Thirteen stood there, stunned into silence. She peered at her former mentor from behind her opaque black visor, the grip on her rifle tightening.

"Major," she began, only for him to suddenly seize, one hand falling to the hilt of the blade on his hip.

"Don't…!" he managed to gasp out. "Don't… try to save me…"

"Sir-"

"I said don't!" he snarled. "Chip… in my brain… can't control…"

He seized once more, a loud, pain-filled scream erupting from his throat. Thirteen took a step forward, keeping her weapon trained on him, but the moment she moved towards him, Miller moved. He tore the sword from his hip and activated it, a jet of green plasma materializing out of the hilt with a hiss. He lunged for her, the sword leading his way; Thirteen just barely managed to stumble back, the plasma passing by just inches away from her throat.

Even through her armor, she could feel the heat radiating off the blade.

Miller recovered from his wild swing, doubling over, gasping for breath. Thirteen backpedaled, again shouldering her weapon.

"Major," she said.

"Damn it…!" he gasped out. "Just kill me, already!"

"I can't do that, Sir."

"You have to!"

"We can take you back," she insisted, desperation creeping into her voice. "They'll find some way to-"

"There is no way!" he growled. "And trying to get me back… will just lead to your death! Save yourself and do what you need to do! That's an order, Marine!"

Thirteen grit her teeth, her grip on her rifle turning white-knuckled. She heaved a sigh of reluctance, then took aim directly at his head.

But just before she could put a burst into his head, he seized again. And this time, when he stopped moving, he was different somehow. When he rose to his feet, he stood up completely straight, and relaxed; there was no trace of the agony he'd been in just moments earlier. And when he looked at her, even through his darkened visor, Thirteen knew instantly that there would be no bringing him back this time.

And so she took aim and laid on her rifle's trigger.

Rounds pinged off Miller's armor as he sprinted for her, leading with his sword. The heavy-caliber bullets tore deep gouges into his chestpiece, some of them even penetrating deeply enough to draw blood, but he didn't seem to feel any of them. Instead, he closed in on her, bringing the sword back; Thirteen let her weapon hang from its sling as it ran dry and brought her hands up to intercept his arm. She managed to catch his hand as it came down for a strike that would have surely killed her. The two of them wrestled for the weapon for a moment, their armor audibly groaning under the strain, before Miller finally broke away. As he stepped back, he activated the refractory camouflage on his armor, and disappeared from view.

Thirteen didn't waste any time. Upon seeing him vanish, she immediately began to retreat, knowing that his camouflage would be on cooldown after he became visible again. She reloaded as she ran, slamming a fresh magazine into her rifle before sending the bolt home. Once that was done, she looked over her shoulder, looking for the telltale shimmer that indicated he was nearby, but found nothing.

Thirteen fell back to one of the rooms she'd cleared earlier. It was full of Iprenian corpses, and the floor was slick with blood. She moved to one of the corners, pressing her back against the wall as she did so. From this position, she could keep watch over the rest of the room, particularly the bloodstains on the floor. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched and waited for her mentor to make his next move.

And then, the wall behind her exploded, and pain blossomed across her shoulder.

Thirteen fell forwards, her rifle slipping from her grasp, staying connected to her only by its sling. As she landed, she hurriedly rolled to the side, just in time to avoid a follow-up strike that would have impaled her. Miller brought his arm back for another stab, but before he could bring it down, she angled her weapon towards him and laid on the trigger, firing off an entire magazine into his legs. Miller let out a grunt of pain as his lower body was shredded by armor-piercing rounds, and the blade he was holding fell to the ground, deactivating as it left his grasp.

Thirteen's rifle ran dry, and she let go of it, lunging for the discarded sword. Before she could grab it, however, Miller took hold of her arm with both hands and squeezed. Her armor twisted under the sheer force, and she bit back a scream as she felt her arm be torn to ribbons by the shredded metal, her radius and ulna breaking in the process. Still, she had the sense of mind to bring her other arm around and strike him in the head, shattering his visor and forcing him to let go of her.Once she was free, Thirteen scrambled away, ripping the sling of her rifle off her shoulder in the process, the empty weapon slipping away from her.

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Warning: Significant trauma detected, her armor's warning signs told her as she struggled to her feet. Administering morphine.

Thirteen let out a low gasp as she felt the painkiller flood her system. Almost immediately, the pain began to recede. Across from her, Miller seized once more, his armor no doubt giving him the same type of drugs she was being given.

The two of them stood there for a moment, staring at each other and gasping for breath, before they both let out a loud yell and sprinted for one another once more.

***

Eric let out a sigh as he stared out across the lake, a fresh cigarette burning away between his lips. He took another long drag from it, then exhaled, and watched the thin wisps of smoke curl up around him.

It had been several days since Rebecca had left. Neither him nor Rosa had slept at all since then, both of them desiring to stay up in case some news came in. None had yet, but that wasn't going to stop him; with his luck, he knew that the moment he tried to get some sleep, he'd get word that she wasn't coming home.

That thought caused him to grit his teeth, grinding the end of the cigarette down in his mouth. Her not coming back was always a possibility, and the

knowledge that he might have to face that reality was bothering him even more than he'd initially thought it would.

"Fucking government," he spat, taking another drag from his smoke. That ended up being the final straw for it; he pulled the stub out of his mouth and threw it on the ground, then ground it beneath his heel. That was the fourth one since he'd gotten here, and yet somehow, it wasn't enough to make him sick. He let out a grunt of annoyance, then reached into his pocket for another cigarette, only to scowl when nothing but an empty pack greeted him.

"Thought I'd find you out here."

Eric turned, his expression relaxing when he saw Rosa walking towards him. She looked the way he felt, which was to say that even from several meters away and behind her ever-present pair of sunglasses, he could plainly see that she was in desperate need of some rest, a shower, and a meal that didn't come out of a frozen box. She stepped over to him, only for her brow to furrow as she drew closer. By the time she was next to him, she was coughing and waving a hand around to clear the air out from around them.

"Christ's sake, Eric," she managed to get out. "Ever hear of pacing yourself?"

"Forgive me if my health is the very last thing on my mind right now," he said. "Do you have a smoke, by the way?"

"I've got gum."

"Nicotine gum?"

"Nah."

Eric let out a small huff of annoyance. Next to him, Rosa rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to be off the cancer sticks forever. That night a few weeks ago was the last time."

"Sure it was."

"It was," she insisted. "Seriously. Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"And why is that?"

"Because you weren't returning my calls."

"Phone was on silent," he told her. "I just… needed to be alone for a while. I figured there wasn't going to be any news yet, anyway."

"You figured right." She let out a tired sigh. "I like this about as much as you do, you know. I'm not as close to her as you are, but she's still my friend, too."

"Mhm."

"And so are you, for that matter."

"That's-" He froze, her words suddenly sinking in all at once. His eyes went wide with shock, and he turned towards her. Again, she rolled her eyes.

"Don't act so surprised," she told him. "I figure we're close enough at this point to consider ourselves friends."

"We are?" Eric asked. "I thought you hated me."

"Hated you?" She shook her head. "I never hated you, I just thought you were an asshole. Hell, I still think you're an asshole. But now I see that's not all you are."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense, you're just being too difficult to understand it." Rosa stepped closer to him, crossing her arms as she stared out across the lake.

"It's beautiful this time of day, isn't it?"

Eric followed her gaze, his expression softening. "Yeah," he agreed, "it is. I just… wish she was here to see it."

"Soon enough, she will be," Rosa promised him. "I'm sure she will."

"Is that why you came looking for me out here?" Eric asked. "Just to try and reassure me?"

"Partly. I also figured that you shouldn't be alone right now."

"Why is that?"

Rosa shrugged. "Because I wouldn't want to be. I know what you said earlier, but believe me, that's no way to handle what's going on now."

"Says you."

"I mean it," Rosa insisted. She turned towards him and gave him a harsh look. "You know I never liked the way you smoked and drank so much. Always felt like the world's slowest suicide attempt of all time to me."

"You never tried to stop me."

"Yes, I did. You just never listened." Her expression softened. "Don't let this drag you back to the way you were before, Eric. You've helped her a lot, but she's helped you, too, even if you don't realize it. Do you really want to undo all that progress and revert back to the way you used to be? You know she wouldn't want that."

Eric hesitated, Rosa's words flowing through his mind. After a moment, he sighed, looking down at the ground.

"...Sorry."

"It's fine," she offered. "Just… come back with me, would you? I think you've been out here alone long enough."

Eric said nothing, instead nodding as she motioned for her to follow. After a moment, he did exactly that, walking after her. And together, the two of them left the park.

His anxiety hadn't quite gone away completely, but at least for the moment, it had been tempered.