The joys of knowing your work is actually kind of liked.

Thanks so much to Andi Mack, MutantLover09, FernClaw, AngelSnake, lily moonlight, The Shadow Syndicate

6. Revelations

He sighed, trying not to fall asleep. Hal was making lunch, even though it was now two in the afternoon. His eyes closed slightly, but he shook himself awake and sat in the chair, glancing over at the television remote and moaning slightly. Waiting did nothing good for him. It always made him feel like he was waiting for either death to come or something worse. Not that Dave could tell what the difference was between death and something worse, to be honest. He'd seen the stupid figure more times than he could count. He sniffled.

Caught a damn cold. He hated Alaska sometimes.

Hal's voice sounded muffled. "Hey, lunch is ready."

"Something tells me you nearly burned down the kitchen again," Dave tried to tease his friend as he got up from his chair and walked out into the kitchen, furrowing his brow. "Is it really that hard for you to cook a meal?"

The engineer sounded amused. "It's better than the stew you made last night."

The former agent made a noise in his throat and looked at the attempt of a grilled cheese on his plate, leaning back and smirking. "Huh. I'll give you an 'A' for effort. Maybe I'll go into the fridge and see what we've got. I mean, honestly. That seriously looks unappetizing." Dave wrinkled his nose. "No offense." He got up from the table and stopped.

Hal frowned. "Dave?"

"You hear that?" he muttered, his ears seemingly pricking. "Do you hear that sound, Hal?" His body turned to the door, hands clenching up. "Someone's coming." He moved swiftly into the living room, going into the drawer next to the couch in the room. His hand reached inside and grabbed a nine-millimeter handgun. He checked to see if it had a full magazine and took a deep breath.

His friend looked alarmed. "Wait a second!"

Dave blocked out any and all noise except for the lone sound of feet outside of the house. His heart was pounding as he moved towards the door and gripped the handle. 'You'll be fine,' he thought sternly. 'It's just a noise. Maybe someone you know… but you can't be too careful. You can never really trust yourself.'

And with this, he flung the door open and pointed the weapon right in the person's face.

"You bastard!" the voice of a familiar woman yelled in his ears.

The male blinked and shook his head. A redhead stood in the doorway and looked stunned at the weapon shoved in her face. Her red hair was down to her shoulders now, wearing what he had last seen her in- green army pants, orange snow vest, black hand gloves. She crossed her arms and shook her head. "If you don't want my help, you can just say so. But let me tell you that I spent two hours on a helicopter getting my butt to this freezing place!"

Dave just stood there, lowering the weapon and staring at his ex-flame. Meryl Silverburgh gave Dave a piercing glare as she stood on his doorstep, her hands crossed over her chest. He finally moved out of her way and allowed her inside the house, where she stalked in and whirled around. "It's been a while," she told him stiffly.

He finally found his voice, choked with surprise. "Uh, yeah… it has been."

Hal just stared at the scene in front of him, holding his head with one hand and closing his eyes. This wasn't gong to be fun to listen to.

"You didn't call me once," the woman snarled.

Dave put the weapon on the table and rolled his eyes. "I'm supposed to be someone who is alone for most of his life. Relationships always turn sour for old soldiers. But you wouldn't know that- you haven't been called out of retirement god knows how many times in your life."

Meryl sat herself down on the couch and looked ticked. "Oh, so that's the only reason?!"

"I'm not the one being an ass!" he growled through clenched teeth. "And I could give less than a shit of what you thought right now!"

Silence. Dave had never sworn in two sentences back to back. The man was breathing heavily through his mouth, in time with the beating of Meryl's heart. He looked down at the ground with a sideways turn of his head and shook his head, feeling pain and shame rising in his chest. Never once had he talked to anyone like that unless he was extremely pissed off. He hadn't felt angrier in all his time out in the Alaskan wilderness until this moment. Hal coughed a little, trying to ease the tension. No good.

Finally, Meryl gave a soft sigh and sagged into the cushions. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

The older man said nothing, merely standing there and feeling the silence in the room weigh on his shoulders. He'd blunder in speaking probably for the hundredth time in his life. It wasn't a mistake though- it was on purpose. He had meant to do it.

"Snake… in China, they say 'How can you put out a fire set on a cart-load of firewood with only a cup of water?'" a gentle voice spoke from behind. It had a slight Chinese accent to it. It wasn't very distinguishable, but you could tell that it was there.

Dave turned around in surprise. A young woman stood there, her hair slightly up, dressed in typical military uniform. She was petite, almost looking like on of the characters from Hal's animes. She cocked her head, her voice soft and serene. "It means that it is useless to apply minor remedies to a major problem. Your thing with Meryl isn't working out by just talking about how you both feel right now. You need to speak about it more in-depth."

He shook his head in amazement. "Mei Ling…"

Hal gave a huge grin moments later. "Mei Ling! Oh, my god, what are you doing here?"

"Meryl told me about what was going on and that you were searching for the FoxDie cure. I thought I might lend my hand and be of assistance to you guys." She gave a very small giggle, trying to keep it subtle. "Maybe you'll need some more aid since Dave is being such a grouchy person right now. And besides, I needed to get away from the city."

Dave gave an attempt at a half-smile. "Is that right?"

Mei Ling turned to Hal, her voice now serious. "So, Meryl told me you did end up finding it. Where's the cure?"

Hal looked worried for a moment. "Shadow Moses Island."

She blinked, her mouth dropping in a state of shock. "Are you kidding?"

"I wish he was," Meryl muttered bitterly. "But he usually gives the truth about these sorts of things. And something tells me that this is either an extremely sick coincidence, or someone wants to try and mess with us. I'm really hoping that it's the first one right now, but it just… something's just not right here."

Mei Ling winced and nodded. "So, at least it's a place we all know about. You know what I mean?"

Hal grinned. "That's Mei Ling for you- always the optimistic one!"

Dave didn't reply, merely sitting on the chair and watching Aero walk over to him. The husky faithfully sat next to him and set his head on his leg, giving the man a weird stare. No one seemed to notice, though, as the small group began chatter amongst themselves for what they hoped would happen if in fact they did find the virus there. Hal began rambling off possible locations, while Mei Ling and Meryl listened to him, nodding every so often and interjecting.

The old soldier just sighed and stroked Aero's head. "I hope this all works out in the end," he mumbled. "Otherwise, they'll have not only an unhappy man to see, but probably one in a body bag as well."

She gave a small dog-like giggle and nuzzled her owner's leg in response. Dave smiled.

Ugh. Sorry. I was pissed today for a while. Long story. Short chapter. Feel free to smack me with a bat and review.