The night was cold, the moonlight casting long, eerie shadows across the deserted building. It was her shift, standing guard alone while the rest of the unit rested.

Her helmet sat firmly on her head, hiding the one thing she’d been concealing for months—her identity.

That was until tonight.

From the shadows, Speirs approached silently, his presence almost suffocating. Before she could react, he reached out, not with force, but with a controlled precision, and pushed her helmet down over her face. It was a small, passive-aggressive gesture—one that sent a chill through her as she realized he had known all along.

“How long were you gonna hide it?” His voice was low, the words sharp and cutting as he stared at her with cold eyes. He didn’t raise his voice, but there was a tension in his tone that made her stomach twist. “How long were you planning on pretending?”

She stiffened, feeling the weight of his gaze on her even as she lifted the helmet back to its rightful place. “I wasn’t pretending,” she said, her voice tight but firm. “I just didn’t want to be treated differently.”

Speirs scoffed, shaking his head slightly. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out?” His eyes narrowed, but there was something else in them now, something almost… disappointed. “You’ve been hiding behind that damn helmet, thinking you could just blend in. But you can’t just hide from the truth forever.”

She bit her lip, struggling to maintain her composure. “I did what I had to do to survive. To be treated like everyone else.”

“Survive?” His tone grew more biting. “You’ve been saving my life, covering my back in every firefight, and you think you have to hide who you really are just to fit in?” He stepped closer, his presence looming, as though the walls themselves were closing in around her. “No one here cares about your gender. We care about your skill. But you… you made it about something else. And that pisses me off.”