Tamara neatly kicked the head off of a cloth dummy and turned to answer Lee's question.

"Sure, go ahead," She smirked, "I think I'm good enough to handle it," Lee snorted, rolled his eyes, and pressed a button on his wireless console which made the decapitated dummy start to move. Tamara ran a hand through her short, dark brown hair that no longer had its pink highlights and calmly broke it beyond repair with only a few kicks.

Lee sighed wearily. "That's another one that I will have to fix on my own time, you know," He grumped, walking over to assess the damage. "Look what you've done to it... Totally destroyed..." Tamara laughed, not really worried because she knew Lee loved to fix things and was most likely secretly happy that it was broken.

Lee pulled the framework from the dummy and began tinkering with the robotic skeleton. Tamara stood to one side and watched him quietly. A few minutes passed in silence. "I will never understand how you can find so much enjoyment in tinkering with pieces of metal and batteries, my friend." She said, peering over his shoulder. He pushed his glasses up his nose a bit and gave her a strange look. "I don't understand your love of using violence to win a war. Honestly, why not find a peaceful solution and settle our differences over a cup of coffee and a bowl of figs or something?" He turned and raised an eyebrow at Tamara. "Or is that not an option?"

Tamara shrugged and crossed her arms, looking away. "They're monsters, just monsters... They won't listen to us, I guarantee it. They don't feel anything," She said, hearing how forceful and bitter her voice sounded and regretting it.

Lee shook his head and turned back to his work. "Anyone can change, Tamara. Anyone can change." They were quiet for a few moments until the silence was broken by Lee swearing when he cut his finger on a sharp piece of metal. He stuck his finger in his mouth and Tamara looked at her high-tech wristwatch. 3:32.

"Gotta go... Sorry I broke the training dummy." She said, feeling suddenly rushed. She collected her scattered gear from around the training area and sprinted from the room without another word.

Lee took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hands, worried. He looked at the cut on his finger and sighed.

Two years, three hundred and twenty one days... He thought. Then I can go home. He shook is head and smiled bitterly to himself. He thought of all the people and memories he would leave behind. Oh, what a mess I'm in.

***

The room was dead silent as each Soldier bowed their head respectfully to the Enforcer. Tamara was in the Ceremony Hall, a huge, mostly empty room with a high ceiling and blank white walls and floors. There was a raised platform with a simple white podium in the center. The room was designed to have rows upon rows of chairs surrounding the podium, but they were currently in storage for the ceremony.

Tamara stood with the other Soldiers who were preparing to receive their official helmets and armor. The helmets were very simple and looked like motorcycle helmets, but were extremely strong. They were black in color and had two raised discs on the sides that glowed the same color as the stripes on their sleeves. The armor was a lightweight and super-strong material, glass and plastic mixed, in thin sheets formed to the sleeves and chest and legs to provide protection. There was another raised disk in the center of the chest that glowed red and could be used as a communicator with a simple touch. They were form-fitting, sturdy, lightweight and flexible, and the armor itself was fused directly to the cloth. They all came with a utility belt with many pockets and were fitted to each Soldier individually.

The Soldiers stood in rows, twenty across and five rows total. The Enforcer would walk along the row, from left to right, and take the designated armor and helmet for the specified Soldier from one of the many 'tailors' carrying them in. She would hand it to the Soldier and salute, then the Soldier would salute back and then bow.

Being one of the highest ranked soldiers, Tamara was fourth in the first row. She received her armor, dead silent, and saluted the Enforcer with a heart beating fast out of excitement. She was finally a real Soldier, not just a trainee. She bowed, straightened up again, and closed her eyes, holding it all in. She tried to keep the smile from her face, but a hint of it was still there.

When the first row had all received their armor, they all walked in single file out of the room and the next row stepped forwards. After the line went around the first corner in the hallway, excited whispering broke out and the line disintegrated, instead turning into an excited huddle.

"I can't believe it, we actually have armor, not just stupid uniforms. We're real Soldiers now!" One girl said, turning to Tamara with bright, excited eyes. Tamara let her smile out and began chatting excitedly with the girl. Her name was Kate, and she had been fourteenth in line.

The next row came ten minutes later.

"Tamara! Isn't this amazing?!" Jack said, jogging up to her. His brown hair, almost always perfectly in order, had gotten out of place from him running down the hall to babble excitedly with Tamara. Tamara reminded him of the party happening after the ceremony and he grabbed her by the shoulders and they just jumped up and down for awhile. Not much happened that was a cause for celebration, so anything fun was very appreciated by all of the kids there.

Tamara though of who would be going to the party. Her face fell as a tiny, traitorous part of her brain told her Marx should be there and thought of how Marx should be acting right now. He would be standing there, quietly excited but keeping it mostly to himself, standing a little ways from the crowd, a little nervous, and fidgeting, most likely. He probably would have put on his helmet and done something goofy to make Tamara laugh if there were fewer people around. She knew he most likely wouldn't attend the party unless she said she wanted him to. Even then, she knew he probably wouldn't stay long because crowds always made him nervous. It hurt her to realise he was never going to do anything like that with her again.

He's not what you think he is, her mother's voice whispered in her head. He was most likely lying to everyone his whole life.

Jack saw Tamara's face fall and asked her what was wrong, but she simply turned away from him, hugging her new uniform to her face, and held it all in.