A/N: Another day, another chapter. Thanks so much for the kind comments!

"This is the place," Felix said, waving his hand towards the tall steel door they had happened upon.

Calhoun readjusted her gun to a more comfortable position on her shoulder and reached out with her free hand. There appeared to be no doorknob, so she instead began pushing on the door, but it didn't budge.

She looked around for a keyhole or handle of some sorts. She noticed what appeared to be a control panel to the right of the door, but it too was inaccessible.

"It's locked," She stated, rather annoyed. While "off-limits" was a rule she had always enforced, it wasn't one she particularly cared for when she was the one forced to be limited.

She turned towards Felix. "If it's locked, how did you get out?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't locked on the inside. I guess when I left the place, it locked on its own."

"So, you haven't been inside since?"

He shook his head.

"Have you ever tried to get in since you got out?"

He shook his head again. "I was too busy just trying to find a way to leave my game."

Calhoun sighed. She was never a fan of people wasting her time, but when the virus hit, time became even more scarce, therefore more precious to her, so she disliked it even more.

"Is there anything you can remember about the inside that might help figuring out how to open it?"

Felix shook his head, clearly upset that he had upset her. "It was pretty dark when I woke up," He admitted.

She tried not to look too angry. That was understandable. She didn't expect someone who had woken up so many months after the cybug attack to even bother trying to take in their first surroundings.

"Wait," He said, after a moment.

Calhoun looked at him, hopeful.

"I remember...I remember lights. Flashing lights. And buttons. And a lot of wires."

The sergeant furrowed her brows, curiously and turned back towards the door. She wiped her gloved hand across the top center of the door, revealing an indented CR once the dust cleared. "The Code Room."

This was strange to her. Code Room's were dangerous and rarely ever used. Only a select few of her core even had permission to access them after the virus hit, and they were trained to handle such equipment.

Back when the war first began, and cybugs began taking over every game, they soon found their way into each game's code room. They never stayed long, though. Usually code wires at the front were finished off first, but cybugs usually left before they reached the middle, which would have shut down the game, completely short-circuiting it, if they had continued on.

Calhoun had a theory about this, though it was still unsure, that cybugs didn't like the taste of a game's code. That eating the real thing was a lot better to them. So eventually the code room's were no longer in danger, but her core locked them up anyway, just in case.

Calhoun's eyes narrowed on Felix. "How did you wake up in your game's code room? What were you even doing in there?"

Her sudden interrogation left him flustered. "I-I don't-"

Her glare softened. "You don't know. Of course you don't know." She held a hand to her forehead, trying to force a flashmare from coming on. "Sorry, this is just a lot to take in."

He stood there a moment, waiting for her to recover from her previous outburst. After a moment, she dropped her hand and breathed out. When she looked back down at Felix she was still seeing spots, but she did manage to avoid the flashmare.

He smiled wistfully at her and Calhoun felt the ends of her lips twitch, but they didn't move upwards like his. She forced her mouth in a straight line and turned on her heel. "Come on, then. It's been a long night. We should try to get some rest." She didn't bother saying what a lost cause this would be for her.

"What about the code room?" Felix asked, matching her stride as best he could on his tiny legs.

"I'll have some soldiers take a look at it in the morning."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I don't have the permissions to access such a place."

"I would think a sergeant would be allowed to go anywhere she liked."

Calhoun stopped short. "What did you say?"

He stopped as well. "What?"

"How did you know that I'm a sergeant?"

"Oh, well, I just guessed that you were of some higher authority by the way you walk. And talk." He looked nervous, like he had crossed a line of some sorts. "You seem important."

She raised an eyebrow, but decided his statement seemed harmless. She continued walking again. "A lot of soldiers act the way I do. I wouldn't go assuming someone's position just by the way they act."

"Yes, ma'am."

When they reached Felix's house again, he cleared his throat. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways."

She looked at the house, at the entrance of the game, at him, and then back again, biting her lip nervously. She wasn't sure what forced the next words from her mouth, but she didn't try to stop them. "You should come and stay at my game."

By the time she said this, he was already walking towards his door. "Why?" He asked, heading inside. She found herself following him, but she couldn't think of an answer.

Why should he? He's already proved he can manage here on his own. As she contemplated her answer, she found herself watching Felix remove his gloves, immediately spotting the gold ring on his left hand.

"It's a wedding ring," He answered, when he noticed her stare.

"You're married?"

He shrugged. "I guess I must have been." He looked solemn for a moment and Calhoun realized she struck a nerve.

"Right, sorry. I just-" She paused, trying to find the right words. "Do you remember her at all?"

He shook his head.

"Then why bother wearing it?"

He looked at her, his face the most serious she's ever seen it. "I would much rather not remember, then try to forget."

The statement itself didn't really make sense, but it seemed to spark something deep inside Calhoun, both intriguing and frightening her. She dropped her head and finally answered the question he asked when they first walked in. "I'd feel a whole lot better if you came and stayed in my game."

When she raised her head to look at him, his face was full of wonder. "Please," She insisted in a soft voice. "At least just for tonight."

He nodded, a small smile forming on his face. "Okay."

She didn't know this man, she didn't know why his safety was so important to her, and she certainly didn't understand why his smile almost forced her to copy the action, her face trying to use muscles it hasn't used in months.

But knowing he would be placed safely in a bunker not far from her, gave her a sense of that comfort thing Felix was talking about earlier. And she decided she liked it.