Taylor wrapped his arm around her pulling her close. He could see her becoming uncomfortable. Luckily her parents told him of the plan, granted he was not fond of secrecy however, he knew once she calmed down, she would have a lot of fun. “It’ll be okay love,” he tried to comfort her.

Her father turned around in his seat as he put the truck in park. “Well, I thought maybe you’d like to have a little fun shooting at police officers,” he conceded.

She could not believe the words that came out of her father’s mouth. “Seriously?” she asked slack jawed. His only response was a grinning nod as he exited the truck. She turned to Taylor completely baffled.

Taylor gave her a soft smile and rubbed her arm before unwrapping her and taking her hand. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Despite her uncertainty she let her boyfriend help her out of the truck. There were three things she always trusted: her parents and Taylor. Taking his hand in hers, they followed her father towards the main entrance.

“What are we actually doing dad?” she asked.

Her dad looked over his shoulder as he gained the posture of someone with authority. “It wasn't easy honestly, but I managed to convince the commander to have my squad on training detail over new recruits today.” He pushed the double doors open and held one for the both of them. “I then spoke with Santiago, mentioned your birthday and explained my plan to him,” he replied while offering passive waves to those who greeted him.

She recalled the name Santiago; he was the lieutenant of her father's team. He came around occasionally to hang out and have a beer with her father. More often a few months following her arrest. If she could take a guess, he was actually there to act as a guard for them incase there was any sort of retaliation to what she did.

“And so, we set up a fun little exercise that would give the recruits the training session of their lives while giving you a time you could really enjoy. At least we think you will,” her father concluded confidently. They continued past the main concourse of cubicles and private offices towards lock up.

As much as her mind threaten to seize as she walked past the holding cells, Taylor squeezed her hand and helped her move along. She remembered being tossed in a cell, literally. They hauled her by the arms and as soon as the door slide open, they threw her into one of the benches. Her side took the brunt of it that night. She recalled her father reaming someone out in the cell block entrance. She was sure her father was going to kill someone that night. If he had, then they both would have killed someone that night…

Her thoughts occupied her until they reached a heavy steel door that opened up into a stone stairwell. Her father led them down until it straightened out into a marble hallway. The change in scenery took both of them by surprise as she traced the inlay blue lighting along the walls with her fingers. The lights accented the black and white marble perfectly. Ahead they spotted a heavy steel door with a scanner on it.

James took his badge and scanned the ID built into it while placing his hand on the palm reader. As the door pinged and slide open with a hiss of pressurized gas, he turned smiling at his daughter and her companion as they stood surprised. “Come on now, you can’t get in without me.”

Taylor chuckled as Morrigan shook her head. Beyond the door was a brightly lit waiting area, fully stocked with a kitchen, large screen holo-vid, and gaming tables. It seemed to both of the teenagers that the D.S.T.U. is the favorite department. Her father shifted to the right leading down another hallway leading to the department’s storage and locker room. Taylor and Morrigan looked at each other as her father grabbed a couple jumpsuits and tossing two of them at them. James removed his shirt and notices their pause. “Well come on the teams won’t wait all day,” he commanded.

They both started to turn red. Morrigan took charge as she looked to her boyfriend with a shrug before walking down the benches to find a spot to strip. Taylor let out a nervous breath as he tossed the jumpsuit on the bench opposite of her father and lifted his shirt off.

Taylor caught a glance at his love as she bent over shedding her pants, her laced panties on full display, highlighting her ass. He immediately blushed and turned away, not out of just respect and embarrassment but also her father was right behind him, the last thing he wanted was to be picking his teeth out of a locker door for taking a peek at his daughter.

Unbeknownst of Taylor, Morrigan took a long glace at her boyfriend as she traced the muscles in his back and legs with her eyes. He had never been one to be shy, however with her father in the room she could easily tell he was nervous with how red his ears were. As she sat to put her legs into the jumpsuit, she caught the mirror on the other end of the locker room. She was lean and tone, appreciating never having to worry about gaining weight or exercising excessively to keep fat off. Her figure was self-maintaining through a high metabolism, which caused her to eat like an animal, and was active enough to keep the pounds off. Between her father and her boyfriend though, she was seriously lacking in the sheer might department.

Both finished dressing as her father directed them to store their clothes in his locker. Leading them out, they continued down the hallway until they came across a reinforced door that required a key code for entry. When her father entered the code, the door unlocked with the sound of large tumblers knocking and the door popped open. There they found a squad of fully suited up D.S.T.U. members lounging around a room filled with guns and body armor. Morrigan’s eyes went wide, while Taylor rubbed his hands together. Taylor may have been a reserved person when it comes to emotions and conflict, but he always loved a good challenge.

A man in black and red armor sat on the corner of the steel table in the center of the room looked up as they stepped into the armory. “Well, if it isn’t the birthday girl!” he said as he kicked off the table moving to remove his helmet. The face was that of Rigo Santiago, the team’s lieutenant. She grinned in greeting, moving in for a hug. He stuffed his helmet into the crook of his arm and wrapped his free arm around her. “How’s it going Little Clarke? You ready to shoot some fools?” He mused.

She laughed as she gave him a big hug, “well as far as I know, dad didn’t really tell me the plan.”

Santiago gave her father a disappointed look, shaking his head. “Man, all that time preparing and you couldn’t even let the girl in on it? Shame on you James,” He playfully scolded. James simply raised his hands in surrender as Taylor and Morrigan chuckled loudly. James immediately went around to the others, greeting them while Taylor made himself the next target. Santiago released the young girl and stood before the young man, Santiago carefully sizing Taylor up. Taylor played this scenario with Morrigan’s father already so few years ago. Knowing how it would play out, he stood himself stalwart, standing straight with his chest out and looking forward as if he were anywhere but there. It took everything he had to hide his growing smirk. “Now who the hell is this giant slab of meat?” Santiago called out.

This drew the attention of everyone except for James, who was busy digging around in a storage cage. The only other woman in the room, Jennifer Simmons, shamelessly let a comment fly as she leaned across the table, “that there is breeding stock sir!” Several of the crew busted out laughing as Taylor turned crimson. He was aware he was built like a brick wall, but that was probably the most embarrassing comment anyone has ever made when it came to his physique.

Morrigan on the other hand glared at the woman out of the corner of her eye as she crossed her arms disapprovingly. “That delicious slab of meat happens to be my boyfriend,” she chided. Two of the six of the team began catcalling, making Morrigan blush as she realized what she said.

“You go girl!” came from Simmons.

“Damn, girl has talons dug into that!” came from another by the name of Johnson as he looked to Simmons.

Santiago scrutinized Taylor, completely ignoring his team. He turned his head and called over his shoulder with a scowl on his face, “James! You really allowing this big ass mother fucker date our Little Clarke?”

In the past three years of her despair, she had completely forgotten how protective her father’s team was of each other. That care also extended to their families as well, perhaps even more so. Despite the overprotective showboating, she found the sentiment rather sweet. Her father’s team was the only exception to the anti-police decision she made so long ago. If anyone were to have earned her respect and admiration, it was them.

Her father came out of the storage cage hefting a heavy looking crate and let it drop into the steel prep table next to her. “He’s good people LT, no need to give him the third degree. I gave him plenty of that myself,” he laughed as someone passed him a pry bar.

Santiago turned back and stated, “well if Mr. Clarke says you’re good then you’re good by us, just don’t ever let us catch you breaking our little girl’s heart.”

Taylor nodded sharply, “that will never be a problem sir!”

Morrigan turned from the amusing display to see what her father was doing as Santiago dragged her closer, “you ready for the first part of your present?”

She looked at the crate curiously wondering what it was. Her father cracked the top of the crate, Simmons and another took the lid off, “since your dad planned this whole thing, we thought you deserved something special. So, we all chipped in and order it,” Simmons informed her. Morrigan looked to everyone trying to get a hint before her father pushed the box closer to her.

Poking through a thick layer of fibrous plant material used for packing, was pieces of matte black, blue and purple. She scooped some of the material out and found a set of black D.S.T.U. armor, custom fit with light blue and deep purple accents and trim. What got her the most was instead of a tag riveted to the chest plate, they had ‘Little Clarke’ stenciled onto both sides of the collar of the chest piece. Aside from the fact that she found it strange for a 19-year-old girl to receive military grade body armor as a birthday present, it still made tears swell in her eyes. In their own way, this was there way of showing her they loved her and that she was always part of the team.

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Before she could say anything, Simmons snatched the crate from across the table and nudged her head behind her, “come on sweetie, we’ll get you geared up for your big day,” she said with a wink. Spending a moment to let her brain catch up, she hurried around the table as everyone else muttered their amusement of her reaction. No one could discount the smile that had spread across her face.

Edmond Peters stepped up next to Taylor with his lieutenant, “what do you reckon boss? Have him run the Mill first?”

Continuing to watch the two women gossip as Simmons helped Morrigan set up her armor he retorted, “I was thinking more like sticking him with the Rooks and letting nature take over.”

Taylor looked at both of them in confusion and concern before looking to Morrigan’s father with pleading eyes. James sidled up to Taylor and clapped him on the shoulder, pulling him away from the conspiring squad mates.

“As much as I would love to put him through the wringer gentlemen, we need to get him some gear so we can do this thing.” He dragged Taylor along and stopped at the storage cage he was in earlier. “Let’s get you set up boy.” Taylor merely nodded as he watched James rifle through spare pieces of armor.

As Taylor was finishing putting on his armor, his attention was pulled to the corner where he saw Simmons with her arm draped around Morrigan’s neck. “Check out the sexy as hell huntress we got here!” Simmons announced. He noticed she was staring him down with a shit eating grin while Morrigan blushed uncontrollably while everyone cheered and clapped.

Morrigan met Taylor’s eyes and he gave her a sensual smile with an approving expression. That only made her want to turtle up in the armor as she felt the heat on her face.

Everyone complimented on how well she wore the armor as they lined up for helmets to be passed out by Santiago. Taylor snuck up behind Morrigan and whispered, “you do look amazing.” That made her smile sweetly as she turned to him and gave him the once over.

“You look pretty fine in your armor as well,” she winked at him.

He chuckled and grinned, adjusting the chest plate. “Yeah well, I’m pretty sure this is your father’s old armor, it’s a little tight.”

“I’ll say,” she quipped.

Their flirting was cut off by Santiago, as he pushed a helmet into her. “Now is not the time to be letting him romance you darling.”

She gave him a sinister grin as she slipped the helmet on and let it click into place. Taking the opportunity laid out before her, she sashayed away from Taylor as she began testing her grip and movement, the armor fitting like a glove on her. She was just in ear shot to hear Santiago scold Taylor for his drooling.

It took a little while, but she remembered what it was like to be around these people. There were no boundaries and always blunt honesty. She used to spend summers at parties one of them always threw, once upon a time they were all at her home for summer festivities. Memories of how fun and caring this group was made her heart ache for the past, but it was not a painful ache she was so accustomed to. It was bittersweet and nearly joyful being able to recognize that some things did not die in the past.

As they began making their way down the rest of the hall, she began to realize how much of herself she lost. She used to have a brutal confidence; nothing could stand in her way. Taylor always claimed that even though she never dressed up or wore make up, her natural beauty combined with her tough as nails attitude was what made her more attractive than any girl. She was also beginning to find the joy she once had, appreciating the little things and recognizing the good in intentions again. Even after it only being a day after regaining her freedom and sense of life, she knew it would only be a short while before she was back to her old self and perhaps she could truly be happy again.

A thought dawned on her as everyone casually chatted with each other. “Wait! Is it even legal for me to have this armor?”

Simmons piped up first through the comm system built into the helmet, “don’t worry about it love, we put the expenses under a bunch of miscellaneous shit that they’ll never look for. Which is why you didn’t get a helmet.” She turned to Morrigan and knocked on her own helmet. “These babies get tracked at all times.”

She could understand why, the helmet’s HUD displayed several things: the teams’ vitals, Real time scans of her surroundings, ammo consumption, friend/foe tagging. It was a sophisticated piece of equipment.

They walked through a blast door that revealed a massive urban setting arena built into the ground. She was in awe that they were able to fit an entire city block underground. Morrigan turned as she picked up shouting coming from her left. There she spotted a team of eight standing at attention in front of a new set of storage cages, surely the new recruits. Her team began muttering amusements as they watched a ninth member paced back and forth, shouting words of certainty and encouragement. She snickered when she heard something about, ‘showing the old men just how the young do it.’

Santiago stepped ahead as they approached, “that's enough of that corporal, any more of that and your fear will permeate through your suit!” The D.S.T.U. veterans made their chuckles and low laughter obvious in an effort to dissuade any over the top showboating from the recruits. She spotted two or three sets of shoulders bouncing in silent laughter as the other team’s corporal stood to attention.

“I see you took your sweet time, seems you forgot your walker though,” the corporal retorted. That earned less subtle laughter from his team for a moment before he scolded his team into silence.

Her father and Santiago shook their heads, it seems they felt the young corporal was trying too hard to be an authority figure. Given she had never seen the lieutenant or her father act that way, she had to agree with them.

Santiago turned his gaze to the new recruits, “listen up children! Today we are going to do something different.” He began pacing in small circle between both teams. “Normally you would face an experienced squad of five, you know, to keep you kids feeling like things are fair.” Simmons crossed her arms in defiance of the other team as he finished.

He continued, “however! We have something new today. Today is the birthday of our very own Morrigan Clarke!” He turned and gestured exuberantly towards her. “She and her giant boy toy will be joining us today.” Morrigan blushed as red as could be, happy no one could see her face. She forced herself to present herself stoically as she heard Taylor go to scratch the back of his head, his plated glove clinking against the helmet he forgot he had on.

“We will warn you now, her bite is worse than her bark and her bark is pretty nasty to begin with,” footnoting before turning back to the recruits. James set a hand on her shoulder plate as his team laughed without reserve. Morrigan grinned with a certain level of sadism, knowing the truth buried in his words.

One of the recruits felt the need to step forward. “Sir! Isn’t this against department regulation to be allowing civilians—” he clamped his jaw shut as the lieutenant stepped up right in front of him, using the extra three inches of height to make himself tower over the new blood.

“—If I wanted a lesson on department regulations, I would go back to the academy! Now there will not be one more word about standards or regulation, everything that happens today has been approved by the commander. Now get your scrawny ass back in line!” Santiago commanded with the full extent of his authority.

The recruit shrunk in his suit as he took the step back to fall in line. Meanwhile Santiago continued, “now we will be running three scenarios; S and D, WMD disarm, and hostage rescue.” Another recruit raised their hand this time.

“Yes?”

“Will we be running any Xeno simulations sir?”

The thought made Morrigan grind her teeth.

“No there will be no Xeno sims, everything done today will be based on Terran terrorism,” Santiago replied.

The recruit lowered her hand with a nod. The lieutenant took a concerning look over his shoulder as he noticed that Morrigan's blood pressure had spiked. He gave her an understanding nod. Her anger subsided, thankful that her father’s team were aware of everything that transpired three years ago and were supportive of how she felt about the situation.

“Here are the rules: one, no headshots. Though we will be using non-lethal rubber slugs and our armor is designed to stop live rounds, you will still feel it, and a rubber slug will still knock the shit out of you. Two, if you are hit, you’re out regardless of where you have been shot. You will walk the safest route away from any conflict to the waiting area for a five-minute time out. Three, there will be no lethal actions in any shape or form, I will not have any accidental fatalities during training. If you manage to get yourself killed, I will bring you back from the dead and kill you myself for your own stupidity.” He turned to Simmons with his hand out. “That includes no knives as well Specialist Simmons!” Simmons hung her head in exaggerated defeat as she detached two separate knives from her chest plate and the small of her back.

As Simmons reluctantly handed the blades to her lieutenant, Morrigan felt a certain level of respect for how dangerous the woman obviously was. She watched as a recruit step forward with their own knife and handed it their corporal. Santiago nodded to the corporal, “are there any questions?” He invited.

Peters spoke up first, “are explosives off the table LT?”

Morrigan could see the incredulous look behind Santiago’s visor. “Flash bangs only Peters!” he shouted. She watched Peter’s hang his head in disappointment. According to her memory, Peter’s was the team’s official explosives expert, so she could understand his disappointment.

Santiago turned to the corporal with a nod before addressing everyone, “I as well as the corporal here will be on over watch. We will referee the matches and hand out punishment as needed. Now everyone, load up!”

This was it. Morrigan’s chest vibrated with nervousness paired with excitement. She lined up at one of the weapons cages. James handed his daughter an assault rifle, “you remember everything I taught you?” he asked.

“Of course!” she said with a hidden smile. Her father had been teaching her how to shoot since she was 11, as well as basic tactics as precaution if anything ever happened at home. She took the pistol and holster he handed her next and looked around, watching several others attaching their holsters to various parts of their armor. It seemed all of the connection points on the armor were universally designed and modular to each person’s preference. She kept it simple and clipped the holster to her thigh then slung the rifle over her shoulder.

Moving away from the cage she regrouped with the others. The other team’s corporal made the final announcement, “teams will be designated as followed: Santiago’s team is RED team, mine is Blue team. We will be starting off with a fire fight, each team will start out on opposite ends and hunt each other down until everyone on the team is removed from play. Now get to your waiting stations, get your ammo, and wait for the buzzer. Losers pay for drinks!”

The veterans made their way to the other end of the arena. While her team made jokes about the other team, she began studying the playing field. The roofs of mock buildings were level with the ground level with a series of walk ways for the lieutenant and corporal to walk. “Obviously going to be off limits,” she thought. She tried to formulate several plans and routes to take but as they reached the other end, she decided it was probably best to follow her father’s lead.

Each member made their way down a ladder that led to the waiting area. A simple walled off area of concrete, benches and a series of boxes filled with ammo. Taylor and Morrigan took turns collecting ammo and flash bangs. She wished she could see his expression. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I'm thinking this will be one interesting experience. Though you honestly have more experience than I do with this.”

She cocked her head to the side, “have you ever fired a gun?”

In response, he racked the fore-end of the shotgun he carried and set it over his shoulder. There was something about her armored stud wielding a deadly weapon that she found extremely attractive. She bit her lip hard.

“Well, my father and I used to hunt since I was a little kid, but when it comes to warfare, I’m a bit clueless,” he admitted.

She cracked a smile and placed a hand on his chest plate, “well, it’s a good thing we’re hunting then. You got this babe.”

Johnson drew everyone’s attention, “so what's the plan boss? We laying a trap or are we hunting?”

James looked over his team. His gaze stopped on Taylor and his daughter, wondering how well she would fair her first round. “We’ll leave traps for round two, we’ll go out in pairs; Johnson you’re with me on left skirt, Simmons, you’re with Morrigan in center, Peters and Taylor on right skirt. Remember to watch each other’s backs and keep to your sectors.”

Taylor looked at his girlfriend, “what’s a sector?” The question made Morrigan giggle as she noticed Peters walking towards them.

“Basically, don’t ever point your gun at your partner. If he is aiming left, you aim right big guy,” she said sweetly as she patted him on the chest before loading her rifle and joined up with Simmons.