[It's been a long few days... so much confusion... so much pain and anger all grounded into nothing... I know exactly how you feel, as we are one and the same... Perhaps... I'll give you a memory, one to fill a void, one that is nice. Rest well me, we have lots of work ahead of us...]

.........................

I step off the olive green painted bus, my entire body sore and still hurting. The metal implants running the length of my back and neck still itching and in some places still aching in pain. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury I can be afforded. Nor for anyone else who just got out of the surgeries for the AMS program. Apparently, I'm a lucky one, I can walk fine, my mind is intact, and the fact I can function at all despite how painful the surgeries were, means I'm just built differently I guess. How much of it was genetics, upbringing, or personal fortitude is beyond me, but aside from that even my brain apparently works on a wavelength that works perfectly with the neural system in an AMS.

Before me is Camp Vendetta, a large staging base created on the southern border of Texas in preparation for Imperial invasion from the South. The Mexicans are fighting hard to protect their land, and with American help are doing quite well, but when your enemy can drop out of orbit disregarding any air defense networks, it's very difficult to protect your flanks.

A group of six VTOL strike fighters take off from the attached airbase and quickly fly towards the south, loaded to the brim with deadly ordinance. I watch them fly off into tiny specks on the horizon and continue towards the front gate. The reason we weren't dropped off inside the camp is evident now. The column of tanks and IFVs rolling through are a little more important than thirty extra bodies. The heavy vehicles thunder past heading to aid our Southern neighbor. All of us wait our turn to enter as the huge force moves onward, followed by trucks loaded with infantry, whose faces are stern with grim determination.

Once the vehicles move through we are herded through a gatehouse and into the camp proper. The reason it's called a camp and not a base is evident by all the temporary structures. Most of the buildings are either tents or made of plywood and sheet metal, or are just furnished cargo containers. All fortifications are either made of dirt or easy to set up, portable watchtowers that look similar to free-standing deer stands but with some bullet-proof panels surrounding the poor individuals stuck up there. The walls surrounding are yet to be made of concrete and are currently being switched to concrete from the huge bags of dirt and sand called Hesco barriers, all in all, the whole thing shows just how much they love the average soldier.

We are led to a medium-sized tent that is full of desks and has maps with lines scribbled all over them. We all are directed to pick our favorite desk and take a seat. I simply sit down in the first open one somewhere in the middle of the room. It almost feels like middle school again. We visit for a little while as we are left alone when five officers walk in. As men possessed we all stand up and salute in unison as the folks with brass walk in. Then as we are just about to relax, an older gentleman with a star on his collar and stripes on his wrists, causes us to straighten up once again. After he makes it to the front of the room he tells us all to sit and we do almost in unison once again.

The man looks around the room and shakes his head as he scans over the few dozen empty seats. There are enough desks for nearly eighty people in this room, and only thirty are filled. He then begins speaking,

"Good morning. I am Brigadier General Smith. You all know why you are here as do I and I wish it were on better terms and with nearly double the amount of you. You all will be the true first wave of AMS heavy infantry, and I thank you for the sacrifices you had to make to get here, I have come to understand just what kind of hell you all had to go through.

Our enemy has almost made it to the United States, our great country due to their usage of AMS. Our first prototypes seemed to work quite well against our foe so I hope our first true force will be enough to hold the line or even drive these invaders off of our rock. You all are not the only AMS units in our army, but I have faith you all will be the best. We have the best men, and the best officers for the job and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mexico City has become a hot zone once again and our enemies' advance has been halted for a time, due to this blessing we will finalize your training. This isn't a time to learn how to fight, you all know how to do that, you all went through army special forces training, modified from ranger and delta force training, and I know a few of you took some Green Beret and other airborne training as well. You all are the best the army has, and each of you will familiarize yourselves with our fully combat-capable AMS rather than those training hunks of junk they had you use. During this time you will be divided into groups of six and that will be your squad. This training finalization is mostly there for your officers and yourselves to become familiar with one another. From the point of your division and the time you are given to an officer, these men and women will be your family. Disregard race, religion, and politics, from that point on, you are brothers and sisters, and you will eat, sleep, laugh, cry, and die together...

I guess that's all I have to say now... we have looked at your training notes, specialization requests, and even your resumes, you all will be divided according to each unit's needs and wants. Right now an assistant will hand out your barrack and bunk designations, you will bunk with your squad, we found this way to be the easiest way to divide up. Alright, once you get your little slip, head on out.

Dismissed!"

We all stand and salute as the general leaves. The other officers come along and hand everyone what looks like a business card. As I reach out for mine the officer pauses, a major by the golden leaf pinned to her collar. She stares down at me for a moment. Her eyes have a cold look, yet somehow caring at the same time. It looks like she is trying to hide concern with disdain. She has straight blonde hair and deep blue eyes which scan me up and down. I ask,

"Is there a problem ma'am? Am I out of line somehow?"

She shakes her head and drops the card on my desk and says with a no-nonsense tone,

"No soldier. I was just concerned for a second. You look too young."

I just shake my head in response and she moves on. She isn't wrong. I'm only seventeen right now. I am a year too young, but that's a secret between only me and Dr.Hussain, a good friend of my father, even the US military has no idea.

I take my card and stand up, throwing the dull green duffle bag over my shoulder and heading out. It takes me longer than I'd like to admit but I eventually find tent number 6 in a far corner of the camp, next to a huge covered area where the AMS are stored.

Inside is nothing special, three bunk beds and a single bed opposite of them. Each bed has two lockers except the single. The single bed has a curtain that can be closed around it for privacy, I assume that is for the officer, considering that area has already been moved into. I take to a bunk and toss my bag on the bottom one closest to the door, I am a restless sleeper, so the top bunk may result in injury knowing my luck. I open the locker labeled "bottom" and start putting my stuff away in its area, hanging my clothes, folding my socks and underwear, and placing my dress boots inside as well. The whole time I'm humming a song that's been stuck in my head for days now.

I am interrupted from my chore by someone tapping me gently on the back. I turn around to see an athletic white man with a very poorly grown mustache. I say,

"Hi, can I help you?"

He sneers and says,

"Who said you get to choose what bunk you got?"

I shake my head and reply,

"No one, I got here before anyone so I took initiative? Why you a power bottom or something?"

He recoils a little before saying angrily,

"You look young, I would recommend doing what I tell you, or I'll fuck you up."

I shake my head at him, but keep a friendly smile on my face. I'm a few inches taller than him, but he has me on bulk. I only weigh about 187lbs right now and my build is lanky at best, he is built how you would expect a special forces member to be. Average height, muscular build, and a thick neck, and already he is overconfident.

I prepare myself to fight this guy but a mountain of a man steps through the entrance. A huge pacific islander standing an inch taller than me and is at least 260 of pure muscle. The bully turns around and faces the dude and then quickly turns back to me saying,

"Yeah, I'll stick with you..."

I laugh and say,

"Too big for your taste?"

He laughs back and replies,

"A little... but what do you say we settle this like men, I want that bottom bunk."

I nod and reply,

"No hard feelings after right?"

He nods and holds out his hand,

"Of course, Names Frederick."

I take his hand and reply,

"Well... I'm Mike, are you ready Freddie?"

He smiles and lets go getting into a boxing stance. I get into an upright stance with my hands in half-fists. He comes at me with some fast jabs and I dodge one and take another to the chest, it's surprisingly powerful but it doesn't matter. At his move forward I did as well. I get past his fist and get within his guard. I reach up one arm and wrap it around his head, and then reach the other under his arm. I step through his legs with my right foot and then twist my hips to where my butt is now facing him instead of my crotch. This motion lifts him slightly off the ground and then I fall towards him.

He is thrown to the ground with me on top of him, his advantage of boxing knowledge is now useless. I tighten my lock around his head and arm and run towards his head. He makes the choked grunting noise as I push his bicep against his throat, his bigger arms becoming a disadvantage for once in his life. In a last-ditch effort, he wraps me up and rolls across his body loosening the hold and now being on top of me. He throws a hard punch into my face making me see stars for a moment, but the next one I manage to dodge and grab his wrist. I roll back a little raising my hips off the ground and put both my heels on his chest, and with a roll sideways he falls to his back, and while pulling on his arm I finish locking my armbar. He struggles for a moment, but pressing my hips into his elbow causing a little pain, he taps out and surrenders.

I release him and we both stand up and shake hands I say,

"Those were some deadly punches, I had to take you to the ground."

He smiles and says,

"I'll teach you how to do it if only you teach me how to win on the ground... but damn... I don't want to have to climb up there every night..."

We both laugh and pat one another on the back. The big pacific islander is standing near us and says to us,

"My name is Steven, just call me Stevie."

We both greet him and introduce ourselves to the big man. Then a guy who looks surprisingly feminine walks in with out of regulation long hair that touches his shoulders. He walks in and announces to us in a very odd manner,

"Hi y'all, I'm Jack nice to meet you. I want to bunk with the big guy..."

We all introduce ourselves again and finish putting stuff away. After finishing we sit around and visit, talking about ourselves and sharing interests. As it turns out we all really enjoy fishing, we use that as a common interest.

We are interrupted by two people entering. One is a black-haired man in glasses and the other has dyed green hair, both have tattoos on their necks and the green-haired one has a teardrop on his face. The dark-haired one goes to an empty bunk and begins putting his stuff away quietly, but from the looks of him, and his build, he's one tough son of a bitch. The green-haired one is much less pleasant he tosses his stuff onto the officers' bed and flops onto it without care and says to the rest of us,

"One of you go put way my shit."

Stevie says to him,

"Any why should we? Plus that's not your bed."

The man sits up angrily and shouts,

"What was that you bitch? I recommend listening to me if you want to survive fatty. The army needs killers and I'm the only one here who seems to have any blood to their names, Hell I'll probably be running the show in a few weeks, so I don't give a shit what any fancy brass wants. Now, do as I say."

Now, the four of us who had already settled in agree only on a few things, mostly to do with fishing, but at that moment we stood up in unison. Even though we don't know our officer, we know this is the kind of guy who'll result in one of our deaths if we don't deal with him now... plus he talks too much. He leans forward with a surprised smile, but then the dark-haired one steps between us and him and we stop. Freddie says,

"You're really going to stop this? You his pet bitch or something?"

The man stares back and the green-haired guy says,

"Nah, we're just part of the same crew back home. He's our best fighter so, I recommend you all sit down."

This only serves to make us all less likely to sit down. Jack says to the man,

"Seriously, how the hell are you even here?"

The green-haired fuck replies,

"Sit the fuck down faggot. I didn't know queers actually were able to fight."

Jack replies distantly,

"I'm not gay..."

Stevies pats him on the shoulder and nods to the rest of us. I smile and lunge forward, tackling the dark-haired guy to the ground. I am unable to see what is happening elsewhere in the fight because this guy requires all my attention. As soon as we hit the ground he smoked me hard with a right hook. In response, I returned the favor by dropping my elbow into his face. On the ground, I am nearly unbeatable. Despite my somewhat skinny frame, I understand leverage and how to deny my opponent any, this can equalize any strength disadvantage I have. He goes for a punch and hits my ear hard as my head comes down onto him. I feel his glasses break against my forehead.

He tries to dismount me but I squeeze him with my legs and begin pummeling him. Acting intelligently her guards his head and face making my punches useless. To break his guard I lift one leg up and slam the knee into his gut. He grunts loudly but rolls out from under me after I finish. He gets to his knees and while there throws a terrifying roundhouse kick from the ground. It just barely misses me, but the wind coming off of it tells me I would have been out like a light.

Now back on our feet, I am now at a disadvantage. My knowledge of any striking techniques is limited to what I see in movies and TV, I've only done grappling combat sports my whole life, wrestling, jujitsu, and a little judo. I just have to get ahold of him again to win, and he knows it. He bounces in place gracefully, squinting hard to see me without glasses, but even with that disadvantage, he can still make me out even if I am blurry. He opens with a hard kick which hits my shoulder, it knocks me to the side and I rush him while he recovers, but to my surprise rather than recenter he comes back around the other way from the ground and catches me in the leg nearly knocking me down, but giving him much needed space. I get just close enough to reach out and when I do he does a full spin and his shin slams into my ribs. I feel one break under the force and the wind leave my body. He smiles thinking that means I'm done. Then he realizes he can't retract his leg.

When he kicked me, out of reaction I clamped down my shoulder, and in a last-second thought, I reached down far enough and caught his ankle. He looks at me in fear and I smile and I choke up on his leg, slowly approaching him. I keep my other hand up to block his now very weak punches. When I get close enough I grab his body and release the leg, and quickly I duck under his right arm. He cant react in time as I wrap around his waist and push my hips under his butt, as he leaves the ground he says his first words,

"Oh fuck."

We both go backward as I continue to thrust my hips to the sky and in a thunderous slam I finish my suplex with my head inches from the ground, and the man's shoulders firmly planted. I let go and he drops like a sack of rocks. He groans in pain but doesn't get up. I laugh but hold my throbbing side when I do so. I check the other part of the fight and see everyone, green-hair included on the ground, and in front of me is the blonde lady from before. I go to say something, but in a blinding whirlwind of movement, she hits me with three roundhouse kicks, each one more powerful than the last due to my movement into the next kick. Then before I fall over and out, she steps back and winds up a punch from a foot back. I watch as the fist comes towards me and then the world disappears.

I wake up an unknown time later lying on my bed, my head hurts, my back hurts, and my ribs hurt. Actually, everything hurts, the connection ports which were just a minor annoyance of pain are now throbbing painfully in my back. I let out a long groan of pain and rub my face and temples trying to recover. I then notice movement next to me and something heavy land on the bed next to me. I look over and see the woman who knocked me out sitting in a chair next to me, her boots propped up on the bed with me. Her eyes are full of anger, but I do see a small bit of concern. I slowly sit up and sloppily salute her and with a half-smile say,

"Private Mike Richardson reporting for duty ma'am."

She does not return the smile and puts her feet down and leans towards me getting close before grabbing me by the collar so that our noses are almost touching. She then says to me very clearly and with a very angry tone,

"Listen here private, how is it that I walk into my barrack and have my stuff moved and bed messed up, and my entire squadron is in a brawl? One part wasn't even a fight it was just a plain jumping. Explain. I want to hear your story."

I gulp loudly and lower my arm and say back sheepishly,

"Well... It's a funny story, but the green-headed guy was bossing us around and mouthing off, plus he was sitting in the officer's bed, so we went to intimidate the guy, then her kept mouthing and his friend stepped in to stop us from beating him up... I sorta just tackled him and after that, I got concentrated, and well, after winning you kinda know more than me from there on out..."

She lets go and leans back with a pissed-off sigh thinking about her next words. Looking at her closely, I would be convinced she is some kind of model rather than my commanding officer. Her face is sharp and stone-like, mixed with her blue eyes and bright yellow hair it's almost like one of those propaganda pin-ups, except fully dressed, very angry, and stronger than two men whose arms are about double the width of hers. She eventually turns her attention back to me and asks,

"Do you know who those men you fought against are?"

I shake my head and she replies in a grim tone,

"Both of them are felons for violent crimes. Green, yes that's what he goes by, got released from prison because he volunteered to serve, he is a murderer. The one with Dark-hair, Blake, was in prison for assault, assaulting an officer, and apparently sexual harassment. The last one I can't say much on because the guy won't even look in the direction of a woman.

You are clearly the youngest here, and you already made enemies of the two men who will shoot you in the back without hesitation. What do you plan to do about that?"

I think about the question, there is no right answer. I clench my jaw and ask,

"Permission to speak freely?"

She nods and I reply,

"Well ma'am if they continue to be problems or show that they will, I'll make sure they get discharged one way or another. I'm sure the others who fought alongside me will agree."

If looks could kill I'd be six feet under from the glare she gave me and she says in an almost mumble,

"Yes... Yes, they share that sentiment..."

I don't know why but I feel chills crawl up my spine from the way she is looking at me, maybe because she easily knocked me out earlier, not that I'm exactly a monster of fighting. I shift in bed for a bit trying to shake my little bit of fear and say,

"I... I won't attack unprovoked, I'm sorry ma'am, I just kinda don't like bullies."

For a moment she cracks a small smile before continuing to glare at me before she says,

"I expect that little bit at the very least, anyways now that you're awake, time for punishment."

I gulp loudly and stare in fear, I'm fucked.

After five hours of running laps around the camp along with the others in the squad, I find myself completely dog-tired, but finally the major lets us go get supper.

Supper is shit as expected from military food, but it feels so good to have anything in my stomach. I apologize to the boys for not experiencing the full punishment with them. They understand but are more concerned with how I survived. Fred swears he heard my neck snap from the third kick. We visit and laugh together for a while as Green and Blake sit far away glaring at us while sulking. I doubt people like them are going to let this all go.

After supper, we hit the showers before heading back to the tent to try and get some rest. Inside the Major is lying in bed reading some large novel peacefully by herself. When we enter she stands up and we all stiffen, except Blake and Green who remain casual. She looks us all up and down and says,

"Good evening everyone, I guess it's time for us to officially introduce ourselves. I am Major Priscilla DeBlanc, I go by Prisca, so either call me Major, Ma'am, or Major Prisca. Understood?"

We all belt out,

"Yes, Ma'am."

She smiles and tells us to head to bed, we all follow orders and wrap ourselves up in the military-grade itch sheets. Before I fall asleep I head to the bathroom, I needed to go for a while but didn't want to lose my place in the conversation earlier.

I enter the bathroom which is a small wooden shed and begin doing my business when I hear someone enter. It's dark so I can't see but as I turn around a fist lands squarely in my face, busting my nose instantly, I fall to my behind and my attacker says,

"So you thought you were tough shit huh? You got knocked out by that freaking army whore so easily. Maybe you need a reality check on who really is the one who runs shit around here. Not so though when the grown-ups aren't here to help you out?"

It's Green, and the second less-talkative person is definitely Blake. I'm fucked. I may be a good grappler and wrestler, but I've never been that good of a fighter, and when I do fight, I always put things to my advantage, but as someone who grapples, a 2 versus 1 situation is not at all what you want. My punches are pathetic so say the least and I have no idea how to kick, all my strikes are with my elbow or knee which requires me to get close, and I assume neither of these pricks will let me close enough to do anything. Blake especially won't let me get a hand on him.

I try to stand up but am booted squarely in the chest putting me back onto the floor. Then another, and another. Green just keeps kicking me over and over, driving me into the metal urinal I am trapped against. I feel it dig into my back as my face keeps getting more and more bloodied by the onslaught. I have to escape, these guys are violent felons, they most likely don't have a stopping point, nor do they care if I am dead or critically injured. My only way out is to not fight clean and to especially not fight with a conscious, because these guys won't.

The next kick misses and sends his foot into the urinal behind me. He goes to retract his leg but I hold it still before standing up a little and taking another punch. I don't go down, I instead drop my knee onto his. The urinal works as a pillar, holding his leg fully extended. There is a horrible crunch and ripping noise as his leg bends in the other direction. I may not be strong, but my weight is more than enough to invert a stiff leg.

He falls forward in pain and I grab his head and accelerate it down into the urinal. There is a metallic clang and he falls limply to the side and remains on the ground. I am flipping shit, my breathing is shaky and my heart rate is going through the roof. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just copying John Wick 7 at this point. I can barely make out Blake who stands there for a moment and then I see stars. He threw a punch faster than I could even react. He clearly is pissed and out for blood.

I go down again and he grabs me by the back of my neck and easily drags me away from the urinal and into a more open floor. I am spun around by a kick to the head and fall flat again. I try to get up but he begins stomping me repeatedly and say in a calm but dark tone,

"I should have taken you more seriously before. You really embarrassed me back then, and now Green went off and got himself hurt because he is so cocky that he's a murderer. Pushing someone off a building and getting caught for it doesn't really mean you're a hardened killer. Fucking retard."

He just keeps kicking and all I can do is block my head and weather the storm. Hopefully, he gets bored or tired and leaves. For some reason, I grab his leg that's planted on the ground. I don't have the strength to rip it out from under him and he slams his free leg onto my arm. It doesn't break, but it sure as hell hurts to be slammed into concrete. I retract it as soon as he lifts up again and I continue to hunker in on myself to limit the damage he does. I have no other choice. I'm angry though this doesn't feel fair at all, but that's life, it's unfair.

He eventually stops and turns away from me after spitting on me. I feel anger grow inside me and I take off the paracord belt that comes with our uniform. Before he can react to the sound of the bet unclipping it's around his neck, and I'm pulling down with all my strength. He starts falling onto me and I cross the belt and sinch it closer. Now on the ground, he struggles while choking, he can't do anything because I'm behind him and any sideways movement only makes it tighter. I stay there keeping on the pressure until his movements slow and eventually stop. I then stand over him after crawling out from under and I wind up a kick and begin busting his face. When I am satisfied I return back to my barracks clipping my belt back on.

I wake up with my head throbbing and my face and arms bruised. I roll out of bed at the sound of the morning bugle. When I get my boots on I feel someone walk up to me. I look over and am slapped across the face hard. I hold my cheek and Major Prisca shouts,

"What the FUCK are you doing getting into another fight!?"

I shake my head and reply,

"I fell down in the bathroom, someone must've pissed on the floor."

I am slapped again, and the Major roars

"Bullshit, You don't have bruises like that from falling! That and two men don't fall down and get choked out by a belt and get their faces kicked in! Now explain to me why two of our squad members are being medically discharged today after being found unconscious in the bathroom? After I watched you go there during bedtime, and how was that able to happen when they followed you soon after."

I look up at her, my face no longer showing my fake innocence. I stare at her sternly and say,

"If they followed me... why didn't you stop them Major? You know I could have been hurt badly if they had decided to try and attack me. I didn't see them so you must be lying."

Her face turns bright red but can't hit me again, I'm pretty much right she should have stopped them. She calms down quickly and says to me,

"Private Richardson... Be honest with me here... were they the ones who attacked you?"

I don't say anything but just nod and she lets out a long sigh before saying to me calmly again,

"I'm sorry I didn't protect you. I let my own overconfidence in their fear of me ignore them. There will be no report as the current story is that they attacked one another, we will keep it that way. If Blake isn't brain damaged when he wakes up he will be rejoining us."

She then gets close to my ear and whispers,

"If he rejoins us... next time he tries to jump you... make sure there is no chance he comes back.

Also, I am simply threatening punishment to you right now, the higher brass would have my ass if I told any of you to attack a fellow soldier."

My face loosens up and I let out a long sigh before saying back,

"Yes Ma'am it won't happen again!"

She gives a small smile.

The next couple of weeks are great, the training in the AMS given is a bit hard to get used to, but everything is being done as a form of team building. Blake does rejoin us, but he stays quiet and has exiled himself from anything he isn't required to do. During this time we come to not fear Major Prisca, instead, we come to respect and look up to her.

She is something else, fast, strong, skilled, fighter, and scarily intelligent. Her normal demeanor is actually kinda cold. Our initial interactions with her seems to have been a fluke due to the chaos of the situation she walked into. She normally shows little emotion and when she does it's very mute. Her punishments are brutal for the slightest mistakes, but she is consistent and fair during disagreements. She is also beautiful and requires no upkeep, no makeup, hair styling, or fancy clothes. Her base form is gorgeous. All of us somewhat form a crush on her, there's no shame in it, if were any more degenerate than what we are we'd probably have a Major Prisca fan club. All in all, though, she has a dominating presence and with her commanding us, we feel as if we are invincible.

It's the last day of the two weeks the squad is given rec leave for the day. I don't get it because I made a crude comment about Jack and was put on cleaning duty. I spend the whole day mopping the entire AMS area which is just a big outdoor concrete pad with a sheet metal roof. When I finish finally I hit the showers, when I exit the showers it's dark out, I think I still have a few hours before rec leave is over and I might be able to go and get a book or something in the town nearby.

I enter the barrack and it's dark, I guess Major went to sleep early so I sneak by and get dressed to see if I can still go out. Then my eyes adjust to the darkness and I can see in the little light let through the tent flap. I see Blake standing in the Majors area and is digging through her clothes. I simply sight and say,

"Seriously man? Like c'mon! "

She is staring at me with a bit of surprise in his eyes and he says in a surprisingly apologetic tone,

"Please don't tell the Major... I can't help myself watching that hot piece of ass flaunt around in front of us all day. You can't wave a steak in front of a street dog and not expect it to do something."

I sigh and put my pants and shirt on. I reply,

"I agree with the sentiment, but not with your actions dude. You almost are acting like one of those perverted neckbeards that go through their sisters' drawers."

He laughs and replies,

"Yeah, It's my embarrassing thing. I'll stop, and try to be more careful."

I shake my head and say,

"If you get caught we all will hang by our nuts, and you'll be forced to eat yours so how about you don't try it again... I really don't want to deal with problems stemming from your dick."

He laughs and puts the clothes back up before leaving. I then finish getting dressed and head out to get something to entertain myself.

The next morning I find us all lined up outside of the barrack in our underwear as the major paces back and forth in front of us, a cold look of hatred on her face as she stares us down. She finally stops and says,

"Alright, I'll give you all one chance. Someone tell me who was digging through my underwear?"

We all stiffen up, the situation just got serious. We all glance at one another fearful of the outcome. Blake other than his perverted actions has been well behaved since that time in the bathroom, I don't feel like snitching on him, and I don't want it to be known I saw him do it and did nothing. Then Blake speaks up and I let out a breath of relief,

"I know who did it, Ma'am, as I was getting some cash from my locker Mike entered, I left before he did, so I believe he may have done it."

I feel my heart stop and my throat tighten. All eyes are on me. Blake looks over at me with malice in his eyes, I decided there, that if I survive what is about to happen here I will personally rip his cock and balls off. The Major says in a terrifying tone,

"Mike... Step Forward."

I do as I am told resigning myself to my fate and swallowing the lump in the throat. I don't think I'll have the ability to defend myself in this court, against the judge, jury. and executioner who are all Major Prisca. She dismisses everyone to go get dressed and go run around the camp a few times. They leave and when dressed they head out. She then points at the barrack completely silently, and I march towards it, like a man on the way to the gallows.

Once inside she sits on her chair and just stares at me in a cold and calculating manner. I remain motionless in attention staring at a hole in the tent wall in front of me. She eventually speaks,

"Mike... Will you please tell me what you were doing in my shit last night? Don't try and make excuses."

I sigh and reply swallowing hard first,

"I will not make an excuse, I will tell the truth, I did not go through your clothing last night. I caught Blake doing so. I didn't stop him as it did not concern me and I was running late for leave."

There is no response for a while as she stares me in the eye trying to read my thoughts and deciding if she should rip me apart just yet. She stands up in front of me and says to me quietly,

"Fight me."

I blink a few times and reply,

"W-What?"

She then says back now, louder,

"Trial by combat. It'll prove to me if you're lying if you did go through my things you'll pull your punches as you think of me as some woman if you're innocent... you'll come at me with all you got."

I can't completely reject her reasoning, but I'm scared to fight her. I've been working with Freddie during hand-to-hand exercises and actually can throw and good punch, and he can do a few joint locks, but before me stands the scariest person I've ever met, like a venomous emerald pit viper, beautiful, but extraordinarily dangerous. I may be taller, but she feels like a giant towering over me and even if I don't fight I'm still getting slaughtered, there is no chance at peace or mercy here... only a choice of dying on my feet, or on my knees.

Just before we fight though and I get into a fighting stance, I realize, this isn't a trial, even if I am innocent... well not fully, but I didn't do the initial slight, her whole goal is that she really wants to fuck someone up because she is mad, but there, lies my chance...