"Sir?" Fox asked. "You wanted to see me here?"

The fit black sergeant turned to face him at the door. "Ah, yes. Well, no. It's that man who'd like to see you." The sergeant nodded, glancing nervously at his door as he made to leave. Fox hesitated before opening the door.

Fox's first impression was that the visitor was grey. Terribly grey. He had a boring face and was most definitely a suit. The man had not even a modicum of emotion.

Fox sincerely hoped that he wasn't a tax collector. If that roommate of his...

"Good evening," the man started once the sergeant had left. "It has come to our attention that you have good acting capabilities and a good common sense." Good, good, good. It seemed this man didn't know how to issue compliments as well as he did bills and other paperwork. "We have seen the recording of your RTI training, Mr. Benjamin Daniels , during which you saved a life. However, due to your compassion for others, we believe you would be more suited to our line of work, where agents tend to work alone or tend to back up others. In the case of back up, your compassion towards others would prove to be useful."

Fox frowned. Somehow this man knew his name, but he didn't even know who this man was or how he'd come by such information. "Erm, pardon my asking, but who are you?"

"My name is Mr. Crawley. How would you like to be Cub's back up?"

Fox blinked. "Wait, he's for real?"

"Unofficially, yes."

Fox frowned more deeply. "Who does he work for, exactly?"

"Will you do it?"

Fox realised he would have to agree before more information about the job would be given. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - a level possibly beyond SAS! "I guess so." Fox hesitated as Mr. Crawley's eyes bored into his. "Yes, I'll do it."

Some hidden tension between them evaporated; Fox hadn't even registered how tense Crawley was, but now the man relaxed. "Very good. Welcome to MI6, Agent Daniels."

A few days later...

The training had been particularly strenuous that day, with the parachute drop and all the rest of it. At last, K-Unit returned to their bunks. There should have been five. Now there were only four.

"Where's Cub?" Snake asked Wolf.

Wolf shrugged. "Gone. Some woman took him away."

"Do you know who she was?" Fox asked.

"No." The others nodded their consent. They hurriedly readied themselves for the short, cold showers after a moment of silence.

Snake almost made it out, but Wolf stopped him with a flick of his head, indicating he wanted the soldier to stay. The gesture escaped Fox and Eagle's notice, however, and they both left.

"What do you want, Wolf?"

Wolf hesitated - something he never did. But the question he was going to ask... well, it wasn't unheard of.

"Are you homosexual?"

Snake blinked. His expression was completely blank. "What?"

Wolf pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't believe Snake was making him repeat his question. "I said, are you gay?"

Snake furrowed his eyebrows. "No. Why the hell you you think that?" Wolf was grateful that his stare held no anger - just honest confusion.

"You fell asleep on Fox's shoulder, for one. Then you kissed Cub and basically felt him up. I daresay you were more than willing to take his temperature anally, too."

Snake relaxed. "Oh. The things with Cub were all medical, and I didn't realise I fell asleep on someone's shoulder until I woke up." Then - as if to infuriate Wolf by hinted accusation - Snake smirked. Later, Wolf might laugh at this extremely awkward situation he'd brought upon himself, but right now he just wanted it over.

Wolf nodded, pretending to contemplate the logical response while hoping the poor lighting hid his growing blush. After a short moment, he shrugged. "All right. I suppose I was being paranoid."

"Good to hear," Snake commented before collecting his things and heading off to the showers.

It was only after Wolf had been alone for a moment that he released a tense breath and gathered his things.

AN: And that's how he got his job! Fox is awesome!

...

...

...

AN: That was the original epilogue above.

Below is a little extra that I decided to write because KusajishiFuktaicho wanted to know why I didn't write in the part about how K-Unit reacts to Alex's passing out. Thank you, KusajishiFuktaicho, for drawing my attention to the missing scene.

I didn't write it before because I didn't think of it (I dunno why - I thought I thought this story through!) . It's a good idea, so I delayed the epilogue until I added this extra tidbit. That's why it took me so long to give this end to y'all. Otherwise, it would only have been a few days. My 'rush' (I bet you think it was slow) to get this written is why I didn't proofread it as well, but hopefully you won't see any drastic mistakes.

This tidbit starts right after Ben confesses. Bon appetit!

Bastard, Wolf thought. Fucking bastard.

Wolf glared at some patch of ground. It was moving away from him - rather, he was being dragged backward. RTI was a disaster, in Wolf's opinion. The damn Green Jackets had managed to get that lousynogoodfuckingdamned Fox to blurt out his name. Or perhaps Wolf should think of him as Brendan.

His chair stopped moving, and the front two legs dropped to the ground. The interrogator who seemed to hold some kind of vengeance against him stepped around in front of him. He sneered at Wolf. Wolf knew his facial muscles were twitching, particularly his nose, in pure rage. An acquaintance of his had once told him it made him resemble a mouse. Wolf had promptly rearranged the commentator's nose with his fist.

Right now, Wolf really wished he could do that to Fox. Then the guy in front of him.

His interrogator snapped his attention to the present by raising a foot and placing it between Wolf's knees on the edge of his chair and roughly shoving him into the cell where Eagle and Snake were waiting. It skidded and turned partway so that he could see Fox and Cub. Cub was lying on the floor, motionless. But Wolf didn't really notice - he had a score to settle with Fox.

He'd worked so hard to get into the SAS - to pass selection, to impress his superiors. Wolf had done more boot-licking than he'd care to admit. He'd studied and learned and trained and exercised and lost it all because of Fox.

"Fox, you lousy fucking bast-"

"Snake," Fox interrupted crisply, "check on Cub."

"-ard, when they let me out of these damned bindings, I'm going to rip your throat out!" Wolf roared. He huffed, swallowing stiffly before continuing. "I can't believe you! You - you told me you worked your arse off to get here, and you fucked it up for a fucking brat!" Wolf noisily sucked in a breath through his nose. He opened his mouth to continue, then realised Snake was starting to listen to said brat's breath. Wolf barely registered Eagle moving to untie Fox.

But the kid was fine, surely. The Green Jackets couldn't actually endanger the kid's life.

Still, the kid wasn't moving. Wolf really took in Cub's appearance. He was pale - an icy blue, almost. He was as still as a statue forgotten in an abandoned city - not even reflecting life off polished marble.

Then Snake leaned down and gave a breath to Cub. The small chest rose up and fell down as Snake took a fresh breath. The medic leaned down again and gave another.

Wolf didn't want to admit it, but he was really nervous. Had he been wrong? Was Cub actually in danger, and Fox therefore righteous?

Would he have let Cub die accidentally?

"Snake?" Wolf asked, completely lost. He realised he was untied, but he wasn't in a state of mind to thank Eagle. He moved to crouch beside the prone boy. "He's not-"

The rest of his words were lost in a snappy sigh of relief. Cub started coughing and shivering all over. Snake jerked back, spitting water that Cub had apparently had in his lungs, and let Fox - who Eagle had untied before - tip the child onto his side. Eagle crouched down, holding Cub's hips and legs so that Fox could support the boy's head and neck securely. Cub coughed, seemingly endlessly.

Wolf knew his eyes must resemble dinner plates; he was shocked. The kid would have died if not for Fox.

Cub's life was at stake.

And it made sense too, he realised. Cub was smaller - he couldn't remain conscious as long as adults without oxygen and he would cool down faster in the water. In fact, he was probably hypothermic.

"Good god," he muttered under his breath. "God..."

"Wolf, call for help," Snake hissed at him. "He needs medical attention."

Stunned from his revelation, Wolf stood obediently and stumbled to the door like a drunk man. Then his resolve returned. He couldn't save Cub - he'd leave that to the others - but he could do something.

"Help!" he cried frantically, pounding as loudly as possible on the door. Vaguely, he wondered if it would break. It didn't.

"Get help!"

Behind him, he could vaguely hear the coughing. Wolf had never come close to drowning before - he certainly didn't want to find out.

Cub had. And he'd helped the Green Jackets do it.

"Help! Someone! We have a situation!"

Snake's voice started asking after Cub. Wolf glanced at them, and Snake quickly informed Wolf of the situation. "His pupils are dilated," he started gravely, voice serious and concerned. "He's hypothermic, probably entering shock." Snake raised his chin sharply, indicating Wolf should continue calling for help.

Wolf did. He shouted for a long, long time.

He could hear Cub waking up. He heard them talking, but he was too focused on the task at hand to really decipher what they were saying. They were keeping Cub out of shock, he hoped sincerely.

At last, someone came.

The door's lock jingled and shuddered, and the handle turned. Wolf stepped back expectantly.

"Wolf," the sergeant immediately said, ignoring the man's previous shouting. "Where's Fox?"

Wolf glanced behind the fit black man. The Green Jackets and another man Wolf didn't recognise were standing at ease, not worried. They were grinning like maniacs - after all, they'd successfully squeezed Fox's name out of him. The gloating mystery man must be their sergeant; Wolf's sergeant would be more furious and dangerous than a bull in a china shop on a spike-covered floor. Wolf's stomach clenched at the thought. He could see the short man who had gleefully drowned the kid. The man smirked, apparently unaware of the effect it had on Wolf.

His blood was boiling - no, it wasn't evaporating but thickening, until Wolf had turned red in the face. His heartbeat actually sounded in his ears, speeding as fury coursed through him. The short man would pay. Wolf would kill -

"Wolf!" the sergeant snapped, irritated by Wolf's short attention span. "The hell?"

Immediately, Wolf gave his superior his full attention. Now was not the time for revenge. Cub needed medical attention.

"It's Cub, sir. The short Green Jacket nearly drowned him."

The sergeant scowled. "I don't care. Where the fuck is Fox?"

Wolf stepped aside and let the sergeant enter the room.

Snake was talking to Cub, who was lying on top of Eagle. Fox was by the kid's head, holding Snake's shirt around it like a cross between a turban and a scarf. Wolf couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the position of Snake's hands before he remembered that they'd learned in a lecture to warm the groin. Still worse was Snake's words. "Yeah, if by 'means well' you're saying he's good at being mean. Bastard."

Somehow, the sergeant just knew - that's the only way Wolf could figure it. Or maybe the man was just covering his bases. But nevertheless, he walked up behind Snake and quite calmly replied, "And that 'well-meaning bastard' is now standing behind you." Wolf shifted so he could see his superior's face. The man seemed to be taking in Cub's appearance for the first time.

"S-sir! I didn't-" Snake stuttered.

"Shut up. What the hell is going on?"

Wolf was strangely grateful that Fox explained. "The Green Jackets thought it'd be more effective if they made us watch them torture a kid. They started by shocking him for at least thirty seconds behind the ear. His balance is probably shot right now. Then they threw him into a tub of ice."

Wolf closed his eyes, remembering how the child flailed his limbs in the water while simultaneously shutting the pale, barely conscious child from his guilty vision. How could I have missed the danger? Wolf wondered in retrospect. He shook his thoughts away, homing in on Fox's explanatory tone.

"The shortest of them pushed his head under the water for at least a minute," Fox stated calmly. He seemed to be handling the situation far better than Wolf. "Cub had fallen unconscious underwater, I think, so I gave a name to make the short guy stop. Cub woke up after Snake gave him breaths. And then-"

"Cub!" the sergeant shouted unexpectedly. Wolf jumped, startled, eyes snapping open to see that Cub's eyes were closed like his had been moments before. "Shit, Cub!"

Fox looked down sharply and noticed the kid's state. "Cubwakeup!" he hollered as one word, right next to Cub's ear. Below Cub, Eagle shifted away from Fox - his ear was next to Cub's, after all.

After a moment of no response, Fox slapped the kid on the cheek. Wolf found it difficult to swallow as Cub's head lolled off to the side, neck completely slack. The sergeant swore under his breath and dropped down to Cub's side. Fox wisely let the man get close.

The stranger stepped into the room, grinning, but it lost its sincerity the moment he saw what was going on. It melted slowly into a confused frown as K-Unit's sergeant began performing more advanced checks on a small figure.

"The hell?..." he managed. He wheeled and glared fully at Wolf.

Immediately, Wolf knew: this man was the Green Jacket's sergeant. His eyes and posture radiated authority. He was a tall, bulky Caucasian with blond hair and a scarred, serious face. Vaguely, and, with some sense of pride, Wolf noted that his own sergeant was more intimidating. "What the hell?" the man asked Wolf.

Wolf answered quietly so as not to disturb his own sergeant's ministrations. "We don't know why he's here. His codename is Cub. Your soldier -" Wolf gestured at the shortest man "- tased and drowned him to his current state. Sir." Internally, Wolf smiled gleefully. He was certain the other sergeant would give his own men hell for sure.

The blond authority figure's right eye twitched. After a pause, he said quietly, "My men and I will be waiting to watch the replay in the third conference room. At your sergeant's leisure, after this. He already knows that, so... never mind."

With that, the man left Wolf, his sergeant, and the rest of K-Unit with Cub.

"Wolf," the sergeant called. Wolf wheeled around and stood to attention. He literally bit his tongue to keep his surprise from showing.

The sergeant - the sergeant - was holding Cub like a bride. It painted a funny picture, to say the least, except for the dire reasons behind the odd standing. Wolf noted that Eagle was dusting himself off and that Snake was putting his shirt again.

"Move." Wolf blinked, realising that he was blocking the sergeant's way. He ducked quickly to one side. The man walked past. Wolf's forehead creased as Cub's head passed within reach, bobbing slightly with the sergeant's gait. He didn't like Double 'O' Nothing, but Double 'O' Seven never went through this at Cub's age.

The sergeant and the limp figure in his arms vanished in the general direction of the infirmary.

Wolf watched the silhouette fade into the night - rather, the early morning. RTI would be over soon, judging by the faint sunlight over the horizon.

So until then...

"What now?" Eagle asked quietly.

Snake answered, also quiet. He seemed uncertain, which was unusual for the normally strong, bold yet withdrawn personality Wolf had become accustomed to. "I don't think the sergeants told us to do anything. At least, I don't think so."

Wolf nodded. "I agree. We have no orders." He paused, looking at his unit-mates. They were all slightly injured in one way or another (with the exception of Cub more seriously injured at the infirmary), and they showed it. Fox was shivering slightly, and Eagle's posture was slumped. Snake's cut had dried up, but it looked nasty - like something unidentifiable found on the ground in a public park.

Fox's hand carded through his own hair. He seemed apprehensive.

Wolf caught the nervous tick. Fox was anxious for good reason - Wolf should be furious that Fox may have just ruined his career. But somehow, Wolf couldn't find the anger in him, not after seeing Cub so lifeless.

"Fox?" he asked gently. "What do you want to do?"

The other soldier's eyebrows shot up, genuinely surprised. He stumbled over his tongue for a moment before answering. "Eh- um- well, since we have no orders, we might as well go to our bunks for some rest."

Wolf had been thinking the exact same thing. He nodded, and wordlessly led his unit into the dim yet brightening morning.

AN: Who wants to see the video-replay from Snake or Eagle's 3rd PPOV? (*signals snipers to shoot rising hands*)

No one? That's fine with me!

(If your bloody hand is going up...)