Marcus followed after Mea into the small room, already knowing exactly what she was going to say. He moved very carefully towards the chair that she indicated he should sit in, his movements starting to cause him more and more pain as he continued, knowing that it was adrenaline and the pain medication that had kept the pain at bay until now. However he shoved the pain into the back of his mind as he took his seat, his icy blue eyes watching Mea with an expressionless look on his face, listening to her every word, and after she finished a long pause hung in the room, the silence becoming thick with tension.<br/><br/>"Don't give me that order...." He spoke in a soft tone, a complete opposite to the harsh look in his eyes. "Don't order me to stay behind while my teammates might be in danger.... that is an order I cannot follow." His eyes glanced towards the window to the side of the room, curtains drawn and a brilliant view of Atlanta's downtown area in full landscape was laid out before them. The icy blue irises moved back towards Mea's form, a certain kind of vulnerability being held within their depths.<br/><br/>"I was given that order before.... the order to hang back, let the rest of the team go in first and wait to see if anyone came from outside. I didn't want to follow the order, but like you said, it was from a superior officer and I had to follow it. By the time I could hear the gunfire ringing from inside it was too late.... I watched every single one of my teammates die, gunned down by an ambush that had been waiting in the dark, in lighting that was my specialty that I would have been able to see in...."<br/><br/>He stopped for a moment, his good arm clenching into a fist, causing his muscles to go tight with tension, holding back the emotion that threatened to burst forth. "... I had to hold the only woman that I've loved as she died.... all because I followed an order to stay back."<br/><br/>He then pulled himself to his feet with a grimace of pain, his broken ankle beginning to throb with every pulsating beat of his heart. He limped a few steps towards the door, turning his head over his shoulder to look at Mea, "If you want to leave me here in the States... then so be it. However..." He then reached into the front pocket of his medical gown, retrieving the same wallet-sized picture from the airplane, and tossed it towards her. The picture of Rachel, the woman who looked so much like Mea that it was almost impossible to believe they weren't related. Marcus didn't know that Mea had witnessed the similarities of the picture before. "Don't expect me to sit back if there's a chance you are in danger.... if there's a chance that any of you are in danger."