Author: keru
Subject: HBX Challenge Nov 2007 -- Under Fire

Disclaimer: Don’t own’em.

A/N: The lines begged for an action scene, didn't they? Abundant thanks to janlaw for her help with this.

Under Fire

Mac exited the warm foyer of her apartment building and stepped into the cold winter’s day. The first shot whizzed by her arm and hit the door frame with a clack. Mac froze. The second shot sailed right by her head and into the brick wall by the entrance, sending debris flying. Mac ran for cover. It was at that point that whoever was shooting at her opened fire without mercy and, thankfully, without taking the time to aim. Mac headed to the nearest snow bank and dived behind it. She leaned into the cold, white barrier and struggled to get her breathing under control. Once the pounding in her ears abated, Mac realized that shots were no longer being fired. Her opponent must be reloading his ammo. She began counting the seconds until the next round. Where the hell were the shots coming from? Mac tried her damndest to keep an ear out for any sounds so that she could pinpoint the location of her attacker, but everything was muffled by the softly falling snow.

It had been seven seconds since her attacker had stopped firing.

“You can’t hide!” His voice carried through the curtain of snowflakes. Damn it, she frowned, he was taunting her.

She cursed herself for letting herself get caught off guard. The attack had begun so suddenly; for god’s sake, she wasn’t even sure where her attacker was hiding. But she did know who it was; she would recognize that voice anywhere. She cursed herself further for letting him, of all people, catch her unawares. And just outside of her own apartment building. That was a huge blow to her ego. How long had he been here, hiding? Waiting for her to come out of the building? She would give him points for strategy. The surprise attack meant that she wasn’t prepared; wasn’t armed. She cursed herself again: it was absolutely unacceptable that he had caught her by surprise. She should have known better. She did know better. This man never made empty threats. Damn it. She would never live this down. Regardless of the outcome of this encounter, she would get her revenge.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

She did not enjoy being taunted. He was flaunting the fact that he had her pinned down. Mac quickly searched the area around her, hoping a plan would somehow come to her. All she saw was snow and a smattering of branches that had broken from their perches due to the heavy snowfall. She frowned. There was no choice: she had to sneak up on him from behind somehow. Mac tentatively lifted her head above the snow bank. The moment her eyes began to search for any clue as to where her opponent was taking cover, a fresh barrage of artillery was sent right towards her location. Quickly, she ducked, but it was not quickly enough to avoid the icy cold bits of snow that were dislodged by the projectiles. Damn, that made for an unpleasantly chilly shower. She would give him points for aim. At times like this, she really really missed Yuma.

It had taken him 17 seconds to replenish his ammo. Impressive. She decided to try and get him to talk some more to reveal his position.

“You’ve made a huge mistake!” She yelled, careful not to lift her head.

“Is that so?” His voice was amused and condescending.

She smiled at his cocky attitude. Good. Let him think he had the upper hand. She would use his confidence against him.

“What do you want?”

He responded by taking a potshot at her.

She swore under her breath. He was going to pay. “Is that how you operate? Sneak up on women and hide while you take shots at them? I admire your courage!”

“Your mind games won’t work on me,” he yelled back, his tone still smug.

Mac scowled.

“I know all your weaknesses, Colonel!”

How dare he presume…Now it was definitely personal. She would not rest until she had him hanging by his thumbs. But first, she needed to exhaust his ammunition. This might prove difficult since she knew he had extensive means to secure a hell of a lot of firepower. Who knew how much he had at the ready with him.

Slowly she peaked above the snow bank, but was sure to duck – no, take cover – very quickly, knowing that he would see her and use the opportunity to level another round at her.

She was not wrong. He fired everything he had. His aim this time was even more accurate. She covered her head with her arms and wondered how long the snow bank would withstand the continued attacks, especially since this was fresh snow. She had to formulate a plan to sneak up on him, and soon. Mac slid down along the snow until she was in a prone position. Hastily, she removed her woollen cap, scarf and winter coat. Although she was not one hundred percent positive on his location, she could guess that he was near the entrance to the building, on the other side of the walkway that led from her apartment building to the front gate. Spotting one of the fallen branches that had not managed to withstand the heavy burden of snow that now coated DC, Mac grabbed it, stuck her woollen cap on the end of it, planted it in the ground, and then draped her coat and scarf around the branch as best she could. It was sloppy, but it would have to do. Time was of the essence. She knew the way his mind worked. He was cunning and impatient. It made for a dangerous combination. He would not stay long in one position.

The tip of her woollen cap was barely concealed by the snow bank. If he kept firing away at this pace, she guessed it wouldn’t take too long for the snow bank to suffer enough damage to reveal the cap. Hopefully, he would need to reload at least once before that happened; otherwise, she wasn’t sure her plan would succeed. As soon as he realized that she was not where he thought she was, his attacks would become erratic. She could not afford to be hit by one of his stray shots.

Mac lay low and used her elbows and knees to propel herself along the snow-covered ground, concealing her presence behind the snow banks that lined the walkway. She was relieved it was snowing, reducing visibility and hopefully increasing her odds of sneaking up on him undetected. Once she made it to the front gate, she knew she would have to be quick in order to jump from her side of the walkway over to his without being spotted.

A quick glance over her shoulder told her that he had stopped firing. He must be reloading again. She needed to hurry. The air was so cold, it pricked her eyes and chilled her skin, when she took a deep breath, she could feel it all the way to her lungs. Without her coat, the damp, freezing snow was seeping through her sweater and pants. She hated being cold. Weather like this was inhuman. To think people chose to live in subzero climes…Mac shook her head and focused her thoughts. She hoped he wouldn’t see her as she crossed the walkway. She took another deep breath and reluctantly glanced up at the snow bank; she really really hated being cold.

Mac closed her eyes, suck it up, she told herself. You’re a Marine, MacKenzie. Fight like one.

Now fully in battle mode, Mac opened her eyes and crouched against the snow. Quietly, she slid over the snow bank, put two feet on the pavement and propelled herself over the opposite bank. She tucked and rolled once before crouching on her feet and hastily backing into the snow bank. She peered along the wall of snow, squinting against the falling snowflakes, and saw her target. He had not noticed her. He was also leaning against the snow bank, mirroring her position, busy counting how many rounds he had left and periodically peering towards where she was supposed to be. She could picture the smirk he was wearing right now. She couldn’t wait to wipe it off. At least she had chosen to wear a white sweater today. It would make sneaking undetected that much easier. Once she got her hands on him, he would rue the day he thought it was even close to a good idea to ambush her right in front of her own home.

As stealthily as she could, Mac slid along the snow bank and towards her attacker. When she was a few feet away, she collected a heaping of snow in her gloved hands, patted it down and shaped it into a snowball. Something more powerful would have been better, but any weapon would have to do at this point. Maybe the element of surprise would make up for the lack of firepower. She glanced at her oblivious target and decided it would. Besides, she always loved a good hand-to-hand melee.

She was three steps away from him when he finally realized he was not alone. He turned his head towards her and his eyes widened in shock. He gaped as he looked up at her, his surprise causing him to drop his weapon.

Mac decided that the element of surprise was her absolute favourite element.

She lifted the hand holding the snowball and offered her attacker a feral grin.

“Gotcha.”

With that, she jumped on him, pulling aside the collar to his coat and stuffing the snow down his shirt. He yelled and squirmed beneath her, but she straddled him and firmly held his wrists, pinning his hands above his head.

“Jesus Christ, Mac! That’s freezing cold!”

“Serves you right, Harm!”

“It was just a snowball fight!” Harm stopped squirming and looked up at her, grinning. “And I really did get you. You should have seen the way you ducked behind that snow bank. What a dive.”

“I took cover. I didn’t duck.” She mustered up her best indignant glare.

His grin widened, “Whatever you say, Marine.” He tried again, half-heartedly, to get out from underneath her.

She refused to budge. “And exactly how long did you spend hiding here before I came out?”

“About ten minutes. I knew you were coming to my place for 1300. I timed it. Your pathological punctuality comes in handy.” He was happily grinning away, looking disgustingly pleased with himself, she thought. “And I had warned you last night that you would pay for that stunt you pulled in my office yesterday.”

She smiled mischievously as she remembered the stunt in question. It had truly been a stroke of genius to leave a box of condoms in his desk drawer at work. It had been icing on the cake that she had happened to be in his office when Bud had come in asking for a case file and Harm had pulled open the drawer to retrieve it. His eyes had practically popped out of their sockets and he had gone red as a beet before slamming the drawer shut and stuttering something about not having the file to Bud. She had barely contained her laughter at his discomfiture. She loved to tease him and ever since they had finally managed to remove that annoying ‘platonic’ descriptor that had been appended to the status of their relationship for far too long, well, the possibilities for teasing him had increased exponentially.

“You enjoyed it, Flyboy,” she shifted slightly as she straddled him, letting go of his wrists and rubbing her hands over his abdomen, “Don’t deny it.” Once freed, his hands immediately settled on her thighs.

“Bud was right there, Mac!” he exclaimed, incredulous, “I don’t even want to think of how he would have reacted if he had seen it.” He paused as he studied her through the falling snowflakes. “Although, if he hadn’t had been there,” his tone went from incredulous to flirtatious and he slowly slid his gloved hands up and down her thighs, “I think we could definitely have explored the possibilities.”

She sighed heavily, “Promises, promises.”

They grinned at each other until he broke into an amused chuckle.

“What?”

“You, the desert rat, took off her coat during a snowfall in the dead of winter just to win a snowball fight?”

“Damn straight.” She shoved him lightly, “As if I’d let you get away with that ‘I know all your weaknesses’ barb,” she scoffed, “Not likely.”

She pushed herself off of him, stood up and offered him a hand. He accepted it and, once standing, they brushed the snow off their clothes.

“I do, though, know your greatest weakness,” his tone was slightly arrogant. He threw her a smug glance as he took her hand in his.

They walked through the snow to retrieve her winter outerwear.

“Is that so, Commander?” She challenged.

He nodded, a self-satisfied grin firmly plastered on his face.

“Please, do share.”

“Well, Mac, I would love to,” he said as he helped her with her coat, “but I think it should wait until we get to my place.”

She frowned, “Why’s that?” Patiently, she let him pull her woollen cap firmly into place and tie her scarf around her neck while she buttoned up her coat.

Once he was satisfied that she was adequately swathed against the cold, he gave her his full-wattage smile. “I don’t want to be charged with indecent exposure, Mac. Besides which, Hotstuff,” he playfully tapped her nose with a gloved finger, “my not-so-little sailor’s as averse to the cold as you are.”

Mac burst into laughter. “Oh, god, Harm! Are you sure you were only out in the cold for ten minutes?” She took his hand, still laughing merrily, and pulled him towards the front gate, “Let’s get you back to your apartment and warm you up.”

He sighed heavily as he followed her, “Promises, promises.”

The End.