"You know, for a chick, you pack really light," Tucker commented offhandedly as he pushed her crate of items into the corner.
Tucker's room was fairly plain, and identical to the other rooms in the base. It consisted of a bed with regulation blue colored sheets, a dresser, a cylindrical storage compartment for his power armor that retracts into the ground, a rather unstable nightstand, and a door that leads to a private bathroom. Despite the room being fairly empty, having two people residing inside will be a little bit of a squeeze, but considering who exactly was sharing with him, he didn't mind all that much.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tali scowled, trying not to look at his face. She was fiddling with something that she had snatched from her crate almost immediately once Tucker walked in with it. It looked to be a silver metal square, but he didn't know what its purpose served, and he wasn't about to ask a volatile and dangerous woman while in close quarters.
"It's just–uh, you know…" Tucker rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Girls like clothes and shit, and… stuff."
"So since I'm a girl, I'm materialistic?" Tali raised a brow and crossed her arms.
"What? No! I didn't mean it like that!" Tucker rushed to correct himself.
"Psst… I think you're just making her more angry," Caboose whispered unhelpfully to Tucker.
"Yeah, thanks Caboose," Tucker grumbled as she went into the bathroom, "Now get out of my room."
To be honest, Tucker didn't really know what to think about Tali. She and Tex had this weird friendship that involved shooting at each other, and Tali didn't really care how mad she made Church. If anything, she actually enjoyed talking to the cranky bastard, which confused Tucker even more. And when talking to any of the Blues in general, she jumps between being extremely sarcastic, teasing, and just straight up pissed, with the exception of Tex of course. It's like she didn't have the ability to smile genuinely, like something was weighing her down.
God, women were so complicated.
The only exception to that was at dinnertime, where she was extremely flustered after accidentally (he supposed) checking him out. Not that he minded that tidbit, since he knew he was kind of a Sex God (Bow Chica Bow Wow). He also noticed that Tex was practically dying of silent laughter that she was trying to hold in. The whole situation in the kitchen was really weird.
And now she was going to be sleeping in his room.
Tucker knew one thing for sure, he hadn't expected that she would've looked like she does. Her green eyes were a pure emerald, and her hair was shiny and tricked him into thinking it was black, but small glints of green popped out at him from time to time. She had a cute little button nose, and voluptuous lips. She also had the oddest shade of lipstick that was constantly applied to her mouth, the shade being a dark green. Her eyebrows were carefully plucked into a pencil thin shape, and her skin had a nice tan. Her body was that petite hourglass shape, and although she was pretty short, she made up for it in attitude. She was fucking fearless, and it showed when she taunted Church's freelancer ex-girlfriend.
Speaking of Tex, their form of communication seemed to be borderline telepathic. It was like while they were at the kitchen table, Tex and Tali were having their own private little conversation. How, he didn't know, but he had a hunch that those two have been out in battle together before, possibly even partners.
He didn't have time to dwell on that when Tali came out of the bathroom, letting her hair cascade down her shoulders. Just a glance at her made him think one thing.
Ah, fuckberries.
She was wearing a spaghetti strap green tank and black shorts that just barely covered her ass, and had her arms crossed to hide herself. He couldn't stop his eyes from wandering, drinking in her bare legs, perfect bod, and– holy shit, was that a tattoo?
Yup, since she was facing him, he could see a tattoo on her shoulder trailing to her upper chest. It looked like an animal that was rearing its head to charge, but before he could tell what animal exactly, she brushed her hair over to cover it.
"So… Do you have an inflatable mattress or something…?" She trailed off.
"Uh… no. We're gonna have to share I guess," Tucker adopted a more cocky attitude, taking a step forward, "Though, I can do more than just share a bed–"
She suddenly surged forward, pushing him into a wall and holding her arm over his throat threateningly. He would've been intimidated, but it was kinda funny to see her standing on her toes to try and reach his neck, and even then she had to extend her arm.
"Don't. Try. Anything."
He held up his hands in mock surrender, easing her arm off of his neck, "Hey, I'm not gonna do shit… unless you want me t–"
"No," She stressed, combing a hand through her hair as she walked over to the bed and climbed in, burrowing into the comforter.
Tucker frowned and resisted a sigh, silently making his way to the other side of the bed and laying down, careful to not touch the emerald eyed woman. Something told him that, if he did, there would be parts of him that would be missing in the morning, and despite how ludicrous that sounded, he reminded himself that she was good friends with Tex, the half-lady, half-shark that almost killed the entire Red team in the span of a couple hours. He thought he heard her say something in her sleep, but he was too tired to figure out what.
He had to say though, he was more than happy to wake up and see that face every day.
…
…
…
April had just finished piecing her armor together before walking out of her room and bringing up her radar in her helmet. It turned out to be very useful when trying to find her teammates, or more specifically, Grif when he sneaks off for his daily naps. After reading the radar for a couple seconds, she concluded that the entirety of Red team was on top of the base, and better yet, Donut had returned from his visit to the emergency room back at Command. Thank goodness he survived.
As she ascended up the ramp, she overhead Sarge talking to Lopez, "Lopez, I order you to speak a language we understand."
"Negative," Lopez replied, much to her surprise. It seemed that Lopez was now capable of speaking Spanish, a language that she happened to know and the rest of Red team did not. This should be interesting.
"Nice to see you back with us, Donut," April greeted as she reached the top of the ramp, seeing the now pink soldier, "And uh… nice armor."
"It's lightish red."
April blinked, shaking her head before directing her attention to the brown robot, "Hello Lopez. It's nice to finally be able to talk with you beyond just your silent stares."
"Thank goodness. One of you understands me. If I had the ability to speak and no one could understand, it would have been worse than not being able to speak at all."
April smiled, "Well, I'm glad I could prevent that."
"Uhm...April?" Grif questioned slowly.
"Yes Grif, I know how to speak Spanish," April replied to his unspoken question, "I actually know I variety of languages, save for a select few. Sangheili is one of them."
"…Lawelawe 'oe 'ōlelo hawai'i?" Grif asked in a foreign tongue after a moment, one of the few that April did not know. She only recognized it as Hawaiian.
"Uh, sorry Grif. I don't speak Hawaiian."
"Hey, I can teach you some phrases," Grif offered, and April smiled as he fumbled into awkwardness, "I-I mean, you don't have to learn if you don't want to."
"I'd love to!" April exclaimed, "I think it's an interesting language. I've never had a chance to study it like I have with others."
"Alright alright, quit the jibber jabber you two," Sarge cut in, though his comment was directed more toward Grif than it was April, "I suppose since our fair lady of the Red team can speak Spanish, that designates her as our official translator! Now the first order of business; Lopez, would you like to shoot Grif?"
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
…
…
…
"Libby, what on earth are you doing?"
When Tali reported in today, she couldn't imagine what she was seeing. Systems were failing, wires were sparking from the ceilings, and the monitors were a crimson red. She tried to scan the ship for other agents, but nothing seemed to work, and she struggled to maintain her calm composure.
Libby was staring out at the fast approaching ship, one hand resting on the railing that the Director usually stood in front of. He was nowhere to be seen, and that only heightened Tali's anxiety.
"I'm just taking in the view, Tau," Libby replied, flipping her dark blue hair. She turned and blinked her azure eyes at her younger counterpart, cobalt blue lips curving into a small smile, "Won't you join me?"
"What are you— Lib, we need to save the ship! We're the only ones that can right now!"
"Libby?… Libby? LIBRA!?"
Tali awoke with a ragged gasp, coughing as the air tumbled down into her lungs awkwardly, and pressed her open palm to her forehead, feeling the sweat droplets that had formed during her sleep. She hated these nightmares with a passion, cruel things that were created purely by her mind and the horrors he had put her through. Growling, she pushed her feelings down.
She rubbed at her eyes hard, sucking in a breath as she sat up. Her chip in the back of her neck ached, and she groaned as she jumped off of the bed and went about piecing on her armor. Luckily, Tucker was already gone so she could dress in peace.
As she ran, she pulled her helmet over her head, sighing in relief as her black tinted visor shielded her eyes from Blood Gulch's relentless sun. She saw the rest of the Blues and Tex standing a little ways away from the base, and as she jogged to them, she frowned quizzically as Caboose surged forward and gave Tex what looked to be a suffocating hug.
"I love you."
"…Do I even want to know?" Tali asked cautiously as she stopped beside Tucker.
"Tex is going to fix Sheila," Tucker explained.
"Tali, can you, y'know, get him off me?!" Tex yelped as Caboose's hold got even tighter. Man, he is too strong for his own good.
"Sweetie, can you let Tex go?" Tali asked, and after a beat, she added, "Michael, the sooner you let Tex go, the sooner she'll get Shelia up and running again."
"Oh, okay! I'm sorry!" Caboose chirped, taking a few steps back from Tex.
Tex wordlessly nodded to Tali in thanks and began to make her way to the tank, the rest of the Blues following close behind her. Tali kept a close eye on the Red base, seeing that Grif and Simmons were located on top of the base, in their usual positions as they bickered back and forth no doubt. April was perched atop one of the concrete pillars that was closest to Grif, and Tali waved discreetly so the Blues wouldn't notice. The action was seen by the other woman and her reply was a silent affirmative through the link, and Tali turned to her current objective.
"Tali, I'm gonna need your help with the tank," Tex called back.
"Alright," Tali ran up to stand beside her, the others hanging back, "So, how do you want to do this?"
"Well, I guess we can both take one side…?" Tex trailed off, observing the inconvenient position the tank was in.
"Alright… well, an overpowered freelancer and a…" Tali looked behind her to ensure the troopers weren't close, "hybrid can probably lift this with enough effort. Come on," Tali muttered so the Blues couldn't hear, taking hold of one side of the tank while Tex gripped the cannon.
"On three. One… two… three!" Tex grunted out as she began to lift the cannon, Tali throwing her entire body into the effort.
"Agh, this thing… is heavy!" Tali groaned as the tank flipped over thanks to the momentum, and landed on its treads with a loud CRASH!
"Okay. Let's get to work."
…
…
…
"So, since you're helping us, I guess you're not as mean as I thought," Tucker began as Tex fiddled with a few wires, Tali replacing the driver canopy that she had smashed previously (Oopsies?).
"I… wouldn't say I'm mean…" Tex began, "I just get hired to do mean things."
"Yeah… like blowing up a Pelican that someone was on!" Tali mentioned from on top of the tank.
"Oh, are you still on about that? I said I was sorry."
"You shot South in the foot, Tex," Tali retorted bluntly, giving her a look.
"Eh, the bitch deserved it. And isn't that close enough?"
"Uh… no?"
"You two know a person named South?" Tucker asked, bewildered.
"Yeah… she's kinda…"
"She's a major bitch. And a sore loser. And a backstabbing little cock–"
"Alright Tex, we get it," Tali sighed before turning back to Tucker, "By South we mean South Dakota."
"You mean the state?"
"Yeah. We also know a guy named North, York, Michigan…"
"What's your favorite state? We know someone with the name," Tali summarized for Tex, jumping off the tank, "canopy's fixed."
"Oookay… anyway," Tucker changed the subject, "What I meant was, you enjoy it."
"Well, I think it's important you enjoy what you do," Tex replied after a moment.
:Really? I don't understand if you're trying to scare the living shit out of these guys or be their ally at times.:
:What if I was trying to do both?:
:Then I'd say it's working.:
"So, let's say I wanted you to kill Caboose," Tucker gestured to the regulation blue soldier, "Would you do it?"
:Tex, please don't–:
"…Are we talking hypothetical here, or should we start talking numbers?"
:Goddamnit.:
What? I can't help it.:
:Tex… you have an unhealthy addiction to money.:
"Yeah I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
:Damn!:
:Come on, Tex. You wouldn't have actually killed Michael.:
:How do you know that?:
:Because Tex,: Tali resisted a giggle, :Michael is your roomie!:
:Ugh… don't remind me.:
:I'm sorry, who has to share a room with Tucker? Yeah, karma sucks bitch!:
"Tucker! What the hell is my body still doin' up here?" Church called down from the cliff.
"Uh, that's part of being dead Church. Your body doesn't move around that much. Maybe you haven't grasped the concept yet," Tucker replied with a confused look.
:Oh, right. Probably should've buried him.:
:God, he's gonna start yelling isn't he?:
:That's Church for ya, Tex.:
"Alright, let me rephrase that then. Why in the hell haven't you buried my body yet?"
"Buried?" Tucker started, "With what? All we have are pistols and rifles! What do you want me to do, shoot you a grave?"
"Well then how about shipping me back home? Y'know, let the love ones pay a little respect!"
"Well Church, here's your girlfriend," Tucker turned to Tex, "Tex, as one of Church's loved ones, would you like to pay your respects?"
Tex said nothing, but Tali could feel her annoyance and anger toward the Director flare through the link. She turned and resumed to work on the tank, and Tali joined her, holding a spanner.
"That was a stirring eulogy," Tucker commented sarcastically with a grin behind his visor, "Rest in peace, good buddy!"
"You know I have family besides my girlfriend," Church commented, and at that, every muscle in Tali's body tensed. Tex noticed this immediately.
:Tali…:
"Oh yeah? Who then?" Tucker replied, crossing his arms.
"If you must know, I have four sisters," Church huffed, not at all amused by Tucker's antics, "Libra, Taurus, Scorpio, and Aries."
"...the fuck kind of names are those?"
Tucker's response fell to deaf ears, and Tali dropped the spanner in her hand with a loud clatter. She didn't register the eyes that turned to her, didn't notice as Tex tried to talk to her through the link, and didn't notice how Tucker asked in confusion what was happening to her. No, her mind was going a mile a minute, and memories flashed across her mind as she couldn't believe the words Church has just uttered.
He remembered. He remembered his sisters but he doesn't remember what he is, or what they are, we are, and he doesn't...doesn't remember when Libra…
:Tali, come on honey, you have to snap out of it!: Tex pleaded.
:Sis? Is something wrong? I'm getting a lot of negative feedback from your end.: April chimed in, her concern felt even through this distance.
:He remembered:
:Oh...Well, I'm here if you need to talk, Tali: April stated quietly, though to Tali it was merely static at the base of her skull. She ignored it completely in favor of the ghostly apparition in front of her.
"Tali… are you okay?" Tucker asked as Church appeared beside him, tension seen even in his apparition. Tali gulped, eyes darting from Tucker to Church, and then to Caboose approaching from her right. Tex placed a comforting hand on her upper back, and she breathed in through her nose and out for her mouth.
"It's better now than never, don't you think?" Tex asked softly, almost soft enough so the others couldn't hear the proposition. Tali looked at the black armored agent from the corner of her eye and nodded slowly, turning back to Church.
"Leonard...I haven't been entirely truthful," Tali began, seeing both Tucker and Church recoil a bit at Church's first name, "I…" and then, with shaking hands, lifted her hands to her helmet, yanking the offending piece of armor off with a nervous exhale. Her emerald eyes locked onto Church's visor, and she could just sense that he recognized her.
"Taurus…" Church said slowly, and Tali flinched at the name. She hated the name Taurus, and preferred the shortened Tau, and Church knew this. However, since she had no doubt he was currently shocked at who was standing in front of him, she said nothing to correct him.
But, knowing Church, an argument would soon rear its ugly head now that she was revealed.
"Whoa whoa whoa wait what?!" Tucker butted in, unable to keep his gaze on Tali or Church for more than a second before darting to the other, "You're his… and he's you're…"
Tali sighed, her green lips twitching into a small smile, "Hey big brother."
…
…
…
"What in the fuck is wrong with you? I asked you to do one thing and what do you fucking do? You–"
"I what? Follow my brother into a career that I was born into, just to make sure you don't get yourself killed?"
"No, you decided to leave home and place yourself in a goddamn box canyon–"
"What home, you ass!? "
"And you put yourself in danger and are probably scaring Libby to death–"
"Well, I'm doing better than you, aren't I? Mr. 'Oh I'm not really the leader but I'll just self-promote myself because that's how big of a fucking ego I have', and then you don't even recognize your sister when she arrives and get yourself killed–"
"I haven't seen you with your helmet off until now! And Caboose killed me!"
"Leave Michael out of this!"
"Why the fuck should I? He shot me with my own fucking tank!"
"Whatever! At least I'm not the one pretending to know what I'm doing and constantly getting team killed!"
"Maybe that's because we can't decide whether you're a Red or a Blue because your armor is green–"
"Green is made from blue, you dumbass! God, I forgot how much of a dick you can be!" Tali flung her arms up and sat on the ground heavily, glaring at the apparition.
"Well maybe you should've told me who you were when you first got here!" Church exclaimed, and she could imagine his face go red. If he had a face, that is.
"I assumed you didn't remember me, so I kept my mouth shut and just let myself become Tali! And you know what, I liked being Tali a lot better than I liked being Tau! Tau is treated like shit! Example A, this argument!" Tali screeched.
"This is not an argument," Church tried to restrain himself from yelling, but she could tell he was failing, "I'm just a little surprised that my little sister shows up out of nowhere and I don't find out until I mention her over my dead body!"
Tali punched the ground angrily, feeling tears pool in her eyes, "Do you have any idea what it was like to think you forgot about me? All you mentioned was your girlfriend that I didn't even know existed!" And she still doesn't exist, but let's not get into that right now.
Church shut up for a second, something that she was very glad for, but the silence didn't last long.
And what he said just about killed her.
"Well, maybe if the Pelican you landed on never even showed up, I wouldn't be dead, and none of this would've happened. Hell, I might've been home by now, you never know," Church said coldly, practically seething with anger.
She saw him flinch a little when tears leaked from her eyes, and she wiped at them angrily, "Maybe so," She hissed icily, "But either way, you're dead, and I'm here. Now go and mope by your corpse and leave me be."
Tucker couldn't tell very well, but Church actually looked… hurt by her words, before huffing and disappearing. He glanced at Tex, who had covered her visor with her hand and was looking just downright tired, and Caboose was staring at Tali… er, Tau with concern.
"Um… Miss Tali? Are you really Church's sister?"
She sighed then, and he couldn't help but think someone should never sound that defeated, "Yes, Michael, I am. I was just… scared to reveal it to him."
"…Should I call you Tau now?"
"No, no, just stick to Tali, Michael," Tali insisted, wiping a few tears away and sniffling, "I like it better than Taurus."
"Oh. Okay… I think Tali is a pretty name."
"…Thanks sweetie."
Tucker noticed that Tali turned slightly to Tex, and watched with curiosity as Tex stared back, and while it was beyond creepy, he couldn't help but think he was missing something.
Caboose was trailing up the cliff to probably try and talk to Church, but Tucker didn't feel too inclined to follow. He didn't have siblings, but he was pretty sure that Church burned Tali pretty bad.
After some debate, he stepped forward and kneeled down beside the helmet less woman, trying his best to ignore the solid glare Tex was giving him, and hesitantly put his arms around her. Fuck, he didn't know how to comfort girls!
For a moment, he was pretty sure that Tex was going to throttle him, and she even moved to do so, but she froze midway. That was when he felt two arms snake around his neck, and something soft press into his chest piece.
Okay… so, she's hugging me back… what now?
He glanced at Tex, and he guessed she could tell he was a little lost on what to do next, and opened a private channel.
"Tex, what do I do?"
"I… don't know. Church hasn't ever fought with her like this before, so this is new territory," Tex admitted, looking down at the woman in his arms with pity.
"Man, did Church have to say that? That was just cold," Tucker shook his head, "I still don't understand why you put up with him either…"
And he nearly had a heart attack when Tex fucking chuckled.
It wasn't an amused one though, it was everything but. It held weariness, sadness, regret, pity… damn, the Church family is messed up.
"Church doesn't know when to stop when he gets the ball rolling. And as for why I put up with him… I don't. It's too complicated to explain."
"Uh, okay?" He honestly had no words for that explanation.
"Just keep hold of her. She'll come back eventually," Tex turned from him to work on the tank again.
"Come back? Come back from what?"
He could sense the sad smile from behind Tex's helmet, "From her nightmare."
…
…
…
"Why don't you come enjoy the view with me, Tau?" Libby smiled.
"Taurus, what the hell are you doing? Get your head together!"
"Shit, she's going to get us all killed."
An airlock opening. Armored bodies flying out. Steel and yellow flash by, soon buried by debris. An EVA helmet covered in snow, blood on the visor. Tan armor frozen by purple paint, stuck in frozen horror as the grenade ticks down in seconds to explode.
"Failure. That is what you are based on. Failure and rage."
"Tali! Come on, snap out of it! I know you're in there!... Dammit woman!"
New situations come to mind. A blue soldier being hit by a explosive shell. Black armor cartwheeling in the air after a plasma grenade stuck to their breastplate. A rocket zooming towards the unprotected back of an aqua soldier. A nuclear explosion with a colorful collection of soldiers at ground zero.
"TAURUS!"
SNAP.
Her eyes flew open at that god awful name and she blindly swung her fist towards the voice that uttered it, hearing a yelp of pain a moment later as her fist connected with a chestplate. She blinked numerous times before the armored man rubbing his jaw came into focus.
"Uh… sorry Tucker…" Tali trailed off, before adding, "Oopsies?"
"Eh, Church warned me that you didn't like your name," Tucker shrugged off her apology, getting to his feet and offering her a hand.
Tali took the offered hand, standing upright and brushing off dirt and grass. Slipping her helmet over her head, she looked expectantly to Tucker, who looked like he was going to say something.
"Uh, are you okay? Church wanted me up on the cliff, but I wanted to make sure–"
"Yeah, I'm good Tucker. You can go, I'll be fine… and thanks," Tali nodded gratefully to him, masking her vulnerability. Tucker had already seen too much, more than she would even allow Caboose to see, and that was saying something.
"Hey, anything for you baby–"
"Tucker. Go," Tali stressed, but for some reason she was smiling.
"I'm goin', I'm goin'," He replied while walking backwards, and she shooed him with her hand until he turned around.
:What'd you see?: Tex asked quietly through the link, and if Tali could see the black armored agent's eyes, she would bet that her brown orbs would be staring at her with carefully hidden concern and pity. Tali hated pity.
:The same as before and then some,' Tali sighed, cocking out one hip, 'My mind created more simulations about the blues here.:
:Like?:
:Michael being shot by Sheila, Church exploding because of a 10-megaton bomb in his gut, Tucker getting hit by a rocket… and you… well…:
:What happened to me?:
:Once you finished fixing the tank and started shooting at the Reds, some girl in pink armor threw a plasma on you.:
:Oh… well, shit. I'll be careful then.:
:Yeah, that's probably a good idea.: Tali sighed. She shot a look at Tex, and Tex seemed to sense it, looking back at the green soldier with a mixture of pity and sympathy. Wordlessly, Tex wrapped an arm around Tali for a moment, hugging Tali to her side before letting go and resuming in her maintenance on Sheila.
Tali calmed her beating heart and resumed in assisting Tex, pushing away the hurt and the nightmares as she always did.
...
...
...
Special thanks to meep15 for liking and following this story! It means a lot to me to know someone's enjoying it thus far :)
Lonessa out.
