**Heroes, The Commodores**

Alisha adjusted the blanket wrapped around Miller. She was pretty sure he'd be fine, but like a mother hen she couldn't stop fussing over him. They were all pretty much stunned by what had happened, and so far, they had only gotten as far as getting Miller someplace safe and warm. Goodwin's words still rung in their ears.

"There's no reason to be loyal to the US Government or any other organization from before. New countries and new alliances are forming. We have been waiting for a time like this for decades." As she'd spoken her accent had gotten thicker and her face had softened. "Quebec will hire you, and pay handsomely, for skilled soldiers such as yourselves. It's a time to make deals and set yourself up for life."

She still couldn't believe Goodwin had managed to get the drop on them. But she guessed that was what happened when you trusted what you saw on the surface too easily. She of all people on the team ought to know that.

Nothing had seemed amiss as Specialist Goodwin had accompanied them back to the safe room. She must have tipped off the Separatists while Alisha and Mason were deeply focused on the radio and Cruz and Wolf were down the stairs, guarding the door. Chan had gone ahead to scout the Western exit. Once they had wired in the extra antenna length to amplify the signal, they had left the safe room to place the radio in the eastbound road bed. The plan was to drop down into the lower tunnels and double time it back to the US side. Then they would activate the radio and wait for the entrance guards to thin out before making their escape. They had hoped that the diversion would create an opportunity for the main group to exit at the Canadian end.

It had gone perfectly up until the point soldiers suddenly surrounded them and the radio. At first glance it looked like 4 on 5, a bet Alisha might have been willing to take given that Wolf, Cruz, and Miller had advanced training and both Wolf and Cruz were good shots. But then Goodwin had turned and put her weapon to Alisha's head while a man, who must have been their leader, stepped out of the darkness and took control of the radio. They probably would have been executed and left for dead shortly after if Wolf hadn't thrown a couple flash bangs and pulled them back into the safe room.

Miller was beginning to stir. "Mother fucker, my head!" He groaned.

"Easy there." Wolf and Alisha each grabbed a shoulder to keep him from sitting up too fast. "You might have a concussion." Wolf shifted to look at his eyes. "How's your eye sight?"

"Fine. But my head is pounding like the worst head ache ever." Miller slowly turned his head and looked over the team. "Where the heck are we?"

"6th floor of the federal building, a few blocks away from the tunnel. We thought there might be some good supplies, maybe a radio here, but everything good's already been looted." Wolf lifted his wrist and took his pulse. "Neck feel ok?"

"Yeah, yeah fine." Miller ducked his head, as if testing his neck muscles. "How'd I get here? I remember putting on the scuba gear and blowing the tunnel to kingdom come, I don't remember swimming for it at all."

"That's because you got hit with a chunk of ice as we exited the dive hatch." Cruz came over to sit on his heels at Miller's feet. "Next time, lead with your hands, not your head. I had to tow you to shore."

"Shit, I'm sorry man." Miller looked down at his lap, a bit of color appearing at the tips of his ears.

"I'm just glad it wasn't me." Cruz said gruffly. "Glad you're all right."

It had been the most terrifying thing Alisha had ever done. Wolf and Cruz were fairly experienced divers and Miller and Mason had both done some vacation diving. But she'd never even tried on a mask in a pool. Add to that the clumsiness of the dry suit, the heavy current, and the bobbing ice chunks and she was feeling very grateful to Wolf who had helped her reach the shore.

She bit her lip nervously. Hopefully Wolf would deem Miller medically stable. They were cold and tired, with no radio. They had no rifles either. They needed to find a car and get someplace where they could re-establish contact ASAP.

Mason turned away from the windows, lowering his binoculars. "Lieutenant, I think I can make out some older cars in the parking garage at the casino a few buildings away. I can probably find one I can wire."

"If he can't start it I probably can." Cruz offered. "Misbeggoten youth and all that." He looked to Wolf. "What do you think, can Miller be released?"

Wolf shrugged. "I don't know. Do you want to try to stand?"

Miller shook his head. "My mouth tastes like a sewer. How long was I out?"

Cruz grinned. "Quit whining! It was an hour tops. It's probably just because you sucked in so much river water. Can't say you're not going to get some kind of chemical poisoning or parasite now. But you don't get to whine over such a wussy injury. Now Mason, he's the one who's going to get all the sympathy from the ladies."

Miller gave Mason a questioning look. "You look fine to me."

Mason laughed and brandished his shoulder where a half inch wide red streak gouged his flesh. "It's just a flesh wound, but it will leave a nice scar and I am sure with the right story it will totally up my street-cred."

Cruz shook his head. "Except your lady-love knows enough and sees enough to know it's nothing. Face it, that wound is wasted on you Mason."

At least they were in good spirits, Alisha reflected. "Sorry Miller, you're the only one on Dingo team without at least one bullet wound now. I could order Wolf to graze you too if you want."

"Ha, Ha." Miller rolled his eyes. "I don't need a hole in my body to be badass. After all, I was one of the original 6." He rolled to his knees and reached for the edge of a desk to help pull himself up. "That's enough risk for one lifetime."

Alisha reached out to hold him under one arm, while Cruz took the other and together they made sure he was clear headed enough before letting go. "Yeah, but chicks dig bullet wounds, just sayin'" Cruz continued razzing him.

Now that Miller was standing, she felt much better about their prospects. A little more able to relax, she quipped, "What would any of you know about what chicks dig?"

Cruz and Miller looked a little unsure of how to respond. Mason smiled politely but didn't say anything. Wolf however laughed out loud. "Admit it gents, we can't compete with her on that score. She knows both sides of that game better than we do."

They helped Miller sit at the edge of a desk and brought him a paper cone filled at a half empty water cooler. Fortunately, whatever this place was, it had a lot of maps on the wall. Alisha pulled a regional roadmap down and placed it on the desk between them.

"What's your plan Lieutenant?" Wolf prompted.

"Well, since we don't appear to have been followed and this building doesn't look used, I think we can stay here safely for the night. Early morning is probably the safest time to move about the city."

"That's always been the best time to avoid getting shot in Detroit." Mason observed.

"Yes, well, given that we are…here," She found their location in the map, "and we know we had no cell reception from Ann Arbor to here, I say we get on the highway and head south toward Toledo. Once we're reasonably sure we haven't been spotted we can search for a radio station or airport or someplace with power where we can maybe get a signal out to St. Louis and see if we can find out what happened to Green's team." She closed her eyes a minute as a terrible apprehension that had been nagging at her periphery ever since they escaped from the tunnel manifested as a crushing guilt. She'd have to tell Chandler that they were separated and they had potentially blown the end of the tunnel while people were still in it. The names and faces started assailing her. Some she knew so well, like Burk and Tex. Others would come as blows to other people. Even worse, she was going to have to tell Kara that Danny was missing. She knew with absolute certainty that Kara would never accept his death without proof. Heck, Alisha even knew Kara still held out hope that her brother would turn up. But not knowing, always wondering about the father of her child, well that would slowly consume her.

"Our priority has to be finding a communication method. We can't leave the people back in St. Louis hanging." There were nods around the desk.

Wolf turned the map to face himself and studied it. "I'm behind your plan 100 percent." That meant a lot to her, knowing how much more experience he had than she did. Actually, that they would follow her at all was still surprising, given that she felt like she'd almost cost them everything back in Baltimore. "I'd suggest we take two vehicles though. That way, if we are chased, a part of our team can attempt to breakaway, to continue to search for a way to make contact." She smiled across the desk at him, glad to have him here when she needed to feel like she was guiding them down the right path.

"Alright then. Let's take three four hour watches and get going at 5 AM. Wolf and Cruz, you guys take the first guard positions at the windows and the main stairwell. Mason and I will search desks for any food or tools we can find. Miller, you need to take it easy."

They managed to rustle up a pile of snack food and actually had a pretty good meal. Without any heat, the building was close to forty degrees so despite the relative safety, no one was able to get to sleep easily. Eventually she found herself standing by the window, looking out toward the water with a pair of binoculars. It didn't look any different than it had this morning and yet she caught herself scanning the dark shadows of the ice floes looking for the bodies of their colleagues.

"No sign of anyone at the river?" Wolf's hushed voice was hoarse from lack of sleep. He offered her a cone of water and she took it with a sigh.

"No sign of anyone at all. With this full moon I'd hardly be surprised if a werewolf dashed by. Detroit is like a ghost town. It's so different from the other cities we've seen."

Wolf leaned against the glass, sipping from his own cup of water. "I noticed that too. There are almost no bodies here, but there's also no piles of trash, no moving cars, no stray dogs. Nothing to indicate that anyone is here. As we walked over from the river I saw many shop fronts boarded up, except the boards looked old."

"You've never been here before, have you?"

"Only the airport."

"See that building over there, with the ugly round towers? My mother gave a speech at an NAACP convention there a few years ago and I came with her." She shook her head. That seemed a lifetime ago. "This part of the city was a little empty even then. Without water, power, or food delivery, this concrete and steel relic didn't have anything to offer once the flu hit."

They watched the stark white ice chunks twirl and bow to each other in the glittering river for a while. When she couldn't take it anymore, she broke the silence. "It isn't fair."

Wolf glanced her way but all he said was, "Few things ever are. But what specifically are you referring to?"

She pressed her forehead against the glass, letting the cold bite into her skin. "It isn't fair that the people who are missing have families and loved ones back home. Here we are, a bunch with no one depending on us, coming out of it just fine."

He ran a hair through his dark hair. "If you think no one would cry over your grave Alisha, you are sorely mistaken."

She frowned, biting the inside of her lip. She could just remind him that she was Lieutenant Granderson to him and stop this conversation all together before it got any more personal, but she needed to absolve at least some of her guilt. Otherwise tomorrow she'd be paralyzed by the load. She sighed and tapped her head against the glass again. "I know. Once I got past what my mother and Hamada did, I could see that. But it isn't the same to have friends mourn you as it is to have family, blood or chosen."

He put his head on the glass too. "I played the same game when Bivas went. Until my parents died in a boating accident several year ago, I didn't have a vision of my future without them." He paused as if deciding how much to say. "But in the years since, I have learned to value my connections with others so much more. Before my parents died, I would have never let myself be so close with someone so young and female. I had my Mum and Dad and I didn't think I needed anyone else. But it turns out that it doesn't matter if you've known people for two days or two decades. They all put their mark on you and you on them. So you might as well be honest, say what you have to say, and let them be themselves with you. Now that I let people in, my family is bigger than I ever imagined."

His face creased as he spoke and she could see the depth of his belief. He wasn't placating her or putting her on. He was being 100% honest about his life's philosophy with a woman he'd only known for a couple months. What's more, he was completely aware that she was immune to his charms. She had been envious of his friendship with Bivas, just like she was of Kara and Danny's relationship, but right now, she could see that it wasn't the people she was jealous of, it was the connection. "It just seems so rare and precious to have someone so intertwined in your life. And I'm going to have to tell Kara." Her voice caught. "I'm going to have to tell her that I couldn't save Danny."

"And she's going to be glad that you are there, crying with her." His voice was hardly above a whisper, but the warm hand that enveloped her's was a clear message of comfort. She barely remembered the moments of Bivas death, being injured herself and attempting to revive Chung at the same time. But she did remember that he'd cried. Maybe that was why he'd adjusted so much quicker than Carlton.

Hoping to break up the solemnity of their conversation she nudged him with her shoulder. "If you're such an expert on human relations, how come you're not married with a passel of kids?"

"Who says I'm not?"

She gave a pointed eyebrow toward his bare ring finger where it rested over her hand. "If you are, it would be news to me."

"I've never met the right woman. But I will someday."

Alisha leaned back from the window so he could see her grin. "Oh you silly romantic man. Less than 10 percent of world's population believed to have survived and you still have confidence that she's out there, you will meet, AND manage to woo her?"

His grin matched her's. "It's not silly at all. I've already seen several romances spring up out of the ashes. I have to believe mine will too." He wagged a finger at her. "You know what's silly? Being interested in someone, knowing she's interested in you, and not going after what you could have together. You said it yourself, life's not fair. It would be a shame to miss that opportunity."

A certain infuriating red haired civilian came to mind and Alisha sighed. "We'll tear each other to shreds and leave behind a pool of blood."

"But will you enjoy the bloodletting?" he challenged.

She supposed she would. "Maybe? Probably? But.."

Wolf turned away from the view and leaned on the glass, crossing his long legs at the ankles. "But what? Are you afraid that she'll reject you? So what if she does? It won't be the worst thing that's happened in your life, but it could be the best."

"I thought the best thing had already happened to me. Before the flu I had a girlfriend I loved with my everything. We had been together a long time." When he just stared at her, unwilling to let her off the hook, she tried again. "We were going to start a family after this trip. I was so happy."

"And what? You don't think you deserve to be happy again? You said it yourself, it isn't fair. Maybe you get two true loves in your life, maybe some people get none. You're right, it isn't fair. But you know what else isn't fair? Denying yourself the chance to find out." He pushed off the window. "Don't fight it, you know I'm right. I didn't save your life today for you to go wasting it." The deep groves of his smile lines took the sting off his tirade.

"Yeah, yeah, you might be right." Her watch chimed the hour. Waving toward where Mason was wiping sleep from his eyes and Miller was sprawled on the floor she told him, "Listen fairy godmother, I'll think about it. But first we have to get home in one piece. So go, get your beauty rest. I've got an eye on things for now."