During training, he'd gotten used to things being very quiet and boring, so this was no different. Except now he wasn't exhausted from all the training they'd put him through before. He didn't think anything was really going to happen, until he noticed he wasn't alone anymore.
"Good afternoon, miss. Where are you headed?"

"You sure are, this place is off limits for civilians," he said, sternly, but tried to keep a friendly undertone in his voice. She started to explain about her phone dying, and as soon as her hands moved to the purse, Benjamin's grip on the gun tightened almost out of instinct and he aimed the barrel a little more towards her. Sudden movements were definitely not a good thing, but the woman managed to pull out an actual phone before realizing what she did, and with a crack the device landed on the ground.

Benjamin lowered the gun and relaxed again when the woman threw her hands up. He didn't think he had anything to worry about. The chances that she was putting on an act and about to pull a knife out on him or something were very low in his judgment, and even if so, you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

"It's alright, miss, calm down," he said reassuringly. "You can pick up your phone and I'll escort you out of here. Where is it that you need to go?" Hopefully for the woman, the phone was still in tact, but he doubted it.

A hint of sympathy appeared in his eyes when he saw the shattered glass of the iPhone. That couldn't be a cheap phone, never mind it being cheap to have the screen repaired. He felt a little guilty, but knew he had been just doing his job, and there wasn't much he could do about it now. He wondered if he really did look that intimidating to civilians at this point.

She told him that she was headed towards nearby Riverside Park. Either she was lying or really lost, because she was headed in the complete opposite direction of that. He guessed she wasn't from here, but made a point to ask her later. Benjamin knew the city very well, but he'd grown up and lived here his whole life. He couldn't imagine anyone getting lost here because of how second-nature it had become to him.

He smiled back at the woman when she suggested he would only point her in the right direction, but shook his head afterwards. "Sorry, but I have to make sure you leave the restricted zone," he said. "And I'll be questioning you on the way."

He started to walk in the right direction to the place's exit, gesturing her to follow. He hoped she could find her way from there without a phone or a map, because he himself wasn't supposed to leave his post. "Let's get going."

He chuckled when she didn't know how to address him, and he was about to share his name when she found it out for herself. Right, he almost forgot he was wearing his name on him at all times. "Faulkner will do," he said. Before he could start with his first question, she introduced herself as Lexi Miller and started to explain why she was here. "I see. What's the school you teach at called?" he asked. Maybe he would recognize the name. More questions were raised in his mind, such as why she would have to visit a student in times like this, but before he could ask, a new sound rang through the air.

Gunshots.

Almost immediately the adrenaline rushed through his veins. He was on full alert. Looking for the nearest place to take cover, he pulled Lexi along with him, down to the ground behind a parked car. "Stay down," he said, almost hugging the concrete of the pavement himself. "I don't think they've seen us," he added, but the uncertainty lingered in his voice. He waited a few seconds until the shots stopped temporarily, and then sat up and cocked his gun. He peeked out at the side of the car, aiming his gun around, searching for what had been the source of the noise.

Benjamin enjoyed her upbeat attitude, though he knew he couldn't let himself relax too much. If he wasn't on the job, he'd long have joked along with her about his name. No way was he a closet poetry fan. The only writers he actually still remembered were the classic ones like Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, from his English class back in high school, but he never paid attention or cared much. He wasn't the type to sit and read all day, never mind write things himself. He had mostly been the kid who never could focus or sit still, and he guessed Lexi had one of those in her class as well. Man, he had probably made their job hell.

The questions raced through his mind, but he tried to pick out the important ones that would help in their situation. Possible rebels crossing the borders in spite of the law for whatever reason. He still couldn't see anyone, so he wondered if it was even them that was aimed for in the first place. He looked around for other sources of cover in case this one got compromised, but only saw a few more cars up ahead. Was it worth the risk?

Lexi's voice next to him took him out of his train of thoughts. Benjamin was thankful that she was ready to listen, instead of panicking or disobeying. She had a brave fire burning inside of her for a kindergarten teacher. "I need —" His voice was cut off by the new round of shots, and he ducked down, the bullets flying right over the roof of the car. "Shit!" He cussed. "They know we're down here." He thought about calling back-up for a moment on his radio, but somewhere he felt too much pride to do it. He wanted to show that he could handle it. Maybe overconfidence was going to be his death someday.

From what it sounded like, Benjamin guessed it was only one person. Carrying a machine gun, just like him, and was now most likely reloading. Benjamin looked around the corner with his heart beating in his chest. He saw a glimpse of a man move behind a car. Benjamin turned to Lexi. "Stay here and stay down. I'm gonna push on and see if I can flank him from the side. Unless he specifically wants you, he'll be focused on me mostly," he said, speaking his words soft but quickly. He took a deep breath before making his sprint towards the other car and taking cover there. New gunshots rang around him and he flinched at the sounds. When they stopped again to reload, he took his chance, looked over his cover and shot at his target.

The man got hit in the side and he heard the gun drop on the floor. He sprinted over there and kicked the gun far away, aiming his own rifle at the head of the man. A complete stranger, now bleeding out from the side, holding his hands in the air defeated. Benjamin took one last quick look around to see if anybody else was coming, still on guard. Didn't seem like it.

He had never killed anyone on the job before. Or off the job. He had gotten close many times in his life, but never done it. And he didn't want this time to be the first. Maybe they could stop the bleeding. The stranger was no longer a threat to them, for what he could tell.

"Don't move," he told the stranger in a threatening tone, keeping his eyes ever so focused on his movements, and then shouted over to Lexi. "Lexi, I need you here!"

His heart was still racing and he couldn't stop scanning the area. There was just a feeling inside of him telling him they weren't out of danger just yet, but it was a gut feeling and nothing more. No solid evidence. Nothing he could actually count on.

Benjamin still had the gun at the man when Lexi came around. Only then sunk in the realization that just maybe, this scene could be traumatizing to her. He really hoped that wasn't going to be the case. He needed her help if he wanted to get the stranger out alive. Especially because he wanted to know the motive behind his crime. Was this one man just trying to prove a point? Being reckless and stupid and maybe on drugs? Or was there an entire organization behind him, ready to do this again?

Lexi stated the obvious in disbelief. Of course Benjamin had shot him. "To be fair, he was shooting at us first..." The dry and sarcastic humor just somewhat slipped out. No matter how much he got yelled at for his under-his-breath commentary, it was a part of his personality that he seemed to have no control over.

He didn't have to guide or direct the woman, thankfully, as she kneeled down to the body and held her jacket pressed against the wound. Benjamin took his left hand off the gun to try and fish his phone out of his pocket. Something that wasn't easy, but Lexi's phone was double dead, so he couldn't ask her. He dialed 911 and waited for the operator to pick up. "There's been a shooting at Venshaw Bridge. Need an ambulance and a police car." He gave the exact location before hanging up the phone. The operator had asked him to stay on the line, but he knew he had to make sure they were both covered in case the stranger had brought friends with him. He didn't want another unexpected bullet storm to hurl towards him. One in a day was more than enough.

"They should be here in eight minutes," he said to Lexi. Then he looked back at the man, with fire burning in his eyes. "That woman is saving your life right now, so don't try to lay a finger on her. Or I'll make sure you don't."

Benjamin had long accepted that he would have to be shooting people, and it was hard for him to imagine life any other way. If you want to survive, and if you want to get a job done, you have no choice but to do it. Or else it would be him and her bleeding out on the streets right now... But he knew there wasn't much point in arguing with Lexi. They came from different worlds. The man's body was getting incredibly pale, and even Benjamin had a sinking feeling in his stomach when Lexi said that his pulse was weak. Maybe, just maybe, he had become a killer today.

He averted his focus to helping Lexi. They both seemed to have basic first aid knowledge and how to treat gunshot wounds until you can get a medic, so that was a good sign. She started to search his pockets and pulled out three bags of drugs. Well, there was the reason they had been attacked just now. He was slightly relieved that it wasn't about him or Lexi personally. Simply a junkie with a gun getting way too high... He had a minor flashback to the times where he himself had worked with drug dealers, wondering that if he hadn't changed his life, he may have ended up just like him.

But before anything else could happen, another shot rang through the air. His eyes widened as he saw Lexi fall back, but his heart broke even more when he saw the crimson blood on her hand. Fear, anger, and guilt came over him like a crashing wave in an ocean storm, but he pushed all of them down as he spun around. The shot, where did it come from? He already regretted calling the ambulance so soon — despite them going to have police backup soon, too, because all he wanted was to move them both as far away from this place as he could. The chances of there being more than one attacker was rising up.

Another shot rang through the air and he swore he could feel the bullet whizz just past him with a zooming noise. He got down on the floor and aimed for the source. Luckily for him, he managed to get a view of his opponent. Panic rushed through him, and it took a couple of bullets before he managed a direct hit, and sent another person down. He scanned the area: are there any more?

Benjamin went back to Lexi, letting his gun go for just one moment. Pros of being a soldier was that he always carried bandages with him and specifically ones for gunshot wounds. "Don't move," he told her, before taking out the bandage and wrapping it around the area in her shoulder. "The pressure is supposed to feel very uncomfortable. If it doesn't, it's not stopping the bleeding." He hated having to put her through this. He had only done it once before in a real situation, but that had been on the toughest soldier of the squad. He couldn't tell whether or not the bullet had struck an important artery or not. He didn't know if there were more coming behind him. He didn't know anything and it frustrated the hell out of him.

He heard sirens in the distance. "Finally," he muttered to himself, picking the gun back up. He looked at Lexi. "You're gonna be fine. Just stay with me."