There is no rushing
Lexa watched Raven’s training for a week before she decided to let her lead one of the simulations. Even if Lexa wouldn’t admit it, Raven brought a new breeze to the team. She made really inappropriate jokes and had a problem with personal space, but maybe that is what that unit needed.
At around 1600, Lexa called everyone to change into the simulation clothes. They had special gear for the room that was a complete replica of their real gear; the only difference was that they didn’t shoot real bullets. They could be compared to airsoft weapons, except that those weren’t released to the public. The clothes had measuring devices for vital functions; they could study their results in high-stress situations and learn about how their bodies react in certain situations.
Everyone gathered around the round table in the big meeting room. They all looked at Lexa for the usual orders and simulations. "I have watched all of you train Reyes over the last few days and have come to the conclusion that she should have a try at leading one of the simulations herself."
"Really?" Raven asked, shock evident in her voice.
Lexa nodded and signaled her to the front. Raven stood up and took Lexa’s place. Lexa sat down and watched the girl take the tablet to the simulation room. The room could be designed however they liked. From a farmhouse for CQB to a sharp shooting field
"Alright, I got this." Raven mumbled to herself. "How about we do a little bit of close-quarter battle? I think that’s a solid choice. Why not add a hostage into the scenario and some insurgents here and there?"
"She is aware that she’s thinking out loud, right?" Anya asked to enter the round.
"Definitely, let her do it; we weren’t better on our first time leading." Lincoln returned.
"Yeah, you killed the hostage, An." Luna chimed in.
"You destroyed the scenario tablet," Lincoln commented.
"In my defense, I didn’t know the weapons were that lethal." Luna tried to reason.
"Lincoln, we all got shot in your first leading scenario." Lexa continued the accusations.
That seemed to shut the three up, and they waited for Raven to put in the correct settings and details of the simulation.
"What did you do wrong on your first simulation, Cap?" Raven asked once she finished and looked up at the group.
"It wasn’t a simulation." Lexa answered and stood up. You're ready to walk us through your strategy."
Raven nodded, and Lexa was glad she didn’t push her to answer. She appreciated it and concentrated on the information Raven was giving the team.
"Okay, the room is generated into a long hallway with five rooms; in those are fifteen insurgents and a hostage; once we cut the ropes of the hostage, the simulation ends. I’ll be the point man, and Captain will be the last man. Second is Luna, third is Lincoln, and fourth is Anya. Our objective is to search and clear the rooms. One of them will have the hostage, and the insurgents will be in different numbers in the others. Questions?"
Nobody seemed to have any; they had done these things hundreds of times. The whole point of the simulations was to get everyone into a routine and ready for the real-life events.
They walked towards the door of the room and got into position. Lexa watched from the back of the group how Raven was handling the pressure of leading and studied her body language.
Raven took the lead and led her team through the narrow hallway of the building. Luna followed closely behind her, scanning the left side of the corridor, while Lincoln took the right. Anya brought up the rear, and Lexa kept watch over their flank.
"Contact front!" Raven shouted as they entered the third room. "We’ve got a hostile situation. Luna, take out those insurgents on the left. Lincoln, provide cover fire on the right. Anya, move up and flank them. Captain, cover our six."
The team moved with precision, firing their weapons with deadly accuracy. Luna took out three insurgents with a well-placed shot, while Lincoln provided cover fire, keeping the remaining insurgents pinned down.
Anya moved swiftly, taking out two insurgents as she flanked them from the side. Lexa covered their rear, ensuring that they were not ambushed from behind.
Raven quickly spotted the hostage, who was tied up and gagged in the corner. "We’ve found our hostage," she said to the team. "We’ll take out the remaining insurgents while Anya moves in."
As they made their way down the hallway, Raven shouted, "Contact rear! Lincoln, take them out. Cap, move up, and provide cover fire. Luna, keep watch on our six."
The team quickly took positions, returning fire as they made their way back to the exit. Lincoln took out the insurgents with precision, while Lexa provided cover fire.
Once they had taken out all the remaining insurgents, Raven and the others returned to the room with the hostage, and they found Anya on the ground with a big red mark on her front. Lexa moved from her place and cut the ropes, even though they weren’t on the hostage anymore.
"Wait, what happened?" Why?" Raven questioned when the room lit up and generated into an empty room.
"You forgot to clear the room; you saw the hostage and sent Anya into her death." Lexa stated this from where she was standing.
"But... the room was clear." Raven insists.
"Sadly, it wasn’t; one had hid behind the desk on the left side of the wall, behind the hostage." Anya explained while getting up from the ground.
"C'mon, Reyes, nobody gets it on their first try; these things are meant to fail. You can only learn from mistakes." Lincoln tried to reassure her.
"Don’t get sad over a failed simulation; you’ll have plenty more of them. Better fail here than in real life." Luna told her and threw her arm around her shoulders.
The unit moved out of the room and into the open area of their training building. Lexa watched as Raven walked towards her station to change into her field uniform. It was clear that this mistake had made her sad. She could relate; if it had been anywhere in the real world, her sister would be dead right now.
She walked to her station and quickly changed her uniforms. She then walked towards Raven’s station and waited outside the door for her. It took a few minutes for Raven to exit her room.
"Captain? Am I out of the unit because of the simulation? Is that why you’re here?" Raven asked nervously.
"What? No. I know I’m not the most friendly person to be around, but I would never throw you out of the unit for something so little. Yeah, if it had been a real-life situation, there would be a dead soldier, but that’s what these are for. To make mistakes and learn from them, like Lincoln said," Lexa told her, catching her attention.
"I’m sure you never made a mistake." Raven commented.
"Of course I made mistakes; no one is perfect; you just have to see your mistakes and find a way to learn from them. Take today as an example: You made the mistake of not clearing the room thoroughly enough, and the next time you’ll double your efforts and search the room twice before clearing it." Lexa explained herself.
"Are you sure?" Raven asked.
"Yes, I’m sure. You've got potential, Reyes; keep up the good work, and you’ll soon outrank me." Lexa told her to make her smile. "Now pack up and enjoy your weekend; we’ll see each other on Monday."
"Wait, I have the weekend off?"
"Yes, didn’t Anya tell you that during the training schedule part?"
Raven shook her head and excused herself to pack her things. Lexa walked towards her office and got her belongings before moving to exit the training building. Her siblings were already waiting at the cars; they always come to work paired up.
"She did good." Anya commented as she watched Raven go to her own car a few rows down.
"Yeah, but not good enough. She’ll get it eventually; this was only the first of many." Lexa commented.
"Let’s get takeout and surprise Chase." Luna suggested changing the subject.
"Yes, let’s get something from Emori’s." Lincoln agreed.
"Fantastic idea; Lexa’s paying." Anya chimed in, and all three of them quickly got into the cars to avoid Lexa’s protests.
Lexa sighed heavily and got into the driver's seat of her car. She locked eyes with Luna and glared at her. Luna smiled at her innocently and turned on the radio. Lexa shook her head and started the car.
Emori was a friend from high school who opened a restaurant. They were regulars and went there at least once a week when they weren’t across the globe on a mission. Emori was one of the few friends from high school that they kept in touch with. Another one was Nyko, who had a small club not known by many people but kept his business afloat.
The restaurant was directly on the way home, so it was easy to just stop there every now and then. Lexa parked in front of the restaurant and got out of the car. Lincoln pulled in a second later, also getting out of the car, alongside Anya.
"It seems like the restaurant is busy today", Anya noted.
"Yeah, I mean, its a Friday and it’s late in the afternoon." Luna told her.
"That’s not what I mean." Anya said, and she shoved her sister lightly.
"I know what you mean, Anya; it seems like it’s a private gathering today." Lexa observed the restaurant from the outside.
"I doubt that Emori will send us away once she sees us; maybe we should head to the diner a few blocks over and get something there." Lincoln said, and if he had said the magic words to summon Emori, she would have seen them through the window and walked towards the door.
"Salutations, my flavor-savvy compadres!" Emori shouted from across the sidewalk.
"I swear she’s so random sometimes." Lexa sighed and started walking towards Emori. Luna, Lincoln, and Anya were snickering and walking behind her.
"You love it, Woods; that’s why we are friends." Emori said that and pulled her into a hug.
"I think I was high when you decided to befriend me." Lexa countered, and Emori fake gasped while clasping her hand over her heart.
"Come on, Lex, why are you so unfriendly today?" Luna asked and hugged Emori next.
"Let’s face it, Luna, she’s just her usual self." Anya told them truthfully.
"Could we stop picking on me? I’m the one paying after all." Lexa huffed, annoyed at her siblings.
"Fair point. Hey Emori." Lincoln was the last to hug their friend.
"Is today something special?" Luna asked, looking into the restaurant, where a large group of people were standing and talking to each other. "Because if thats the case, we can totally come back another time, and Lexa will gladly cook something at home."
"It is the birthday party of a doctor, but I can totally make you something to eat, no worries." Emori answered. "Lexa has enough things to do. She doesn’t need to cook for all of you, just because you are all too incompetent to use a pan."
"Hey, I know why you two became friends, and the drugs are not the reason." Luna muttered, still loud enough for everyone to hear, and Anya rolled her eyes.
"It’s no problem; you have a full house; we don’t want to intrude." Lincoln tried to get them out.
The restaurant door opened, and none other than Abby Griffin stepped out. "I knew I recognized the voices."
"Doctor Griffin, nice to see you; we were just about to leave." Luna tried to get them away; they really didn’t want to intrude and disturb the party going on.
"And I told you, I will make them some takeout, since I have a free hour anyway and they wouldn’t impose." Emori told the doctor.
"Of course they wouldn’t; please join us for a bit; it’s my party after all." Doctor Griffin insisted.
"Happy Birthday," Lexa told the doctor. Luna Lincoln and Anya joined her.
"Thank you; now come on in; it’s freezing outside." She ordered and the four reluctantly tried to get out of the situation.
"No, we couldn’t impose; we can always get something somewhere else." Anya tried again.
"We also aren’t dressed appropriately; we just came from work." Lincoln joined.
"Who are you kidding? You’re not the only ones in work attire." Abby insisted and pushed them all inside.
Once inside, the conversations quieted down, and everyone looked at the four soldiers that had just entered with the host and the restaurant owner. In the back of the room, Lexa managed to make out the eagle and anchor insignia of a colonel.
"Guys, ten a.m. Colonel, make sure you greet him." Lexa murmured towards her siblings.
"I’ll prepare the usual for you." Emori excused herself towards the kitchen, and the talking started around the room again.
"It’s nice to see you two again; you weren’t at the fundraiser like Lexa and Luna," Abby told Lincoln and Anya.
"Yeah, we try not to step into the dress pants if we don’t have to." Anya told her.
Lexa had her eyes on the Colonel the whole time; she couldn’t see his face, but it had to be someone from the Polis Military Base. There weren’t many Colonels on that base; the only one coming to Lexa’s mind right now was Colonel Marcus Kane, a military counselor. He served twenty years in the Marine Corps before deciding to help people with his bachelor's in psychology.
When the Colonel turned to look for someone, Lexa could make out the face of said man. Kane found who he was looking for and came towards her siblings and Abby.
"It’s Kane. Attention." Lexa whispered to her siblings, and they all acknowledged the Colonel.
"Hello, Colonel Kane. Glad to meet you outside of base for once." Luna told him.
"The Woods siblings, it's nice to see you outside of base as well. I hear your unit has a new addition." The Colonel stated
Before anyone could answer, the door of the restaurant got thrown open, and a group of people walked in. They all had presents in their hands. Lexa’s eyes immediately wandered towards the blonde in front of the group. Clarke Griffin. The doctor's daughter
"Where’s Mama G?" Someone shouted, and it was none other than Raven Reyes with a bottle of wine in her hand.
Raven froze once she saw who else was here. One of her friends ran straight into her and went to scold her for just standing there when they followed the direction she was looking at and saw the four soldiers talking with Kane and Abby.
"Colonel, Captain, Sergeants." Raven greeted them, hiding the alcohol behind her back.
"Hah, Raven’s bosses are here." A boy with brown hair laughed at her.
"What are you doing here?" Raven asked, trying not to let her friends anywhere near the soldiers.
"We were kidnapped into joining this party as long as Emori is finishing our food." Anya answered her.
"You weren’t kidnapped; you came voluntarily." Abby clarified.
"Only because we would get in trouble if we said no." Luna stated.
"Nice seeing you again, and you must be the one they plotted to murder at the fundraiser last week." Clarke greeted the siblings.
"Excuse me, what?" Anya asked, turning to her sisters.
"Nothing." Luna said she was not meeting her sister’s glare.
"What my sister wanted to say is that her name is Anya and I’m Lincoln." Lincoln shook Clarke’s outstretched hand and greeted her.
"Why don’t you introduce us to your friends, Reyes?" Anya suggested.
"I’d rather not." She told them, shaking her head.
"Scared they’ll embarrass you in front of your supervisor?" Luna asked.
"Yes," Raven confessed.
"Then I’ll do it." Clarke said, and she started with herself. "I’m Clarke Griffin; Abby’s my mother. This is Octavia Blake, her older brother Bellamy Blake, the science twins Monty Green and Jasper Jordan, Maya Vie, Harper McIntyre, and lastly...
"John Murphy." The siblings spoke in unison.
"Wait, how do you know him?" Raven asked, confused.
"He used to hang out with Lexa in high school." Anya answered.
"Hang out is such a small word; they used to burn down the neighborhood together." Luna added.
"Okay, I heard enough; I don’t want to report the best captain I’ve seen on base." Kane told everyone and moved away from the conversation along with Abby.
"We burned down one trash can over ten years ago, and suddenly we’re serial arsonists." Murphy countered and went over to hug the siblings.
"You still owe me fifty bucks, John." Anya told him.
"Wait, there are actually people that use your first name?", Octavia asked, shocked.
"Only a selected few are allowed to, and I don’t; you cheated, and therefore the bet was lifted." Murphy countered.
"Uh, I think you got something wrong there, buddy; you lost the bet." Luna agreed with her older sister.
"Come on, Lexa, help me out here." Murphy tried.
"Sorry, I told you that you shouldn’t do it." Lexa shrugged.
"Backstabber." He gasped dramatically.
"Okay, now that you've had your little reunion, how about we just stop talking before something comes out of my friends mouths that shouldn’t be anywhere near the people I work with?" Raven tried to stop the inevitable.
Lexa looked around her friend group and saw the ideas running through the heads of Raven’s friends. Clarke was the first to speak. "Oh, like when you ran naked through the park because Octavia dared you to?"
"Or the time you stole the rival’s mascot costume with the dude inside?" Octavia continued.
Raven paled as the others went on with things Raven did, and she looked Lexa straight in the eyes. Lexa stared back with an unreadable expression. "Please don’t listen, Captain. They don’t know what they’re saying."
"She once broke into the school’s lab and built a bomb that she let explode right next to the principal's car." Jasper told everyone.
"Hey Woods?" Emori was heard from the kitchen. All four turned around and met their friends’ eyes. "Works every time; can I get a little help over here?"
Lincoln and Luna walked to her and got the takeout bags from her. Lexa walked over and paid for it. Anya walked towards the door and held it open for Luna and Lincoln.
"Don’t worry, Reyes; we’ll make sure no one outside the unit hears about your little adventures." Lincoln said while walking outside.
"And before I forget it, John, I think you owe Emori a date." Anya said, smirking at the boy.
Murphy’s face got red, and he tried to look everywhere but at the woman still talking to Lexa. Lexa came over and smiled at the embarrassed man. "Man up, John, it’s been ten years, and be careful; letting a woman wait that long can make her angry."
Lexa turned towards Raven and her friends. "Nice meeting all of you; if you’ll excuse us now, we interrupted the party for long enough."
"Goodbye; it was nice seeing you again." Clarke smiled at the brunette.
Lexa exited the restaurant with Anya behind her, and they each got into their seats in the different cars.