He laid his head down on one cheek and muttered obscenities under his breath.

"I thought," Marlene spoke lowly to the man, raising a brow, "you didn't want Private involved. You made that very clear when you locked him in the van."

Skipper rolled his eyes, which Marlene noted was quite ridiculous for a person of his stature but refrained from giggling in the serious situation. "Knowing Kowalski, he would take advantage of my temporary disability to the lead the operation. There's nothing I can do about that except to wait. It's on him now." Marlene opened her mouth to answer but the man who had been resting on the big leather chair behind the desk spoke first with heavily accented English.

"Your friend will not help you."

"Oh," Skipper turned his head to face him and glared at him, "so you can speak English? I'm been speaking that damn same thing for the past few minutes and now you speak? Damn you, man."

"You are ridiculous." Marlene blinked at the dry tone, but bit down on her lip when she realized that the gunned man was speaking her thoughts.

"And you're stupid." Was Skipper's retort before he let out a cry when one of the men dug his foot into his side. "What?" Skipper continued, not even wincing at the supposedly painful act. "Don't tell me you all speak English now. Are you trying to make a fool out of me?"

"Nobody's trying to make you a fool. You're doing that just fine on your own." A giggle escaped from Marlene, who bit down on the inside of her lips when Skipper sent her a glare. Now she felt a bit traitorous, but it wasn't her fault that she was finding the humor in the situation. "My men know what stupid means, American. It's a common word on television." The man got to his feet and walked around, stopping just inches from Skipper's face and making it hard for the officer to glower at him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"How rude of me." The grin he had was far from the appalled look one should have when saying the statement. "I am Risch."

"Ah." Skipper snorted and looked away. "The infamous anti-military leader. It's such an honor to meet you. I'll be sure to have a nice cold cell for you once this is over. If I don't kill you first."

Marlene looked from the stone faced Risch to Skipper, frowning at her boyfriend. "Skipper. What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Skipper was about to retort sharply when he looked over at Marlene's concerned face, then at the fear hidden in her eyes, mostly for his safety and that of her friends. He let out a soft sigh and stared at the ground, not really wanting to do anything, even though he knew he had to get them out of there.

There's still the little problem of this idiot, Skipper's eyes glanced briefly at Risch with a glare, keeping us here. The sound of boots moving on the concrete floor had him watching Risch as the man headed over to Marlene.

"Your girlfriend has a good head, doesn't she." Risch grinned and smirked at the debilitated man, who now had a suspicious look on his face. "I wonder what would happen if she lost it." The moment the meaning clicked in, Skipper was back to struggling to get free as Marlene gasped in fear.

"Don't you dare." He growled at the mercenary, struggling to get away from the foot that was digging deep into his back.

Marlene bit down on another gasp when she was forced to stand up, the grip tight on her arm before it moved to her chin and he inspected her face. "You are a beauty." He stopped at her eyes, which were glaring back at him, other emotions swimming through them. "But you belong to him, since neither of you are denying it. It's such a pity though." The lady watched as his other hand reached for the knife hanging from his belt. She refrained from showing any emotion but anger and continued glaring at the evil man even when the blade touched her neck, making her shiver involuntarily in fear.

"Stay away from her!" Skipper shouted and pushed off the floor, getting the man off his body and crashing to the floor. He was about to take a step forward when two more guards overtook him and held him back, a third pointing a rifle in his face.

Without moving his eyes from Marlene's, the man called in a voice as cold as the blade in his hand. "Call off the reinforcements, or," her eyes flew to the ceiling when the blade was pressed closer and she fought the urge to swallow, "she dies."

"I swear, if you hurt her," Marlene's eyes closed at the hostility in her boyfriend's voice, "I will-"

"Skipper." She licked her lips and urged away the tears forming under her eyelids, not wanting to show anyone how she was truly feeling. "It's fine. Duty first, remember? We talked about this." She was plentifully proud of the way her voice did not break, and so was Skipper, but he wasn't satisfied with it. Not until he was sure she would be safe.

"Marlene," she shook her head, still not opening her eyes.

"Just call your friends off." Risch impatiently said, rolling his eyes at the scene before him. "And we won't be having this problem."

"Shut it, will ya? I'm trying to have a conversation." Skipper sent him another 'I will kill you, cut you into pieces and feed you to the dogs' glare, before turning back to the lady. He tried again, but in a softer tone, like when he would talk to the children during Christmas or when he would convince Private from growing up cynically to his usual self. "Marlene. Look at me." She bit down on her lips and shook her head slightly, still feeling Risch's hand on her chin and the knife at her neck. "Please." Her eyelids fluttered and she licked her already dry lips before opening her eyes, only to let out a scream when she saw Skipper charging for the two of them. Even Risch seemed surprised, but recovered, only in time to be tackled.

Marlene backed away from the knife before it could slice her skin, but the bonds around her feet were making it hard to keep her balance. She landed hard on her bum, with her head following after and she groaned, turning on her side to ease the pain. A hand grabbed her gently by the arm and she turned to Skipper, who gave her a weary smile, cuts and bruises already sporting on the visible skin. She assessed each one, checking if they weren't too serious and wondering if he had any hidden under his clothes as he cut away at the bonds on her hands and feet and massaging them to bring back the circulation.

"We need to go. Before they discover Rico's housewarming gift." Without waiting for a reply, he starting pulling her out, but not before swiping a discarded rifle gun from the floor.

"...how?" She gasped out as they ran from the room. "I didn't even hear," the rest of her sentence trailed off when he looked back at her.

"Just trust me." Marlene was about to reply when a loud explosion rocked the building, sending the two of them tittering and reaching for something to support themselves while shouts and screams filled the air not far from them. Marlene's feet, which were still recovering from the lack of blood circulation, gave way, but she was caught by Skipper, and they continued running even with the aftershocks still subsiding.

That is, until a shout stopped them in their tracks. They looked back to see a couple of the gunmen running toward them, shouting in their native language. Skipper shook his head with a sigh and nudged Marlene.

"Go. I'll handle this."

"No, I'm not going to just-"

"Go, Marlene!" He glowered at her, gently shoving her back. "You need to get out of here! Find Kyle, and get out of here!"

"No! I won't-SKIPPER! LOOK OUT!" Marlene's eyes grew wide and she took a step to push him out of the way, but was roughly pulled back by a hand clamped over her mouth.

1615 hours, ten minutes before Skipper's capture.

"That's the plan?" The squad leader, Randy, skeptically looked from Skipper to Kowalski. The latter had just explained the plan of action involving Rico's 'distraction' and Skipper entering the building via the basement.

Skipper tucked a revolver into his belt. "Sounds good to me." Randy turned back to him, staring wide-eyed at him.

"Are you insane? You do know that they would be expecting you to come, right?"

The captain smirked and crossed his arms. "Precisely why we're doing it."

"This is stupid..." Randy muttered under his breath before sighing and turning back to Skipper. "You're the boss."

"Good." Skipper frowned at him, having heard what the man had said but didn't have the time to address it then. "Get to your position then and inform the others." Randy gave him a nod and jogged back to his position, relaying the message to the others. Skipper watched him for a while before turning to Kowalski. "What are the odds that I'll come out of this alive?"

"47.23%, Skipper."

"I like those odds."

"Should we send Rico out now?" The leader gave a small nod, keeping his eye on the building. "Rico." The scarred man pushed himself off the van with a grin and sneaked into a building next door, which had been evacuated an hour before once news hit, with a strange device in hand and a small bag strapped around his waist. Kowalski opened the back door of the van, but turned back to Skipper. "Barbie's hooked up with the security system. She's using facial recognition to check out the men."

"And what about you?"

"I'll be helping her with the surveillance system, along with informing you of any new updates or dangers."

"And?"

Kowalski sighed tiredly and looked back at the sulking boy sitting in the front. "And I'll also watch over Private and make sure he doesn't get involved."

"Good. I'll be back."

The lieutenant shook his head and hopped in. He started to pull the doors closed, leaving a space to still keep talking to the other until he was gone. "Skipper, on the behalf of the rest of the team and those people in there, do be careful." The all famous smug smirk appeared on the leader's face.

"When am I never, Kowalski?"

I may have been slightly sleep-deprived while editing this...:P