<strong>Lcpl. Roman "Rome" Benke</strong><br/><br/>Rome closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply through his nose. A bizarre odor filled his nostrils but he brushed away the question already forming in his mind. He cleared his mind of all the confusion, all the unanswered questions that ran rampant through his mind like a dozen bulls in a small china shop. He couldn’t answer them all right now, nor could anyone else. This mission had deviated severely from every other mission they had been tasked with in the past... they were in uncharted territory now. Every question simply created another question, leaving the answers lost in a sea of even more questions. He held his deeply inhaled breath around 10 seconds before he slowly exhaled from his mouth, altering his mindset from one of confusion and anxiety, to one of survival… lethality. He flexed his fingers and hand, reacquiring his grip on his M56 smart gun as he opened his eyes again. A sinister glower covered his already daunting visage as he drew near to Widow.<br/><br/>Reaching up with one hand, he covered the boom mic to his helmet mounted radio.<strong>”I got your back baby girl”</strong>He said quietly to Widow over her shoulder as he approached her, giving her a firm downward slap on the shoulder of her armor. Aside from Senjo, none of the others in the squad heard his remark to Widow. He never called her anything other than Widow in front of the others, except for the times when he was teasing or playing some practical joke. But this was neither a tease nor a practical joke. It was a closeness, a mutual professional respect and admiration between Widow and Rome and he was assuring his teammate that he wouldn’t let her down, that he was together and ready for anything.<br/><br/>He thumbed over the safety switch on his weapon, double-checking that the safety was off; it was. He checked the ammo readout; 500. He removed his hand from the radio’s boom mic.<strong>”cocked, locked and ready to rock, Ooh-rah! Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me, Sarge.”</strong>He glanced back to MSgt. O’Shay and winked brazenly. He turned again, focusing his attention on the task at hand as he followed Widow and Bravo Team.<br/><br/>(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/mrgerty/Scene%20Settings%20and%20Logos/pic-113.jpg)