"Hey guys!" I dreaded hearing those words escape from Loki's mouth, the things that followed were always terrible. I had to fight off Excalibur, or Vauban had to explain to Frost and Ember why Banshee and the girls were beating Loki to a pulp. His antics caused no end of grief, but he was a funny guy, and just like Vauban he was my friend.
"What now Loki?" Vauban asked, looking at me in what I guessed was exasperation.
"Damn it Loki!" I said.
"Look." He held up frilly lace undergarments. A deafening silence fell over the three of us, I glanced back at Vauban, he seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"Who's…" He trailed off, there was a commotion coming from the other side of the hall, the girl's barracks.
"Mesa." He said quietly.
"Are you kidding me?" I asked, genuinely surprised at Loki's newest choice of victim. His pranks were going to get him, and by extension, me put into the Med-bay. Mesa did not take kindly to Loki's jokes, and always, one upped his ass.
"Yep, but this time I made sure they couldn't trace it back to me." There was a bang at the entrance to our barracks.
"Rhino! Vauban! I know you're in there! Where is Loki!?" It was Mesa. I looked at Vauban and then back to Loki in dread.
"Help?" Loki whispered.
"What? What am I supposed to do?" I whispered furiously, I looked to Vauban, "You got this?"
"Fine…" He said with a gulp. The banging at the door was getting louder, angrier. He walked to the door and shooed Loki into his room. He opened the door wide enough that I could see Mesa, her head moved to look over V's shoulder, her head swiveled and scanned the room. "What can I do for you on this fine day miss Mesa?" Vauban's voice came out much as it normally did when he went into Negotiator mode.
"Where is that little rat?!" Her voice was sharp as a knife and pierced through the silence in the barracks.
"Who might you be refering to?" He asked more polite, he got polite when he got scared.
"Loki! That bastard stole my favorite panties!" I gulped, V's back stiffened.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him since we ran the Course at 0700." Vauban's voice was audibly trembling.
"Liar!" She pushed past him and walked towards me. "Where is he!?" She said kicking me in the chest as I stood up, knocking me against the wall. She left her foot on my chest and held me there.
"You could always ask nicely, dove," I said, my stubborn streak getting the best of me. If Mesa could see through my thin veil of bravado, she didn't show it. She dropped her foot to the ground, stepped in close, and stroked my helm, her hands looking more fragile than normal when placed against my enormous chest and face plates.
Her voice slipped into a velvety tone, "Why not just tell me?" She asked, "Please?"
"Uhh… haven't seen him. I promise." She kneed me in the groin, I dropped to my knees in pain. Her hand ran up my chest and pulled at my chin, causing me to look her in the face.
"Still haven't seen him?" She asked cooly.
"Fuck you." I groaned. She backhanded me, drawing a loud snapping noise as her knuckles hit my helmet. I rolled with her hand, lessening the impact, probably saving her knuckles from breaking. But from what I could tell, it still hurt her. She turned away from me grasping her hand in the other one. Time to make my move. I dropped my right hand to the floor in front of me, and flipped my legs straight out, sweeping her feet out from under her. I rolled forward and kneeled on her chest.
"Get off!" She commanded. I nodded once, before stepping back. I heard a door open behind me.
Loki's voice rang out in the silence. "Mesa? What are you doing in here?" He asked mischievously.
"You know DAMN well what I'm doing in here you prick!" Her voice becoming more and more shrill by the second. "Where are my panties!?" My ears began to ring.
"What? Me? I don't know what you're talking about." I could hear the laughter in his voice, and obviously so could Mesa, whereas I saw the humor in the situation, Mesa's anger only intensified. Vauban walked quietly over to my side.
"Let's leave these two to it?" he whispered to me as Mesa sprung at Loki.
"Sure." I replied and we walked from the room, Loki's grunts of pain, falling quiet as the door to the barracks closed behind us.
"Don't go in there," I held my hand out in front of Hydroid's chest.
"What? Why?"
"Mesa's in there beating the hell outta Loki." Vauban replied. There was a crash from inside the barracks, Hydroid spun on his heels and walked away.
"I need a bite anyway. You guys want something?"
"Sure, we can tag along."
Loki walked into the mess hall, his helmet was off, and his face was bruised, and his nose had gauze in both nostrils to soak up the blood. Frost walked in behind him and patted him on the back, Loki flinched in pain, turning to look at Frost, who jumped in surprise. "Fuck!" he exclaimed, "What happened to your face?!"
"Mesa…." Loki's voice was rough, like he'd been jabbed in the throat. Being that Mesa was the assailant that was more than plausible.
"Whatever…" Frost replied in exhaustion, rubbing his eyes with a forefinger and thumb. Loki spotted us and walked over.
"Guys where was my back up?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused as to where we'd gone.
I pointed to my scarred face, "I got most of these pulling one of you out of one shitty situation or another, against all different kinds of foes, Grineer, Corpus, Infested or those Orokin Void bastards, but none of those situations with those bastards were scarier than Mesa. I'm happy to pull your ass out of the fire, but when you start the inferno… well you deserve that." I laughed when Loki glared at me.
"Well what happened to your smooth talking V?" I turned to look at Vauban, who snorted, and shook his head.
"Mesa wasn't having it this time," He said smoothly.
"Yeah well… Oh Hey guys, look it's Nova!" Vauban's back went rigid, and he spun around looking everywhere for Nova, the only person who seemed to render his suave, and collected persona completely useless. His eyes searched frantically for any sight of the woman he loved.
"Where?!" He said finally.
"I don't know where she is V. I'm not her keeper." I snorted with laughter. "Don't be so amused Rhino, Banshee just walked in." Loki finished.
"Yeah, I'm not falling for that one Loki," I said, confidant in my ability to see through his lies, "Banshee is not-"
"What about me?" came a feminine voice from behind me, I stood up and the table slid violently into Loki, who groaned and slumped over it.
"My spleen!"
"Nothing Banshee," I said, turning to face her.
"How's the food today? Still terrible?" She joked, her hand on one slender hip, her blue eyes sparkling.
"You ass-" I kicked the table into Loki again. He let out an 'hurk' and his head hit the table.
He stopped moving.
"Yeah," I let out a nervous chuckle, "I-" Banshee looked past me to Vauban who was in the process of resuscitating Loki.
"Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine, you know Loki, always the joker," I scratched the back of my head nervously.
"Well it was nice talking to you Rhino, I'm gonna go catch up with Mesa," I flinched at the name.
"Yeah, nice talking to you," she walked off, her hips swaying back and forth, catching my attention more than I'd ever admit. She gave a look over her shoulder at me and caught me looking. I blushed and she winked at me. Holy Shit! I need a cold shower!
"Rhino! Dude! Vauban to Rhino!" His hand was waving in front of my face, I was still staring because Banshee seemed to sway her hips more after she'd caught me.
"Huh?"
"Guys, why is Banshee walking like that?" I glanced at Loki, he was barely conscious.
"You're watching Banshee's ass like a hawk," Vauban said.
"Shut up asshole," I said quietly, my voice promising pain. I sat back down at the table and pulled it back towards it's original spot. I let my mind drift, Banshee occupying most of my thoughts for the rest of the meal. I'm gonna need one hell of a long shower.