Disclaimer: I do not own Motorcity or the listed characters
Title: Like Him
Rating: M
Summary: Red wanted to destroy Mike Chilton, but not physically, he wanted him to suffer; he wanted to take away everything the former soldier cared about. Taking away Motorcity was too grandiose of a plan, instead he'd have to strike at what kept Chilton going in the first place; his friends.
Pairings: MikexChuck, DutchxTennie, ChuckxRed(deceptive)
Warnings: This one-shot contains violence and dubious consent. Don't read if you don't like or are triggered by sexual violence or dystopian societies
Author's Note: This one-shot is directly inspired by and based on post/159504669951/an-old-idea-based-on-the-thought-how-far-would by livelivefastfree
One-shot: Like Him
Don't mistake his hatred for Chilton as hatred for Motorcity. No, Motorcity had once been his home in the past, he'd been born and raised there, and however, he'd turned his back to it; ultimately, his former home would be collateral damage in his quest of getting his vengeance on Chilton. One might call him mad for letting his hatred spiral into a total disregard for all other human life.
Mad was a bit of a harsh word, nihilistic was far more accurate, at least in Reds opinion.
His animosity towards Mike Chilton began was the defector was still a baby-faced but big-shot Kane Co soldier. He'd been assigned to lead the destruction of Red's neighborhood, and although he claimed to have refused the order, Red didn't know and didn't care. His home had still been destroyed, and it was still Chiltons fault.
His thirst for revenge superseded all else; his current allegiance to Abraham Kane himself was proof of this. Nothing else anymore; not Kane, not Detroit Deluxe, not Motorcity, the whole world around him could burn for all he cared, as long as he hurt Chilton in the most permanent way possible.
So why was it that now that Red finally had Chilton his clutches he wasn't just slitting his throat?
Red was in the Duke's territory, in that area where 'Vega' had been hiding in a few months back during the Genesis Pod incident, he was inside of a rusty shed that was placed there; he stood standing over an unconscious Mike Chilton, who was chained up in a corner.
He'd gotten the drop on Chilton; it wasn't easy to find the head Burner alone, he was usually with his pack of misfits, or at the very least had his constant companion the hacker with him. Today, however, he was riding his motorcycle alone, apparently his vehicle still hadn't been rebuilt, and Red pounced on him when he'd gotten close enough to the Duke's territory; all it had taken was one energy blast and the Chilton lost control of the shorted out bike, and crashed.
As usual the Burner survived and against all odds was simply battered and unconscious. Red was almost disappointed.
Almost.
No he needed Chilton intact. Unconscious, unaware, but intact. That was why Red had him chained up and mostly unhurt, even if he was currently also drugged with enough tranquilizer to take out anyone even twice the size of Chilton.
He was pacing as he clicked at the controls on the panel of his wrist; his suit had several setting too it besides communication and combat, it also had a stealth mode. And the stealth function itself had more than one setting; there was the cliche invisibility function, but there was also a scanner, and a disguise setting.
Chilton was chained up, but he was missing his jacket, Red had it cast on the floor. He was going to need it.
Red was taking his armor off, something he rarely did unless if he needed to shower, until he was down to the under armor underneath which was functionally just a two-piece catsuit, and his boots.. He took the panel off of his suits glove and slid it back onto his wrist, and went back to tweaking the controls until he got the settings he was looking for.
He looked down at Chilton distastefully as he began pacing again,"I want them to see you how I see you…" He said lowly, it was more to himself than to Chilton, it was more of a symbolic speech than anything. He stopped to scan Chilton with the panel, and after it did a red pixel field worked its way up his wrist and began changing his outwards appearance until he was identical to Chilton. Red looked down at Chilton again, the loathing in his eyes - which were still red - was stronger than ever, he kept his eyes locked on his target even as he picked up the jacket "…a monster."
He put the jacket on and the transformation was completely.
He looked just like him.
"Mikey! Where were you?" Was the first thing said to Red as he came up to the fast food frequenting spot of the Burners - unsurprisingly, it was the blond male that was always hovering over Chilton like a fly on shit. Red had 'his' bangs over his eyes just enough to make the red colouring less apparent, and he was relieved to see that the blond didn't notice even as he was in close proximity.
"…Around." Red answered calmly, with his hands in the pockets of the jacket. He was just lucky he and Chilton were the same height, and the disguise function also had a 'parroting' function that could mimic voices saved in voice recording files. The blond was none the wiser.
"You didn't even answer your communicator," the blond scoffed with folded arms, but thankfully he dropped the subject and instead just grabbed his arm and lead him to a table where the other Burners were sitting.
Red was surprised to see one of Kane's interns there - the female with the dark-red hair. He didn't care much for her though, but still, her being a double-agent could be used as fodder for his current plan.
"Anything interesting during solo patrol?" The tallest Burner, another Deluxe defector, asked.
"No." Red denied flatly, and grinned similarly to the way he would see Chilton - but it ended up a bit more malicious in comparison, which he could tell the blond caught onto by the way he abruptly let his arm go in an almost knee-jerk reaction.
Not wanting to see out of place, Red sat down between the female and Texas - begrudgingly, Texas was the only Burner besides Chilton he knew the name of. It was practically impossible to not know the man's name, as he was so self-centered it was his 'catchphrase'. The blond shuffled to sit at the other side of the female.
"Are you feeling alright Mikey?" The blond asked, which made the other Burners appear confused "You seem a bit…"
"Booooring." Texas cut in, throwing an arm over Red's shoulders, making him stiffen up. Under normal circumstances, he'd shove the man off, he absolutely hated being touched, but unfortunately from his observations on Chilton he'd picked up that the brunet was a very physical person, so in order to pretend to be him he'd have to accept this gesture and similar ones. Red forced himself to relax. "You didn't see anything? No Duke? No Kane? No bots? I'd take another Genesis Pod with how dead things are!"
"Oh don't say things like that, you're going to end up jinxing us." The African American said. Red just slowly nodded, still irked at Texas being draped over his shoulder.
"You going to order anything Mike?" The female asked.
"I'm not hungry." He stated bluntly "I'm pretty tired actually - we should head back." He tried being as nonspecific as possible, because while he did want to get the Burner's headquarters, he didn't know where it was or what they called it. And he could tell from the empty trays at the table the others must have eaten while 'he' was gone.
"You sure?" The female asked.
"I'm sure." He said, and got up to accentuate his point and thankfully this got Texas's arm off his shoulders finally.
"Alright alright, let's go then. We already paid, right Julie?" The tallest Burner inquired.
"Right." Julie confirmed as she got up - okay, that was two names down, two left.
Red was already walking back outside, and the blond was trailing him as he would Chilton. His disguise was working, meaning that once he followed them to their headquarters he could put his plan into full motion.
"Are you sure you're okay Mike?" The blond asked as he went through a compartment of the motorcycle and fished out a blue helmet with a yellow stripe down the middle.
"I'm fine. I'm just tired is all." He said, again pulling a faux grin, and kept it even as the taller male appeared to be unsettled by it.
"You're not leading today?" The blond asked, as he watched the other Burners drive off and 'Mike' take his time mounting the motorbike.
"I want to enjoy the view this time." Red said - at this point he was getting use to saying things with a similar emotional inflection as Chilton would, but it was slightly sharper still. He just couldn't keep all of his ill intent to himself. It didn't matter, they already thought he was Chilton. They'd probably at most just assume he was having a rough day.
The blond seemed to shuffle a bit, at least until the other Burners had driven off - and once they had, he seemed to immediately regain vigor and strode over to his 'leader'. However, unexpectedly, once he was right by him he pulled him over by the jacket collar and closed the gap between them with his lips.
Red's eyes widened and he froze. He could register what was going on just fine, that he was being kissed, but by the blonds movements in placing one hand on his hip and the other on his opposite cheek he could tell that this was a familiar thing, at least for the hacker. He'd always just assumed the hacker was just another one of Chilton's lackey's, a clingy and pathetic one, but the chance of a romantic relationship just hadn't crossed his mind.
Red hated being touched, and he especially hated being caught off guard, but he was again going have to suck it up if he was going to pass as Chilton. He pursed his lips together and pressed back against the blond ever so slightly, just enough that it made the other hum appreciatively, before pulling away.
The corner of his mouth was twitching as Red fought back to urge to grimace, honestly, he was just thankful the blond wasn't into tongueing because he'd have surely reacted adversely to something like that. "Are you ready to go?" Red asked, speaking fast, seeing the blond frown slightly, he quickly added "Babe?" This inquiry worked, because the blonds face reddened slightly and his lips curled upward as he sat behind him on the back.
The blond wrapped both arms over Red's waist, and not that the hacker couldn't see his face, Red grimaced at the physical contact. Why were the Burners so touchy-feely? "Are you going to put your helmet of or?"
"We'll be fine." Red grumbled as he started up the bike and sped after the other Burner cars.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Dutch practically shrieked as he came to the side of Jacob's place and found Mike there. The outer side of the garage wall in the alleyway was one of the places Dutch frequently painted. And yet Mike was there, using a roll brush to cover his paintings up with gray paint.
"Just cleaning up the walls." Mike told him, he sounded almost gleeful "Those drawings were making the place uglier than it already was, so I figured I'd clean up." Dutch's jaw dropped in disbelief in over what his leader was saying, but he quickly locked his jaw back up in its original position and stomped over the Mike.
"What is wrong with you!" Dutch yelled and grabbed Mike by the jacket and hoisted him up to almost be at eye level with him. Mike was still grinning at him, not intimidated in the slightest even as the roll brush was smacked out of his hand.
"What, can you blame me for having taste?" The brunet sneered "It's not my fault you waste your time etching a bunch of gaudy paintings no one cares about. Really, why even bother? Why don't you use your energy for something useful."
Dutch stared down at the other Burner in disbelief. Mike of all people knew how important painting was to him. He had encouraged him from the start toi do what he loved even in the face of Detroit Deluxe opposition! And now he was just going to take everything back, and insult him too. And this wall itself meant a lot to Dutch. Not only was some of his best work on it, but it was one of the first places he'd first tagged his art in Motorcity. It was how he met Jacob, and Mike and Chuck, which led to the invitation of becoming a Burner.
"In fact, if you're going to paint," Mike continued, grounding himself and forcefully yanking Dutch's hand off of jacket and picking up the brush "why don't you cover up all of this trashy graffiti?" He picked up the roll brush and put the handle into Dutch';s hand, and nonchalantly walked back into the garage, ignoring the angry, yet hurt stare that bore holes into his back.
Texas was wandering around the garage - well, wandering wasn't the right word. He wasn't aimless, he was just looking for Dutch. He'd been working on Whiptail only a minute ago but somehow he'd gotten completely out of sight in the moment Texas had looked away. Dutch sure was hard to find for someone so tall.
Texas couldn't find Dutch, but he spotted Mike nearby. The guy was just… standing there. Wasn't he saying earlier he was tired? "Hey Mike!" Texas called jovially as he walked up behind the Burners leader.
"What do you want?" Mike asked, uncharacteristically harsh, staring down at him with… a gross look. Real stink eye. What was his problem? Whatever, he was probably just in a bitchy mood or something.
Unaffected, Texas asked "Have you seen Dutch? I've got to show him this idea I have!"
"What? You can't find him by yourself? Do you need me to hold your hand too?" Mike practically growled.
"So have you seen him or not?"
"Are you really that stupid?"
"You could have just told Texas no." Texas replied, rolling his eyes and turning away; if Mike wanted to throw a hissy fit over whatever he was throwing a hissy fit over, Texas wanted no part in it.
Mike didn't seem to appreciate that. "Hey," Mike said sternly to get his attention, and Texas turned back for second to look at him again and-
POW! Right in the kisser too!
The force of the backhand forced Texas back a couple of feet "Dude! What the heck!" Texas yelled, rubbing at the red mark on his face. Okay, getting insulted didn't affect him. He was great and no one could tell him otherwise. Getting assaulted was a completely different ball game, however, and if Mike had the guts to hit him he definitely had the guts to get pummeled back. "Don't ignore me when I tell you something, you moron." Mike spat.
Almost calmly, Texas walked back up to Mike.
Then grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him up off the ground even with the height difference between them, and slammed the Mutt driver against his own car with enough force to elicit a gasp from the other. "Now you listen to Texas you little-"
"WHAT is going on here?" A loud raspy voice hollered over Texas's own and the two men looked over to see Jacob rushing over to them. "Why are you fighting?"
"Texas doesn't know how to control his temper, I ask him a question and he just, attacked me!" Mike lied convincingly, and Texas looked up at him in surprise over the blatant lie.
Jacob looked at Texas in stern disappointment. No, surely Jacob couldn't really think that he- "Texas," Jacob warned, and Texas realized that with the positions they were in, it really looked just like how Mike said.
"Dude, I didn't-"
"That's enough Texas." Jacob said and forcefully separated the two "Whatever agitated you, you don't just assault the other people!"
"I didn't- he hit me first!"
"Are you a bit old for an excuse like that?" Jacob reprimanded harshly, and it made Texas even angrier and his hands curled into fists at his side, Mike had a mostly straight face but Texas could see the traces of a shit-eating grin.
"WHATEVER. Texas is out of here!" He threw his arms up and stalked out of the garage to take his anger out on something that wasn't Mike, but he'd definitely would pretend it was.
Julie didn't live at the headquarters so she didn't have a space for herself set up there like the other Burners did, besides the space in the garage alloted for Nine Lives. She was currently sitting inside of her car using a projection screen on her communicator to scroll through the internet. The Internet was heavily censored in Deluxe… legally, at least, since the communication lines between Deluxe and Motorcity were open to pretty much anyone who could link up to wireless signals, it was practically impossible to fully censor it as long as there were ISP's in Motorcity, so even she could use it.
There was a knock at her window.
She rolled her window down and saw Mike standing there "Oh hey Mike," she greeted "what's up?"
"What were you doing just now?" The brunet asked, sounding suspicious. This struck her as odd, because it was… pretty obvious what she was doing.
"…I'm watching Duketube videos." Julie said, and turned her projection screen to show Mike the obvious cat video she'd been watching. He narrowed his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Just making sure…" He muttered.
"What's up Mike?" She repeated, more emphasis this time. He looked down at her coldly, taking her aback.
"I mean… you do work for Kane after all…" He said lowly, offending her greatly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded.
"What do you stand to gain being a Burner when you're a Deluxian? A bit suspicious sometimes is all…" He insinuated, if he wasn't out of her reach she'd definitely slap him for even thinking about suggesting such a thing.
"Mike Chilton how dare you!" She angrily said "You know damn well I believe wholeheartedly in the liberation of Motorcity as much as you do! Just because I didn't leave Deluxe doesn't make me any less of a Motorcitizen."
"That's really assuring of you to say, Julie. But I bet you tell Kane things he likes to hear too."
"…" She narrowed her eyes "Get the hell away from my car."
"Fine, have fun not doing anything suspicious, Deluxian." Mike stressed the word 'Deluxian' in a cruel way, an insulting way, like it was a bad word. As if being a Deluxian meant she had no credibility whatsoever. The Burners leader stalked off, and Julie was left fuming. Cat videos weren't going to soften her mood this time around.
Texas, Julie, and Dutch were easy enough. Their opinion of their previously beloved leader was definitely diminished now. The old man had been a little more difficult, because Red knew next to nothing about him, but insulting his lack of business and horrible cooking skills and comparing him to an old dog that was due to be put down in terms of uselessness seemed to have done the job. As for the robot, ROTH as they called it, which he knew was a modified Kane bot that had been reprogrammed to have some level of sentience and 'feelings', he casually mentioned that they would get a newer, better bot soon enough and that seemed to get the bot on edge. Red was familiar enough with modern robotics to know that most bots, while not capable of actual feelings, were aware that they'd be shut down and once more efficient models came out, which gave them an existential awareness similar to fear. ROTH was no exception.
That left Chiltons co-pilot, and (apparently) lover, Chuck. Red had learned his name when he managed to snag his I.D from his wallet, which he had done to make sure the blond was at least eighteen, thankfully he was. Red was already going to hate himself for what he had planned next, he wasn't going add extra complications like an underaged casualty.
Speaking of Chuck, said blond was currently in 'their' room. The Burners, save for Julie, all lived in their headquarters but because of the shortage of space compared to the amount of people, bedrooms had to be shared. Texas and Dutch shared a room, and apparently so did Chilton and his little boyfriend. There were two beds, but Red doubted they actually slept separately with what was actually going on between them.
From the information he'd picked up passively throughout the day was that Chilton and Chuck for whatever reason kept their relationship secret, under a thin veil of being best friends. And with how much Chilton cared about all of his useless friends, it was a very convincing ruse.
Now, Red didn't take particular enjoyment out of abusing the Burners; not because he felt bad, but because they weren't Chilton. He did however, take enjoyment out of the thought of Chilton losing the trust of the people he cared about the most. Chilton was his one and only target, everyone else was just… collateral damage.
Like the blond who was last on his hit list.
Red had taken extra precaution to not be odious towards Chuck. No, he'd actually been comparatively nice to the blond, like how Chilton would be. A significant other would know Chilton the best and he didn't want to make him suspicious of him, if anyone would be able to tell he wasn't who he was pretending to be, it would be him.
That was about to change.
The blond was engrossed in some kind of task on a projection screen, his back was turned to the door; he didn't seem to hear it when Red closed and locked the door and approached him from behind.
Chuck gasped and jumped a bit when arms suddenly wrapped around his waist and a chin rested on his shoulder "Don't sneak up on me, you know I hate that Mikey!"
Red forged a chuckle "I wasn't exactly sneaking, you just didn't notice me."
"That's the same thing!"
"You've got to work on your situational awareness." Red conversed; it took every ounce of his hatred of Mike Chilton to make him continue his mission. The very thought of the devastation he'd inflict upon the troublesome former soldier was all he needed to keep up an act like this.
Chuck sighed heavily "I guessss." He practically pouted. The hacktivist went back to typing, and Red stayed draped over him as he thought over his plans again and again.
Surely there were other ways… No, this was only way. No matter how much he'd hate it.
Red began dragging Chuck backwards towards to bigger of the two beds - the green duvet led him to believe it must have been Chilton's. "Miiiike." Chuck complained and resisted lightly, but not very much.
"Oh relax." Red muttered even though he initially tried to coo. Once they'd back up enough he did a swift 180 and practically threw the taller male onto the bed.
"Woah!" Chuck oofed as he was slammed against the mattress, and was pinned down "What's up with you today?" He asked in an almost nervous chuckle, and then froze up when 'Mike' began stroking his cheek.
"What do you think?" Red asked in a heavy voice, trying to seem as wanton as possible.
"Oh? -Oh-! M-Mike I didn't think…" Chuck stammered as he caught onto what Red meant by the comment, he tried saying something else but his anxiety toppled his communication skills, and he was reduced to anxiously flopping there as Red forced himself between his long legs "I-I didn't think you were ready for that step yet…"
Red froze at what the blond had just implied. Those two were nineteen years old, they were still teenaged boys, and yet they'd both found the restraint to 'wait for the right moment'? To some, that might seem sweet, but to a realist like Red it was jarring.
But…
He could use this to his advantage. That would make his revenge all the sweeter.
"Well, I can't wait anymore." The disguised man said as he slammed 'his' lips onto Chucks, smothering away all complaints. The kiss was different from earlier, it was very aggressive this time, because this time he was putting emotion into it. The emotion being hatred, that is.
His whole life, Red had never cared much for sex. He'd never quite understood the obsession with 'getting laid' that seemed to plague every other male. Although, this was probably because he hated intimacy in general, whether it was physical or emotional, so it made sense he didn't make an exception for sexual. He'd only had sex what - two or three times? And he didn't even remember those womens faces nor was he particularly awed by the sessions.
Red pulled away from the kiss at bit down at the junction between the blondes thin neck and bony shoulder, which made the younger man wince "That hurts," he complained, but Red ignored him and left a large, very dark mark there. He was going to make sure there was no way Chilton was going to be able to deny that this had happened.
He pulled away and flipped Chuck over, having the blond bent over the edge of the bed, making access to him easier and letting Red press his full weight onto him, denying him any change of pushing him off. He didn't doubt that Chuck probably wasn't weak, maybe not as strong as Chilton, but Red remembered clearly how he had attempted to physically fight him unarmed before during the Deluxitram incident.
"W-wait, Mike-" Chuck squeaked anxiously and tried pushing himself back up, but Red simply pinned his shoulders down to keep him in place.
"Oh relax." Red repeated softly into his ear, more of a threat than anything else. Chuck was definitely beginning to sense that something wasn't quite right about this.
"Mike stop it!" Chuck demanded with a bit more authority and once more tried to push himself back up. Red wasn't going to allow that, not when he'd gotten this far; pressing his full weight onto one side of Chuck's body with one of his arms, he formed as fist with his other hand and used to to cold-cock the blond right in the back of the skull.
This immediately incapacitated the blond, and he was rendered unconscious. This would likely only last a moment, Red knew first-hand just how durable these Burners tended to be.
Quickly the mercenary shoved the blonds jeans and boxers down, Red shoved his own pants down and pulled his own soft member out, stroking it vigorously; he wasn't turned on, unsurprisingly. He wasn't even gay… hell, he probably wasn't even straight either, if he cared enough about sexual identity he'd probably consider himself asexual more than anything. Eventually, his body reacted enough to the stimulation for him to have an erection.
He wasn't doing this because he was going to enjoy this. No, he was going to hate this. He didn't even like sex, and he never planned to take advantage of someone like this, but he was going to have all of the Burners see Mike Chilton as he saw him, as a monster. Red was strong in his resolve, focusing entirely on his antipathy as he dryly shoved himself into the blond, sheathing himself completely in a single thrust.
The force and friction ended up waking the blond up in a panic, seeing the blond jerk in response he removed one of his hands from the skinny Burners hips and used it to shove his face into the mattress to smother his wailing. He knew from his encounters with the Burners that this one could scream /very/ loudly. He could hear his screaming now, but the mattress muffled it enough that there was no way anyone outside of this room could hear it.
Wanting this just to be over Red hurriedly thrusted, basically slamming into the blond, over and over, dissociative and without rhythm. Red knew he was causing a lot of pain and damage, the blood that was beginning to drip was enough of an indication without the blonds screaming and crying against the mattress. Under other circumstances, Red might feel bad about what he was doing, but he reminded himself that he wasn't doing this because he wanted to hurt Chuck. He just wanted to destroy Chilton's relationships, and the blond was an unfortunate collateral damage in order to meet his ultimate goal.
"St-o-o-ppp!" Chuck shrieked, muffled by the mattress and thrashing in a vain attempt to get away "You're hurting me! MIKE!" What did it really matter at this point? It was already happening, and it was going to end soon anyways. "MIKE!" He begged further still muffled and having a hard time breathing at this point, Red started to tune him out and just wanted this whole thing to be over already.
It didn't take very long, the male body just didn't have much stamina in that regard, soon enough Red felt a pressure building up in his lower stomach, and although it wasn't something he indulged in very much at all, he recognized the feeling nonetheless. He still pressed Chuck's face into the bed, but now he was gripping the back of his hair hard, as the pressure grew more intense, as he inched closer to that peak.
Finally, the tension came to it's apex and Red sheathed himself in completely again, and grunted through clenched teeth as he released. His lower body jerked slightly at the intensity, and a new feeling washed over him - euphoria, more than he'd ever felt before, it was warm and intense and satisfying. And he knew why.
He'd done it. He'd finally done it. He'd finally gone through with tarnishing Chilton's 'good name'. His friends would never look at him the same again and clearly neither would his lover. Speaking of which, he'd finally let go of Chuck's head but the younger man didn't push himself up again like he had tried earlier, he wasn't thrashing around or generally resisting him, he was just bent over the mattress on his knees, clearly still conscious as indicated by his shaking and sniffling.
The disguised mercentary collected himself, standing up even though his legs were now wobbly and so was the rest of him if not as much, he tucked his member back into his pants, ignoring the blood and semen that coated it. Red looked back down at Chuck; the younger man had pulled his pants back up, but he now had his arms folded and was hiding his face into them, still shaking and still sniffling to himself.
If it were any other circumstance, Red would probably feel bad for him. "That was pretty great huh?" He said, mockingly, triumphant not over the sex, but over finally getting his revenge on Chilton "Well, not really, you're far too frigid - would you quit that sobbing already? Pathetic."
Not wanting to stick around since he'd finished his mission, Red haphazardly threw the jacket onto the bed and started out, unlocking the door. "M-Mike… wait…" Chuck stammered from where he was, clearly overwhelmed, and in need of some form of comfort. Red stopped for a minute, but didn't bother to turn around to face him again. Part of him did feel a little bit of guilt, but not enough for him to actually care.
"I'll see you later." Red dismissed, opening the door and then closing behind him in an almost slam, he left the premises without grabbing Chilton's motorcycle, and simply just disappeared into the shadows and background noise of Motorcity.
"Wake up! Chilton… Oh Chilton…" A distance voice called, a familiar one, Mike groggily struggled to open his eyes, but his eyelids were just so heavy… "WAKE UP CHILTON!" The yelling jolted Mike away with a bit of a jump.
"…D-Duke…?" Mike said softly, disoriented, finding himself in the middle of the Duke's 'throne room', the Duke was at his palatial chair as usual, looking down at him seemingly in amusement, although his earlier tone suggested he was also quite annoyed.
"Well well did you have a nice beautyrest, sunshine?" The Duke asked, still sounding annoyed; behind his large throne-like chair No.2 and Cyborg Dan were standing placid as usual.
"What… happened?" Mike asked; last thing he remembered he'd been riding his bike…
"Well I got footage of your little Red boyfriend dragging you around here," The Duke explained "and then I saw you walk out of the shed that he dragged you into, and then when I went into the shed, you were chained up in there!"
Mike was already confused, but he was really, really confused now "Wait you saw me walk out of a shed?" That… didn't make any sense. How could he leave the shed if he was chained up inside of it?
"I didn't just see, I recorded." The Duke explained, bringing up a screen and and playing a sped up recording. It clearly showed Red dragging him, unconscious, into the shed, and then what appeared to be him leaving the shed. However, a few sped up moments later it clearly showed the Duke and his cronies investigating the shed, and then dragging him out.
"Rewind," Mike requested "back to when I walked out of the shed." he squinted his eyes a bit as he studied 'himself' leaving the shed. It definitely looked like him, even had his Burners jacket that he was presently missing. However, there was one off detail.
"…Red." Mike concluded, referring to both the man and the color of the copies eyes, the only outward difference between them. Red has been the one who dragged him in there after all… and it wasn't far fetched that Kane Co gave him some kind of disguise technology when pallet-swapping pixelating technology was already commonplace.
"I thought so, his armor was in there." The Duke snorted.
"Did you bring it too?"
"Oh heavens no! I'm not letting that dreadful cursed armor anywhere near my hall," The Duke dismissed.
"Why help me then?"
"I'm not letting you hold me under unlawful imprisonment charges just because someone else hogtied you in my territory." The red-garbed man explained, but this was just an excuse. Every since the Duke of Detroits alliance with Kane almost destroyed Motorcity the public opinion of him was at an all-time low so he worked at slowly building himself back up, even if it meant helping someone he hated. "You can leave now darling." He waved him off, not wanting to continue this interaction much further.
"Can you give me a ride back?" Mike asked, he wasn't against the idea of hoofing it back home, but he was beginning to become unsettled over the thought of Red masquerading at him, he could have committed so many crimes or destroyed things in his name. He could really get the drop on the Burners looking like him. Whatever he was planning, it couldn't be good.
He expected the Duke to reject his request in the most outlandish way possible, but to his surprise the Duke simply sighed and turned to No.2 "Take the scrub back to his den of scrubs." He instructed, and she nodded.
"You're getting better at the 'being nice' thing, Duke." Mike offered, grinning up at the man, who signed over the top in return and boredly rested his chin into his hand.
"Don't make me reconsider."
Once they arrived at the Burners HQ, No.2 threw him out of the limo. Literally, the limo apparently had an ejector seat button and she did that to him, and it was rigged in a way the the parachute was only engaged once the seat actually landed, Comical, though not very practical in in other situations. "Thank you!" Mike called after the limo as it sped away. The brunet unbuckled himself and saw that all of the Burners vehicles, including his motorcycle, were all still there.
Which meant Red was probably still there too. He would have to approach this situation as carefully and delicately as possible, or he might end up freaking all of his friends out.
"GUYS ARE YOU OKAY?!" Mike shouted at the top of his lungs as he slammed the door open; he saw that in the middle of the garage almost everyone else was gathered up in a circle talking amongst themselves, but their conversation stopped as the ruckus Mike had just made alerted them to his presence. He was relieved to see they were all alright- although, they didn't look too pleased to see him. And where was Chuck? "Oh thank god," Mike said in relief as he approached them; they were all glaring at him crossly, even ROTH was chirping in an agitated way "you're all alright."
"What's it to you?" Dutch said harshly.
Whatever Red had done, it wasn't good.
"Look, this may sound like a weird question, but when was the last time you saw me?" Mike asked, getting his communicator ready, but also looking around the garage for a sign of Chuck or Red.
"You left hours ago, why? You finally decided you can stand us again?" Dutch inquired, his tone was angry and he was reared up to his full height with his arms crossed.
"Look this may sound crazy, but that /wasn't/ me."
"You're not trying to say you have an evil clone are you? Even Texas isn't stupid enough to believe that." Texas said as he got into Mike's space bubble and in his face, this did intimidate Mike just a bit; he looked down slightly and saw that the dark-haired Burner's knuckles were covered in brightly coloured band-aids, indicating that he'd just been punching at something… for a long time. And really hard too. Texas's skin didn't split open easily.
And he was clearly pissed off. At him.
"Where's Chuck?" Mike asked, anxiety growing; if Red found out what the relationship between him Chuck really was… there was no telling what he would do. A big wave of relief hit him when he saw the other boy appear at the doorway that seperated the garage from the living quarters. But he froze when he saw him. "Chuck! Are you okay?!" He called over the other Burners. Chuck didn't answer he just… stood there. Frozen.
"Just WHAT is wrong with you?" Dutch demanded, peeved off and impatient and he was soon in Mike's face similar to Texas. Mike put his hands up and waved them defensively.
"Look! I can explain!" He scrambled to grab his communicator again and fumbled with it, keeping his eye on Chuck as his co-pilot finally began to quietly make his way over to the group. His posture was… off, the blond usually slouched, but now he was walking straight-back, stiff and was wincing every other step he took.
"Explain why you covered up my tag art-"
"Hit me for no reason!"
"Accused me of conspiracy-"
"LOOK!" Mike shouted over them as he finally got his projection screen up and had the footage played on it. Before he'd left the Duke's place he'd requested a copy of the video file from the footage. This seemed to pacify the other Burners, at least in their curiosity. "I don't know how he got me," Mike began as the footage showed the part of Red dragging him into the shed "but he disguised himself as me." He explained, the Burners were skeptical up until the part where the Duke and his men took him out of the shed.
"So… it was Red this whole time?" Texas asked, sounding confused but relieved. Dutch, Jacob and Julie also appeared relieved, but not Chuck, in fact the blond seemed to drain even further of colour, concerning Mike greatly.
"Well… that makes sense, I guess, but why would Red do this and not… I dunno, blow up this building or kill us?" Dutch wondered, he wasn't as defensive as he was earlier, but he was still on edge.
"I think… I think he was trying to break us all apart?" Julie suggested, and the consensus was accepted against the group "I mean, we can't really function if we think our leaders a jerk."
"I dunno about that Deluxe is still functioning." Texas added as a joke, to lighten the mood a bit.
"Maybe…" Mike thought aloud, crossing his arms and keeping a close eye on his boyfriend who still hadn't said anything "he always seemed to go after me, not you guys."
"Maybe…" Chuck finally said, his voice came out soft and timid even for him "maybe he wanted us to think you hated us." Mike looked at him, dumbstruck.
"I could never hate you guys!" He said, bringing an arm over the hackers waist but unlike every single other time he done this Chuck snapped away from him quickly.
"Well… With Red running around with us thinking he was you… It was pretty easy to think that." Julie sighed "I feel foolish… of course /you'd/ never act like that."
"Of course not!" Mike assured further, he tried to put an arm over Chuck but just like with his earlier gesture Chuck moved away from him. "Look - whatever he said or did, I don't know what, but I'd never treat you guys bad. Ever."
Dutch looked to the other three.
"We believe you, Mike." Julie said, clasping one of his hands in both of her significantly smaller ones "You'd never be an asshole like that."
"Whoooo she finally swore! I'm so proud!" Texas whooped as he threw his arms around her dramatically, jerking her away from Mike and against him instead.
"Texas!" She complained, but in an amused way.
Dutch kept his arms crossed, but sighed in relief. "Well, I guess things can go back to normal then."
"Yeah." Mike agreed then looked up to Chuck with a smile - his smile dropped when Chuck looked away from him.
"Yeah… normal…" He heard Chuck mutter lowly under his breath.
Over the following days things went for the most part back to normal. The other Burners were a bit antsy not just because of the abuse from Red, but the fact that an intruder had been right in front of them and they didn't even notice. To quell their fears and uncertainties Mike kept himself at the headquarters and didn't leave, instead opting to take the metaphorical backseat to convince them that he wasn't going anywhere, and the strategy seemed to have worked.
Chuck was… different, the lone exception to things getting back to normal. He was never alone with Mike anymore except at night, and even so he now opted to sleep in his own bed alone. Usually, they shared. He rarely even spoke to him ever since he came back, and when he did he was either quiet or stuttering or both. When the other Burners went on patrol, he backseated with Julie instead of hanging back with Mike.
And… he was very aversive when it came to physical affection or contact. Not just when it came to Mike either, but with everybody. Hell, just the other day Texas did as Texas does and grabbed him from behind in what was basically an affectionate tackle, and Chuck straight up threw him over his shoulder in panic as if he were nothing more than a ragdoll and not a full grown 200+ lb adult. While Texas found it amazing that Chuck was 'finally becoming more awesome and stuff' Mike was further concerned because Chuck had clearly been panicking when he did it.
What was wrong? And why wasn't he telling him?
Mike wasn't sure anymore…
What exactly had Red done - when it came to the other Burners Red went after them by hitting a sensitive nerve. And Mike himself knew not just each and every one of Chuck's fears and insecurities, but the ones that would hurt him the most. But that was him, Red didn't know Chuck as well as Mike did and there was no way he could have found much out in the span of the day that he;d inserted himself within the Burners.
So what had he done to make Chuck so distance, so on edge, so…
Afraid.
Well, it'd almost been almost a week and Mike wasn't going to wait to find out anymore, and today was the perfect opportunity to, because no one besides the two of them were at the headquarters today. Dutch was visiting his girlfriend Tennie to help her in her ongoing repairs of the Cabler settlement, Julie was back home in Deluxe, and Texas was helping Jacob with some errands.
Chuck wasn't in their room, he never was during the day anymore. He in the loungeroom on the couch, but instead of watching TV he seemed to be boredly scrolling through the internet on one of his projection screens. Mike walked up behind the couch "Hey," he said, and Chuck stiffened up.
"I told you to stop sneaking up on me!" Chuck snapped, but didn't turn his head back, Mike flinched a bit at the caustic tone, but continued to approach anyway, moving to the side and then front of the couch to make himself visible. Chuck continued to look at the screen and not at him.
"Look I'm sorry okay - look, babe can we just talk?" Mike pleaded, the other boy pursed his lips together but said nothing "I don't know what's wrong and I can't know what wrong unless if you can tell me what's going on."
"NOTHINGS going on!" Chuck retorted as he shut down his projection screen and stood up, turning to storm out.
"Chuck, wait." Mike blocked his way "Babe this isn't like you! You haven't been yourself ever since Red came around." The mention of the name made Chuck lock his jaw in place, and that just solidified Mike's suspicions further "What did he say to you? What did he do?"
"He was just a jerk." Chuck answered, though his tone wobbled. He wasn't lying, but he was withholding information.
"You can deal with jerks, I know you can; there's something else." Mike dismantled his statement with his own "What happened?" He added with emphasis, continuing to block the door.
"Nothing happened! Why can't you just-"
"If nothing happened why are you afraid of me!?" Mike demanded - he saw Chuck's expression drop even further, meaning he was unfortunately right. Chuck /was/ afraid of him.
"Mikey I'm not afraid of you." Chuck tried to argue back, but that time he was definitely lying. His eyes were covered by his fringe as normal, but Mike knew instinctively tears were forming at the corner of them.
The brunet looked up at the taller boy with a hard stare "I know your levels of fear, Chuck - I know the difference between your fear when I'm speeding - and, and whatever fear this is! You're afraid of me and it's a different kind of fear than normal." Chuck was chewing the bottom of his lip, and rather than deny the allegations thrown at him he just turned his head away so he wouldn't be looking at him in the eyes. "Babe listen I love you," Mike continued, softer this time "I know something's bothering you… can't you trust me enough to tell me what's going on?"
"It's not that I don't trust you Mike it's just… It's just…" The blond began stuttering and his tone was wavering as what was undoubtedly a tempest of emotion was going through him "I… I… I can't…" And then Mike noticed something he hadn't noticed before. A smudge, a fading smudge that was between purple and red in color but still apparent, right at the junction where Chuck's neck met his shoulder. Mike hadn't noticed because of how distance he'd been and the crew-necked shirt but in their current positions he could finally see it. It was a hickey, that much he knew - but he didn't leave it there. Chuck hated hickies because of how pale his skin tone was, so Mike never gave him any.
"Chuck is that-?" He began, placing a hand on his shoulder and thumb over the mark - by the indents he could feel there were teeth marks embedded there too, so teeth had broke the skin too. At the contact Chuck's already pale face turned as white as a sheet and his fringe was splayed enough Mike could see his eyes were widened too.
"D-Don't-" The taller Burner stammered, panic rolling off of him in waves, before Mike could pull his hand off of him, Chuck pushed both hands against his chest and shoved him off with enough strength to knock the breath out of the Mutt driver and make him stumble back several feet.
The brunet looked up at his panicking boyfriend.
He had a bite mark on his neck he didn't leave, he panicked violently at physical contact, he refused to be anywhere near him, he wouldn't talk about what Red had done, he was afraid of him-
"...No." Mike finally said, in an uncharacteristically weak voice, as it finally dawned on him, and the corner of his eyes moistened "No. No. Chuck no, tell me he didn't." He looked back up at Chuck wanting desperately some kind of indication that he was wrong, that he was just over analyzing the situation.
But the way Chuck was staring back at him, face twitching as he was fighting back what had to be tears, the way he was shaking in place as if he was cold, Mike's heart sank.
"C-Chuck, oh my god Chuck I didn't think he'd-" Mike didn't finish his sentence and he didn't want to, he just came back up to him and enveloped him in a near bone-crushing hug with no intentions of letting go. And this time, Chuck didn't push him away; his shaking grew stronger and more intense, and Mike realized that he was racking with sobs. The wall that Chuck had put up around himself seemed to collapse and he returned the embrace, burying his face into the others boys shoulder, this wasn't an easy thing to do either because Mike was shorter than he was but he did it anyways. Mike felt wetness through the fabric of his shirt, and knew Chuck was crying.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry, I-I'm so sorry…" Chuck repeated over and over again, Mike wanted to tell him that he shouldn't be sorry, but he wanted him to vent first, interrupting him in such a fragile state wasn't going to help. He continued to hold him, rubbing his backing comfortingly and trying really hard to just be strong for him. "I-I thought he was you…" He confessed when he could find some stabilization in his sobs, and Mike had to fight the urge to form a fist "I-I know now it wasn't you… but I can't…. I… can't…" He struggled to admit what they both knew, that Red had assaulted him, and Chuck knew that it was him now, but at the time he thought it was Mike, and now Mike was the only person he saw hurting him.
Mike himself didn't say anything amidst Chuck's crying and apologies. The strongest aspect of their relationship was their emotional intimacy. It carried over from growing up together, and it had only gotten stronger since they started to actually become lovers. However, they'd never actually physically had sex. They were either working, stressed out, tired, or just trying to relax and enjoy not being dead yet. The sexual portion of their relationship just didn't seem very important because they were already as close as two people could be emotionally. It wasn't so much that they weren't ready, it more that they wanted that first time to be the right time. That wasn't to say that they hadn't done things, but they haven't gone all the way.
And now, well, there might never be a right time.
A cold, but burning feeling filled every single one of Mike's veins and circulated throughout his body until he could feel it from his head to his toes. It wasn't like anything he'd felt before, but he knew what he it was as soon as it hit him.
It was hatred.
He always thought that his complicated feelings towards Kane was hatred - but no, that resentment was nothing in comparison to what he was feeling now. Red had gone too far. Going after him was one, and making his friends think he hated them was another. But forcing himself on Chuck, who'd never done anything to him, just to get revenge on Mike? There was no justification for that. Red was beyond redemption.
Slowly and gently, Mike led Chuck back to their room so they wouldn't be as much out in the open as they were. He closed their bedroom door, and sat them both down at the edge of Chuck's bed. The blond wasn't as hysteric as he was earlier, but he was still clinging to Mike in a desperate death-grip for a comforting presence.
"I'm going to kill that bastard." Mike stated, deathly calm. And he meant it wholeheartedly. Throughout his life, people around him liked to tell him that there was no limit to how much Mike believed in people being good deep down.
Red was well beyond that limit now.
Mike tried to get up, but Chuck pulled him back down.
"Chuck you just wait here." Mike said as he tried to undo the blonds vice grip, but he couldn't.
"No Mike," Chuck told him, he managed to keep his tone straight even though he was in distress "don't go after him."
"Why not?" Mike demanded through clenched teeth "He ra- he hurt you, Chuck! He shouldn't be alive! You weren't even who he was after, he did that to you just to get back at me!"
"I know, Mike I know… he pretended to be you, he hurt us and made us think it was you…" Chuck trailed off, holding one of Mike's hand with his own and keeping a tight grip on it. "And even if he does deserve death… You're not a killer Mike, you can't kill people, that's not you. That's not who you are."
"Chuck-"
"Don't be like him." The blond begged, "Please Mike." And the weight of his words finally broke through to his stressed boyfriend; Mike brought up his solitary hand and covered his face as tears escaped his eyes no matter how tightly he kept them shut.
"I didn't care what he tried to do to me… He could do whatever the hell he wanted to me. But I never wanted anyone else to get hurt because of me. Especially you."
"I know Mike…"
And they sat in silence in the darkened room, just holding onto each other. They weren't sure where they were going to go from there. The damage had been done, it couldn't be taken back. What they did know was that they'd try their hardest to fix what they could.
Together.
Red stared at the call notification from Kane that appeared on his communicator, but he ignored it, he just stared at it until it went away. He was standing over a cliff, the one near where his home had once stood. The place where it all began. He was no longer wearing his helmet, he had it tucked under his arm as a cigarette dangling between his lips and teeth and he stared out into the vast chasm where he'd once fallen.
Now that he'd finally gotten his revenge on Chilton, he felt no more allegiance to Kane. Now he was free. Void of purpose.
Red didn't remember anymore what the purpose of his life was before the destruction of his home, but after the excavation he knew that for a short while, his life did have a purpose, and an end goal. He purpose had been to ruin Mike Chilton's life, like how the former soldier had done to him.
And now that that he'd achieved that long awaited goal, the initial high of his accomplishment had died down, and now he just felt empty.
Once again, there was no meaning to life. An no, he was not guilty nor was he lamenting over his life having no meaning. He wasn't different than anyone else; everyone lived their life in pursuit of some goal, no matter how simple or grandiose that goal was. Kane for example, lived his life in the pursuit of controlling everything and everyone. Chilton himself lived his life to be the 'hero of Motorcity'.
Red had lived to get vengeance on Mike Chilton. His goal had been a simple one - to ruin the former Kane Co soldiers life. And he'd achieved that goal.
Now his life no longer had a purpose, but he was fine with that. At least he'd lived to achieve his goal, that was more than could be said about a lot of people.
"You're quite good at shaking things up, aren't you?" A voice said behind him, Red didn't need to look to know that it was The Duke of Detroit.
"What do you want?" Red inquired, a long stream of smoke curling out from between his lips.
"So that's what your face really looks like," The Duke commented; the tracksuit wearing man wasn't smiling nor was he presenting in his fake-jovial attitude "I'm not impressed."
"Generally people aren't." Red shrugged and sucked into another long drag of his cigarette.
"What you did was pretty low, even for you." The Duke said.
Nonchalant, Red asked "How'd you find out?"
"When I sent Chilton the video file, he unknowingly downloaded some spyware."
"So you sent Chilton a trojan horse, classic." Red deadpanned.
"Those Burners have gotten under my skin more times than I'd care to admit - especially Chilton, he's a real pain. Even his remote-control cheating sidekick has given me some grief." The Duke told him.
"And? Why should I care?"
"Rape is low. Even for you." The use of such a word made Red clench up a bit inside, but only for a moment.
"It's not like the kid was underaged."
"And that makes it better, how exactly?"
"Maybe it doesn't, but it would have been a lot worse if he was."
"You're truly a miserable creature, aren't you?"
Red glared at him, but he wasn't angry, really he was just annoyed "Maybe I am, but who are you to judge really?" He pointed an accusing finger at the Duke "As I recall, you sold out Motorcity for a dumb poorly trickly out car. And it wasn't really about the car was it? You just wanted to get back at Chilton, just like me. People died during the Genesis Pod incident. Everyone in Motorcity could have potentially died, and it would have been your fault. So don't you dare come up here and pretend you're on some moral pedestal." He turned away again, facing the cliff.
"…" The Duke was silent for a moment "I did wrong," the blond man finally admitted, he sounded serious, for once he was meaning what he was saying "I let Chilton get under my skin. I wanted to get back at him, and I was blinded by my grudge, I ended up almost destroying my city in the process. I know that now, I acknowledge my mistakes, and I'm willing to atone. You, however," his tone suddenly became razor-sharp "you don't feel bad for anything do you? You knew the best way to get back at Chilton was to hurt the people he cared about, and you went after them. You didn't care who was hurt, you wouldn't care if anyone died, you committed rape in the name of your hate-boner for Mike Chilton. And you don't feel a shred of guilt for it, do you."
Red stood there for a moment, pondering "I guess I don't." He admitted, shrugging "If I could have hurt Chilton without hurting others I would have, but there wasn't another way. I didn't want to hurt the other kid, he was just… Collateral." He explained, looking out into the dark, bleak horizon. His cigarette was down to almost nothing and he took it out of his mouth, flicking it into the chasm below "It had to be someone, and it ended up being him."
He continued to stare out at the horizon.
"You aren't worth your weight in anything," The Duke told him, and Red nodded just to acknowledge that he was still listening.
It could be debated whether or not he noticed the Duke reach behind himself and pull out a handgun from a holster in the back of his belt. Or if he noticed the Duke point the already loaded gun right at his head, or if he noticed the Duke switch the safety off.
It could even be debated if he knew it when the bullet struck him right in the back of the head, or that he fell off the cliff as all of his motor functions shut off entirely. It could be debated whether or not the bullet killed him instantly, or if he kept cognitive function even if just for a just a moment, enough to know that he was dead.
The Duke walked up to the cliff edge and looked down; all he saw in the chasm was darkness. There was nothing else. Quite fitting, really.
He switched the lever on the handgun back to safety, re-holstered it and started off, towards his nearby limo where No.2 was waiting for him patiently.
THE END … Go home.