Samantha Lee donned her dark-blue PLANM camo uniform, tugging at the gloves on her hand and tightening them in place. She felt the extra hard padding on the knuckles and smiled knowingly as she marched under the escort of two Romanian and two Foreign Legion soldiers toward the spot they'd hidden Torchwick at. A little place where a hermit would feel at home, far in the outback of Beacon in the overgrowth of the forest, a shed lay, hidden and visually camouflaged by the canopy.
The defensive walls were a kilometer farther ahead, past said Shed and at the edges of Beacon's own training areas and campus. She hummed as she saw said 'shed'. It resembled one of the old American ones that was more the size of a goddamn garage than anything. She saw another pair of soldiers from the joint unit, a French woman with buzzcut black hair and a Romanian with an RPK LMG and his face fully obscured by a balaclava and glasses.
The two stood at attention as the PLA officer pushed the door open. Inside, the audible crack of fists striking the face of their detained target echoed. The place was soundproofed and there were various sets of tools lining the walls. Tools the girl somewhat hoped she wouldn't have to dull for someone as low as a petty criminal. She cleared her throat and the interrogator, a burly man belonging to the FFL unit, turned around and nodded to Sam. He cleaned his hands and stepped away.
And below a lamp, ginger hair glimmering with sweat, face bruised, Roman Torchwick, Vale's greatest criminal, sat, bound to a steel chair that looked mighty uncomfortable to sit in. She looked to the interrogator and asked with the coldest voice any man or woman in that room had heard from her, "He still hasn't spoken, has he?" even as she just stood there, staring at the petty crook and nobody else.
Despite the drop in temperature, the trooper shook his head. Samantha let out a sigh of disappointment, stating simply, "I'm guessing he's used to getting beaten. Thank you for trying a shorthand suggestion from our beloved Texan, caporal. It seems like we'll have to resort to some methods my dear sister has taught me..." and her eyes glimmered with a sadistic joy completely uncharacteristic of how at least the Romanians were told Sam was.
Diana, one of the two aforementioned Eastern European ethnics that had escorted her here, walked up to Sam, noting the small smirk on her face. She asked, "You gonna be okay, Lieutenant...?" with a hint of concern behind her voice. Sam nodded, not even turning to look at the woman. She took a couple steps forward, toward Torchwick, whose emerald eyes peered up from between his ginger locks.
"You're all dismissed," Sam told them. Several wanted to protest, but she turned only her head to look at them with a side glance. Diana swallowed empty, then showed the others to do as ordered, departing the place and closing the door behind them. Sam knelt in front of Torchwick, her face like a mask of stone, but the excitement behind her own green eyes visible. She took her glasses off and spoke to him softly, "Not a very cooperative crook, are we?"
"And who're you?" He asked mockingly, "Did the animals finally decide to send in their alpha dog, or are ya just a puppy?"
Sam snorted, "Insolent, too. Good..." before her small smirk turned into an ear-to-ear, full-teeth grin revealing the fangs and surprising him. He looked a little past her and saw the wagging tail, his eyes shooting wide open. She grabbed him by the chin and said, "I like your type. Makes the work I do here more fun. Don't you know the usual best option's cooperation?"
"Hah," He scoffed, "I ain't scared of some little kids and their posse who're playing Army."
Sam snorted, "I thought you found out pretty early that we aren't playing, pretty boy..." and she let go of his face. The man stared up at her, before feeling what almost sounded like a gauntlet strike his face. Torchwick suddenly tasted copper and spat a warm liquid off to the side, looking up at the girl with surprise visible on his face. She showed him the glove and told him straight to his face, "Enjoy the taste of what's to come?"
He laughed, "Your big man tried the same thing, you bitch... It ain't gonna work..."
"You'll find I'm far more persuasive than some burly Frenchman..." she replied, then, with anger behind her voice, she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her, "And that I hit a hell of a FUCKLOAD HARDER!" before the fist she'd cocked back just out of few hit the ginger criminal like a hammer, sending his chair bobbing back and forth, damn near falling.
She pushed the chair with her foot, letting Torchwick drop onto his back with a loud thud, before clambering on top of him and beginning to beat him savagely. What scared Torchwick wasn't the fact this little runt hit like a brick thrown by a well-trained Sportsman, nor the fact she could potentially overpower him very easily. It was the goddamned smile she wore. A never-fading smile that, even as her gloves grew bloody, she held.
After a good minute or so of the man's teeth rattling inside his mouth like a fucking macarena, Sam got off and wiped the blood from her gloves. She stood up, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him and the chair back up, setting the chair on its four legs. She wiped a droplet of blood from her cheek, then looked to the barely-breathing man. With a smooth, calm voice, she asked, "Imma offer again to spare myself the broken gloves... You can just talk..."
"Fuck..." Torchwick panted, then glared at her, a defiant, bloody grin on his face, "You..."
Sam giggled mischievously, "No, thanks... Guess we'll have to go for the worse-" She paused as she saw something in the corner of her eye. Personal belongings of the man, laid out on a table. She marched up to them and looked them over, before snorting and lifting up Melodic Cudgel, "Man, I never thought I'd see someone actually pack a grenade launcher into a fucking tube like this. Seriously trying to play up the gangster look, eh?"
She spun it around her finger as she kept looking at the table. The man growled, probably annoyed at watching his own weapon being handled by someone else. He, however, paused at the same time as Sam, who noticed a picture on the table. She hummed, lifted it up and let out a whistle. She chuckled darkly, turning to Torchwick and walking up to him. She showed him the picture as she knelt in front of his seat. It was of a pretty girl with half-brown, half-pink long hair and eyes of the opposite color on each side. She was sat next to the criminal, a smile on her face. Sam tilted her head and stated, "Cute kid... Daughter?"
Torchwick's grin vanished, replaced with a glare, "You leave her out of this... She'll fucking gut you if I don't get to you..."
"Friendly warning, or just an empty threat?" She quipped as she looked at the picture, "Because I can safely tell you she won't be seeing the light of tomorrow if she tries coming anywhere near us to rescue your sorry ass..." before tossing it to the floor. She hummed and leaned toward him, "Maybe we'll see what we can do about her, actually, heh... Get her to talk in your place."
"You wouldn't fucking dare-" He shot back, but was cut off.
"I fucking would, you bastard..." She grinned, pushing him back onto the floor and climbing on top of him, her fingers wrapping around his throat as something inside her snapped, "Wanna know why? Because I'm fucking tired of animals and supposed survivalists throwing the world into the shit for their own personal gain and making innocents suffer! Especially crooks like you with some sorta superiority complex. All of you fuckers are the same spiel and all of you break in the end. I'm going to get what I fucking want out of you, even if it means dragging this little cunt here by the hairs and ending her life slowly and painfully in front of you..." And she took her cap off, her wolf ears twitching, "Do you fucking understand me, you little shit?"
Her fingers tightened like a vice around the man's throat, the girl's expression unchanging. He grit his teeth, trying to resist the sheer strength of the PLANM officer. So, instead of dying like a rat, probably to be buried in the backyard under a tree, the man gave a nod. And just as he agreed to it, Sam's vice grip released, allowing the man's crushed windpipe to expand again, air flowing into his lungs as he gasped for it. She leaned forward, a devious smirk on her face, "That was easy..." then she whispered into the man's ear, "This is gonna be a nice friendship... Let's start with the beginning... Who else do you work with?"
... Diana had stood at the door for the better part of an hour, rifle hanging loosely off her shoulder. She'd stood there to the point it became uncomfortable to even consider what a Chinese Lieutenant of the Marines of all people was doing. And just as she thought that, she saw Sam appear out of the doorway, arranging her cap on her head. Her bloody gloves lay in her pockets and she had bruised knuckles.
The young woman spoke, "We'll have to keep an eye on some new student arrivals. I trust the bastard about as far as I can throw him, so not far enough, but... Maybe he did decide that it's better to play nice than die," yet again, with a tone that sent chills up the Romanian's spine. She motioned for them to follow, stating, "Let's move it out, shall we? I gotta get back home to prep dinner."
"Aye, ma'am..." Diana replied, surprised at the nonchalance...
Arriving back in Beacon, Sam had changed out of her uniform and immediately dived into her room's bathroom to shower. Hot water ran down across her bare form, soothing her frayed nerves. In her mind, she berated herself. Berated herself for snapping like she did, for doing what she did to Torchwick. Sure, he was a petty crook, so some of it was deserved, but the fact that she still enjoyed it...?
She shuddered...
If Victor had seen her. If anyone of the misfits had seen her then...
She sighed, letting the water wash her thoughts away as she sat there, simply enjoying the warmth for another couple of minutes as she washed herself clean of the sins. She then stepped out of the tub and grabbed some bandages, wrapping them around her red knuckles. She donned a clean-pressed civvie shirt and a pair of yoga pants as she strolled out of the shower, her uniform and other pair of undergarments in the washer.
Walking down the stairs in a pair of soft fuzzy slippers, the girl was met by Lita already drinking a beer today. The green-haired girl grinned, though she could tell something was hurting her. She then noticed Jim had stopped playing the game he and Dushman were playing and was staring at her, mouth agape. She snorted, shook her head, then walked up to Lita, whispering to her, "I'm really sorry..."
"Not your fault," Lita replied with a sigh, "It just him."
"I know," The Chinese Lieutenant sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Anyway... Any news?"
"Victor and Katja are on patrol, I think. Vesna and Vera are dealing with something, Ayesha's with Hassan and you saw the boys playing games. Alexi, meanwhile? Probably just wandering around Beacon for the time being..." Lita hummed as she dug through some of her food with her spoon and emptied another quarter of her bottle. Sam hummed, then rubbed her eyes, to which Lita asked, "Are you alright, leftenant?" while mimicking a British accent.
Sam snorted, then shook her head, "Could be much worse, I suppose... You people have no idea how happy I am to see you all alive..."
"We could tell from the smile, Sam," Lita shot back, offering her own smile. Sam, too, let her lips curl up in reply, before she rubbed her eyes again and sighed. Lita blinked with a hint of confusion, before stating, "I'm guessing you need to go to sleep. Any finances that need handling?" and watching Sam scramble awake again. Lita raised a hand with the open palm toward her, telling her, "Relax. I'll deal with it... I did most of our finances when I and the girls lived alone, anyhow."
"Thanks, Li..." Sam sighed.
Lita gave a nod of approval, before humming. She watched Vesna step inside, clad in a green shirt, spats and those weird loose khaki knee-high socks with kneepads she usually wore when off-duty. The green-haired girl greeted the blonde with a wave which Vesna quickly returned, smiling as she grabbed herself a soda from the fridge and sat down. Lita hummed, then asked, "Hey, Vesna."
"Da?" She quirked a brow up at her friend.
Lita turned serious for a moment, asking straightforward, "Did you talk to Vic about it?" which seemed to cause the blonde to go a little pale, surprising their Lieutenant. Vesna shook her head, with Lita sighing as she planted a palm on her own face, murmuring, "Chto za khren...? Vesna, what did I tell you? He deserves to know, especially since the two of you are set to get married soon."
"He doesn't need to know, Li..." Vesna replied, her voice low, "I'm fine. Look at me." Before she motioned to herself and showed a strained smile.
Lita could easily see the twitches of the young maiden before her. And the fact that she was choosing to conceal it all from her beloved husband whom she'd just found was all the more annoying to Li. She, however, chose not to say anything right now. Sighing deeply, she looked to Sam, who was in fact about to press the issue and shook her head. If it was going to take a breakdown for Vic to find out...
No, no, if Ves broke down hard, Vic would never forgive himself. And the man was sure to notice the signs...
... Speak of the man and in he would walk. He seemed a tad terrified, however, pale as bone. Vesna, too, had noticed it, before the guy showed her to follow him outside. They probably needed to talk about something in private. Katja, meanwhile, strolled inside with eyes wide, before sitting herself down where Vesna had been. She looked to a confused Lita and asked, "You still got some of that beer?"
Meanwhile, outside, Vic breathed in and out, then turned to Vesna to see the worry plastered on her face. He winced and sighed as his heart began to race, "Oh, this is probably gonna suck..."
Vesna shook her head, "No, it won't... Whatever it is you want to say, don't be scared... You know me, after all..." and she took his hands in hers. Vic looked her in the eye, then offered a small smile. True, he shouldn't be surprised that Vesna would be like this. Even with the terrors of the war so fresh on his beloved, she still acted as the kind-hearted woman he had always known her as.
Even so... "It's a fairly painful thing to hear, Ves..."
Her grip on his hands tightened as she replied, "I do not care, Vic... Whatever it is, we'll get over it together..." determined. Even so, Victor saw a hint of hesitation behind the girl's eyes. He was wary, but he loved her too much to keep secrets from her and he hoped she thought much the same. He sighed deeply and nodded to her, to which she smiled softly.
Vic breathed in and out, steeling himself, before nodding, "Okay then... Ves, I'll tell you straightforward. Considering we're engaged, my firm belief is that no spouse should keep secrets from their significant other, no matter how they view those secrets... Hence, I promise you I'll keep none." And he saw a glint of guilt appear in her eyes, mixed with hesitation marked by her mistakenly averting her gaze. She seemed to recover quickly, so Vic was not going to press this, seeing as it could be related to something odd. She gave him a nod of understanding, holding his hands still, to which he sighed again and stated, "After we were recalled home from the operation... Well..."
His shoulders sagged as he murmured, "There's genuinely no good way to put this, is there...?" before he locked eyes with Vesna again and spoke, worried, "When I got home with my platoon, they noticed I was down in the drains. Due to missing you a lot, I'd moped quite a bit. Never really complained much beyond a couple days where I got plastered with Diana and the others... Well, what do you know? Dumbass Romanians take things personally."
His own grip on her hands began to wane, but Vesna tightened it, trembling a little. He sighed deeply at that and found himself at the precipice of the abyss. He had to say it. He had promised himself and her just now that he would be completely and totally honest. Even so, he could not look at her as he admitted, "A few of the guys tried setting me up with someone..." then heard a quiet, but faintly audible muffled yelp. He swallowed, his voice starting to tremble, "They somewhat succeeded, I guess...? Fuck, I'm..." he bowed his head, "Sorry... They set me up with this Dutch chick, part of the Armed Forces, stationed in Romania. We dated for about a year, 2020 to 2021..."
"O-Oh..." Ves's voice trembled as tears welled in her eyes... Although, noticeably, she didn't loosen her grip on his hands. Surprise filled Victor's rattling heart as he, too, started shaking. She asked with half-a-mouth, trying to joke, "W-was... She at least a pretty blonde? With blue eyes...?" but the tears flowing down her cheeks and the shaky voice told him how she truly felt. And if it wasn't tearing his heart fucking apart...
"Y-yeah..." He replied, frowning, guilt stabbing at his heart, "I'm so sorry..."
Ves shook her head. Though she was whimpering thanks to the tears, she spoke, "If you're happy... It doesn't matter..." words which nearly broke Vic's heart. He stared at her and his own hold on her hands tightened suddenly, surprising her. Before she could react, he pulled her into a hug which caused her to yelp and twitch. He looked her in the eye, wiping tears from her eyes...
"... I could never be happy with anyone else, you dummy... I'm just sorry it..." He frowned. She cupped his chin.
With a soft smile, she asked, "It's okay... It's... You did tell me you only dated one year, right? And... It's not like she's going to influence anything here, right...?"
"She wouldn't have influenced anything I did anyhow... We broke up in '21 over a disagreement, though I think we both wanted it over..." He replied, then leaned closer to her, causing her to blush, "Not to mention I made a vow to you here and now," and he lifted the left hand on which the ring he had given her lay, "And this should be proof enough that I fully intend to follow it." to which she smiled and simply leaned her forehead against his. She giggled...
"I know..." She replied lovingly, before leaning forward and kissing him. The man smiled at the reaction, holding her close, then sighed.
He added, "You know you can be mad, right? Like, I get it. Being upset over this."
Vesna giggled, "Nope~..." before poking his nose, "Or did you take me for someone who gets jealous easily~?" and she held him close. Vic chuckled right back, jovial, and pressed his mouth and nose against her soft hair. Guess not, he thought as he held her close, feeling his Aura and hers wrap around each-other and the sheer warmth that seemed to bring to both.
"I love you..." He told her with the softest voice.
She smiled and looked up at him, "I love you, too..." before leaning in and kissing him.
"Aww..." A voice spoke, surprising both of them. The heavily-accented voice of a young Dutch woman came through with the smug smirk audible in the way she spoke, "Guess they finally found each-other. It's good to see you, Vicky!" and both turned to see a young woman with bright blue eyes and a beautiful face, not to mention hair that seemed to either be blonde or ginger(Or a combination?), tied at the ends with a scrunchy. She wore a grey uniform underneath a tan plate carrier, wore spats and the whole nine yards, including the loose socks, boots and knee guards Vesna wore, while in her arms rested a CZ Bren II.
Vic blanked, "... Whiskey...?"
She smirked, then looked back toward the other two men behind her and said, "Rumors were true, friends. Seems like the beloved Misfits are here, thank the lord!" before letting out a giggle. An audible sigh of exasperation filled the air as two US Soldiers appeared. One was clad in the standard battle dress uniform of the Marines and carried their mainstay new rifle, while the other, with the exasperated look, wore an MP armband and carried an M4A1, not to mention Army OCP camo on most of his older kit.
Robert's exasperation, however, was a feint as a small, genuine smile appeared on his face, "Hope we aren't too late for the wedding... Or for the asses I need to kick back in line."
"Robert...?" Vesna chuckled, stunned.
"Ayo ayo. Crack be upon ye," Smirked the Marine sniper on Robert's right. He waved it off and said, "Kidding. Hey, Victor, Vesna. Lookin' fine together as usual..." still wearing his trollish grin.
"Gibby!" Laughed Vic, still holding Vesna.
"GIBBEEEEEH!" The Marine laughed. 'Whiskey' meanwhile, straightened out and held the teasing grin she had on her face, her Bren with an ELCAN and fore slung over her shoulder as she crossed her arms to her admittedly impressive chest. The Marine known as Daimon 'Gibby' Gibson andt their old Military Police buddy, Robert Fetingis the Third. Their two missing lunatic buddies. And beside them, a familiar ginger-blonde with a mole on the corner of her right eye and a smile to kill.
"Oh, right, Victor," Robert started. He tilted his head to the girl, "Mind introducing us?"
"... Right..." Vic sighed deeply, "Folks, Ves, this is my ex."
"Clarisse Van Der Graaf, at your service," The girl saluted with a smile, "Call me Whiskey. And you must be the beautiful love of Vicky's life, Vesna."
"Yeah... Hi..." Ves waved, awkward. "A-Are you okay...?
Whiskey had a friendly tone, "Relax, friend. I saw how Victor missed you... And I knew I wasn't something he actually wanted. We can talk more inside if you folks don't mind a Dutch Woman partying with you."
Robert murmured, "Long as you keep the Drugs to yourself... Don't need these retards high off their asses..." which garnered laughter from Gibby, Whiskey and even Vesna and Victor. Robert hid his smile this time, showing them to lead the way inside. And lead the way they did, right in time to surprise a good chunk of the group already in the house... And for cheers to erupt.