Emily was started when David woke with a start as they landed. He looked across her to look out the window briefly before stretching. He had nice arms. To Emily, he looked like a lion stretching. She smiled and looked back out the window. The airplane stopped by a small building that had a sign that said welcome to Marine Air Station Berry. The pilots got off the plane first not saying anything to anyone or waiting on their passengers. When David got up to get off the airplane Emily followed. Once off the plane, they were directed to the back of the plane to pick up their stuff.

“It was nice to meet you,” David said after he got his stuff.

“Yes, and it was nice to meet you too,” Emily said glad she didn’t stutter. He nodded to her and turned and left towards the small building. Emily noticed that he had a really nice small but tight butt. “What a beautiful man.” Emily thought to herself. Blushing she turned away from watching him walk away glad that neither Wonder or Jan was there to see her.

Her stuff was one of the last to get pulled off the airplane and when she turned to follow the crowd to the small building there was almost no one left. The marine behind the counter, after scanning in her orders, directed her to the street. He told her to follow the flight line to the last hanger.

“Ah, where am I,” Emily asked as the Marine started to turn away.

“Marine Air Base Berry, Nimruz province just south of the city of Rudbar.” He told her.

Emily followed the Marines directions and started walking down the street passing several hangers and buildings. The last hanger had a large door that was only opened a little bit. Sitting in a rolling chair with her feet up on a metal folding chair was a Marine. She was leaning back with her hands behind her head. From where Emily was standing the woman looked Latina.

“Whoa, there private this is a restricted area.” The Marine said suddenly coming to life. She quickly walked up to a little too close to Emily. Emily noticed the Sergeants strips on her collar. When Emily didn’t move the Sergeant said “Listen little Private you better bounce from here before a world of hurt comes down on your head.”

“Sergeant I was directed here at the check-in,” Emily said leaning slightly back from the intimidating woman.

“Hun I don’t care who sent you here you don’t belong here!” The Sergeant said raising her voice.

“Never is that you? No freaking way. It is you!” A man said in a French accent.

Emily looked around in the hanger. Her eyes finally adjusting to the darkness. Bubbles the Canadian Main was standing with David and another guy with a red beret looking at Emily. He walked towards them and with his arms stretched wide buried Emily in a hug.

“My second favorite person from the States. They called you in too. This is awesome. We are going to have so much fun!” Bubbles said smiling. “So where is it?”

“Wheres what?” Emily asked.

“The Putin, man. I know they let you keep it so where is it.” Bubbles asked.

Emily smiled and reaching under her coat and pulled out her little black knife and handed it to him. “Where did you get that.” The Marine sergeant asked.

“Out of a dead OCS Terrorist skull.” Emily thought to herself but said, “Out of the body of a dead OCS guy Sergeant.”

“Hey Double T, you want to meet the chick who wrecked four months of work for you?” Bubbles the hyperactive French Canadian Main said looking over his shoulder. He held up Emily’s little black knife.

David and the other soldier with the red beret walked over looking at Emily’s knife. “Oi is that a Putin?” The guy in the red beret asked in a very heavy British accent.

David took the knife from Bubbles and examined it. The guy in the red beret looked over his shoulder. “The Butcher,” David said in wonder. “You’re the one who took out the Butcher?”

“Ah, yea.” Emily said then feeling a little self-conscious added: “He wasn’t very good.”

“Yes, he was. He took out two other Mains in the past four years both times in close combat. It’s why they had me form a team to kill him.” David said looking up at Emily.

“Oh,” Emily said with a shrug. She did not know what to say to that. “He didn’t seem that good when we fought.” She thought to herself.

“And they let you keep it? A war trophy?” The Marine Sergeant asked.

“She must have killed him with it.” The guy in the red beret said in his heavy accent looking at the knife. “Putin was a messed up guy. The only way to fully use the knife is to take the knife from the last owner in a fight and kill him with it. If you don’t it’s just a knife. The butcher killed some Russian special forces bloke ten years ago in the Chechnya war.”

“If that’s true how did they activate the knife in the first place? Putin died of natural causes years ago.” Bubbles asked.

“They used to get a bunch of blokes in this room. They drop the knife in the room and had them fight to the death. Last guy alive owned the knife.” The Guy in the red beret said handing the knife to the Marine Sergeant.

“What a waste.” The Marine Sergeant said with a snort as she looked the knife over.

“Nah Val it’s not like that. Only one guy was super. The rest were criminals and the like. Told you Putin was a messed up guy.” The Guy with the red beret said. “The reason why those knives are so rare nowadays is that people either steal or buy them thinking that they can use it to kill supers only to have it break when they use it.”

‘How do you know that it won’t break when wonder woman over here uses it on someone.” The Marine Sergeant asked.

“Cause it’s black. It turns silver when it’s just a knife.” He told her.

The Marine sergeant flipped the knife over in her hand then handed it hilt first to Emily. “Ok, we can be friends then. I am Val people call me Valkyrie.”

Bubbles laughed. “You call yourself Valkyrie no one else does.” He ducked as Valkyrie threw a punch at him. He started to laugh harder as she started to chase him. A couple of seconds later he was flying in the air just above her head teasing her. She in return started to cuss at him.

“I am sorry I ruined your mission,” Emily said to David.

David looked at her in surprise. “No don’t be sorry. I am glad that bastard is dead. I just wish I got him sooner.”

“They call me Rags. Lance corporal with Her Majesty's Army. SAS. I am the British Main in-country.” The guy with the red beret said moving to stand in front of David and holding out his hand to shake. Emily noted he had the same flat handshake that David did.

David grabbed Rags shoulder gently and moved him out of the way. “Hey Emily, people call me T or Double T. I am with the Navy Seals. Currently, seal team four. Val is the marine special forces main. This is her base. Bubbles are, well you know Bubbles.”

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“Yea I do,” Emily said with a little laugh. She watched Bubbles fly near the rafters taunting Val. “What does the T stand for?” Emily asked David.

David gave a little embarrassed laugh. “Well, I went to super school but didn’t awaken them. I got on Seal team three and in a long-range patrol gone bad, I awakened. People started to call me Two Times. Over time it got shorted to T or Double T.”

“Oh ok. So what are we doing here.” Emily said waving her hand.

“Don’t know for sure but something big. Rudbar is the armpit of Afghanistan and if I had to guess it might be the big boys upstairs want to clean it up. They might be using this uprising as an excuse to clean house.” David said motion her to a door to the far side hangar. “Come on we need to report in.”

Behind the door was a small office where they dropped off their orders to a private who asked Emily to wait out in the hanger. Val and Bubbles were done chasing each other and were now playing basketball. Rags was waiting on her when she came back into the hanger part.

“Hey, you want a fizzy drink?” Rags asked Emily holding a soda.

“Sure,” Emily said taking the can.

Rags was a funny man, and his accent was really cool but after fifteen minutes of listing him talk about himself, Emily wanted to pull her hair out. She wandered over where Val and Bubbles were playing basketball. She asked them if she could play as well. Rags followed her over and she ended up on his team. “Well, let's hope he’s distracted by the game and stops hitting on me. I really don’t want to hide in the girl's room for the next hour or so.” Emily thought to herself as the game started.

“You break the backboard you pay for it,” Val warned him then threw him the ball to start the game.

Emily didn’t know if he was showing off but he rammed Val knocking her over as he ran for the basket. He went up for a slam dunk and at the last minute just let the ball fall through his fingers into the basket. He ran by Emily and raised his hand for a high five. Emily gave him his high five but mouthed sorry to Val. Val grinned at her then nodded her face turning serious.

“Street rules then,” Val said with an evil smile. “Call your own fouls.”

Val got the ball and Rags raced up trying to swat the ball out of her hand. Val turned her back to him and when he didn’t back off she elbowed him send him stumbling backward holding his stomach. She then turned and tossed the ball up for an easy two points. Then it was on.

“It's murderball.” Bubbles said standing beside Emily watching the two go at it.

“Five bucks on Val,” Emily said nodding to the Marine.

“You're on. Let's hang back here like civilized people and watch the plebeians go at it.” Bubbles said holding out his arm to Emily.

“Lets,” Emily said taking his arm. She wanted to sit in Val's chair but was pretty sure she would break it so she sat on the floor next to the court. Bubbles grabbed Val's chair and pushed it over to where Emily was sitting so he could sit and watch the game.

Ten minutes later David came walking out of the office holding some papers in his hand. He walked over to where Emily and Bubbles were sitting cheering the two Brutes on. “Come on Val you got this kick his stinking British ass. Merica baby!” Emily shouted to Val.

“Come on Rags for love of the mother country.” Bubbles yelled.

“He’s from the UK not Russian,” Emily said to him not taking her eyes of the two playing basketball. “Don’t you guys share the same Queen?”

“Something like that. Ok, for love of the Queen. Go Rags for the love of the Queen and the five dollars I have riding on you!” Bubbles said shouting.

Val had the ball and was dribbling it while leaning into Rags. Rags tried to push Val over but she spun around leaving Rags stumbling forward. Val shot the ball for another easy two points. “Game point little man,” Val said tossing the ball Rags.

Rags tried a fancy dribbling move in between his legs but Val was fast and her hand shot out and tipped the ball away. Both of them raced after the ball. Both slid on the ground trying to reach the ball first but Val’s arms were longer than Rags and she got the ball first. They both slammed into the side of the wall but Val popped up and raced for the hoop with Rags close behind her. In a last desperate move, Rags jumped up and over Val trying to stop her from shooting the ball. Val instead of shooting she stopped short and ducked letting Rags fly overhead landing on his stomach. Val took her time and shot scoring the last point.

“Game little man!” Val crooned to Rags who was still on the ground. “I win.”

“Rematch.” Rags said standing up.

“That will have to wait. Come on you guys I got something to show you.” David said holding the papers that were in his hand.

He led them over to a wooden table that looked like someone had taken a wooden pallet and turned it into a table. David spread out what turned out to be a map on the table.

“Oh, you stink. Stand over on the there.” Emily said giving Rags a little push when he got a little too close to her.

“It's a man smell.” Rags said smiling puffing out his chest.

“Well take your man smell to the other side of the table,” Emily told him pushing at him.

“Rags please stand downwind of us,” David said pointing to the other side of the table.

“Hey, why do I have to smell him.” Bubbles said when Val switched places with Rags.

“Because it’s man smell and you should be used to it,” Val said standing next to Emily.

“Hey, that’s UK man smell, not Canadian man smell. We smell a whole lot better and we get the women.” Bubbles said holding his nose.

“Hey.” Rags said pushing Bubbles.

“Enough with the man smells insults please so we can get on this,” David said trying to not laugh. “Besides in the states we use deodorant so we don’t scare off our woman folk.”

“And we appreciate it,” Emily said nodding to Val who was smirking.

Rags opened his mouth to say something but David talked over him. “This a map of Rudbar. Yesterday several large crowds chanting OCS slogans took over several police stations in Rudbar. Instead of sending in a bunch of Mechs the General wants to use this opportunity to sweep Rudbar and clean out all dirt in the city. He has several Marine Companies encircling the city as we speak. He’s had the Air Force drop leaflets and has announcements going out over loudspeakers telling the civilians to leave the city.”

“As you can see, the city follows the river here,” David said pointing to the river alongside the city. “The city is longer than it is wide. So the plan is to send in the troops at the ends and go house to house cleaning out the city. We will have several companies along the outer edge of the city making sure no one leaves who shouldn’t leave. Along the river, there will be several gunboats patrolling along the riverbank looking for people sneaking in or out of the city. There will be two companies entering the city from the east and two companies from the west. Intelligence has reports of an unknown number of Main inside the city.”

David leaned back and looked them over. “That’s why you guys are here. Bubbles you will be here on this side of the river. Your area of coverage (AOE) is the entire river and the south side of the city. Rags and Val you guys will be here on the west side of the river. This is the poor section of the town as well as the part of the city where the crowds are holding the police stations. Its where the greatest chance of fighting will be. Rags you will have the north and Val you have the south. The police have evacuated the police stations and left most of their armory in the building go in expecting heavy resistance. Emily, you're here in the east side of the river. This side of the city where the rich live within the city. It’s also where the government and financial districts are located. While intelligence predicts a low chance of opposition in your AOE it does not mean any chance. Keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel.” He said looking her in the eye.

“What about the unknown number of Mains in the city?” Rags asked being serious for the first time since Emily had met him.

“That just military intelligence’s way of saying they have no idea how many are in the city. Could be one or could be none.” David said with a shrug.

“Military intelligence what a joke,” Val muttered darkly.

“I’ll be stationed north of the city by middle here,” David said pointing to the north part of the map. “We are giving the people in the city two days to evacuate so anyone left in the city will be considered to be an enemy combatant. Rules of engagement are that we are to detain if unarmed and kill anyone who is not. You’re not going in alone. Each of you will have two Mech squads assigned to your AOE. They are mainly there to back up the Marines doing house clearings but don’t hesitate to use them.”

“T those guys are not much use against a Main type Class,” Val said frowning.

“There will be SK nests throughout the city as well as tanks armed with SK rounds.” David said giving her a ‘what can you do’ look. “You guys will be going in with an advanced scout team with a couple of snipers and an Sk team. The Scout guys are in charge. It's their nests. Please do what they say. The General expects the town to be cleared in five to nine days. We clear in daylight only. Once the sun set we hunker down and defend the cleared areas. Watch out for suicide attacks. Any questions?”

No one had any questions so David rolled up the map and left heading back towards the office. “You know what would be good right about now?” Bubbles said smiling. When no one took the bait he said “A cookout to celibate my woman Val for winning the first annual Afghanistan super basketball tournament.” That, of course, set Rags off who started to call Bubbles a lot of names that Emily never heard of before. Val grabbed Emily by her arm and together they went to find stuff for a cookout while the boys argued.