Authors Note: This story is based on 'Never Ever that Hung Over again'. This is my version of this event. AlaskaMcCormick and I design the story together and I write Tucker and Washs side of it while she does Grif and Simmons.
Therefore her and my fanfiction tell the same story but from two points of view. Also, since it is not role play based (as I decide for both, Tucker and Wash) my story misses the Grif-Simmons-only-interactions.
To really get the whole picture you need to read AlaskaMcCormicks version as well.
Chapter 1: Tucker and Grif up for Investigation. Or something like that
Tucker was glad, to say the least. Well, sure it was great they stopped the war on Chorus and everyone again survived miraculously. But they faced still yet another war way over their head and even despite the celebration and the peace talk and all, rebels and feds often still were hostile to each other. Tucker didn't think anymore working with the enemy was hard. Seriously.
The party the other day had been great too. Simmons and Grif managed t o become an actual thing after years of acting like married. Tucker had been wasted enough to approach Wash but well, that only ended with him getting a blue eye.
The good thing was that Grey finally agreed that Tucker was completely back to health again.
…
Which, on a second thought, wasn't so great because he was convinced Wash was going to drill him again. Fuck it.
Well, at least he wasn't that useless anymore. Church needed to shut up about that. Ever since Carolina, Kimball and Doyle were running the army of Chorus things seemed to get an order again. Wash however was mostly in charge of kicking everyones ass in training. Probably because he wasn't as quick to going to kill someone as Carolina.
Tucker was on his way back from the infirmary towards the trainings area when he caught sight of a small group of Feds talking near an old building. They were troublemaker. Not everyone was going along well with the ceasefire and the peace talks. These few actually had been involved in a few brawls within these days. One of them broke Palamos nose the other day (not that Tucker cared, not at all.) Tucker couldn't really say what it was but he had a really bad feeling about them. So when they started to walk off through some ally, he quickly followed them. It worked pretty good to follow them until he came across the door from the mess hall. There he literally run into something solid. Or more like wobbly. "Man, what the fuck, Grif, watch it" he snapped at the older.
Grif only grimaced, standing there with his arms full of ore, chips and other stuff he just stole. "I'm heavily laded dude, I can go first." He ignored the glare Tucker shot him and added, "Besides, what does a runt like you wanna do about a rock, huh?" Tucker shot him another glare while he carelessly shoved chips into his mouth. "You ain't a rock, you are a fatso" the younger returned and just caught the soldiers disappear around a corner. Fuck it, what now?
Try to do what you think is best, Wash said.
So Tucker did what he thought was best: making sure he knew where this guys headed. "C'mon", he said shortly and grabbed Grifs upper arm, dragging him with him. At least for one thing Wash training was good for. Grif complained first but he gave up eventually, apparently coming to the point that it wasn't worth it and that Tucker was by far stronger than he actually looked like. "What the heck are we actually doing?" he questioned with his arms still loaded with food and coke. "Investigation", replied Tucker quietly. He did his best to follow the soldiers through allies without being noticed.
Unfortunately, at one point they reached the cliffs outside the city and Tucker saw how the guys disappeared in a cave. Well, if that wasn't suspicious. Tucker still tried to follow them while keeping a low profile. He eventually reached the entrance of the cave and that was when Grif stopped. Or more like froze up. "Okay, great. They are in a cave. So we know that. Can we turn around now? You know, slip it to someone what is going on."
Tucker rolled his eyes. He knew Grif was scared as shit from bats. He knew a lot about the guy. But he didn't really care though. "And let them go away? I want to fucking know what they are up to." Before the orange soldier had time to retreat more than two steps, Tucker again grabbed his upper arm and dragged him along. He ignored how Grif swallowed and looked around uneasily. That guy was more a pussy than any of the chicks Tucker knew. Worse than Donut even. Following some guys to see what they were doing really wasn't anything they couldn't handle.
Tucker and Grif followed the Feds deeper into the cave, always careful not to be seen. Or at least Tucker was. Grif only toddled after him with his arms filled with food and trying to be quiet so not to alert any bats that might be around. Tucker suspected him to be more afraid of those than the Feds. Already after a short time Tucker noticed that the radio didn't work anymore. And he and Grif had about the same idea on why that was. They were blocking the frequencies for some reason. And whatever the reason was it couldn't be anything good, Tucker knew it. But to follow these guys wasn't easy. Especially not when he and Grif couldn't use the flood lights. The Feds hardly talked and so it was hard to know where they went at each fork because they had to stay back enough so not to get spotted.
Tucker didn't think about how dangerous it was to go deeper and deeper into the cave without being able to contact anyone. But he couldn't go back now. Maybe this was important.
However, it came as it had to come. At some point they lost track of the Feds. Tucker bit his lips absently while he and Grif walked through a hallway. He knew they were lost. But he didn't quite want to admit it. He didn't want to have screwed it up again. "Hey Tucker" Grif said after a while.
"Yeah?"
"We are lost, right?"
"No, were not", Tucker replied and kept walking straight. Just stay cool and confident. Sure Tucker knew Grif knew they were lost. It wasn't hard to miss and also, you know, their charm and all that shit. But before Grif had the time to say something there were explosions going off somewhere. Tucker and Grif both stopped in their tracks, slowly turning to face each other. There was silence for a few heartbeats before more explosions followed. And as much as Tucker and Grif were alike in many things they were very different in what they did now. While Grif stumbled back and away from the sound, Tucker found himself quickly walking towards the direction the noise came from. It sounded as if it was quite a bit away from them but even here Tucker felt the ground shake as he hurried forward and turned on the flood lights anyway. But he noticed Grif wasn't coming so he turned around. "Hurry up, dude!" the younger snapped. He needed to know what just happened there. But Grif stared at him as if he grew a second head. "Are you crazy!? If something explodes it's best to run away, not right to it!"
Oh really, why had Grif to be such a pussy? "Okay, fine, then go deeper into the cave to the mutated bats. I mean, with all the radioactive stuff I wouldn't be surprised if they were man-sized by now." That definitely did the trick. Tucker could have sworn that he saw Grif turn white even behind the visor before the guy suddenly hurried to catch up wit Tucker. "Alright I'm coming!"
Grinning self-satisfied Tucker broke into a light jogging and headed through the tunnels where he still heard things crash down. No explosions anymore though.
However it wasn't long until Tucker had to slow down. First of all he thought Grif was going to collapse right away and second the reached a fork again and there was no longer any sound telling them where to go to. Grif behind him wheezed. "What now genius?" the older managed to get out somehow. Tucker was up for a snarky comment because fuck it, he didn't need Grif nagging on him on top of everything. He was stopped however from a high-pitched, very familiar voice coming from one of the tunnels.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god…"
Once again Tucker and Grif stared at each other. "Simmons!", they yelled in union before running down the tunnel. Or more like Tucker jogging easily and Grif staggering after him. "Dude, your condition is the fucking worst I ever seen", Tucker said, going so far as to run backwards a few steps. "I think I'll convince Wash to make you run laps too."
"Up… yours!" Grif gasped. He really looked hilarious with the arms full of snack and actually trying to run away from bats and towards Simmons. The maroon soldier luckily seemed to have a broken record as he kept repeating these two words non stop.
"I know I said I wasn't picky but no thank you. And I was serious, you know. Mighty also help your condition I bed."
"My condition there is fine!" The glare Grif shot him was almost impressive considering the condition he was in.
"Yeah, because you don't do much since Simmons is topping you all the time."
"Shut up!" Grif gasped again angrily.
"You know, with some training you could maybe top him too without crushing him."
"I said shut up or I'm gonna kill you!"
That actually made Tucker snort a laughter. "First you have to catch me." Just to make a point the teal soldier made sure to get even more room between him and a staggering Grif.
"Just you wait, asshole!"
Tucker was about to make another comment, despite the fact they were in a pretty fucked up situation. Doing that was also part of their charm. But Simmons sounded close and his 'oh god' mantra also kinda changed a little. He now literally was whining and begging for Grif to help.
Okay, so. As annoying and cheesy Tucker found it that Grif and Simmons were glued together for real as of lately, that had him worried now. They reached finally the end of the tunnel and came into a bigger cave. Tucker remembered that they walked through this one. And he was pretty sure the opposite end of the cave had also a tunnel. But there were only debris laying now. Just when Grif caught up his eyes fell on Simmons who was hugging his knees and repeating his mantra over and over again.
"Fuck, really?" What the hell would bring Simmons here? Tucker exhaled before heading quickly over to the maroon soldier, closely followed by Grif. Only when he moved closer Tucker saw a second form laying behind Simmons. Dark armor. Yellow accents.
Oh god, please let it only be a standard freakout from Simmons.
Authors Note: And that's how the whole shit starts...
