The ride home was surprisingly uneventful, we stopped at one of the check points to ask about the rest of the team and thankfully they confirmed they´d seen Quiet and Klaus drive 30 minutes prior but Domino was not with them, we hurried back, Helga was not holding up too good and I was getting worried about her health.

- Chief, How are you feeling? - I yelled over the noise of the wind and the engines.

- Like shit if I´m honest, I´ve lost some blood from the hole in my arm. -

I signaled her to pull over and we did.

- Look, I don´t think you can keep driving, ride with me, I don´t want you to faint and fall off. - I told her.

Helga was breathing heavily and she stared at the ground for a moment.

- Fine. - She finally said.

We both climbed aboard and got back on the road, she wrapped her arms around my waist but struggled to get a good grip with her injured arm.
A couple of minutes later we arrived at HQ, the guards had me stop at the entrance, after seeing that if was us they opened the gates and I drove in.

Hans was sitting in the fountain and Klaus was standing close by having a smoke, they both ran our way as I drew the bike to a stop.

- ¿Do we have an infirmary? - I asked as I helped Helga off the bike.

- Holy shit, what happened to her? - Klaus asked bewildered.

- DO WE HAVE ONE?!?! - I yelled at him.

- The basement. - Helga said, her voice trembled.

- The armory? - I asked slightly puzzled.

- It doubles as a medical wing, Tinker is a doctor as well and they have medical staff. - Hans spoke this time, he grabbed Helga and lifted her.

- Put me down you dunce! - She scolded him.

- You need to keep weight off that knee. - Hans said bleakly, Helga just sighed and stopped arguing.

We all got in the elevator and went down, upon seeing us Tailor ran to meet us with a wheelchair, her father came shortly after, Hans placed Helga down carefully.

- What happened? - The big burly man asked.

- She got shot in the arm, the bullet is still there, she also got kicked in the knee and her leg bent a little, it´s been swelling ever since and she can hardly stand on it. - I told him.

- Well, looks like our blackbird took a beating, don´t worry fellas, we´ll patch her right up but for now she needs to rest and I need to take that bullet off her arm I´ll let you know when she is better, for now I´d suggest the lot of you to go rest. -

- Before you go I´d like to congratulate you all, you did an excellent job, go eat and rest, I´d like to have a talk with you all afterwards. - She said wincing slightly due to the pain.

- Jawohl kommandant!  - We all said in unison and saluted as she was being taken away.

The 3 of us walked outside afterwards, Klaus and I sat in the fountain, facing the door, Hans sat with us but in the ground.

- Klaus, d´ya have any smokes? - I asked.

- I was wondering if you smoked! Yes my friend, I do. - He said and patted his breast pocket, noticing it was empty he began patting all over himself, after a moment of doing so he finally gave up.

- Sorry, seems like I dropped them. -

I then remembered.

- Hang on, I... ehem, ¨found¨ some earlier, they´re french however, hope you don´t mind. - I said opening my knapsack and taking the crumpled cigarette package and the matches out.

- Ah fuck it, I couldn´t care less. -

- I want one too. - Hans said, we both stared at each other for a moment and said in unison:

- REALLY!?!?! -

- Shut up and light one up for me. - Hans demanded and I did, I passed him the cigarrete, he took it and gave it a long puff.

- Mmmm... It´s been a while. - Hans muttered while exhaling slowly, he seemed pleased.

- I thought you didn´t smoke. - I told him.

- I used to but I dropped it when I began combat training. - Hans said and took another puff.

- Well, that´s a surprise, you´ve been holding out that one on me, how come you decide now is a good time to have a smoke with me? - Klaus said with a light chuckle.

- You don´t know how to shut up, I like to smoke in silence, at least now I can do so since Alex is here to keep you busy. - Hans blurted out, this has been the most I´ve heard him chat and it was pretty strange to be honest.

- Good point. - Klaus pointed out and laughed a bit.

We all remained in silence for a bit, the sun was starting to set and the sky was now turning into a deep orange, there were little clouds overhead and for some reason the rumble and thundering of the artillery and bombings was absent today, we had a moment of peace.

I then recalled something I wanted to ask:

- Where´s Domino? -

- She said she couldn´t come with us, she had to go back and keep working and to tell Helga that she´d be in touch, we found her a ride and she drove off, to Paris I believe. - Klaus responded.

- Well, seems like that ain´t the last we´ll be hearing of her. - I said.

- Hopefully, she´s such a sweet piece of ass. - Klaus snickered, Hans stared at him with disapproval of the comment.

- Don´t be a pig. - Hans said wryly.

- Sorry I thought out loud, I´m calling it a day, I´ll go shower and then grab some grub, I´ll meet you guys in there if you feel hungry if not well good night. - Klaus said while standing up, he gave me a pat in the back and walked off.

- I´ll do the same. - Hans said and walked after him.

- I´ll meet you guys later. - I said but I remained there, the afternoon was too enjoyable and I didn´t want to leave so soon, I reached inside my pocket and lit up another cigarette enjoying it´s dry, earthy flavour and feeling how my body relaxed with each puff I took.

- What a lovely day. - I said to myself and smiled.