“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Phillip said nervously, trying to bluster his way through.

“You are very rude, sir.” Wade said flatly, but in a voice full of menace. “I told the young lady, and I will tell you, that I shot and killed the last man I found treating a woman the way you treated her. While I regret several of the people I’ve killed, I do not regret his death, and I will not regret yours if it becomes necessary.”

“What … what do you want?” Phillip stammered, realizing he was looking death in the face – Wade’s hard face, and the harder muzzle of the .45 pointed right at him.

“I want you to follow my instructions to the letter,” Wade said. “Otherwise Sam will deliver his message. Miss Rose, is that rack over there where he beat you?”

“Yes, sir, it is,” she managed. She didn’t even know he had a gun, much less that he’d been carrying it. Now, she realized he must have had it in the restaurant, too. This did put a different spin on things …

Wade just waved the gun in the direction of the rack. “Back to the wall,” he said.

In a moment, Phillip was chained to the rack. “Don’t think you can get away with this,” he stammered. “I got friends.”

“If your friends wish to intercede, I will not give them the chance I’m giving you,” Wade said, not raising his voice, but in that glacier-icy voice. “Now, I will be very direct. If I ever hear of you taking a whip to a woman again, or if Miss Rose or I ever lay eyes on you again, Sam will deliver his message. Is that clear?”

“What do you want with that little piece of shit slave, anyway?” he sneered.

“You, sir, should learn to watch your mouth in the presence of a lady,” Wade said flatly. There was no rise of voice, so she was surprised when he took a roundhouse swing with the .45 in his hand, hitting Phillip across the mouth. Blood spurted and teeth flew; the chained man let out a scream of pain.

“Ah, interesting,” Wade said, almost smiling. “You seem good at handing out pain, but not so good at taking it. Isn’t that how you would see it, Miss Rose?”

Now, Acacia wasn’t nervous at all, just profoundly satisfied. “I think you could look at my back and say that, sir,” she replied with a smile.

“As I thought,” Wade said, sticking the .45 in his waistband, then, with a lightning blow powered by Marine hard muscle, drove his fist deep into Phillip’s soft belly.

What followed could not be called anything less than a savage beating. While nothing like a martial artist, Wade did have the benefit of a lot of Marine close combat training, which amounts to the dirty, killer moves; he knew the pressure points, the sensitive spots, and concentrated on them, with both hands and combat boots.

Before he was very far along, Phillip was bloody and messy with vomit, blubbering, “Red … red … red.”

“Wade, stop!” Acacia cried. “He’s safewording!”

Wade did in fact stop the beating – Phillip wasn’t going anywhere, after all – and turned to Acacia. “What in fuck is a safe word?” he asked, the first time she’d heard him swear, at least while he was awake.

Acacia explained that it was a word the sub was supposed to use if things got too bad, and they couldn’t take it anymore. “Acacia,” he sighed in exasperation. “Did you use a safe word when he was working you over the other night?”

“Well, yeah,” she admitted. “But …”

Whatever else she said, Wade didn’t hear her. He turned to Phillip, and said, quite conversationally, “Did you hear her use a safe word?”

“Yeah,” the guy admitted through a battered and bloody mouth.

“Out of curiosity,” Wade smiled. “Why didn’t you stop?”

“I didn’t feel like it,” he said.

“Ah, that’s understandable,” Wade said warmly. “Then I’m sure you’ll understand why I don’t feel like it either.” He followed it with a savage kick, his combat boot landing on Phillip’s kneecap, to the sound of yet another scream of pain.

Before too much longer, Phillip was hanging unconscious in the chains that held his wrists. “Acacia,” he said. “Do you know this place well enough to know if there’s a faucet and a bucket around here?”

“There’s a bathroom,” she said.

“Would you be so kind as to get me a bucket of cold water, then?” he asked as he went up to Phillip, checked his pulse and gently lifted an eyelid so he could get a look at his pupil. Wade nodded his head, stepped back, and looked around the dungeon for a bit, while he heard the sound of water running.

In a couple minutes, Acacia was back, carrying a bucket. “Thank you, Miss Rose,” he said.

“Wade,” she said calmly, with just a hint of a satisfied smile. “What are you going to do?”

“It’s hardly worthwhile to teach him further if he’s unconscious, now would it?” he said. “Of course, he wasn’t smart enough to realize that.” With that, he took the bucket, and splashed about half of it in Phillip’s face, then lightly slapped him on the cheeks. Of course, he’d taken enough blows to the face by then that a mild slap was cause for a lot of pain. “Ah, coming around, I see,” Wade smiled, as he pulled the .45 from his waistband and hit Phillip with the barrel again, this time on the other side of the face, more blood and teeth flew.

Wade hit him several more times, stopping to dump the rest of the bucket of water on the groaning, whimpering man. “As I said,” Wade commented. “Next time, I will be forced to really hurt you. Come, Miss Rose, I believe our business here is completed.”

“You’re not just going to leave him there like that?” she asked, just a little shocked at Wade’s brutality. She knew brutal, Phillip was brutal … but this was a different galaxy. The shocking thing was that Wade was so unexcited and polite about it …

“Miss Rose, I believe he needs a little peace and solitude to contemplate his rudeness,” Wade replied. “Let us be on our way.”

In a couple minutes, they were in the car, driving calmly away. “Wade,” she said. “I didn’t know you had that gun.”

“What did you think I had in mind?” he said.

“I thought you were going to kill him there for a minute.”

“I would have had I needed to,” Wade told her. “Acacia, after last night, I am sure you realize that taking a life causes me great pain. But I will do it if necessary. I believe I told you that killing is not always the best solution.”

“I mean, just beating him to death.”

“I was quite careful,” Wade said. “You saw me check his pulse, his respiration, his reflexes several times. I will gladly admit that I wanted to hurt him, mostly for your sake. Not revenge, mind you. You need to learn that I am a man of my word. Acacia, I did not like to do that. That was for your benefit. I told you that if he came for you again, he would regret it. I think he does. Now, since he so rudely interrupted our dinner, would you care for a cup of coffee, and perhaps dessert?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said, recognizing a whole new depth to this man. Hardass – my God! But such a gentleman about it … it was weird. Acacia had several emotions stirring in her at that moment, but fear of him was not among them; a profound respect for the man, but not fear …

“Good,” he said. “I’m sure you will understand that I feel the need to carefully wash my hands first. When we get to a telephone, perhaps you would be so kind as to call Melissa and tell her that Phillip needs her in his basement.”

“Yeah,” she said, a grin coming over her face. “I think that sounds like a good idea. But what if I can’t get hold of her?”

Wade let out a sigh. “Then we’ll have to call 911. But it would be much better if Melissa were to find him. If she has not called your parents already, and I doubt she has, I rather doubt that she’ll consider it.”

“Not unless she wants some of that, too” Acacia grinned, understanding him perfectly.

“Miss Rose,” he sighed. “I would have great difficulty giving such treatment to a woman, even one such as her does not deserve the honor. But we need not tell her that.”

After stopping for something to eat, they drove back to the apartment. It took a few trips to get the car unloaded and get her stuff up to the apartment, and it made a small pile. “We’ll sort it out tomorrow,” she commented, digging in one bag. “But Wade, you did me a heck of a big favor tonight. I feel a lot better. Would you allow me to do a small one for you?”

“It’s not necessary, Miss Rose,” he replied. “Just glad to have been of service.”

“Then allow me to serve you a little,” she smiled. “I can feel how tense you still are. Let me relax you a little with something I learned at the Institute to help masters unwind. Just a soothing hot oil massage.”

“Well,” he said dubiously, “I suppose it might help.”

“I’m sure it will,” she said, taking a bottle over to the microwave. “Take off your shirt, loosen your pants, and lie face down on the bed. I’ll be with you in a minute. And, Mr. McCluskey?”

“Yes, Miss Rose?”

“My name is Acacia. Use it once in a while, please?”

“All right, Acacia,” he smiled, unbuttoning his utility jacket. “I deserved that.”

Wade was tense, and he knew it – but from the moment he felt her straddle him and spread the hot, aromatic oil around his back, he got a lot less tense. She worked on his back, sometime hard, sometimes soft, always soothingly. The touch of her hands did remove a lot of the tenseness that had been built up in him from the moment he’d met her the day before. Whatever insanity they might teach at that Institute, and from the stories she’d told, there were insanities aplenty, this one was no insanity at all. The massage went on for a long time, and he felt like he was floating away in the power of her hands. He found himself drifting into another world, hardly aware of her hands on him, just enjoying a wonder and a relaxation he hadn’t known since more than a year before. His body felt like soft clay in her hands, except for one part …

He felt her weight come off him. “Wade, roll over,” she said softly, but he understood it to be as direct an order as a Gunny shouting in his face at boot camp. Without stopping to think about it, he did, and in an instant her face was in his, her lips on his, her lips as hot as the barrel of a cannon after a fire mission, and as powerful. In the wonder of that kiss, somewhere in the part of his mind that was slightly aware of other things, he realized that somewhere during that massage she’d shed her clothes – and somehow, his pants had disappeared, as well …

There was little protest he could muster about what happened next. “Acacia,” he said gently. “I don’t want to your back to hurt.”

“Oh, silly,” she grinned. “What makes you think I have to be on my back?”

Daylight was again streaming through the curtains when Wade awoke, once again with his head resting on her shoulder, half covered in her long black hair, his chin on her bare breast. Again, there was an instant of unreality, until he remembered what had happened the evening before, mostly with awe. He’d had women before, either drunk or paid or both, but never, ever, had it been that powerful, that entrancing.

She must have felt him stirring. “Good morning, Mr. McCluskey,” he heard her voice sparkle. “Did you have a pleasant night’s sleep?”

“I did,” he smiled, surprised to not have to fight off the grogginess that he had become used to with having to use the sleeping pills to sleep. For the second night in a row, he hadn’t had to use them, he realized, and there hadn’t been a trace of the nightmares that he could recall. “That was a very powerful massage indeed, Miss Rose,” he added.

“I thought it might help,” she said. “A couple times you seemed to start to have nightmares, but I woke you up enough to get your attention and take your mind off them.”

“You stayed awake all night?” he asked incredulously.

“Oh, no,” she told him. “I tried to tune my subconscious into you so the onset would wake me up. More Institute training, to always be ready to serve our master’s needs.”

“Miss Rose …”

“Acacia,” she smiled.

“Acacia,” he continued. “I cannot help but think that your Institute taught you some crazy things, but some of them are quite useful and enjoyable.”

“I like to think so,” she giggled.

A few minutes later, Wade was on the floor of the apartment, half-dressed, doing push ups as part of his habitual morning calisthenics when there came a knocking on the door. Instantly, he came to a stop, as Acacia cringed. The .45 had been lying on the floor next to the bed all night – he hadn’t been that unprepared; now, he grabbed it, and went to the peephole at the door. “Just a second,” he said. “Let me get my pants on.” Quickly, he laid the .45 on the desk, and flopped his utility jacket over it, then went over and unlocked the door, opening it. “Good morning, officer,” he said, opening the door.

Acacia looked up from under the covers of the bed, to see a pair of police officers standing in the door. “Mr. McCluskey?” one of the officers said. “We’d like to have a word with you, if we could.”

“Certainly, officers,” Wade said politely. “Would you care to come in? I’m sorry I don’t have any coffee ready for you.”

“That’s all right,” the older of the two officers said as he stepped inside. “Mr. McCluskey, this is in reference to a beating in a basement down on Bancroft.”

“Which beating?” Wade asked.

“What do you mean, which beating?” the officer frowned.

“Miss Rose, please roll and face the wall,” Wade said. She did so, and he went over and rolled back the covers, baring her back.

“I see,” the officer sighed after one glance at the livid stripes still displayed on her back. “We’ve been hearing about that bozo for a while and figured sooner or later some father or brother or boyfriend was going to catch up with him. I’m surprised you let him off that easy.”

“It was difficult,” Wade admitted as he covered Acacia again.

“He’s not saying much,” the officer said. “He can’t, because his jaw is wired shut. But his girlfriend says he’s ready to press charges.”

“Please inform her,” Wade said. “That if he should be so foolish as to do so, the young lady stands ready to press charges against him. Am I not correct, Miss Rose?”

“Of course,” she said. “Officer, there is an unwritten agreement to keep such things in the group. But if he wants to break the agreement, I will too.”

“I thought so,” the officer nodded. “Just in case, it’d be a good idea to get some photos of that bruising before it fades. Would that be all right with you?”

“Of course,” she replied.

“I should have thought of that when I first saw them,” Wade said apologetically. “They are somewhat improved now.”

“Ralph, you want to run down to the car and get the camera?” the officer said. “Miss, can I ask you a few questions?”

Wade nodded. “I think it would be a good idea, if we’re going to put this matter to rest. Officer, I can have some coffee ready in a few minutes.”

“This shouldn’t take that long,” he smiled, “but it would taste good.”

“Very well, sir,” Wade grinned, heading for the kitchen.

It did take longer for Acacia to tell the officers her story, and to have some photos taken of her back, long enough for coffee to be passed around. Virtually nothing was said about the actions of the night before. Finally, the officers finished, and stood up. “I wouldn’t push my luck if I were you,” the older officer said. “But that guy got what was coming to him. Officially, we can’t figure out who did it, but he deserved it. Semper Fi, Mac.”

“Semper Fi to you too, sir,” Wade grinned. “You would appear to be old enough to have been in the Corps in Vietnam.”

“Sixth Marines, Con Thien and Khe San,” the officer nodded. “How about you?”

“Seventh Marines, Bosnia in general and Sarajevo in particular,” Wade nodded.

The officer shook his head. “Don’t know if that was any better, from what I heard. You take care. Don’t start anything, but if someone else does, act like a Marine.”

“Always good advice, sir,” Wade grinned. “I hope to not trouble you further.”

After the officers left, Acacia asked. “Semper Fi?”

“Short for Semper Fidelis,” Wade explained. “The Marine motto. Always faithful.”

“You guys don’t give up being Marines easily, do you?” Acacia grinned.

“No, we do not,” Wade said. “I’ve been trying to pull away from it a little, but there will always be a part of me that will be a Marine.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess I know how that works. I’ve been trying to pull away from being a sub, but I guess that’s always going to be a part of me, too. Wade, it looks like we got out of that one, but Charles and Lawrence and Melissa are still out there. What are we going to do?”

“Continue the mission as we planned,” he replied. “As I told you, you are safe in my presence.”

“But I’ve got to go to class if I don’t want to waste this semester,” she protested. “You do, too.”

“Then I guess you will have to accompany me to my classes, and I will go with you to yours. One of us may have to cut a class or two if there are schedule conflicts, but it’s only a couple of weeks.”

Thus it was that Monday found Wade walking into the theatre arts building with her, dressed like always – which is to say, like a stiff, starched Marine, except for the blue jeans. And, as she went into the classroom, he stayed outside the door, in a rigid parade rest. It was a ways across campus to his class, in the life sciences building; there she sat at an empty desk at the back of the room while he sat in class. It did not take long for the odd arrangement to be noticed; several people asked him what he was doing, but the only answer they got was a very stiff, “I am watching over the young lady at her request.” He was still known around campus as ‘Hardass,’ after all, and no one wanted to push the point. But word did get around.

It bothered Wade to leave a classroom before Acacia, but taking point to make sure the hall was clear was more important, just then, than being a gentleman. On Wednesday, this was proved; as Wade led her out of the classroom, he noticed two large men waiting. “That’s the motherfucker,” one of them said, and immediately took a swing at Wade.

It was all over in less than ten seconds. Wade parried the punch with his left arm, and threw a karate chop at the guy’s throat with his right. The guy let out a gagging moan and crumpled to the floor, as the second guy took a swing. Again, Wade parried the punch, let go with a huge kick to the scrotum with a combat boot, and followed it with a left that connected while the guy was still in the air from the kick. The classroom happened to be the first at the top of the stairs, and the guy went down them, crumpling at the landing. Wade looked up to see if there was anyone else around, and saw Melissa standing across the hall, eyes wide in shock. “Ma’am,” he said harshly. “I strongly suggest you complete your education at another institution, commencing immediately.”

“Y-yes, sir,” she said, running down the stairs, stepping over the second guy’s convulsing body, and heading out of sight. By now, there was a crowd of students around, mostly trying to stay out of the line of fire.

“Someone call 911, stat!” Wade ordered loudly. “Tell them one probable concussion, extent of injuries unknown. He glanced down at the guy at his feet, noticing him struggling to breathe. “And one difficulty breathing, possible crushed larynx.”

“Y-yes sir,” the professor from Wade’s class replied, heading for the phone down the hallway.

Wade bent down to the guy he’d dropped with the karate chop at the throat. He was struggling to breath, his chest was heaving hugely, but nothing was happening; his face was red, turning purple. Acacia saw him shake his head, then dash into the classroom. He was out in a few seconds, carrying a short glass tube. “Somebody, hold on to him!” he ordered flatly. “Acacia! Help!”

“Wade?” she said as she saw him pull up his pants leg and draw the K-bar from the sheath in his boot. “What are you doing?”

“He’s not going to last long enough for the ambulance to get here unless I give him a field tracheotomy,” he said hurriedly.

“Wade?” she said. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“It’s not the first one I’ve had to do,” he said. “Not even the first one with this knife. The sterile field is terrible, but I don’t want his death on my hands.”

It was a quick procedure, but it was bloody; there was little time to waste. In only seconds, Wade had a hole cut in the guy’s throat, and stuck the glass tube in it. Instantly, they heard a huge breath being drawn through the tube; the guy was panting, trying to say something. “Don’t try to talk,” Wade told him gently. “Right now, you can’t. Just stay still and breathe. Breathe deeply. You can do it now. The ambulance will be here in a couple minutes.”

It took longer than a couple minutes to wind things up; in fact, it took over an hour, long after the two had been hauled off. By the time that had happened, the two officers who had visited Wade’s apartment Sunday had showed up. It took a while to get statements from Wade and Acacia, and from many of the students who had watched the incident – and had watched Wade save the life of the man who had tried to kill him.

Acacia was shaking as Wade finally led her off calmly to her next class. She didn’t get much out of it – she was still wrought up from the incident, and had every reason to be, but she did notice that Wade took a seat in the back of the classroom and spent the hour going over his textbooks, rather than standing at parade rest at the door as he had done in the past. That told her a lot.

Classes let out early on Thursday; Wade and Acacia were back in his apartment, studying when there came a knocking on the door. As before, Wade picked up the .45 before he went to the peephole, although from what Acacia said the worst of the threat had to have been cleaned up. Still, she watched concerned, as Wade opened the door with his left hand, keeping the automatic in his right. “May I help you, sir?” he said, keeping the pistol concealed.

Acacia looked up and gasped. “Sir Klingon!”

“Yes, Acacia,” the man smiled. He was smaller than Wade, but neat, dressed in a business suit. “The word is out that you’re hanging out with a man who is not worth messing around with.”

“That is correct,” Wade said, extremely stiffly. “I’m getting rather tired of the local perverts coming around expecting to have their way with her.” With that, he stepped back from the door, and raised the .45. “If you do not leave immediately, Sam will have to have a word with you.”

“Wade! No!” Acacia cried. “Don’t kill him!”

“Acacia, don’t tell me you still love him,” Wade said, disgusted.

“I hate him for abandoning me to Phillip and Melissa,” she said. “But I can’t have you going to jail for me for killing him and leaving me alone. I need you too badly.”

“Acacia,” the man said. “You’ve made up your mind, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have,” she said, not taking her teary eyes off Wade.

“Then allow me to apologize, to the both of you,” he said. “Acacia, I was called away. I left a message with Melissa to have you contact me. I am informed that she did not deliver it, and didn’t pass along my later calls. I’m sorry things had to work out this way.”

“I am, too, sir,” she said. “But I believe it’s for the best.”

“You may be right,” Sir Klingon said. “In any case, you need not worry about Melissa anymore. She has accepted my suggestion of advanced schooling as soon as the semester is complete.”

“The Institute?” Acacia said, eyes wide.

“No, one a little different,” the smaller, neat man said. “She needs a little more thorough breaking. Sir, I believe you are familiar with the place. It’s called Parris Island.”

Wade let the gun droop a bit. “You have got to be shitting me,” he said, shaking his head.

“Oh, it’s quite true,” Sir Klingon said. “Sir, I complement you on the way you handled those other three. They have given what can be a good pursuit a bad name. However, I have warned them that the local community will no longer cover their actions, and they would be wise to leave as soon as they are able. Sir, you’re not a part of the scene, are you?”

“No sir,” Wade said, having learned from Acacia what he meant. “In no way.”

“A pity,” the man said, shaking his head. “You’re going to miss a lot with your reputation. I feel I must say one thing to you, about the two of you. You’re going to be facing a rough road, but always remember that the rockiest roads often lead to the most wonderful views.”

Wade nodded. “I think I’m starting to understand what you mean.”

“No doubt,” he grinned. “Sir, under different circumstances, it would be enjoyable to sit down and have a beer or two with you some time. But, as I have to head back to the coast, it probably won’t happen. Just good luck to the both of you. Have a good day, and Semper Fi.”

“Semper Fi,” Wade said in amazement, shaking his head. “You have a good day too, sir.”

Wade was just left standing behind the door, watching it close as his heart rate was getting somewhere back to about twice normal. “I always knew we had some sadists in the Corps,” he shook his head. “But not like that.”

He turned around, to seek Acacia on her knees facing him a couple feet away. Her torso was upright, her hands were at her side, palms open facing him, her head was bowed. “Sir,” she said. “I regret that I have no collar to offer you, but I beg you to become my master.”

Totally flabbergasted at the request, which came out of nowhere, Wade just shook his head. This was absolutely the last thing he’d been expecting, but his answer came easily. “Not just no, but hell no,” he said. “Look, Acacia, I’ve come to care about you a lot, or I wouldn’t have gone through all this shit the last few days. You have been very good to me, and I’ve been more at peace with myself the last week than I’ve been in the last year. But there is no way I can lower myself to the level of the people I’ve had to defend you from. No way in hell. Forget it. If you want to be my girlfriend, fine, I’ll be your boyfriend. But I will not become your master. Ever.”

“Very well,” she said, not taking her eyes off his shoes. “Sir, if you will not become my master, will you consider becoming my Sergeant?”

That one was a lot harder to answer, and for a number of reasons, and he had to struggle with his answer to this strange young lady that had appeared to him. “Acacia,” he said slowly. “We’ve talked a lot about the way you feel duty toward your master, and, from what I can figure out from what you’ve told me, a master’s duty toward his sub is pretty limited. A sergeant’s duty toward their troops is a lot different. Yes, they have to respect him and obey him. But he has to keep them happy and teach them, too, providing guidance and good leadership as well as command them. It’s not the same thing.”

“I am aware of that, sir,” she said. “That is what you have told me, and I understand it from your actions, both toward me, and to protect me. Sir, I will want to be your servant, so you will have to teach me to be your … is trooper a good word?”

Wade stared at her for a moment. What he didn’t admit to Acacia, because he didn’t fully realize it himself at the time, was that the major thing he was missing from the Corps was the responsibility that goes with command. Now, his gut told him that maybe there might be a way to fill that hole. It didn’t take long to make up his mind: “On your feet, Trooper,” he growled, but with the smile on his lips and the sparkle in his voice giving him away. “The first thing I’m going to have to teach you is the proper way to stand at attention.”

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