(A Fine Evening for a Rogue by Lydia)
The very next morning Amoura and six units arrive at Russia's main base, "Commander McAllister." Amoura walks off the plane ahead of her units and looks around the air strip, "Commander McAllister!" It takes Amoura a second to realize they're calling her, she looks over and sees a tall, blonde, Russian woman. "Commander Stone is fine."
"According to this its McAllister." Amoura nods as she approaches the woman. "It is but everyone knows me by my maiden name Stone. I haven't gotten used to McAllister yet." Amoura comments as the vehicles arrive and they pile on. An hour later they arrive at a small six building base.
The Command Center was at the center of the base, to the left is the calling center and to the right is the Cafeteria and supplies building. Right behind it splitting the housing buildings is the training building. Barracks, S.L's and the Captain's quarters on the right and the General's and Commander's quarters on the left. A frozen fountain at the center of the yard in front of the Command Center is the only decorative things around for miles.
"This way Commander." Amoura nods and follows the female officer. Amoura is led to the meeting rooms on the second floor, "excuse me, Commanders, Commander Stone is here." I step in, "we are waiting for Commander McAllister, not this Stone."
Amoura stops the female officer, "I am Commander McAllister, Stone is my maiden name." They look at her as Commander Johnson walks in then, "Stone. I was wondering when you'd arrive."
"You've been here for a while you could have told them I don't go by McAllister." He smiles at her, "I thought someone should call you by your new name." Amoura gives him a sarcastic smile, "I'm sure that's why you did it."
"If you two are done with formalities we have business to attend to." The Russian Commander who has been leaning against the window speaks up. Amoura nods as maps are opened onto the table.
After an hour of going through the maps, Amoura points to abandoned outlands, "what's here?"
"Nothing but abandoned towns, they'll be no one there." Russian Commander Sollov speaks up, "send Granger's unit there. It's the first place to set up troops without being detected. Tell Granger to do a full sweep." Commander Johnson looks at her, "this is why you should have kept your sixth unit."
"That's what I have yours for. Rowan doesn't train incompetence people." Johnson gives her a side eye, "I'll have General Maddox join General Granger." Amoura nods and Johnson walks out.
Amoura pulls the maps closer and compares them to the more in depth ones. "Are the maps for this area over here available?" The female officer who lead Amoura in nods and rushes off to get them.
Long after all the Commanders leave Amoura stays behind looking over the maps and coming up with strategies.
Commander Johnson walks into the training building and looks for General McAllister. "Commander!" Johnson waves McAllister's formalities away, "at ease. McAllister, I came here because Commander Stone has been in the meeting room since she arrived yesterday. Maybe you can knock some sense into her and make get some rest." McAllister looks at his unit, "don't worry I'll take over drills." Clive thanks him and walks off to the Command Center.
"Amoura." Clive walks in and sees Amoura resting on one hand and tapping the table with a pen with the other. "Yes, Clive?"
"You need sleep. Come on." Clive pulls the chair back, "no I need to finish this." Clive takes the pen from her hand, "Amoura you're so exhausted the page under your pen is empty. You can come back when you've rested." Clive pulls Amoura into his arms and teleports to his room.
Amoura wakes up well past midnight. She looks at Clive who was still asleep and smiles. "Sorry for always making you worry." Without opening his eyes he responds to her, "you say that yet you still do your reckless behavior," He pulls her cheek.
Amoura slaps away his hand, "don't be handling the mother of your children that way." He smirks as she turns to grabs a shirt from his things and heads for the shower.
She walks out newly clean from the bathroom and comes face to face with a man, "who are you?" She looks at him. "Amoura Stone. You?"
"General Havoc." Amoura nods as Clive's door swings open, "Amoura I have a roommate." Amoura looks at him, "Kind of late there Clive." She walks back into his room and asks to teleport him to her room so she can change.
After putting on clean clothes she heads back to the Command Center. "Johnson." He looks at her, "Stone."
"I don't appreciate you using my husband as a babysitter." He turns his chair to face her, "then don't force me to use your husband as a babysitter. Listen to your limits Stone. We need you awake and alive, not exhausted and delusional."
"I don't get delusional. But you made your point. Anything from General Granger and Maddox?" He nods and points to the screen. "Found multiple units in the abandoned town. They brought back four humans of the highest rank they could find."
Amoura sits down, "are they talking?" They all shake their head, "they've all been taught how to keep calm in torture." Amoura gets up, "no one stays calm when tortured correctly. Give me an hour."
"Alzack must have taught you badly if it takes an hour," Johnson teases, "I only need an hour for all four. Don't go tarnishing my reputation, Johnson." Johnson smiles as Amoura walks out and heads to the basement.
"Out." The S.L in the room nods and walks out, the human male laughs, "playing good cop bad cop now? You suppose to be the good cop." Amoura walks over to the camera. "Oh, there's nothing good about me." After failing to turn off the camera she faces it to the wall.
"You want to torture me but you can't even turn off a camera?" Amoura pulls out the pack of nails she got from the renovations upstairs. "Humans are a lot easier to mess with than technology. Humans have soft spots that can be pressed that will make people break down, restart and even die." Amoura pulls out a nail and walks over to him.
"I spent many months learning about these soft spots personally before I was shown how to find them on someone other than myself." Amoura drives the nail at the side of his left knee, right in the small space in between his kneecap and two leg bones. The human screams, "damn you bitch."
"Oh, I'm just getting started. You see I have all the time in the world to make you suffer unimaginable pain." Amoura walks over to the tray and picks up another nail. "And I can make you suffer."
After eighteen nails in different soft tissues of his body, he begins to whimper in defeat. "Now if you tell me what I want to hear, I can make all this pain go away."
"All of it?" The human asks, "yes. All of it will go away." Amoura circles him as he finishes breaking before her eyes. She pulls out a map and he tells her where the other human camps are located.
"Thank you." Amoura drives the final nail through his spine, "doesn't hurt anymore does it?" He whispers no seconds before he dies.
Amoura grabs the map and walks out. "Fifteen minutes." Johnson walks up to her. "Here, Give me another map, I want to verify the info with the others." He nods and hands her a clean map.
She stops before entering the next room, "before I finish with the last human find McAllister for me." Johnson nods as Amoura heads into another room. Thirty minutes later Amoura has four identical maps, "alright. McAllister is in your quarters. I'll see you in the morning." Amoura nods and walks off without a word.
"Ice cream?" Clive was sitting on the sofa, Amoura closes her door and climbs into Clive's arms, "I have you Amoura."
Amoura wakes up in her bed, buried in Clive's body, "to think the day would come where I'd be okay with your cuddling." Clive's chest vibrates as they separate. "I'm going to go I'm starving." Amoura get's up, Clive pulls her down and kisses her. Amoura smiles at his passion and straddles him, "I guess I have a few minutes."
Clive stays in bed a while longer as Amoura heads to the cafeteria to get breakfast, after disliking the hot food she goes around the booths and finds a Japanese stand, "you all don't have any ramen cups do you?" She asks and they pull out a whole box full of options. "Stone that is not breakfast."
"When you have kids it is." She replies to Volkov as she picks out multiple. They hand her a bag she gladly takes it and fills it up. "So you have kids?" Amoura nods, "yes two evil little girls." Amoura rolls her eyes at Johnson's response, "ignore him, he's just mad 'cause they flushed his keys down the toilet." Volkov breaks out a large deep laugh as Johnson glares at Amoura.
Amoura pulls out a chicken ramen soup and they fill it with hot water. Amoura thanks them as she grabs a fork and walks off with the other Commanders. Williams and Row block her way, "we were told to give you this, instant ramen isn't food." Amoura glares at them, "I'm perfectly fine with my ramen." They don't budge and they glare at each other, "tell him the breakfast I choose is fine." Amoura grabs the foil-wrapped omelet violently from Williams' hand.
"If you want your brain to function properly you need your essential food groups." Row repeats in an 'as a matter of fact' tone of voice, "tell Clive to stop being a nutritiousness and to be on standby." They nod "that's all we ask Commander." Amoura dismisses their comment and continues walking.
Johnson looks at her amused, "now do you see why I use your husband as your babysitter. He's the only one you listen to." Amoura glares at him and on purposely eats her ramen loudly.
That afternoon multiple units depart to the human's bases, half of the deployed units are successful. "How is that possible?! We had all the advantages!" Volkov slams in hands on the table. Amoura looks at the casualty reports and at her strategies. "I'll tell you how, they were warned. From the moment of attack to the type of ambush. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a mole."
The room explodes, "such accusation are preposterous!" Amoura looks at them, "really then tell me how is it that they counted every one of Volkov units attacks?" Amoura shows them the reports and the plans. "Every single attack was either ineffective, dodged or countered. No one is that good. No one."
They stay quiet and look at her, "what now then?" Sollov asks, "we find a way to figure out which one of us is a mole." Amoura replies as they look at each other. "Till then I'm making new strategies."
"How do we know you're not the mole?" Amoura stops Johnson from defending her, "if I was the mole, I'd had killed you all here day's ago and let the enemy waltz in the front door. I don't need to pretend to be one of us. I have the ability to win on my own. Our mole doesn't have that kind of ability. None of you have that kind of ability." Amoura looks at them.
"I'll be in the library." Amoura takes the map and walks off, they all watch her as she goes. "She's exaggerating." Johnson gives them a serious face, "the terrifying thing is she is not. There's a reason she was able to defend and defeat a whole army of humanists with three units and four Commanders. Commander Stone truly is terrifying and if she was the mole she'd had killed us long ago. Here. In cold blood."