"Hey Bunny,"
He could barely hear his partner over the rattle of gunfire just around the corner from their poor cover spot.
"What?"
Barnaby snapped at Tiger irritably, trying to get communications back up while they still had the advantage of cover. It was the first fucking rule- don't get in a firefight indoors. And what does Tiger do? Rush into the nearest house because he heard civilians. They weren't even their civilians.
"We're the good guys, right?"
The older man sent a short round of fire back towards their enemies, just enough to keep them from swarming over them. But at the rate their ammo was going, it wasn't going to be long.
"Yes, we are," he replied, straining to hear over the static from his comm set. Why, of all times, was his partner asking ridiculous questions?
"...Base to Bunny, what is your QTH" A voice crackled into his ear, bringing the first ray of hope.
"Sector 4-C, civilian dwelling 1738, requesting back up and retrieval, over."
"Roger, Bison and Emblem on their way,"
The interference was back and he just had to hope he heard the reply correctly.
"So we're gonna live?" his partner asked, reloading while Barnaby took point, trying to get a glimpse through the dust and haze at whoever was very intent on riddling them with holes.
The explosion that shook the foundations of the house answered Tiger's question. Being pinned down by enemy fire made seconds into eternity, but the clean up seemed to happen in a flash.
"Thanks for getting here, guys," Tiger called to their two comrades who emerged from the smoke and rubble of what was formerly the foyer of a house.
"Sorry it took so long, Borus jamming made comm hell today," Bison remarked.
"So we noticed," Barnaby said dryly, just relieved Emblem didn't go too crazy with the ordinance this time. The man's style was flashy, fiery, and downright dangerous, but no one told that to a HIRO.
"So where are the civs?" Emblem asked, peering around at the bullet pocked mess of a kitchen they were standing in.
Tiger pointed to a door in the hallway where he had managed to get an entire family of six to hide in a storage closet.
"Let clean up take care of it," Barnaby said, already picking his way past the dead to head to the rendezvous point. He had just about the same amount of patience for dealing with civilians as he did for that damn nickname-
"Oi Bunny, wait up!"
Luckily everyone working in the suburban neighborhood turned warzone was too busy with their own operations to take notice of a strange moniker, but irked him just as much as it did the first time. When he joined HIRO a year ago, he was supposed to present himself with a code name, but to everyone's surprise he just announced himself Barnaby. After all, with no family or personal ties to speak of, it was just more convenient.
"It's not Bunny, it's Barna-"
"Yeah yeah, more importantly, why didn't you stick around, that family probably wanted to thank you."
Tiger said that in all sincerity, of course being the same person who dubbed him Bunny (for being half as cute but just as twitchy, supposedly). As well as the one who almost got them both killed on their first mission. Tiger had taken a bullet to the leg and Barnaby had to fireman carry him across enemy lines. And incidentally it only came to be that way because Tiger endangered himself for a grunt. Barnaby never liked to remember Syberia.
"For what? Having half their house blown up?
"For saving them."
He wasn't the one who saved them. He would have been perfectly fine waiting for the right moment to take the house the terrorists were hiding in. Or would he have been? The fact he had gone along with Tiger's crazy surge tactics might be a symptom of the old man rubbing off on him. Or the heat was slowing down his brain. Not that it was much better in the chopper.
"So how'd it go, guys?" Sky, their aerial specialist shouted as they ground fell away and they were high above the Boros scrubland.
"Saved lives, as usual."
"Nearly lost ours, as usual," Barnaby corrected, taking in the luxury of being able to fly back to base. They didn't gain airspace control until yesterday and the thirty klick ride back in a humvee across terrain that may or may not be mined was not going to be missed.
"Ah, he's just sour because we had to call for a little assistance," Tiger said good naturedly, gulping down water from his canteen.
"Just like Syberia, eh," Sky said, effortlessly keeping them aloft even with the tricky currents that have downed more than one good pilot. "Still, you guys did well."
Barnaby scowled. Why did everyone remember Syberia? And Sky shouldn't give so much positive reinforcement to Tiger, but in truth he was probably the only HIRO that did. Everyone else understood and accepted collateral damage. Maybe it was Tiger's advanced age- at thirty seven, he was the oldest on the team and Barnaby still couldn't figure out how he even managed to live this long.
There were still a lot of things he hadn't figured out, he realized as he accepted the canteen from Tiger, half full of warm water that tasted like dust and plastic.
"Bonjour, HIROs," a heavily accented voice over the base PA announced. Must be Captain Joubert, chief tactician of the Hesperides International Retrieval Operatives, bringing them together, Tiger thought as he headed towards the briefing room. By the time he made it to there, it looked like all the other members were there already. All except for his partner, which was a little odd.
"All right, now that we're all here, we can get on with-"
"Hey, where's Bunny?"
"Barnaby is being briefed separately by General Maverick," Joubert replied without missing a beat, looking impeccable as usual in her uniform, in contrast to the rest of the HIROs who were all just grateful not to be wearing a ballistic vest in ninety degree weather. "Now, aerial reports from today show good progress and recon reports they've located an Ouroborus cell up in Sector 8-F. We'll be going in and providing ground and air support as needed. Intel says there's civilians in and around the compound, so we'll all have to be careful not to cause unnecessary loss of life. On either side," she finished, giving a pointed look to Tiger.
The meeting ended with only a vague notice on the time frame, the final details would be given out shortly before deployment to prevent leaks. His partner was already in their shared quarters when he got back, looking vaguely like someone made him eat thumbtacks.
"Yo, Bunny, missed you at the briefing. Had some special mission stuff to go to?"
"More like sit through a lecture about 'not overreacting' during the mission next week," Bunny scoffed, his irritation apparent- well it always was, but more so at the moment.
"Well, remember Syberia-"
"Of course I fucking remember Syberia!" His partner was getting flustered again, which always happened when reminded of his failures. It didn't help he was such a damn perfectionist.
"I'm just saying, you have a record when we're dealing with the Ouroborus. We're also in their territory, which is clearly taking a toll on you."
Bunny clearly didn't like it when Tiger made sense in addition to being the patronizing parent type like with Dragon or Rose.
"I'll be fine. You should be the one who should be getting the lecture about not overreacting. You have to accept the loss of life is the cost of war."
Tiger shrugged it off, but his partner had a point. But he just reacted, much in the same way Bunny did- on a primal, visceral level that pushed all other rational judgements out the window. Except with him, it was saving people, not trying to eliminate as many Ouroborus as possible. He was surprised that someone with such an obvious bias was accepted to HIRO. Wasn't there a psych evaluation or something that would discover something this integral to Bunny's character?
Then again, those tests were shit. Tiger probably wouldn't have even found out how his partner's parents were killed by an Ouroborus suicide bomber if they had not been holed up in the ice that night, with very little left to talk about after the possibility of dying became apparent. Of course, things wouldn't have gone that far south if Bunny hadn't completely lost it when they realized they were up against the international terrorist organization. A lot of things went wrong in Syberia, come to think of it.
"And you have to accept that you can't take this whole organization down by yourself. Now let's go see Rose, she's singing tonight and I don't want to miss it."
"I think I'll just turn in early-"
"Nope, or I'll have you written up for ASBO," Kotetsu insisted smiling, but firm. Even with Bunny's reluctance, they got to the mess hall just in time. Rose's first song was in Borosian, the language everyone else seemed to pick up while he barely managed 'yes' and 'help'.
"Hey, what's she singing?" he whispered to his partner beside him, who naturally frowned and looked at him despairingly.
"It's a lullaby," he hissed back. "Try reading that dialect guide sometime, will you?"
"Can't all be language whizzes like you-"
"Both of you, shut up!" Emblem had turned around to glare from the row ahead, his definitely non regulation compliant make up giving him an even more threatening aura. Sheepishly, they both set aside their bickering for another time.
Unable to heckle his partner, Tiger leaned back in his seat, letting the music carry him away. Though he couldn't understand a word of the song, it was sadly familiar. Maybe Tomoe sang one like it before...
Smoke, screams, blood, and fire. The day of the bombing, on a bus in the middle of a busy intersection. The last time with his parents. The first time he ever saw that mark. On that day he was only pinned under the remnants of the bus for a short while, but in his nightmares he'd lay there for hours. Forced to stare at the vividly blue sky, slowly overtaken by the plumes of smoke. To listen to the cacaphony of voices around him- sometimes he'd hear his mother calling his name, but that couldn't be right. She was dead.
"Hey, Bunny, get up."
He wasn't four. There was nothing holding him down, except the thin blanket tangled around his legs. The brightness wasn't the sun, just the fluorescent lighting of the room. Barnaby took a couple of deep breaths before sitting up, knocking foreheads against his partner, who must have been hovering again.
"Ow-"
"Watch it, old man,"
"Yeah well, didn't you hear your damn comm? We're heading out at 0300."
Just as he said, the red alert light on his comm was already blinking. Maybe, just maybe after tonight, he could get a week of sleep without that same nightmare. Not to be outdone by his partner is promptness or professionalism, he got ready, putting the lingering memory of smoke out of his mind.
The base was humming with activity, flood lamps illuminating the darkness of two in the morning. Tiger was the last one to the chopper, looking apologetic.
"You were up before me, how did you manage to be the last one to get here?"
"Had to call Kaede. Today is her big recital!"
"Isn't it 6 am over there?"
"Yeah she wasn't too happy about that..." He still looked extremely pleased with himself. Barnaby only knew about his daughter from the photograph Tiger kept in jacket pocket, in the left breast pocket. He explained she kept him safe that way. Barnaby just remarked it clearly didn't protect him from his own corniness.
But looking at how happy he was, even if they were about to head straight into enemy territory, was just a bit enviable. Tiger was here because he had something to protect.
Barnaby had nothing.
He had to clear his mind. They were already airborne, headed towards the drop point where they'd continue on foot to the isolated compound.
"You nervous, Bunny?"
"I told you to stop calling me that. And the only thing I'm nervous is about is you."
"Ah, don't worry, it'll be fine," he said, clapping him on the shoulder. You worry too much. Just focus on getting the bad guys, if it'll help you sleep at night."
He flushed in embarrassment, although it didn't matter in the dark of the helicopter cabin. Regardless, he hated knowing that Tiger even knew about his nightmares. It was-
"Nothing to be ashamed of, course, we all have those kinda nights," his partner quipped up, his strange instinct for saying the perfect, parental sort of thing kicking in. It was actually quite annoying. But he couldn't deny that somehow, it made him feel just a little bit better.
"All right, here we go."
They came up to the compound, which stood on a small hill, surrounded by a flimsy chain link fence. Not quite the defenses expected for a terrorist hideout.
"Something isn't right."
"Very observant," Barnaby said, breaking radio silence as they entered the silent building. There were about four exits to cover and still twenty minutes until the army caught up. There wasn't any time to waste, especially after a heat signal came in from the end of an unlit hallway.
They came up to barred double doors, with the muffled sound of voices just beyond. Tiger was about to pull out the charges for the door when Barnaby stopped him, straining to hear something that didn't sit right with him. It sounded a lot like a crying infant, but that couldn't be right-
"What the hell-" Tiger exclaimed, pushing the unlocked doors open, only to be greeted by a room full of scared women and confused children. "-is going on, Bunny?"
Barnaby didn't have time to answer, already on his comm link back to base. But when he tried to connect, all he got was an earful of static.
"Shit."
"Bunny, what is she saying?" Tiger asked, desperation bleeding into his voice. A middle aged woman was pleading with him in rapid fire Borosian. Of course he wasn't getting a word of it.
"She says they were told not to leave the building," he replied, addressing the woman in her native language, albeit with an accent.
"Well find out why!"
"What do you think I'm asking?"
The rumbling and echo of gunfire cut their bickering short. This was most likely set up as a trap, but there was no point in wondering how that happened now. Mercifully, a voice crackled over his comm link, kicking him into action.
"... Base to Barnaby...-amming severe... status report..."
"Barnaby to Base, hostiles incoming, civilians were used as bait. Over."
"All HIROs... to reform... currently four klicks from location, pattern Sigma,"
"Do they just expect us to leave them?" Tiger asked, frowning at the barely comprehensible message from over the comm.
"They're nonessential."
"There are children here."
"They can wait for the rescue team."
Even as their precious seconds slipped away, Barnaby knew he wasn't going to win this. And somehow he was relieved, because he wasn't exactly sure how he was going to forget a roomful of faces, expectant and fearful.
Barnaby, as the only one who spoke Borosian between the two of them, took to ordering and directing the civilians while Tiger took poin and tried to get a message over the jammed comm link. Every time Tiger rounded a corner, Barnaby expected to hear the inevitable spray of bullets, but so far they only encountered a few lone agents. Regardless, he should be beside his partner, not trying to shout over the murmurs and mutters of prayers and pleas.
"...Base to Barnaby, your 411, over."
"Currently escorting civilians, requesting cover from the east exit,"
"Affirmative. The building is going hot in ten minutes, so get a move on, civilians or no!" Captain Joubert's voice crackled over the comm, but she was clear enough. If the compound was bait, then the jaws of the trap must be closing around outside, meaning the main force is fighting out in the open. Leaving them quite on their own.
"Where we headed, Bunny?" Tiger doubled back to meet him, uninjured but a bit worse for wear.
"East exit. We've got ten minutes."
"Then we better get moving."
"Easy for you to say," Barnaby grumbled, using the simplest phrases to get the civilians' attention, Borosian grammar structures be damned.
"Still, thanks."
"Just don't get us killed."
"Roger." Tiger went on ahead again with a smile, leaving Barnaby to bring up the rear. Seven and a half minutes later, they were met at the east exit by the rescue team. Gunfire rang out in every direction, some closer than others, but according to the medic, they had managed to concentrate most of the Ouroborus agents to the west side of the compound.
Suddenly, a cry went up from one of the women.
"What's wrong?" Tiger asked Barnaby, their sole translator at the moment.
He furrowed his brow, trying to make sense out of her hysterics. She was clutching an infant, trying to tell him something about her other son...
"She says her son isn't with us. He must have let go of her sometime on the way- wait, Tiger, hold on-!"
It was too late. His partner was already headed back into the very same building that will become a hot zone in a few minutes. Meaning, after enough of the Ouroborus were pushed back, they'll just drop enough ordinance to turn the entire place to a pile of rubble.
"Barnaby to Base, hold off on the drop. Tiger just went back into the compound to find a civilian."
Ignoring Captain Joubert's exclamations over the comm, he took off after his reckless old man who always needed back up, one way or another.
"Tiger!"
He ran with his blood pounding in his ears over the static from his jammed comm. He called out, safety off and discretion largely forgotten as he tried to find his partner. He kept hearing short bursts of gunfire, screams and curses in Borosian, but it was seemingly from every direction, down every hallway and through all the doors.
"Tiger-"
His partner was around the next corner, slumped against the side of the wall. The air smelled like blood and smoke.
"Oi, Bunny."
"Tiger, what the hell happened?" Barnaby tried to assess the scene, but it was all coming back to Tiger's hand against his abdomen, slick with blood.
"Found the kid-" he said weakly, smiling through the obvious pain.
"And more importantly, where is your vest?"
"I was getting to that," Tiger replied wincing as he shifted to point to the bodies at the other end of the hall. "They found us pretty quickly, so I told the kid to run while I-"
"You gave him your ballistic vest, didn't you."
"And my comm," he said, although this time his stupid grin just made Barnaby wonder if he was right in the head. "Rescue will find him."
"And who was going to find you?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
There wasn't any time to waste being pissed off at his partner. He instinctively began to calculate how long they had between the incoming ordinance, a perforated stomach wound, and how much further it was to the exit.
"Just shut up and hold on," Barnaby muttered, trying to pull Tiger up to carry him over his shoulder. That was quickly vetoed by yelps of pain. If only he had been wearing his vest.
"Fine, we'll just have to go like this."
"Piggyback? How are you going to hold a gun?" Tiger asked as he clung to his partner's back despite the agony that bloomed all the way up to his throat.
"Your arms still work, don't they?" he replied, praying he didn't just hear the building was going hot in two minutes over his comm.
"I suppose you're right," he said, although trading up a rifle for a handgun was hardly an improvement in their case. "Y'know, this is a lot like-"
"Don't even think about saying it."
"All right, all right..."
They made it out ahead of the aerial strike, but just barely. Barnaby could see lights in the distance past the treeline, by their original drop off point. He had long since turned off his own comm, the crackle of a jammed network being of no comfort. There was only one way to go- forward.
"Hang in there old man, we just-"
There was the quiet sound of the gun falling out of his partner's hand onto the soft earth.
"- Tiger?"
"I'm good, Bunny. Just.. tired,"
His voice was faint, even though he was right by his ear. Barnaby knew he didn't have long. He wanted to fall to his knees where they stood and just stop. Stop feeling so much useless and angry. But most of all, he wanted to stop losing people. Selfishly, he wished his partner hadn't gone back into the compound. Hadn't given up his ballistic vest. Hadn't been the hero.
"We're almost there," Barnaby lied, their rendezvous point nowhere near. "Just five more minutes."
The silence around them amplified the sensation that they were the only two people left in the world. But his partner's ragged, shallow breathing was a constant reminder that very soon, it will be just him. He wanted to say something, anything, even with his throat parched and his lungs burning, to keep Tiger here just that much longer.
So he asked his partner questions. Any and all that he could think of- where he grew up, what his first job was, the name of his wife, where she worked, his birthday, his favorite food. Selfishly, he asked for everything Tiger could tell him, aside from his real name. That would come soon enough.
Tiger indulged him, answering his questions until he didn't and then Barnaby knew. But he kept talking. It was his turn to say everything he had wanted to say in the past twelve months, but never quite got around to it. There was no hope of bringing his partner back with his words, but he entertained the idea that maybe Tiger could hold onto that part of him and take it with him to wherever he went. That way, on the day they meet again, it'll be waiting for him. It was just too heavy to carry, on top of the body of his first and last partner.
"...I had the honor of serving beside Kotetsu, even if it was for too short a time. But in that time, I learned that when men like Kotetsu go to war, it is to save lives and protect his loved ones, and there is nothing more admirable than that."
It was awkward to use that name. His partner was named Tiger and he preferred it that way. Bison told him there was actually some sort of pun to his codename, but Barnaby hadn't been in a state to remember jokes.
After the service, he found Kaede, who looked several years older than in the worn photograph he returned to her.
"He kept it in his jacket all the time, in the pocket closest to his heart."
She thanked him before looking away, trembling with the burden such a small picture brought. Barnaby was carrying his own- when he went to retrieve the picture from Tiger's effects, he discovered there were actually two photographs in the little plastic sleeve that protected Kaede's portrait. Right underneath that one was a much more recent snapshot, a little less than a year old, perhaps. It was the day they returned from Syberia after almost being declared missing in action. Someone had taken a picture for posterity perhaps, of two soldiers who didn't have anyone else to lean on but each other.
Barnaby kept that picture in his jacket now, serving as a reminder. A reminder as to the words he really should have said in the eulogy. That when heroes go to war, they may go to protect their loved ones, but it's the people who love them that are left behind.