Strap yourselves in, friends, it's time for another instalment of Hannah's wild ride! Thanks so much for beta reading, BrambleStar14 and Minaethiel. And thanks for all the reads, reviews, faves and follows. Let's just get into it because this one is so much fun.

The Devil's All You've Got

Written by TunelessLyric

So nobody move

'Cause I was sent to warn you

The devil's right beside you

-Shinedown, 'Devil'

The next few days jerked past several hours at a time. Nervous energy shuddered through her each time she glanced at the time, realizing this really was happening. Sometimes it would surprise her how quickly the time ticked by. Other times, it was severely disappointing. It felt like half a day was eaten up in the firing range with Phil and Lucas, but in reality it was only half an hour.

They had another sparring session the following day. Hannah counted in her head instead of keeping time on her leg. It took longer to find the right beat, but once she had it, she was able to fend Shaw off. He caught her when she went in for an attack. There was no triumph in his eyes as he immobilized her.

It didn't help that she was sleeping as restlessly as before. That one night's respite was all she had gotten. Now all of her Orange nightmares were back. There were new ones, too. Blank blue eyes shovelling dirt over her while she so desperately tried to scream but no sound came out. Just a rush of cold air.

Jerking awake, suffocating in her sheets, Hannah fell out of bed. The floor slammed into her knees and hands. Grounding herself. That was the dream. This was real. Panting, her forehead touched the floor as she struggled to remember that she wasn't slowly dying in the pit.

She had to move. Escape it.

Throwing on a sports bra and a pair of PT shorts, she let herself out of her room with her data pad. Out in the hall, the base was sleeping. The lights were turned down to soften the edges of the military fabrication. The scarred and scraped metal walls that had seen countless soldiers cycle through over the years. Coming and going and seeing all sorts of terrible things. Being a part of death and destruction. Chipping pieces of themselves away, trying to become something harder. Colder.

The gym was empty at this odd hour of the morning. For that she was grateful. There was a cord hanging from the far wall and she went straight for it. A shaking finger flicked a few switches and the air filled with a hum of white noise. Her data pad accepted the cord with a satisfying click that killed the humming, blanketing her in silence once again. A couple swipes on the screen pulled up the application she was after. Setting it down, she hurried across the gym to pull the door shut securely.

The music caught her. It grabbed for that tight bundle of freezing air at the core of Hannah Steele and pulled in a hundred different directions. Behind her eyes, multicoloured lights strobed to the pounding beat and she hesitated.

Downloading all of her music had been one thing. Listening to it for the first time since leaving New Alexandria was something completely different. And this song…

It pulled memories up in tidal waves that crashed over her. Threatened to drag her away from shore. At first, it was like another shovel of dirt landing on her face, thrown by familiar faces she would never see again except in dreams. A flash of long dark hair. Mischievous sparkling eyes. Hands over their heads as they lost themselves in the sounds.

Hannah's eyes slid shut against it all. She felt her bare feet against the floor she had stood on hours ago with Phoenix. Had lain against as Shaw held her down and stared through her without any recognition. It reminded her of so many floors she had stood on in her childhood as music rolled through her. Teased out parts of her she hadn't known lived within her skin.

As the singer set feelings to sound, her arms rose, torso following as if it was only natural. There were only the instruments and the flowing wind that dictated how her body responded. Her mind quieted as she moved. As she listened and reacted, trusting the beat to hold her steady. To balance and catch her.

Breath coming hard as the song quieted for a moment, Hannah's eyes opened again, looking at her small form in the mirror. For a heart-stopping second, she didn't see the scars that disappeared beneath her sports bra. She stared, watching them materialize where they belonged. Twisted flesh that sometimes stung with a pain she shouldn't feel. A reminder.

The chorus came around again and the blizzard rose in answer. It filled her limbs, fueling her again.

Hard rock melted away as the first song faded out and a quiet plucking guitar replaced it. Her aggressive, sharp movements softened. Lengthened. Snappy, jerky arm motions became momentum-gathering swings that folded into turn sequences that spun the room around her.

She was standing still between songs when the door opened loudly at her back. In the mirror, she saw tousled red hair and darkly-inked arms as Aaron let himself into the gym.

"Didn't think anyone would be in here, but I heard your tunes," he said by way of explanation. "You want the room to yourself?"

She shook her head, sweeping blonde bangs out of her eyes. "I think I'm going to try to get some sleep again."

He shrugged before joining her near the middle of the room. Giving her a once-over, he offered a thin smile. "Don't clear out on my account. I was planning on beating up a punching bag. You can stay if you like."

"Haven't danced for an audience since…" Truthfully? Since Reach. "Since I was thirteen."

"I can keep my eyes to myself," he said, clearly meaning every word. Offering her that outlet and the privacy to escape any judgement.

"It's fine, Aaron. I appreciate it, but I need a shower and sleep. Big day tomorrow." Old habits about getting into bed early before deployment. Even if she had no idea what tomorrow would entail.

Her teammate nodded. "Night, then." He turned away to wrap his hands.

She hurried over to scoop up her data pad and unplug it. Just in case a certain song came up on the shuffle and he heard it. She wasn't sure even she was ready to hear it herself in private.

Heading back in the direction of the barracks, she tossed back a quick, "Night, man."

Hannah stared up at the shadowed ceiling for a long time before she fell asleep. Too nervous as each second dragged toward eternity in the darkness.

But finally they were gathering in the armoury once again. Hannah forced herself not to watch with her mouth open as Hunter helped buckle one of Harper's vambraces. To not ask how Harper had coped dressing himself for so long before. To just keep walking to her locker and pull Blizzard on like a favourite outfit.

She kept her eyes down, holding silence close around her as a buffer. Kept to herself so she could try to dig deep into the snowdrifts. To figure out what exactly she was feeling. So many different emotions layered atop one another.

She had no idea what would happen when she was standing before Irons and looking him in the eye.

Her teammates let her be, even as they all piled into the Pelican together.

"What kind of resistance are we expecting?" Phil asked from the pilot's seat.

Lucas tapped on his data pad, sending information to everyone's HUDs. "More than was at the Tantalus base," he explained, highlighting security checkpoints and guard pathways.

This was a true ONI facility. A multi-level building in a city, completely innocuous at first glance. It looked like the surrounding towers, façade blending right in. A thousand people walked by it every day without the slightest inkling that it housed some of the most dangerous spooks on humanity's payroll.

Harper considered it for a long moment, head on an angle while he traced a few potential entry points.

"We're not barging in, guns blazing."

Six helmets turned her direction. Phil, leaving his eyes on his flight path, said, "We're not?"

"We're not?" echoed Harper, suddenly fascinated.

"My op, my rules," she answered flatly. "We go in the front door, announce ourselves and why we're there."

Aaron raised his hand. "And what about the armed guards and dozen floors of ONI agents?"

Shaw pointed his thumb at the pyro on his right in agreement.

"As team leader, I have to say—"

"With all due respect, Harper," said Blizzard, slapping the release on her harness so she could stand, "shut up. You don't outrank me. This is my op, not yours." She scanned the two lines of Insurrectionists. "Any problems?"

They watched her in silence.

"Good. Front door entry. If they want us to turn over our weapons, we ask them where they want us to put them. Otherwise, feel free to stay in the Pelican until I'm done what I have to do. You're all big boys, trained to kill without weapons anyway."

She sat back down, hands limp in her lap as she pulled up Orange dossiers until her HUD was totally covered in letters and images and she couldn't see the inside of the craft. Couldn't see Harper watching her through his expressionless visor.

The Pelican ride lasted several hours, but finally they set down on a New Ephesus rooftop several blocks away from the ONI building. Not the most subtle approach, but it wasn't as if Irons didn't already expect her to one day track him down. Not after Mars. Besides, the fact that a military-grade aircraft had entered the atmosphere had been noted, filed and sent up the flagpole the second they had been detected. Just another reason to dispense with any showy displays and fancy entrances.

Still felt bizarre to walk down the deserted city sidewalk in the middle of the New Ephesian night. Few cars cruised by to even notice the eight URF operators stalking through the shadows to knock literally on ONI's front door.

The bewildered secretary stared at them through the glass door, already calling for guards. Harper waved in an uncomfortably friendly manner.

Blizzard held her hands up as a six-man team showed up to open the door.

"What the actual fuck?" one asked. "Ian fucking Harper, why are you even here?"

Harper shrugged. "Not my op," he said smoothly.

"I'm here to see Irons," Blizzard cut in before anyone else thought they would laugh at their own jokes. "They insisted on coming with. I really couldn't get them to stay put."

The guards' leader exchanged a glance with the others. Skepticism was written all over their faces. Their hands resting on their sidearms. "You honestly think we're going to let you in?" he asked in disbelief.

She nodded. "Call us in. Shit, send him a photograph. Tell him the last survivor of Orange wants to talk."

The leader looked between her and Harper. "She speak for all of you now?"

"Just for today." To anyone who hadn't spent any time with the Innie lieutenant, it sounded like an easy enough comment. Blizzard heard the knife's edge pressed against her skin.

With a hand signal, the leader okayed one of his teammates to call their unusual visitors in. Both groups stood very still, very tense, as they waited for the response. Blizzard had to resist the urge to shift her weight with impatience.

The guard elected to contact Irons lifted her finger from her earpiece. "I can't believe I'm about to say this. But let this lot in. We're escorting them up."

Blizzard let out a shaky exhale. It had actually worked. Irons must really be interested in having this confrontation to let Fireteam Phoenix into his tower.

Each guard went over every Phoenix to relieve them of their weapons. A sizeable pile of guns and blades formed on the counter at the first security checkpoint. Nobody said anything in complaint, but Harper in particular took his sweet time handing over his knife and magnum.

They all crowded into an elevator together. Blizzard couldn't help but wonder exactly how close they were to the maximum weight capacity as eight armoured soldiers stood circled uncomfortably closely by the guards.

She pulled deep breaths in as surreptitiously as possible. The walls pressed close, arms and bodies closer, until she had no space left for her own. It was all she could do to reread the Orange dossiers and pretend she was somewhere else.

The smooth metal doors slid open without a sound. The lead guard set off down the sleek glass-and-steel hallway. He brought them straight to a secluded office. The only door for a long stretch. No nameplate on it. Just brushed steel.

Knocking, the guard stepped aside to survey the Innies one more time. Everyone was tense, expecting a brawl to break out at the slightest twitch. But all pretending nonchalance. All that was missing was Harper's innocent whistling and hands in pockets.

There was nothing in Blizzard but the dormant chill. She was ready for what waited for her on the other side of this door. She owed it to Orange to see this through. To stand before Irons and look him in the eye.

The door slid open, light flooding into the dim hallway. Slicing through the shadows so many Phoenixes tried to melt into.

Blizzard stepped over the threshold.

The office was tidy to the point of obsession. For the long hours logged today alone, she had expected disorder. Stacks of reports and dozens of different data pads. Instead, there was one central monitor and a comfortable-looking desk. Like a monk's cell.

And standing between the door and the desk was Irons. As if to fit his own name, the ONI officer had hair inching from blond to grey. Hard, guarded eyes crawled over the crowd that filed in behind her.

"You won't be needed," he told the guards. His voice was soft and calm despite the terrorists with lengthy résumés doing their best to stare him down.

The lead guard hesitated, glancing between Harper, Blizzard and Irons pointedly.

"You're dismissed." There was no arguing with the equally pointed stare levelled at the guards.

Shaking his head, Phoenix's escort ushered his team back into the hall.

Irons leaned on his desk, hands down on the smooth edge. Half of a smile curled his lips as he made himself comfortable. He said, "Shaw, look at you, stepping into your parents' footsteps. Can't say I'm surprised."

Hunter stiffened, hands squeezing into fists so tight that the armoured plates on his gloves creaked.

"Good to see you still smiling Ian, though I don't think you'll find the punchline funny. If you live to hear it," the ONI officer went on as if Hunter hadn't reacted. He turned to the next Phoenix in line. "Is that still you back there, Baxter? I always did like you. A shame, honestly. Senseless waste, that's your story. And you, Thorpe, would have been an asset to R and D in another life. ONI started moving a lot slower after the loss of you. Geist, don't forget there's still a man alive who knows your name and your history. Don't worry, they're safe with me."

Harper nodded as if he was going to keep enjoying the joke, damn the consequences. Crosshair and Circuit each acknowledged Irons' backhanded compliments with tight nods. Geist didn't make any comment or movement at the carefully-aimed threat.

Those all-seeing eyes ran over Firefly. "Still afraid of your shadows, Paul? I can promise you they'll never catch back up if you always have a match. Haven't forgotten about you, Blake, don't look left out."

Falcon most definitely did not look disappointed to have escaped scrutiny for so long.

"We could have used an agent like you. You're more like us than anyone cares to admit. Crane outdid himself with you men. Even the little Jason project was an echo of him. Buried as he may be, he lives on in you seven. Or is it eight?"

He turned his full, undivided attention to the petite woman who had led them into this alien office. "I know you, Blizzard, even if you're determined to act like you're springing some sort of trap on me. But then, you come here to talk. The rest of them happened along for the ride, didn't they? Well, I'm here and I'm very interested to hear your story."

She watched him for a moment, her heart pounding in her ears. Here he was. After all those years of pulling strings behind the scenes. Making seasoned ODSTs dance to the tune he played for them. They had been like his playthings to order across the galaxy, hiding behind the curtain of the UNSC.

Blizzard took her helmet off, running armoured fingers through her hair.

"Hi, Daddy," she breathed, quiet.

She felt their heads whip around. A dense blanket of snow snuffed their sparking shock, dampening the heat of their bodies.

Shrewd, sharp blue eyes examined her. "What happened, Han?"

"You did." The essence of everything. The field of corpses, the days spent huddled in the infirmary, trying to feel the pain and grief. Her rage when she saw Mars. Distilled down to those two elegant words.

Daniel Steele raised his eyebrows.

"There were four times as many Covvies as we were told there would be. We dropped ready for a hard fight, but they were already shredding the ground guns." She shook her head, clenching her teeth against the screaming that filled her nightmares. "We gave our all. And I couldn't save any of them."

A black glove with pale blue flecks traced the lines from collarbone to hip. "Jackals should have buried me deeper. These guys should have left me."

Her father nodded once. "And what happened with Mars? Official story is that you were never there. I know I sent you all there."

"Dumped the colony to the Covvies. He was in charge of our intel. Fucked up. Must have been worried about sending the boss's daughter to her death. Didn't know I was still alive. Sounds like you know what I did to him."

"You did leave quite the mess for the cleaning crew," he said mildly.

Blizzard shrugged. She didn't have any explanations. Any apologies.

"You saved me the trouble of figuring out what to do with him, so I suppose I ought to thank you. Do I have your new friends to thank for helping you out with that little adventure?" her father asked.

Circuit held up a hand.

Steele appraised him evenly. "Of course you did."

"We should get going," said Blizzard. A chill wind filled her chest. "Tell Mom I'm okay. I… I'm not coming home. I'm sorry—I don't want her to see me. Like this. Tell her not to worry."

The ONI officer nodded again. "She'll understand, Han. I'll make sure she does."

For a second, the soldier slipped, leaving the long-absent daughter behind. "I love you guys. I'll see you again."

"Of course." And the man who had watched her career like a cold guardian angel stepped forward to take her hands. He gazed down at her before placing a kiss on the top of her head. "Stay safe," he murmured into her hair.

She pulled away after the seconds had stretched to a minute. Hannah sealed her helmet back over her head. Blizzard led her teammates through the ONI facility. Through the streets. Back to the Pelican.

Harper, weapons back in their correct place at his belt, relaxed into the seat next to her, practically overflowing into her lap. His head leaned uncomfortably close, helmet on the floor between his feet. "No more surprises."

Turning to face him, she depolarized her visor so they could see each other's eyes.

"You don't outrank me."

The words turned to a cloud of ice between them.

"For as long as you belong to my team," Harper said slowly, "as long as you're one of us, you follow me like the others."

Green tried to hold blue. Tried to sink long, blackened claws into smooth and strong ice. Blizzard's chin lifted and she straightened her spine.

He was more than a foot taller than her, but she did her damnedest to look down at him. To drain heat from the Pelican.

"You took him from me," she breathed. "You took my death from me. You took my life. The only reason I've stayed is because of my own misplaced honour. Something you wouldn't understand, Ian. Your men couldn't let me die. You can't let me live. I'm one of you now. Gotta treat me like one of the guys."

His mouth quirked and he leaned back. "I'll give you one thing, Bliz. You make life interesting."

He patted her thigh before rising to sit next to Hunter, throwing a leg into the other Phoenix's lap without missing a beat.

He's mine. You're mine.

The female Phoenix watched them, expression as blank as Hunter's, before polarizing her visor again.