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Colonel Martinez considered himself a competent leader— a fair and just leader, a hardass, but also someone that had the ability to put himself in other people’s shoes and try to understand where they were coming from. He wasn’t one to make rash decisions, because making rash decisions in the army often got good people injured or killed. He knew when he made bad calls and owned up to them, and he always spoke up when he thought others made stupid choices.
But there was a first time for everything.
Martinez knew Dalton, not on a personal level. He knew the man was highly praised for his work in Delta— leading his own squad with near perfect mission status every time. Dalton was a tough guy, a title given by some of the younger, newer recruits, but despite his outward looking demeanor, he was a joker. He smiled, and told stories about his life, and made really stupid jokes. He was like the popular jock from school who didn’t know or didn’t care about his social status and just tried being friendly to everyone. On top of all that, his records as an overwatch were near perfect as well. Every EOD tech he had watched always came back in near perfect health, or at least the condition they were sent out in. Everyone could only hope Dalton ended up watching their back.
Martinez didn’t know Macgyver.
He, unlike Dalton, wasn’t praised for his work. Not to say his work was poor quality— his defusal to blowing ratio was nearly a hundred to one, which, among EODs, was near perfect defusal of every IED he came across. His times were slower than the average, but that was acquitted to how thoroughly the IEDs were dismantled. The way he defused them left many questions unanswered despite the answer being written in the reports. The tools appointed to him didn’t seem to be enough, seeing as almost every other report stated something had been taken from supplies, or something was damaged, or the sat phone had been dismantled, all for the sake of disarming the IED. It was assumed that Macgyver’s unconventional way of disarming is what led to his previous overwatches requesting a transfer.
When seeing Macgyver arrive on base for the first time, Martinez was a bit surprised to see he looked like his photo on file. Most guys aged appropriately, other through the unfortunate horrors they saw; Macgyver didn’t look like he aged at all. Looking at his file and seeing he was supposed to be twenty-one didn’t quite sit right with him, and the thought of him lying to enlist crossed his mind.
Martinez had his day planned out— find and put together pairs consisting of transfers and newbies, and the original soldiers. It had been argued amongst him and the other COs that transfers and newbies could just be paired together as long as the transfers had at least a year of experience to go off of, but Martinez insisted of pairing both with someone who had been on their base for at least a year, specifically to show them the ropes of how their base operated.
There was a group of twenty-seven people that had been added to the base roster, currently without any means or direction. A little less than half were EODs and Overwatches, while they other had specific jobs that they’d be carted off to. Normally the job of deciding who went with who wouldn’t take all day, but the imbalance of EODs to Watches was a bit difficult to determine, mainly the point of there being more EODs coming in than there were Watches to pair them with. For most of them, they did their time and wanted out, while a small handful of others were being shipped home due to injuries.
So Martinez sat in his quarters, meticulously going through files, trying to match who he thought would work well together. One of the main issues he was having was trying to pair the EODs with Watches that had been deployed the same amount of time, because more often than not, EODs were the ones to complain about their companions. He once paired an EOD with three years experience with an Overwatch that only had one, and the stats didn’t seem to matter. He supposed that came with the territory; EODs were the only faction that had bodyguards, and it gave at least one out of five a stuffy attitude and big head.
He assumed Macgyver would be one of the ones to complain, given the reports he read. Nothing was said as a direct hit to his Overwatches, but more so mild complaints— being rushed, not having a tool he needed, not believing the location had an IED. It was genuine surprise when he learned that Macgyver’s past Overwatches requested transfers, notes including that he was too slow, he didn’t use regulated tools, often went off before they had time to set up. Same complaints but different sides. And an addition that he hadn’t personally heard in his deployment, that Macgyver refused to use his service weapon.
Having conscientious objectors sign up and actually go through with training and make it to deployment was a rarity. Of the over half a million people deployed, they didn’t even make up three percent of the military. Getting to see someone of Macgyver’s standards and characteristics was a commodity. But then he also scored in the top percentile on the weapon range and maintenance, so he knew how to use and care for his weapon, he just chose not to.
The main thing that troubled him was he wanted to pair him with someone that could match his near perfect stats, and the only person that could be considered was Dalton. But Dalton was only going to be there for another two months, and then he’d have to deal with the process all over again which would most likely prove even more difficult.
When everything was all said and done, he placed Macgyver with someone who had two years experience on him. His stats weren’t anything to write home about, going along with the average of everyone else. He’d been one of the technical substitutes, one of the ones that covered for other Watches while they were injured, sick, or out of country, and he planned to have Dalton fill that role.
However—
Martinez wasn’t a rash man. He didn’t act on impulse. His decisions were always well thought through.
However—
When he ventured towards the barracks himself to more or less size up Macgyver and tell him who he was to be partnered with, he really didn’t expect to see all the other personnel circled up, watching Macgyver and Dalton duke it out.
“Attention! On your feet. Both you idiots. Get up! What the hell is going on in here?”
“Sir, I caught this boot messing with my gear, sir.”
“Sir, I wasn't messing with anything. Someone knocked his bolt carrier off of his bunk. I picked it up, noticed it was lacking forward assist, wanted to fabricate a spring to...”
“You trained on that rifle, son?”
“No, sir. No, I'm not.”
“Excuse me, sir. But I am trained on that rifle and I can assure you that I forward assist my own bolt carrier just fine, sir. Even if I didn't, even if there was a problem, which there's not, I don't see how he's gonna do anything about it. He's no sniper, sir.”
“Don't need to be a sniper to understand basic engineering.”
“Basic what?”
“Shut up. Both of you. If it were up to me, I'd ship you both out. Make you somebody else's problem. But orders are orders. Sergeant Jack Dalton, meet Specialist Angus MacGyver. Your new EOD tech.”
“What?”
“Dalton's your new overwatch.”
“You can't be serious.”
“Find a way to work together... or I'll find a way to get rid of you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Apparently, orders weren’t orders, and Martinez was more rash than he thought.
He finally understood what happened when others made heat of the moment decisions. Trying to find any logic in it just wound up with him at his desk going through files, and other COs occasionally entering to bask in what they called the worst pair up they’ve seen.
But Martinez still owned up to it, still admitted and accepted he made a bad call and was working on fixing it. The only thing was the original guy he planned to stick with Macgyver was off base, along with a few others at another, covering and lending assistance after a sloppy attack.
“Those two really bring out the worst in you, David? Not like you to do something like that.”
“No secret about what happened within the thirty seconds of them meeting each other. Seems like every five minutes I hear someone else talking about how Macgyver managed to floor Dalton. Frankly, would’ve loved to see it myself.”
If he really wanted to fit it— if things just got worse between them— he would do something about it. At most, he only had to worry about them duking it out again for two months, then Dalton would be gone and Macgyver would be paired with someone else. He figured they lasted their tour lengths already, they could survive two months of not liking each other.
As time went on though, Martinez didn’t know if they actually would survive. He knew about Macgyver’s strange ways of dealing with IEDs, but reading a report that said he disarmed one with a battery and gum wrapper wasn’t what he was expecting at all. He’d read reports about other EODs needing to substitute items before and thought it would be like that; different knives or scissors, even destroying a canteen once, but he’d never seen so many reports come from the same person about destroying at least one thing from their supplies.
Their sat phone had been all but dismantled, first aid kit was pillaged, a jerrycan completely bent out of shape, both his and Dalton’s boot laces missing— the amount of request and replacement forms he had coming through from the Logistics Officer was ridiculous.
He had a thought to confront Macgyver, order him to stop raiding supplies unnecessarily and just blow the damn things if he needed to. Going back through old reports from his previous stations had something similar happen; where his old CO actually did let him have it and informed him that for every request or replacement form he got, Macgyver would do a hundred pushups. The threat had no effect, and the most he had to do at once was three hundred.
Martinez understood on a certain level— Macgyver had a reputation for how he did things, and subconscious or not, he was going to continue no matter the repercussions that might befall him.
No punishment or any kind of order was necessary. There was a reason he had one of the highest defusal rates, and Martinez wasn’t looking to impact it.
The first few handfuls of reports weren’t like any others, just the standard arrived at location, disarmed IED, proceeded to next location. They were no different than any other groups. There was the one where Macgyver disarmed an IED with batteries and gum, which did throw him off a bit, but both he and Dalton arrived back at base alive and in one piece.
The one that truly stood out, out of all reports he’d read, was from Dalton, specifically only from Dalton. It was a normal thing for one person to write the whole thing, crediting the other for specific details, but Dalton made it incredibly clear that he was the one that wrote that report.
It was after dinner that he summoned Macgyver.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
Martinez nodded and gestured to a chair. “I noticed the report I received lacked any of your input.”
“Sir—”
“And the subject itself appeared to be your— lack of communication and teamwork. I’ve read your past reports. I know this isn’t the first time it’s happened.” He flipped through the report. “It says right here, and I quote, that idiotic, no sense of danger, safety ignoring, dumbass sonofabitch ignored orders to leave and ventured further into hostile territory without backup. And then it goes on to say how you were suddenly surrounded by four hostiles and you would be FUBAR if Dalton hadn’t followed you in.” He tossed the report on the table. “I know you’re a smart guy, Macgyver, probably more than any other son of a bitch here, and you deliberately put yourself in danger. So please, enlighten me on the thought process that led you to almost getting captured.”
Macgyver took a deep breath, not wanting to meet his eye. “There was an IED, sir.”
“No shit. And you as an EOD thought you could take care of it.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t want bits and pieces and stating the obvious. Tell me what happened when you arrived to the moment you departed.”
Macgyver told him how they did a sweep of the town, checking everywhere an IED could be stored, about how he knew there was and IED there, and yet Dalton refused to believe him and contacted command saying it was clear and they were leaving. He said he didn’t want any sort of innocent injured, and if Dalton wasn’t going to trust in what he was saying, he would just get the job done himself, hence why he left without Dalton giving cover.
“I know it was stupid and dangerous, but if I didn’t trust in what I knew and another soldier or innocent child ended up finding it and setting it off, their deaths would be on my conscience. If I’m not allowed to do my job because my Overwatch is bored— I don’t know, sir. Yes, I could’ve been captured or killed, but I’m just one person in comparison to the dozens that could’ve been injured if we left when Dalton called in. I made a bad call in response to his.”
Martinez sat, hands folded on his desk. “Thank you, Macgyver. You’re dismissed.”
“Sir…?”
“When you get back to your bunks, send Dalton my way.”
Martinez couldn’t exactly blame Macgyver for his actions.
That faction was supposed to survive and depend on teamwork. If two of the very best couldn’t work together and do one mission, they didn’t have any business being in that faction.
“You called, sir?”
Martinez raised a brow when Dalton entered the tent. He could see why he and Macgyver butted heads so often.
“Sit.” Dalton had a laid back attitude, like nearly every other time they’d spoken, in both a casual sense and in debriefings. He didn’t know what was going through his head but it certainly wasn’t the right thing. “I read your latest— troubling report. Care to tell me why you left your tech high and dry?”
The small smirk that was on Dalton’s face was replaced in an instant. “Now hold on a minute—”
“No, you hold on Dalton.” Martinez bit back. “In all the years I’ve done this— I know reports have been forged; a lot because of embarrassing incidents, and some genuinely forgetting details because the heat of the moment was so great. You though… I had a thought of it being the former, because someone like you would never deliberately try and deceive your commanding officer. And I bet you didn’t know, but Macgyver leaving your side wasn’t the first time. He’s done it to his previous watches, and that’s what ultimately led to him coming here.
“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, Dalton. Pairing you two together was a mistake; an honest accident. Macgyver was supposed to be paired with Nunez, and you were supposed to take his place and run sub for everyone that needed it. And then I saw you two squabbling and something, I don’t know, snapped. So if you think about it, you could blame everything on me, just like you did Macgyver in your report. So please, enlighten me on how everything that happened was his fault specifically, even though you’re the one that initially made the bad call and caused him to reciprocate.”
The look Dalton had on his face was exactly as if a child was being scolded by their parent.
“No excuses, sir.”
“Let me tell you what I think happened. You chose to ignore your tech’s decision to keep looking for the IED, despite him being one of the best this army’s ever seen, and call in to say there was no IED to report, just so you could come back sooner. And because of your negligence, he was nearly captured by hostiles. In your report, you didn’t see fit to mention Macgyver didn’t sanction your decision to head in early, and in turn is why he left your line of sight.” Martinez took a breath. “You’re an excellent soldier, Dalton. Just like Macgyver your record is near perfect. I know you’re excited to leave this devil’s sandbox, but I need you to keep your sight here, not off in the distance. No one wants anything to happen.”
Dalton nodded. “Yes sir.”
“No more mishaps between now and when you ship out. I know that’s asking a lot with how Macgyver operates.”
“You really don’t know the half of it.”
“I know enough to know he’d put his own life on the line again and again if it meant no innocents would be injured, and that means trusting you enough to keep him alive to do his job and carry on to the next. You’re his lifeline. Try not to be so eager to cut it.”
“Yes sir.”
Martinez waved his hand. “Dismissed.”
It was like they got in a fight in school, and Martinez was the principal getting stories and trying to corroborate. He couldn’t exactly suspend them, but he did give them sanitation duty together for a while.
It was another two weeks or so before something else came to light in their report, seemingly the complete opposite from the last one. Dalton had inadvertently triggered an IED and more or less accepted his fate. Then Macgyver showed up and handled it without a care in the world. That report contained all the regular information pertaining to the whole day, and any and all IED information there was, but then there was about a dozen sentences praising Macgyver for saving his life. It was like a switch flipped.
The day that Dalton was due to head home had Martinez glued to his desk, trying to find another partner for Macgyver. It wasn’t like there was going to be another drop of more guys he could just pick from, or have one that did temporary take over, or have him or someone else transferred. It all required paperwork that could end up taking more time than it was worth, and even longer if requests he put out were denied. Having Macgyver act with a different wouldn’t do anyone any good either when his skill set was truly needed out in the sandbox. He was at a bit of a standstill.
And then someone spoke to him, someone who was supposed to be on a plane headed stateside.
“Reportin for duty, sir.”
Why Dalton was standing in front of him was truly a mystery.
“If you’ve come here to gloat or if you’ve forgotten something, you’re an idiot. The next cargo leaving stateside doesn’t actually leave for another three weeks.”
“Eh, that’s alright. Figured I could do more good here than over there.”
Martinez stopped what he was doing and stared at him. “What are you doing here, Dalton?”
“Reupped my contract, sir. Skipped goin through you and just went straight to the big man.”
Martinez raised a brow. “What’s the catch? People don’t make decisions like that willy nilly.”
“Only thing I asked was to stay Mac’s Overwatch until his tour’s done.”
That was the last thing he expected to hear.
“They should be gettin the paperwork ready and sendin it over at any time; said I was crazy to want to stay for another year after everythin I’ve done but we’re glad for it. So if it’s all the same to you, sir, I’m gonna go reclaim my bunk and push back the hounds.”
“Hold on Dalton.” He shook his head. “It’s unexpected, I’ll admit, but for my personal curiosity, after everything you said about how happy you are so go home— why did you choose to stay?”
Dalton merely shrugged. “I get all my techs back home in one piece. Mac ain’t gonna be an exception.”
It was like Dalton was a different person. His personality had changed into something Martinez hadn’t seen on him before. Maybe that was him making a rash decision of his own.
“Alright. Don’t be long in the bunks. Your tech is waiting for you to join him so you can head out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Martinez dropped what he was working on just after Dalton left and let out a deep sigh. Those two were the most stress inducting soldiers he’d ever had. At least he didn’t have to worry about finding Dalton’s replacement.
From that moment, he promised himself if there was another situation like that in his career, he wouldn’t make another rash decision. And it didn’t seem like he would ever have another opportunity to do such a thing.
Because no other people could ever top Macgyver and Dalton. No one could possibly give him as big of a headache as those two did.