A/N: Part 1 of the aftermath of the incident on Antibaar. Enjoy :)
Alex sat restlessly in the shuttle, shaking her right leg madly until Casey put a hand on it.
"Calm down," she said. "They have to be fine, otherwise Doctor Lopez would have come with us right away."
Alex slowly stopped struggling. Only when she had collected herself a little did she notice how deep the tiredness was in her bones. Two hours ago, they had helped defend an element-zero mine that had been attacked by battarians. And just as they were back aboard the Rome, the commander had immediately ordered them into the conference room and told them about Lieutenant Washington's message.
"It's looking bad down there on Antibaar," he had told them. "We need to evacuate our people and we need all of you to do that. You will encounter creatures that barely resemble a human and are extremely aggressive. Unfortunately I can't give you any more details, the connection to Lieutenant Washington only lasted for a short time. Stock up on ammo and get ready, we'll be there soon!"
And now they were back in the shuttles, already on their approach to Antibaar. Most of the marines nervously speculated about what creatures to expect, but Alex stayed silent until they finally landed.
"All right, Marines!" said Van Hagen, emerging from the cockpit. "Each shuttle combs through one of the buildings. You guys are led by me. Stay close together and shoot anything that moves that doesn't look like our people or civilians. Let's get Lieutenant Washington and the others home!"
Some roared enthusiastically and leapt out of the shuttle, assault rifles drawn, following Van Hagen. They were in the middle of a square surrounded by three large buildings. Alex saw blood and spotted some dead bodies, but didn't bother long because the LC charged straight at their target. The front doors were half open and Van Hagen, with some effort, pried them fully open so they could all enter.
It was pitch dark inside, but with fifteen Marines simultaneously turning on their gun lights, the entrance hall was adequately lit.
The atmosphere sent shivers down Alex's spine. She could sense that something terrible had happened here. They entered a hallway at the end of which two grotesquely deformed figures were already waiting for them, shrieking when they spotted the marines, but a second later they were riddled with multiple bullets and crashed to the ground.
"They were really ugly," someone quipped and laughed.
Van Hagen led the way again. "Keep moving!"
They entered a larger lab that was suddenly lit by a blue flash and one of the creatures crashed into the wall right next to them.
"Ah, Washington, are you having a blast?" Van Hagen asked, lowering his gun.
Alex noticed the four people standing in a hallway to her right, walking toward her.
"We wanted to accommodate you," Lieutenant Washington replied. Behind her, O'Malley supported Ellen, who appeared to be having trouble standing on her own.
"What happened?" Alex asked worriedly and walked towards her. The other Marines secured the room and Van Hagen conversed with Washington and over the radio with the other officers about how to proceed.
"One of those things... got me. Bit me," Ellen explained, breathing heavily. "I'm a little dizzy, but... it'll be fine."
"O'Malley, I'll take her," Alex said. John shrugged and put Ellen's right arm over her shoulder.
"I got you El," Alex said almost tenderly as they slowly walked ahead.
"Thanks," Ellen murmured weakly. Her head hung limply down and she found it visibly more difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Alex was getting scared but tried not to show it. What would happen if Ellen was infected with something? During the flight they had been roughly told what the scientists had been working on down here.
Van Hagen cleared his throat once and then gave instructions. "O'Malley, Webber and Doctor Mumford are to be taken to the shuttles immediately. The others stay here and clean up the facility so the investigative team won't have any problems later. Keep your units together as much as possible and search every corner."
Alex led Ellen out of the lab and down the two corridors they'd passed on the way there, while O'Malley, Washington, and the civilian followed.
"Alex, I have to sit down," Ellen said shortly before the exit and suddenly collapsed. If she hadn't had an arm around Alex's shoulder, she would have landed on the ground, but she was half in mid-air.
"El!" Alex exclaimed desperately. Washington grabbed the unconscious Ellen, slung her over her shoulder like a wet sack, and sprinted to the shuttles. Surprised, Alex hurried after the lieutenant, the other two also close behind.
"Kyle!" they heard Washington shout as they strapped Ellen into a seat. "You should leave immediately. Take this four to the Rome and then come back to pick us up."
"All right, Kara."
Alex was about to sit down next to Ellen when the lieutenant patted her shoulder. "You're coming with me, Private."
"But you said four should go back to Rome...?" Alex asked questioningly. As if on cue, another Marine jumped into the shuttle.
Washington nodded to her as the person saluted. "Private Krieger, you know what to do?"
Yes ma'am," Lauren replied. "Doctor Lopez gave me some first aid instructions so that he could prepare everything on the Rome."
"Very good. Keep an eye on your friend. Zhao, let's go!"
Reluctantly, Alex followed her superior and took one last look inside the shuttle. Lauren noticed and said reassuringly, "Don't worry, we'll take care of her."
Alex nodded and followed Washington as the shuttle took off behind them.
Three hours later, Alex was one of the first to pass the medical exam that was being conducted in the hangar and rushed to the elevators. She wanted to go to the infirmary immediately to see how Ellen was. Something didn't seem right because Doctor Lopez had already rushed upstairs just ahead of her.
"Faster, you damn thing," she murmured while waiting for the elevator. Finally the doors opened. She jumped in and banged on the button for the fourth level.
When she got to the infirmary, there was a lot of shouting.
"Krieger, rightmost cabinet, bottom drawer, now!" Doctor Lopez called out, just trying to hold Ellen down, who was wriggling like a fish out of water. It seemed to Alex that time slowed down around them. She looked at Ellen's face. Only the whites of her eyes were visible. Lauren handed Doctor Lopez something and he gave her the next set of instructions. Then Alex looked back at Ellen. She couldn't bear to see her like this. After she had taken a few steps back, the door to the infirmary closed automatically and the commotion that was taking place inside was barely noticeable. As if in a trance, Alex turned and walked away. As she turned a corner, she started running until someone suddenly stood in front of her.
"Alex, what's wrong?" Shaun asked concerned. Without answering him, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Why are we doing all this here?" she sobbed into his shoulder. "We could die out here. Why are we doing this to each other?"
As children, they had dreamed of adventuring with the Alliance and catching evil villains. Somehow Alex had never completely shaken off this image, which is why Ellen's condition pulled the rug out from under her feet all the more.
Instead of saying anything, Shaun hugged her tighter and they stood there until Alex calmed down.
"Is it because of Webber? How is she doing?"
"I don't know."
"Come on, let's go check and find out," he whispered in her ear and wanted to pull her away, but Alex wouldn't let him.
"No, please... not yet."
She felt like she was drowning and Shaun was the only thing holding her up right now. Actually, she had always appeared strong on the outside and didn't want anyone to see her like that, but she didn't care now.
"I think your comrade is out of the woods for now. Krieger, I'll take care of the others again now. Call me right away if she gets another seizure."
"Of course, Doctor Lopez."
The doctor left and Lauren was alone with Norah. Her comrade had come over five minutes ago to check on Ellen.
"Do you think we should send a message to Maya?" Lauren asked thoughtfully while watching the monitor that showed Ellen's vitals.
Norah laughed. "Ellen would never forgive us if we snitched on her mum."
"Yeah, you could be right about that." Out of the corner of her eye, Lauren saw Norah tenderly dabbing Ellen's forehead with a damp cloth. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Norah Eli, if you don't tell her soon enough that you fancy her, I will. Good Lord, you've known each other for twenty years, it can't be that difficult!"
"What?" Norah asked confused and blushed. "What are you -?"
"What am I talking about? I've also known you for almost twenty years. Of course I noticed that, as did Alex and Oliv."
Stunned, Norah sat down on a chair and gaped at her.
"Listen, I don't mean that in a bad way. But as we are being shown here, we are not immortal. Our job is bloody dangerous and it only takes one small mistake to keep us from making it. I don't think you would ever forgive yourself if you didn't talk to her before that."
They looked at each other in silence for a moment. Then Norah's eyes fell on Ellen and she nodded.
"Someday...when she's better," she murmured.
"Good. But you should hurry, because Ellen is in high demand."
Norah looked at her in confusion and Lauren winked at her.
"You? But -?"
Lauren giggled. "No. But you should be worried about O'Malley."
Someone opened the door and entered.
"What happened?" Olivia asked in dismay as she entered.
"Ellen got bitten by those things. It must have triggered some kind of reaction in her body," Lauren replied.
Norah asked "Are you okay, Oliv?"
"Yes yes, no infection or anything else. Looks like we got lucky. Will Ellen be fine?"
Lauren nodded. "Doctor Lopez got it under control. Everything is fine at the moment."
"Thank God. The Doc looked so serious, I thought... where is Alex? She was done with the medical check long before me," Olivia asked.
The door to the infirmary opened again. The three women turned in surprise and spotted Holly.
"How is she?" she asked as she entered, but when her eyes fell on Olivia, she suddenly froze and stopped.
"'Sorry I'm bothering you," she murmured, staring at the floor in embarrassment.
"Yes, you better leave," Olivia commented coolly.
Holly stormed out of the station, but Lauren called after her.
"Don't worry, she'll make it!" Then she turned back to the other two. "Do you know what that meant?"
"It must have something to do with the thing neither Holly, nor Oliv, nor Ellen want to talk about," Norah said, looking meaningfully at Olivia. Holly's team change had raised many questions, but the exact reason for this was consistently concealed.
"Oliv," Lauren began, "what exactly happened between the three of you? Holly seems very nice after all, so I can't imagine what-"
"Nice? You are kidding," Olivia spat. She took a deep breath in and sighed. Finally, she went into great detail about what Karen and Holly had done to her during basic training and how she had told Ellen about it on board the Rome. Lauren and Norah looked at her wide-eyed, but didn't interrupt. When she finished her story, they were all silent for a while.
"Oh Oliv, I had no idea," Lauren whispered hoarsely.
"Of course not. I really didn't want anyone to know about it. After all, Ellen didn't say anything after she knew."
As inappropriate as it was in this situation, Norah had to smile. "She would never tell secrets. Remember when I knocked over that expensive vase on a school trip to the museum? There was so much trouble and the principal was sure Ellen knew who was responsible, but she didn't say anything and ended up in detention at school for weeks."
Lauren thought to herself that there was something more to it than that. Ellen must have thought that Norah would get trouble from her father and that he would probably even have hit his daughter. They knew about the bruises she'd been getting more and more frequently over time even though Norah tried to hide them.
"Didn't you put a dent in her mum's skycar?" Olivia asked. Lauren felt her spirits had lifted a bit.
Norah laughed. "No, that was Alex! We were driving around town and there was this handsome guy..."
They talked for a while about things from their childhood and youth. It felt like they had never entered service with the Alliance. Lauren had missed those light-hearted conversations because a lot had changed since starting their basic training. Fortunately, the relationship between them has not.
Doctor Lopez came back to the infirmary and was surprised to see Lauren, Norah and Olivia laughing heartily.
"Ladies," he said, and went to the monitor next to Ellen's bed to check her vitals. "Private Krieger, you should get some sleep, just like Schulze and Eli."
"They're welcome to stay," someone said in a raspy voice.
Perplexed, Lauren turned to Ellen's bed and saw her eyelids flutter and slowly open.