Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Chapter One: The Life and Times of Richard "Dick" Simmons
Richard "Dick" Simmons remained standing in place as he looked up at an apparently rundown building, the address of which the mysterious Church had given him. While a million questions should have been going through his mind, currently Simmons was seriously starting to question all of the recent life choices that had brought him to the stranger's abode.
For starters, this area was one of the more dangerous in all of Blood Gulch. The redhead had avoided it in the past just based on reputation alone. It didn't help that Simmons was also following instructions from someone he didn't even know the first thing about. Not to mention the stranger had inexplicably materialized as some sort of digital projection in his apartment.
But, Simmons reminded himself for what was the umpteenth time in order to quell the growing unease settling in the pit of his stomach, Church had promised him answers. Church had told him that if he came, he'd let Simmons know how he had found him. For someone trying to stay in hiding for self-preservation like Simmons, that was pretty fucking important. Truthfully, Simmons was often times far too inquisitive for his own good. He couldn't really say no, even though a part of him really wanted to.
Still, now that he was here, Simmons was starting to let his nerves get the better of him. Maybe whatever Church had to say wasn't worth whatever potential risk was involved here. Maybe he should just go back before something bad could happen. The lanky man was about to take a tentative step backwards when…
"Dude, are you gonna go in or what?"
Simmons started at the unknown voice coming from behind him. Like a deer caught in a headlight, he turned around wide-eyed to find a dark-skinned man around his own age with a tight-fitting teal t-shirt standing there. The stranger looked both bored and amused all at once.
"Er…" Simmons froze in indecision just then, unsure of how to respond or what to do. It had been a long time since he had ventured out of his neighborhood, and even longer since he had contact with so many unfamiliar people at once.
The man let out what could only be described as an exasperated sigh, "Let me guess. Church invited you here but didn't explain a damn thing about why, huh?"
Simmons blinked in surprise at the newcomer's accurate assessment, "H—how did you…?"
The teal-wearing man raised a black eyebrow as if suggesting that the answer to Simmons' question was obvious, "He did the same thing to me, dude. He thinks being vague on purpose is cool or some shit. Fucking annoying is what it really is."
"Oh." Simmons felt as though he was seriously failing at this conversation. He was so fucking out of practice with communication.
Perhaps the other man felt pity for the poor cyborg, as he reached out and awkwardly gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.
"I'm Lavernius Tucker, by the way." He said in greeting, "And I'm sort-of friends with Church." He lowered his voice slightly, "Guy might be a bit of an asshole, but whatever he called us here for? It's probably just something dumb. I wouldn't stress about it."
Simmons nodded his head in pretend understanding, "R—right."
Still, regardless of Tucker's reassurances, Church had somehow known about him. That alone made Simmons nervous as shit.
"Best not to keep Church waiting though." Tucker informed Simmons as he made his way past the lanky cyborg and towards the nondescript double doors, "Dude gets cranky as shit."
Simmons swallowed nervously as he quickly followed Tucker inside. As the doors closed behind him, the maroon-wearing man couldn't help but feel his jaw hang open slightly at what was actually inside the location.
For a building that had looked seemingly dilapidated and boarded up on the outside, the interior was surprisingly pristine and filled to the brim with all sorts of tech. The high-end equipment caused the readings from his red cybernetic eye to go off the charts and he felt his mouth actually start to salivate. He really was a fucking nerd about tech.
It actually took Simmons a few moments to realize that there were also quite a few more people standing around in what seemed to be some sort of large foyer right off the entrance to the building.
"Hey, guys!" A dirty blond dressed entirely in pink waved at Simmons and Tucker cheerfully from across the space from where he had been conversing with a bespectacled brown-haired man in purple.
The purple-wearing man smiled gently, "So you two were invited as well?"
"Obviamente." {"Obviously."}
An electronic voice from another corner of the foyer spoke up. Simmons couldn't help but openly gape at what appeared to be a brown-armored, Spanish-speaking robot.
The older man dressed in red standing next to the robot snorted at the question that had been poised by the purple-wearing man, as though the answer should have been obvious. The red-wearing man had a gruff leader-like demeanor about him, with arms crossed over his chest and a guarded look in his brown eyes.
"Another new friend!" A blond-haired young man in blue was practically jumping up and down on the balls of his feet in the middle of the foyer at the sight of the two newcomers, "And Tucker too. Hey, Tucker." He stated less-than-enthusiastically.
"Shit." Tucker swore under his breath at the sight of his obvious acquaintance, "He invited you too."
"Jealousy is not a good look on you, Tucker." The blond intoned in an almost sing-song voice as the teal-wearing Tucker only rolled his eyes in response.
In the confusion, the door that opened behind the cyborg and Tucker would have gone completely unnoticed by Simmons save for the bored voice that tickled the back of his neck not a second later.
"You going to move anytime soon, or what?"
Simmons blinked, not realizing until just then that he had been pretty much standing in the doorway in case he needed to make a speedy escape. He spun around to mutter a quick apology, only to be surprised by the appearance of two more people behind him.
The first was an apathetic-looking, heavyset man with tan skin and a loose-fitting orange shirt on. His gaze seemed to go right through Simmons and everyone else, as if he was lazily assessing everything in the room and yet not really giving a shit about any of it.
The second was a teenaged girl dressed in a clashing yellow tank top-and-jeans combo. Given her appearance, she seemed to be related to the tan-skinned man. However, instead of looking bored like her relative, the girl's dark eyes glanced around the place with interest.
The duo moved past Simmons and into the foyer proper alongside Tucker, leaving Simmons still unsure of how to react.
"Is that everyone?" Church's voice boomed down from the next floor up.
Suddenly, a petite woman with brown hair appeared floating in the middle of the foyer. Even without the haywire readings from his cybernetic eye again, Simmons would have been able to tell that she was another hologram due to how translucent she was.
The holographic woman smiled politely around the room, "I believe so, Church."
"Great." There was a bit of a commotion heard upstairs before a very real, flesh-and-blood Church suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. "Hey, guys," he greeted with fake casualness, "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much beyond wondering why the fuck you called us here, dude." Tucker harrumphed under his breath.
There were quite a few nods of agreement around the room, and Church evidently figured that was his cue to get right down to business. "I've contacted everyone here because you're either known Specials or…" And here, Church's dark eyes landed on first the armored robot and then on Simmons, "Or Specials-adjacent."
Simmons started, gripping his cybernetic arm tightly with his real one underneath his maroon hoodie in a vain attempt at self-reassurance. He was unsure how he felt about one of the things he had tried so hard to conceal being so readily known, "How—how did you…?"
"That would be due to me." A calm, get-down-to-business voice intoned from the stairs that Church had only just recently descended. A blond-haired woman dressed entirely in black camo stood there, arms crossed over her chest as she stared impassively down at the assembled group.
"This is Tex." Church said in way of introduction, "She's my gir—"
"That part really isn't important now." Tex interrupted Church, expertly ignoring the face he pulled in her direction, "What is important for them to know is that you and I had access to all sorts of classified information on Specials due to our past affiliations."
The heavyset man in orange raised an eyebrow slightly at her words, "And just how is that?" He questioned in a lazy drawl.
The blonde smirked, "Oh, Freelancer had files going way back on Specials in Chorus."
An excited squeal emanated from the pink-wearing dirty blond in their midst, "Oh, wow! You guys were connected to the Freelancers?"
Tex seemed more amused by the question than anything else, "You could say that." She informed him before nodding her head slightly, "Lucky for you, I pilfered that data when we left the group."
The brown-haired man in purple raised his hand politely, "Why would that be lucky for us?"
"If Church and I hadn't done that, you'd all be in deep shit by now given the groups that got a hold of the rest of Freelancer's intel after their fall." Tex informed them cryptically, as if that would ease their concerns.
Simmons could barely believe what he had just heard and he was sure that his mouth was just hanging open stupidly. Freelancer had data on him and hadn't bothered rescuing him? He'd been captive for months, and then he had been terrified and in hiding! Weren't they supposed to be the fucking good guys?
Church seemed to read his mind, "Trust me, Freelancer had its share of dark shit too." He stated glumly.
"As informative as this has been," the older man suddenly spoke up in a gruff voice, "Are we about close to getting to a point here, son?"
"Oh, como si tuvieras algo mejor que hacer." {"Oh, like you have anything better to do."}
Church coughed and straightened upright, glancing at everyone in the foyer.
"Frank DuFresne, also called Doc." He stated without preamble, gesturing towards the man dressed in purple, "Power negation." He turned to the young man in pink next, "Franklin Delano Donut. Force field manipulation."
"They're great for plugging in holes!"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Church muttered before turning his attention to the blond in blue, "Michael J. Caboose. Luck."
"Yeah, it comes in handy for finding things. Not for breaking them. That's never my fault."
Church and Tucker both rolled their eyes, "Lavernius Tucker. Energy generation."
"Dude, fucking get on with it!" Tucker groaned from his spot near Simmons.
Church pointedly ignored him, "Richard "Dick,"" here the asshole smirked again, "Simmons. Cyborg."
"Really?" The teenaged girl spoke up, squinting her eyes at the redhead, "Seems like a nerd to me."
"Same difference." Her possible relative muttered under his breath.
Simmons shrank in on himself, deciding then and there that he hated them both. Jerks.
"Dexter Grif. Emotional manipulation." Church went to the two of them next, starting with the man before going to the sister, "Kaikaina Grif. Vertigo inducement."
"Though I can make you sick in the good way too." The girl, Kaikaina, wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Yeah, yeah…" Church looked ready to move on until her words caught up to him, "Wait, what?"
"Goddamn it, Kai!" Grif looked as though he were about to throttle her.
Simmons couldn't help but smirk a little at the exchange, returning the glare Dexter Grif sent his way.
"Moving on…" Church murmured, clearly frustrated by the lack of respect he was currently getting.
"Fucking finally."
"Shove it, Tucker!" Church turned to the robot, "Lopez. Robot."
"Esto está resultando ser una verdadera reunión de las mentes." {"This is turning out to be a true meeting of the minds."}
Clearly wanting to move the event along, and more than likely not at all fluent in Spanish, Church glanced at the man standing next to Lopez, "Sarge. Sarge? That can't be your full name, right? The fucking files weren't updated on you."
"Legally changed it when I was old enough to sign the papers, son." Sarge puffed out his chest proudly.
Church raised a dark eyebrow, "Okay. That's not crazy at all. Sarge. Missile generation."
"And inventor of good ol' Lopez here!" The older man in red slapped the robot's shoulder jovially, causing a metallic clang to fill the room.
"Por lo que le pregunto "por qué" todos los días." {"For which I ask "why" every day."}
Lopez seemed far from impressed from Sarge's declaration, although Simmons was far from fluent in Spanish himself.
"This is my friend, Sheila." Church continued, gesturing to the hologram of the brown-haired woman with the patient smile, "She's what you'd probably call a holographic projection."
"I see to this facility's daily maintenance, among other things." Sheila further explained.
"How…?" Simmons was beyond curious by this point, totally forgetting that his nerves were almost shot.
"Whoa. Save the nerd questions for later." Church cut him off.
"Told you." Kaikaina muttered to Grif under her breath.
Simmons shot both siblings a withering glare that was, infuriatingly enough, met with a smirk and a stuck-out tongue.
"You guys already know my amazing self." Church continued, "I'm Leonard Church. Digital form."
"Which totally explains why his only real friend is a computer program."
"Shove it, Tucker!" Church gave the teal-wearing man the finger.
"…And me! I'm Church's best friend too!"
Church groaned at the exclamation thrown into the air, "You can shove it too, Caboose." Church finally glanced over at Tex, "And Tex's specialty is tactile telekinesis."
The blonde woman simply smirked at her introduction, clearly feeling no need to add any more information. Everyone else glanced at one another, unsure of what to say or do now that they had all been introduced.
"Fascinating." Grif finally spoke up dryly not a second later, "But is there a point to all of this, or…?"
Church smirked, as though he had been waiting for someone to ask that very question all along, "I've been thinking, given the anxiety in the city regarding Specials now, that there needs to be a team to help monitor things."
There was silence following Church's admission as they all processed his words.
It was broken a few moments later by Tucker. "You have got to be fucking kidding me." He muttered under his breath.
Church simply stared at Tucker with a serious look plastered on his face, clearly not joking at all.
"That in no way is a good idea, asshole," the dark-skinned man continued, "Especially given what happened the last time there was a team of Specials out there doing "good" in the world."
Right. The Freelancers didn't exactly meet a great end, did they? Simmons shivered at the reminder.
Church deflated a bit at the reminder himself, "I know, Tucker." He told him stubbornly a minute later, "But this time will be different because we won't be led by some power-hungry asshole."
"What, so it would be you instead?" Tucker scoffed at the notion, "Like that would be any better. We'd just be getting rid of the "power-hungry" part. You're still an asshole."
"You would know what an asshole is from looking in the mirror, Tucker!"
The two started to argue heavily, while the others glanced around debating on what to do while Tex and Sheila seemed content to just observe. Church and Tucker's fight became background noise to the others' musings. Extremely loud background noise.
"Sounds promising." Sarge laughed to himself, turning to the robot next to him, "What do you think, Lopez?"
"Al igual que importa lo que digo cuando te has decidido." {"Like it matters what I say when you've made up your mind."}
"I will help Church. That way I can prove we are the best of friends!" Caboose informed Donut and Doc happily.
"It…it seems like it could be a good idea." The pink-wearing Donut tapped his chin thoughtfully, "What do you think, Doc?"
"I…I don't know..." Doc seemed rather on the fence about the subject, touching his glasses in a nervous gesture.
"As long as I have fun I don't fucking care what I'm doing!" Kaikaina exclaimed, "Or who."
"Yeah, not happening." Grif informed her emphatically, eyes lazily watching the room around them.
"Oh, you suck!"
Simmons wasn't sure what to think about Church's proposal, especially considering that the whole concept would make the "staying off the radar" plan he had arranged for the rest of his life a whole lot harder.
Church frowned and held up his hand to cut Tucker off mid-rant, "Hey, I know it's not an easy decision, okay?" He told Tucker and the others, "Which is why I'm giving everyone a few days to think on it."
"Mighty generous of you." Tucker muttered sarcastically under his breath as he made his way towards the door without looking back, "But you know what? Fine, I'll fucking think on it."
"Me too." Doc assured Church as he moved towards the exit, the others all starting to follow suit.
Simmons, on the other hand, was simply grateful for the chance to leave the suddenly oppressive atmosphere and get a breath of fresh air. He didn't even say a word to Church as he walked out the door. He got to the corner of the street, and took in a deep gulp—filling up whatever machine was in place of his lungs now as he did so.
The cyborg was honestly surprised when Dexter Grif of all people joined him not a second later, the chubby man's dark eyes taking in the empty street and not looking at the maroon-wearing man at all.
"This whole thing is bullshit, huh?" Grif spoke out loud, really more to himself than to Simmons.
"Er…" Simmons' brain oh-so-eloquently tried to think of a response, but he quickly remembered that he failed at conversation.
Grif ignored him to pull a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, lighting one up and bringing it to his mouth as the redhead watched.
Simmons watched Grif, his brain finally latching on to something to say, "…You know those aren't good for you, right?"
He wanted to kick himself as Grif stared at him blankly for a few tense minutes. Simmons was pretty sure his nagging wasn't going to earn him Cool Points anytime soon. …Not that he ever really had Cool Points to begin with.
So, naturally, Simmons was totally caught off-guard when Grif suddenly asked: "Are you hungry?"
Author's Notes: As a fun little homage to comic books, each chapter title for Specials is going to be a reference to either a title of a graphic novel or something to do with comics in general. A kudos to you if you catch all of the references! :)
So, this chapter introduced most of the Reds and Blues as well as revealed why Church suddenly showed up like he did in the prologue. I was trying to come up with a way to quickly introduce everyone's abilities, so I hope it wasn't rushed! I might still do a Character Power List in a future chapter's Author's Note.
Next chapter: Grif and Simmons get something to eat and have their first talk together; Tex and Church talk about the possibility of a new team; Tucker ends up meeting a certain blond Freelancer in passing as he reunites with Junior; and we learn a bit about Donut's decision in regards to said team too! I hope it will be an entertaining read, if nothing else. :D
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this new story of mine! :)