Weaver had been leaning against the med bus for what felt like hours. The whole camp had already settled in their new home, but no one had left the med bus yet. Which is why when Tom finally stepped off the bus, Weaver was urgent to get answers.

"How is she?"

"She's alive. Unconscious, but alive."

Weaver released the breath of air he didn't realized he had been holding in.

"And Ben?"

"He wishes she were awake, but he's just happy she's back and safe." Tom answered. Weaver raised his eyebrow and sighed again.

"Well, that was a close call."

"You can say that again. Besides being unconscious from having the harness removed, she has a broken ankle, dislocated shoulder, and a few cracked ribs. Thankfully, Anne was able to fix her up as much as she could, but she's going to be on strict bed rest for months with those kinds of injuries before she can start fighting again."

Weaver lifted his army cap off his head and wiped the sweat off of his brow.

"I'm nervous, Tom. I'm worried this is a whole set-up by the aliens, just like with Karen. I mean, what are the chances that we just find her all of a sudden like that?"

"I'm just as confused as you are Captain, but I have that gut feeling that this isn't a set-up, and I'm not just saying that for the sake of my son. It really just doesn't add up. The aliens would never purposely leave the harness on her. They would've removed it to fool us like with Karen. And plus, the harness wasn't lit up yellow, you saw it. If she was really still connected to the aliens, it would've been glowing." Tom had obviously put a lot of thought into this.

"I know, I know, we just have to be extremely careful. That whole Karen situation nearly gave up the entire 2nd Mass., and with Ben obviously head over heels for Anna, she could get him to do anything."

The idea was frightening. Karen easily worked her way through Ben's head by trying to empathize with him and pulled him into her grasp. Anna could do it in a second. She would have a control over him that Karen could only have dreamt of.

Suddenly, the med bus door swung open and Ben appeared panicked in the door frame.

"Dad, come quick! Anna's awake!" And with that, Ben retreated back into the bus with Tom and Weaver hot on his tail.

"Anna, you need to calm down!" Anne yelled as she struggled to restrain her with Hal's help. Weaver, Tom, and Ben approached the chaotic scene.

"What's happening here?!" Weaver yelled.

"I don't know! She woke up and seemed alright, but then all of a sudden she went into this huge fit! I don't understand, no other child has ever reacted like this!" Anne tried to remain as calm as possible, though they could tell she was a bit panicked as well.

"Anna, listen to me! You're safe now, no one's going to hurt you! But we need you to calm down!" Tom's fatherly tone came out in him as he held each of her arms in his hands and leaned slightly above her.

"W-where am I?!" She asked breathlessly. The fear in her voice was unmistakable, crushing Ben on the inside.

"You're home, Anna! You're back with the 2nd Mass.! You have nothing to worry about!"

Tears welled up in her eyes at Tom's words as she seemed to slowly calm down. She looked up at the light above her, before shutting her eyes tight. A tear squeezed itself between her eyelids and slid down the side of her face, leaving a small trail of water behind. She opened her eyes and made direct eye contact with Ben for only a second before returning her attention back to Tom.

"A-am I dead?" She practically whispered, her voice cracking. "Is this heaven?

"Dead? Why would you be dead?"

"Because the ship… I-I tried doing whatever I could before it was too late and it was the only thing I could do and I knew that taking the ship like that would mean that I would die but I just couldn't live like that anymore and I wanted to know that I died fighting back and-"

Anna spoke frantically, her heart rate as fast as her talking. Just as she was about to calm down, another panic attack erupted from inside of her. Ben decided to stop standing around watching her like this and knew he had to do something. He reached his hand out and placed it on hers, interlocking their fingers and giving him a firm hold on her. It reminded him of the day they met on this exact med bus when she placed her hand on his to comfort him when she was the only one who understood how he was feeling. Now, he was just returning the favor, but they're friendship had grown so much since then that it felt more like a duty than a repayment.

As soon as his hand touched hers, she held onto it tightly, in fear that he would go somewhere and leave. But Ben knew he wouldn't until she felt safe and comfortable.

"Anna, please talk to us. We just wanna know what happened." He said softly. She took some time to collect herself and took a deep breath, closing her eyes to recollect the nightmarish memories of her time with the aliens.

"I wasn't just another harnessed human to the aliens. I wasn't one of the unimportant kids who collected human resources in little groups. I was above all of the other kids, just like Karen. I stood by an Overlord's side the whole time, taking all of his commands, but I was treated more as his loving pet than a slave like the others. Every once in a while, I found it all to be… disgusting."

"But that's when I realized something. I was able to feel something that I alone felt- disgust. The feeling bubbled up in my stomach when it shouldn't have been able to. You're not supposed to feel or think anything of your own, but I did. Somehow, I was able to push my real consciousness through the consciousness of the harness and be myself. At first, it only lasted a few seconds. I would take maybe one step of my choosing and then I would return to the control of the aliens. But as the days and weeks went by, the windows where I had my own control over myself grew longer and longer. I could process whole thoughts on my own and I was able to realize that the aliens were clueless of my breaks from their control. So I waited, continuing to be their slave even when I wasn't forced to be, until I found the right moment to do something. And when that moment finally came, the window where I was free had grown to over five minutes."

"But how is any of that even possible? How were you able to break free of their control like that?" Tom asked, wanting to get every detail he could and analyze the situation. He was going to process it as if he were back being a normal history professor and not a major figure in an intergalactic war.

"I-I'm not entirely sure. I think it's just because my hatred for the aliens is so strong that I couldn't let them get the best of me. Like a piece of me was just holding on to my consciousness enough to win it back every once in a while. I think that even though I couldn't fight back physically, my mind tried to do whatever it could."

Tom nodded at the information. It wouldn't be surprising if that's really what it was. Anna does just have this unmistakable determination that could rub off on anybody. The whole idea just seemed so unheard of, but what isn't unheard of anymore? He let her carry on as she waited for him.

"Anyway, I was being transported to a different region on one of the transport aircrafts with 3 different harnessed kids. I stayed in my cot until I felt that window of freedom, and from there I worked my way to the front of the ship as quickly as I could, in fear that I wouldn't have enough time to complete my plan. When I got to the cockpit, I saw that the whole craft was auto-piloted, so I did the quickest and only thing I knew how to do. I pressed every button, turned every knob, and pulled every lever, hoping that something would turn off the auto-pilot. Thankfully, the sirens in the ship began blaring and I could feel it slow down and begin to plummet to the ground. I was sure I was going to die. Even after I had woken up after the crash I thought I was going to die because I was trapped under so much rubble and was in so much pain that I knew was being caused from serious injuries. But then somehow, I still don't understand how, but somehow, you guys found me. I owe you all my life."

Anna looked at everyone in the room appreciatively, her eyes shining as tears threatened to fall. This was the Anna they knew. It wasn't some controlled alien soldier, they were certain of it. She wasn't missing that glint in her eye or that famous warm smile. Every person in the room felt nothing but trusting of her and knew where her loyalty was currently lying. It was back where it should've been all along, where it would've been if things hadn't taken the unfortunate twist that they did. With the 2nd Mass.

"Well Anna, I think everyone in this bus can agree that it's good to have you back. We've missed having you on our line." Captain Weaver stepped forward and gave her a look of respect.

"We've missed having you around in general, not just in combat." Ben corrected the captain, causing Anna to smile which he returned.

"Well, I think we can also agree that we should give Anna some time to rest." Anne said responsibly. Everyone in the bus unwillingly agreed and one-by-one said their good-byes and paid their respects.

Anna had seemed to have gone through everyone- Weaver, Pope, Maggie, Hal, Anthony, Di, Lourdes- but she had not yet gotten to Tom and Ben. Ben came up to her first, giving her a delicate kiss on the forehead, moving a few pieces out of her face.

"Welcome home, Anna." He whispered, his blue eyes staring into her sea of brown and green.

"It's amazing to be home. It's nice to be back to my own thoughts, you know?"

"I wish I didn't know, but yeah." Ben looked away, let down. Anna immediately regretted bringing any sad memories upon him, so she reached for his hand.

"Hey, it's fine. You're fine. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" To her relief, Ben looked back up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, see you then."

And with that, Ben exited the bus, leaving Tom to pat her shoulder and say his quick words of appreciation so she could get some well-deserved sleep.

"Great work."