Eric walked into the hospital. He had showered and changed at the hotel, marveling at how fast Dresken had started to modernize. The last time he had been here, they had been stuck with showers from mana faucets, which didn’t have the same heat consistency that a regular shower from Earth did. As he walked into the hospital, a few of the nurses bowed their heads, and Eric shook his head, holding his hands out in front of him. "No, ma’am. You do not need to do that for me."

The head nurse tilted her head in confusion.

"The soldier your team brought to us said that in your country it is customary for people to bow their heads as they greet others. You and your people saved our city and liberated us from those scoundrels. I sleep peacefully because of you."

Eric rubbed his face. "He is messing with you, ma’am. There are only a few countries in our world that have that custom. Ours is not one of them."

Her face darkened, and Eric had to fight a chuckle.

He looked at her and grinned. "I’ll give him a good whack on the head for you."

"Thanks."

Eric was led into Ricky’s room, and he had to fight a gasp. Ricky had gauze wrappings nearly covering his entire left side, and part of his face was covered in more gauze. His left leg was in a cast, and his right arm was covered in bandages. "Jesus, Rick, they really fucked you up."

Ricky nodded and let out a dry chuckle. "Still better than your ugly mug. I’d say that we’re close to even now."

Eric sat down. "How-"

Ricky waved his hand. "Look, we don’t have time to talk about how I am doing. We have a huge problem, and it needs to be addressed right now."

Eric narrowed his eyes and took out a notepad. "I’m listening."

"First off. They know about the B-2. Apparently, that hero Josh explained it after we took out one of their field-testing sites. Now they conduct all their weapons testing in the northern mountains. I digress. They moved up the transport date, Eric. Instead of them moving the cores in one week, they’re going to start tomorrow."

Eric sat back in his chair and fanned his face with his patrol cap. "Great. Just another thing we have to worry about now." Eric grumbled.

"Where are the plans? And what did you actually steal?"

Ricky grinned. "Well, we really pissed ’em off this time. We were able not only to steal where the transport routes are gonna be, but also to get the location where they manufacture the cores. The plans are with Powalsky. He should be giving them to Mia right about now."

Eric sighed. "So, how did you manage to get caught? You guys aren’t that sloppy."

Ricky’s face darkened. "We got greedy. We found out that the hero Josh was missing, and we tried to join the hunt for him. The plan was to capture the hero and interrogate him ourselves. But that didn’t go as planned. One of the empire soldiers caught me speaking in English. Apparently, Josh was here long enough to have taught the Empire some English. From that point on, our cover was blown."

Eric once more rubbed his face. "Rick, what is the one thing we were always taught?"

"I know, Eric. You complete the mission and leave for extraction. Believe me, the guys and I argued about it for a long time. Eventually, Powalski and I had an arm-wrestling competition to see who was right and who was wrong. I am a man of my word, so we tried to go for the capture."

Eric blinked.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!"

His yell alerted the hospital staff, and they came running in to see what was happening. When they ran through the door, Eric sighed. "I’m sorry. It’s nothing. He is okay. I just need to talk to him for a moment. "

Eric paced around the room. Every time he looked up, he would want to yell again. After a full minute of pacing, he sat down, putting a chew in.

"From now on, when you go on mission, you will radio in before you move. I understand that the hero Josh is a high-value target. He is too valuable for us to ignore. General Milano and I will discuss at length how to deal with that. Ricky. You almost got killed. You almost lost men."

Eric’s fists clenched.

"Over an arm wrestling match."

Ricky looked out the window. "I know, Eric. There is no excuse. We weren’t sloppy, and played it by the book. In the end, we let ego and pride get in the way. I understand that this is not Earth. There’s magic and Gods. For god’s sakes, your wife is a cat woman. Who woulda thunk that your crusty old ass would get married again?"

Eric didn’t laugh.

"But it won’t happen again. From now on we will radio in before making a move."

Eric stood up and walked over. "Rick. I’m glad you made it out. I’m still pissed at you, but I can only be pissed at you because you’re alive. You’ll be sidelined for a while because of this. I’ll probably have you and the team train some of Mia’s subordinates. "

Ricky’s eyes widened. "No! Please, Eric. That’s crue-"

"Zip it, you fucking baboon. Oh, and just so you know..."

Ricky looked up.

"Samantha has been sitting on the other side of the door the entire time we have been talking."

Ricky’s eyes widened as Eric turned around. "Hey, Sam? I’m done with him. He’s all yours. Please teach this fucking idiot a thing or two."

Eric walked out as a young woman with blue eyes and blonde hair walked into the room. She was holding a baby and offered the child to Eric. "Can you hold David while I go talk to his father?"

Eric smirked and took David from her. "It would be my pleasure."

The door closed, but it did nothing to drown out the screaming of a young, pissed-off housewife.