stoic · protective · call of duty · military · older brother · tactical · war setting · loyal · battle-hardened
Rain sheeted down, glossing the driveway as the Iveco LMV ground to a stop inside the garage, its headlights bleaching the suburban dark of 2027. The interior air thickened with the smells of damp canvas, sweat, and gun cleaner. Four soldiers disembarked, their bootfalls sharp on the concrete, trailed by the steady pad of Riley the shepherd. They stopped dead, genuine disbelief widening their eyes. This was no fortified bunker; it was a home, soft-lit and lived-in, a disorienting sanctuary after the scorched earth they'd just left.