Major James Hart, on the subject of Alice Keeley.
“Who is Alice Keeley? She's a contrarian. I've been traveling with her, in confined spaces, long enough to have learned not to challenge her on certain things. Once, I told her to watch her language. We had been arguing over something – I don't even remember what – and I just mentioned it. She spent the next day ranting and raving about her right to say whatever she wanted, and then she wrote curse words all over her body with permanent marker.
I ignored her, so she kept adding words. We developed a sort of cold war ; how long would I ignore her vs. how many words would she add.
Eventually, I gave up. Not for my sake, but for hers. I apologized, and that was that, because I had to. Because she wasn't able. She wouldn't quit, but not because she didn't want to ; because she physically could not. She's temperamentally unable to surrender, even if it means a detriment to herself.
It took her three days to get the marker off, even with chemical showers.
During those days, she wasn't her usual, angry self. She was sad ; remorseful. Not embarrassed, really, but weary ; worn out from the chaos she had wrought upon herself. I began to understand that she felt bad about the time she had wasted with her brazen act of defiance.

I told you. She's a contrarian. But there's more to it than that.

There's her public image ; the brash, firey iconoclast. There's the immature contrarian ; the person who would rather, for better or worse, subject herself to intense harm than obey a simple order.
But i've also seen her other side. I've seen the restless, sleepless nights. I've seen her inability to forget a slight, or turn down a challenge. I've seen her struggle to fit in – not with people, per-say, but with the world at large. I've seen her hate herself, and love herself, mere moments apart.
I've seen her turn to medication for help. She struggles.

That's the part of her that I admire. The constant struggle. She may never be perfect, but she knows it – and she continues to try to understand that fact. She embraces her humanity, even if it means the end of her. It's as dangerous as it is admirable, as chaotic as it is predictable.
That's Alice Keeley.”

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I would say that is why they can work together in the end. What Jay pointed out.
The basic principle of opposites attract. In a way.

One knows she is not perfect and that is why she is fighting and struggling, the other was always considered perfect but does not want that and has no choice but to fight.

Elegantly done. Seriously.

Heh, is it wrong of me to want to see a scene with Hart calling Alice an "iconoclast"? I'm sure it would be hilarious. :D

Regarding Hart's analysis, I have to say that, without having thought it out and written down my impressions of Alice, what he said is almost exactly what I would have come up with, even if it wasn't stated as succinctly. Alice is a very endearing character in her own right, even if her chaotic nature makes her "tough to love" sometimes. But the upside to caring about her and being nice in the face of a tantrum? Sometimes it's fun to antagonize with kindness. ;D