Mission.

We all had a hard time before we were adopted by the commander. In our gatherings together with the training officers we talked about our misery to them. The commander was working nearby in silence, digging the cave, in his naked torso. Sophia couldn’t keep his eyes of him, mesmerized by his muscles, the gleaming sweat on him while he tensed his arms, stomach and spine to dig. I had the distinct feeling she was not only a tomboy just seeking for love, but also out of pure lust. Having heard the rumors, she really, really liked having sex, ending up with multiple partners at the same time, sometimes even in the same location. But Clara at that moment, was talking about her experiences with the creep in the village, always lingering his gazing eyes at the underage girls passing by, visibly aroused.

She had mentioned that in desperation she had to visit him, and now I heard for the first time how that had ended. When the big, fat fuck had tried to get into her panties in exchange for a can of soup, she had refused, but now she was afraid for the other women in the village. She had tried to keep it in herself, but since it was still bothering her up to the point she was almost crying about it when she told Kate her story.

At that moment Kate looked at the commander, he must have felt the look by Kate, because he turned to her. She then made a gesture to come sit by her and Clara. He was frowning, silent, but complied to the gesture at once. Hastily Sophia made room for him, to sit next to her, between her and Kate. Kate asked him if he had heard the entire conversation between Clara and her. It surprised me a bit he had in fact. I wondered if he had heard every single conversation in these gatherings, while he was digging his way in. Silently. Frowning.

He was frowning hard then, at that moment, but with a single look of Kate, he sighed and it was as if he was transforming his face. From the hard frown to the usual frown to a light frown, then shifting fast to the most wonderful expression I had never see him make, nor of anyone else for that matter. It was the face of a man, passionately, deeply caring for the whole world. And at that moment his whole world was sitting in this circle. His expressions were soft, gentle, a bit sad and worried at the same time. It was as if a dark cloud had lifted from the sky, and a bright, burning sun warmed us with his pure love for us. Then he set his gentle gaze upon Clara, and at that moment I was almost jealous of the singularly focus of attention he was giving to Clara.

Clara immediately calmed down, her brimming tears evaporated by the warmth he was radiating. Sophia was shocked by his transformation. There was no look of hunger in her eyes anymore, but pure welcome surprise. He knew what not to ask of Clara, he didn’t want her to repeat her story, but started asking her questions about the creep. The determination was visible on his face too when he heard the creep was hoarding food in exchange for sexual favors of starving young women and being very fond of young innocent girls. He asked about the man himself and his stockpile, whether he was armed or not.

Sophia, in a sudden moment of bravery, asked him what I was thinking I would do in his stead. She asked the commander if he would kill the creep. He looked at Sophia and replied:

“Kill him? To prevent someone doing something bad, it is not always needed to kill. Certainly not if you have time to plan.” With that last sentence he frowned at Sophia, as if he was thinking about something else. He then looked at Kylie, sighed and said to her: “If you have time...”

“Plenty of time now.” Kylie responded as if she knew what he was thinking about and continued: “But best not to wait too long with it. Do you want me to help?”

“No.” He resolutely said.

“Always trying to keep me safe...” She mumbled back.

Kate then ordered him to take Clara with him this night to show him where he lives, and Sophia to help him carry.

I had some idea what he could do to the man, to punish him, to prevent him from ever trying to extort people for food. In the nunnery I had learned that if people had leverage over you, you had to try to take away that leverage. Alex would simply rob the man of everything he had. But seeing Alex, he might be strong in his own way, but compared to the big, fat fuck, I had my doubts. Nonetheless, the training officers never blinked an eye to what Alex was about to try this night. Sophia had no idea what Alex had in mind and asked:

“Carry what?”

“You’ll see.” He rudely replied.

He then ordered Clara and Sophia to wait upon him here at eleven that night. Again his usual self, frowning, rudely ordering them, treating them as stupid children, before he retreated in silence to dig again.

Clara and Sophia were very much looking forward to the ‘mission’ with the commander, it was no surprise at all. It was a chance for them to shine, to do their utmost best to please the commander, and perhaps it was offer for a chance to even please him further. I didn’t bother telling them again my doubts about that possibility. Even if he found them pleasant in his eyes and I wasn’t even sure of that, he wouldn’t want to entangle them into his relations. We were his children, and that was that. A father figure, loving, caring, not anything like the one she had fended off for a time. Perhaps even on the contrary, not even looking for sex, even if had three girlfriends. No idea how they managed, but they loved him, and accepted him for all he was or wasn’t. But Clara and Sophia were blinded by their past and their idolization of him. The commander showed his weaknesses, showed his love for all to see.

Though I was wondering sometimes, if you are a leader, undisputed, what’s the harm in showing your emotions? Would it not be a strength instead of weakness? Either his followers would know what and why he was feeling and would act accordingly, or would know what he was feeling, but totally unclear about what he was thinking. Like a filter shutting out the people that didn’t know him well enough. A filter to prevent people for knowing him, unless he wanted to or unless you did the proper effort, while not being scared out of your mind to really talk to him. Or to his girlfriends who had done the effort... And had succeeded in making him love them. Talking to them would be the better solution into approaching him, and actually believing them at their word would make things a lot easier for her.

Easier for me to do what though...?

At ten thirty in the evening Clara and Sophia left for the gathering spot. At the moment we could barely fit into the cave, but it was warm enough and protected us from the elements. We barely had done anything of the digging. It was Alex who had done most of the work. Taking care of us. Protecting us. Perhaps loving us? As a father for his children. Nothing more. I have to be realistic.

Fuck. I couldn’t sleep and kept thinking about him. It was unbearable to think about a man who had barely uttered a word to me. Which meant there was not that much to really theorize on. Speculation at best. But I felt I had it right. Which meant Clara and Sophia had it wrong. Alex was not a normal man. He was anything but normal. Fuck. Boys her age were a lot easier to figure out. Men his age were simpletons. But for some reason it nagged me I couldn’t categorize him anything more than a father figure.

More than a father...?

They were gone for hours already. Was there so much to carry? Or was he hurt? No, he wouldn’t get hurt. One single glare and the big, fat fucker would have been vaporized in a flash of fire. Well, I shouldn’t compare him to Superman...

Hmm... Superman... Now that was someone interesting to think about... Fuck, her hormones must have been at work. It was the time of the month for that. Probably that’s was why she thought of Alex, linking him to her favorite DC-character. She was simply not thinking clearly, her emotions were always a mess in that period.

Suddenly she heard Clara yelling, to wake every one up. Not that I was sleeping. She told us we had work to do for the commander at the house of the creep, carry a lot of stuff. We all acted at once. In a record we were dressed and running in group to the house via a detour. If the commander was asking us something we obeyed, no questions asked. Why we did without hesitation, was anyone’s guess. He wouldn’t hurt us, he would keep training us, make us independent, care for us... Fuck. Even while running I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Bloody hormones...

At the house he was standing there. Waiting for us, perhaps? No, just looking at his prisoner. Frowning at him. Not that it mattered for the creep as he was tied up at arms and legs, with a bag over his head. Wait... How did he manage that? I didn’t call him the big, fat fucker for no reason. The fucker was easily two meters high, and there could fit three Alex’s into him. Easily. But there was no sign of a struggle, his cloths weren’t in a mess, he had no wounds at all.

Thank god, he is fine...

He ordered Sophia to take command of stripping the house. Completely. And told us not to go into the cellar... The fucker had a cellar, the commander did not want us to go near. That couldn’t be good. Not good at all. She had heard plenty of horror stories of the girls in the nunnery. And they weren’t just stories. They were real experiences by some of the girls. And Alex had eliminated the man with that kind of cellar. Just like that. Just like Superman would have done... Fuck. Again with the association. Bloody hormones.

Sophia was more than happy to take command. I had to admit she was good at it. Perhaps she had experience in the field of command after all. By ordering the men in the villages to do her bidding. But she could organize us into separate groups, stripping the house completely. Sure, it wasn’t fun to see the stacks of porn videos the fucker had. Nor the filthy magazines. They left nothing to the imagination of what the big bad fat fucker had in mind with Clara, before she bravely refused the offer.

After we were finally cleaning the place out, looking for some extra things we may had forgotten, the commander pulled the fucker to the street side of his house. He took the porn collection and spread it all over his front yard, and sprayed some paint on the front wall of his house what the fucker had been planning to do. There was thoroughness. The fucker would have no other choice but to leave. If he finally could free himself.

We carried all the stuff back to the camping site, via a detour. It left a weak trail. Someone would have to cover that up. At the camping site the three women were waiting for us and Alex to return. More for Alex to be fair. They wanted to hear all about the mission in a kind of report style. For everyone to hear. Kylie took the lead.

“So how did the operation go?” She asked him.

“Rather well. No resistance. No deaths, no kills. But the man we encountered was a very... how do I put it... he was a real predator for younger girls, but would have been a danger to all pretty women. He planned for this. Waited for starving women, then would offer his kind of solution.” He reported.

“You left him there?” Kylie asked.

“Without leverage he will not be able to continue his plan. I left him tied up. He will find a way to slither up to the road. He will have a bad time explaining what happened with his entire porn collection scattered around his house. And the large note painted on his front door will leave little room for doubt what he was trying to do.”

“After action report?” Kara, this time.

“All useful stuff collected and transported. But I have concerns about the tracks that were made. They will need to be covered up.”

See? Of course they will need to be covered up. I was already thinking like him. And thinking about him too...

“Team performance?” Kate, with an odd smile on her face looking straight at Alex. Like she wanted him to say certain things about us in the open. To be finally saying something good about us, after we worked our asses off. I was exhausted.

“The girls need more practice in situational awareness. See, but not be seen. Hear, but not be heard. Be more prepared.”

Klara and Sophia looked unhappy at that. Not very surprisingly. They were so hoping to hear a compliment.

“They learn fast, and were not seen during the action. Klara gathered the rest of the troop fast, they had run the entire way, arrived all at once and not out of breath arriving. They worked fast and efficient. Sophia shows promises of organization skills and command.”

Klara and Sophia lightened up like a lighthouse in an moonless, starless night.

“So all in all a job well done, but room for improvement.” Kylie stated.

“There is always room for improvement, you know that, Kylie, even with us.” He replied. “Perhaps we can use the new section as a way to improve each other. Practical exercises, during day and night. Observing them one night, check their vigilance, fake-kill their guard, capture the flag games and other games we might invent...”

Crap... that would mean certainly no sleep at all for the next weeks.

But looking at Kylie, however interested she seemed, clearly wanted Alex to say something else too:

“But yes, a job well done. By the entire section.”

Ah... Finally a compliment for us. By the king of the hills. To his clumsy loyal minions. To his flock of little ducklings, **** for it. We all smiled brightly. So happy for it, like we were starving for a good word by him for us. Which we were. So was I. I was even flying into the sky hearing that, like Superman and Louis... Fuck... Bloody hormones...

But then he started commanding. To our entire squad, for the first time like we were finally worthy of being a squad under his command. Without a frown, but with a business like voice, leaving no doubt who was paying us. And we felt very much we wanted him to be our boss. This work he gave us.

“Mia and Ella, you will go back to the way we came from, and cover up the tracks that were made. Don’t make additional tracks if you have to lift heavy branches to cover the first one. Your section gathered some gardening materials during the op, make use of them.”

Crap... this would take a huge part of the day, and I wanted to go to bed. To sleep, to think... no, to sleep.

“Clara and Lina, check your traps and make new ones. Then check the fishing nets and smoke the fishes.”

“Sophia and Emma, you will dig for the day. Make sure you can see anyone coming while you do that.”

“On a final note about what we did earlier, it will certainly make waves in the villages. Make sure you have eyes and ears there to provide news about the man’s actions or anyone else that is helping him. I leave Sophia in command for the rest of the day. Stay vigilant and work efficient. Assume someone is watching you, or wants to get close or worse, wants to follow you. We will return to our camp for some more debriefings and gathering food.”

And leave us alone? For the whole day? For the first time? You really sure you want to do this? Or... will you watch us? Unseen? To check upon us. Make sure we are safe. Make sure we behave in your absence.

I wasn’t sure, but he did say something about practical exercises, during day and night. I told Sophia it was a remote possibility.