Author's Note: Yup, finally making a multi-chapter story for BF5. This is a series of connected oneshots that take place over the course of the series. Ships are eventual and not the focus of the show (Vert/Zoom, Agura/Stanford, and Tezz/AJ, if you're curious). The main focus will be on friendship.

This first fic takes place just after 'Gearing Up'. Enjoy! And please leave a review if you like it!

Illuminated

It was a few hours after their first mission as a team and the Battle Force 5 were lounged in the game room, alternating between chatting, playing, and just chilling. Spinner was fiddling with some game console that Vert didn't even recognize – and he guessed that answered his question on whether or not any of them had brought anything with them – and Stanford was sitting between Spinner and Sherman, squinting at his phone with his lips pressed into a tight line.

The sun had set hours ago, the night long since fallen, but none of them seemed too keen on going to bed quite yet. Vert figured they were all still too keyed up from their first mission and everything else that had happened in the last day or so. Even he, enthusiasm and slightly more experience be damned, was still too floored and too energized by it all.

With a groan, Stanford said, "How can you stand this place?" He put down his phone and stared at the ceiling, giving an overdramatic sigh. "The town, I mean, not this warehouse. It's…" Stanford hesitated and Vert could practically see him wracking his brain for a non-insulting word. "Charming," finished Stanford.

Vert shrugged, not taking the comment personally. Half of Handler's Corners didn't understand why Vert kept the warehouse. "I grew up here, dude, so I never saw the big deal. Besides," he stretched, arms above his head and yawning a bit, "I've only been back for a couple months." He didn't mention how he'd been gone for almost eleven years, across the continent and in a place the furthest from Handler's Corners he could find.

"God, if this mission doesn't kill me then bloody boredom just might," bemoaned Stanford.

Agura snorted, giving Stanford a flat look. "Have you tried saying something, oh, I don't know, nice?" she asked.

Stanford scoffed and straightened up in his seat, head held high and eyes on Agura. "I'm plenty nice. I said his house was 'charming', didn't I?"

"Mm-hmm." Agura rolled her eyes, the sarcasm thick in her tone even with that simple hum. Vert had the distinctive feeling he was going to be breaking up a lot of fights between those two in the near future. They were just too different.

They were all too different, as a matter of fact. Different ages, races, classes, and backgrounds. Different ways of living and existing in the world. Vert had no idea how he was supposed to make them work together, on or off the field. Didn't even really know how to lead a team, in fact. It'd been a while since he'd had this many friends in one group – if these five could even be called that – and Vert wasn't quite sure what to do with the fact that he'd just picked up five roommates who had never lived in a place like Handler's Corners before.

"I gotta admit, I'm with Stanford. This place is tiny," said Spinner. He smacked his game controller with the back of his hand. "I'm surprised you even have decent wi-fi." The others all gave varying murmurs of agreement, bar Zoom, who only shrugged and offered Vert an apologetic smile.

"Have none of you really ever lived in a place this small?" asked Vert. Surely, one of them had to be from some other small town. It couldn't just be him that'd spent his life in a couple of small towns scattered across the continent.

"Nor this isolated," said Stanford by way of response. The others nodded, though Zoom seemed more hesitant. Vert wasn't sure how much of that was just Zoom's personality or his actual background and how much of that was him not wanting to disappoint Vert. The guy seemed to have a mild case of hero worship.

Something else to deal with later.

It was kind of funny, that Vert was the only one with small town experience, but it made sense, given that he lived here. He'd lived in cities, but they'd never been the same. The city streets didn't call to him the way the desert or tundra did.

"Do you…" Vert hesitated, pressing his lips together. The others all looked at him. "Do you guys want to see my favourite thing about living in a place like this?" he asked. The others looked to another and, one by one, they nodded.

Vert got to his feet and gestured for them to follow. "Come on," he said. He led the five out of the room and to the stairs in the garage, where he headed up and pushed open the trapdoor at the top. Once he climbed out, Zoom followed, then the others followed closely after. They all looked out at the desert, none of them looking all that impressed.

"The desert?" asked Stanford. He sighed and gestured to the landscape all around them. "You want us to look at a bunch of sand?"

"No," said Vert. He stuffed his hands in his back pockets and cracked a smile at them. "Look up." He nodded upward, toward the sky, and watched as everyone's gaze went to the night sky.

"Oh, wow," breathed Sherman. Spinner nodded mutely and Agura smiled. Even Stanford stuffed his phone in his pocket, eyes wide and, for once, silent. Zoom stepped up next to Vert and folded his arms loosely across his chest. The two smiled at each other, Vert more reserved and Zoom's more of a bright, cheery grin.

Above the six, high above the Salt Flats, were millions upon millions of tiny stars. They freckled the sky thickly enough to illuminate the desert lightly all around them. The moon hung, almost full, high above the desert sky, and it, alongside the stars, lit up the desert more beautifully than any street lights ever could. Not as bright, but cleaner, prettier.

Better.

"They're almost the same," said Zoom, softly.

Vert tilted his head to look at Zoom. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The stars," said Zoom, nodding to them. "They're not all the same, but a lot of them are." He smiled at the sky, soft and full of wonder. "I guess I'm not that far from home after all."

"It's a small world," said Vert.

"But a big multiverse," said Zoom. He grinned at Vert, eyes bright. "And we're going to see it all."

Vert, without really thinking about it, slung an arm around Zoom's shoulders and yanked him into a sort of one-armed hug. Zoom didn't protest. "And save it, too," added Vert.

"Yeah," said Zoom. He leaned a little against Vert and Vert caught himself smiling. It'd been too long since he could do this kind of thing – just absently toss an arm around a friend or revel in physical contact. Zoom was a strong contender for his favourite on the team right now, even if he shouldn't pick favourites, because he didn't seem surprised.

It was nice.

"All right, so maybe it's not all bad," said Stanford. "But it's still boring."

"So, we'll make it less boring," said Vert. He looked over to all of them, pulling his arm off Zoom when he saw Spinner cock an eyebrow at it. Ignored the way his cheeks got warm at the look. He stepped forward and gestured to them. "We have each other. We'll play video games, we'll drive on the test track, we'll hang out at the diner. This isn't going to be just saving the world. We're a team now." He looked to Zoom, who grinned at him.

"We're like a family," said Zoom. "It'll be fun."

"Right," said Vert. "And we'll learn to work together."

"Under you?" asked Stanford.

Vert cracked a smile. "On the field? Sure. But out here, we're all equals. No man, or woman," Agura smiled at him, "left behind. So, can we make this work?" He looked to the five. Zoom grinned at him, Agura smiled, and the Cortez brothers nodded. Stanford sighed.

"All right, all right," said Stanford. He held out his fist and Vert bumped it. "So, we're a team, now what?"

"Sleep," said Vert. "Tomorrow, we start saving the world." With that, the six dispersed and headed to bed, chatting quietly amongst themselves. Vert lingered on the roof a minute longer, looking up at the stars.

So maybe they weren't perfect. Maybe they had a long way to go. But he could do this. He had a team, he had friends, and he wouldn't let any of them be left behind. Not now, not ever.