Smoker took a slow sip off of his coffee. A nice, easy afternoon, with moderate temperatures and light winds. And no calls. Given that the last week had been a non-stop dance to squash a rash of grassfires born from the tail end of a dry lightning storm, a break was welcomed. It would never last, but they might be able to milk a couple days of relaxation out of it.

And then there came the cacophony of yelling from the main hangar; given the easy moods that had infected just about everyone on base, it was jarringly out of place. He couldn't make out what exactly was said, but he knew the participants; there was no mistaking Maru's husky shout. The other voice was new enough to only be one other person.

They had taken in the protégé of one of GT's old friends. A powerfully built mid-class helicopter, Blade had already been trained; the chief had agreed to take him at Piston Peak to get him some experience. And mayhaps to keep him. He had already shown himself to be an incredibly hard worker and a fast learner; he found comfort in structure and consistency, which gave him good marks with all officers on base (even Smoker had to admit it was damned refreshing). He was otherwise quiet, and tended to keep his own company. To each their own, he supposed, but there was something…palpable around him. Smoker wouldn't quite call it a chill, but Blade's eyes had something hard and electric that was generally seen only in weathered elders, experienced soldiers, and seasoned first responders. Not young studs fresh out of Hollywood.

Now that had been an eventful day. Their new helitanker was the Blade Ranger? Who'd evaporated from the public eye a couple years prior after the abrupt end of his skyrocketing career? Needless to say, speculation on his performance and personality had run rampant amongst all inhabitants. Several had set his performance bar spectacularly low; no way a soft boy from LA's red carpets was going to last a month out here, never mind an entire season (insert a heck of a lot of 'tv season' jokes here). GT had maintained his typical skepticism, but he held the old fire rig who had overseen Blade's conditioning in high esteem, and with that behind him had agreed to accept him. Nevertheless, GT had been hounding the kid with his typical verbal stress-tests. To date, Blade hadn't even flinched. Hard-willed, that one. He was gonna go places in this career, Smoker was sure.

At least, Smoker had been sure.

GT didn't have a problem with heated emotions; indeed, he was probably the biggest offender, and could go from amiable to hostile in the time it took to spit on an ant. He had teeth, and everyone knew it. The line was drawn, instead, at turning an argument into a knock-down drag-out fight. He'd let people scream at each other all day (eh, maybe thirty minutes to an hour, before the headache set in), but he'd put the right good kibosh on a yard scrap.

Speaking of, whatever was happening inside the main hangar had been abruptly taken outside to the apron. And by "abruptly," Smoker meant that Maru can flying out of the doorway. Launched out of the doorway, really. He landed hard on his side, rolled a couple times, and finally stopped when he hit the wall of the storage hangers near the jumpers' building. Oof, that was going to leave a dent or three. And no small amount of scratches. Smoker made to set down his coffee and check to see how hard his brain had been rattled, but Maru picked himself up with a painful wince that swiftly morphed into a wrathful glower that would put to shame all but the most vengeful people. He snarled, and pulled a very large, very heavy looking cast iron wrench from his tool holster.

And hardly a moment too soon. His dance partner came barreling out of the hangar after him, clearly intent on making the tug's escape very difficult. And painful. Smoker frowned; this kid was… enraged. He'd call it such, because he had been worked into such a frothing fury that he had dropped his cool, collected demeanor in favor of rolling Maru into the asphalt. His eyes were flashing, and he didn't have a care for anyone but the stout purple tug he'd just knocked into a building. That chill he'd been carrying? It was now a raging blizzard, forming razor-edged ice as it went. If looks could kill, Maru would've been dead before he'd hit the wall. But since Maru wasn't dead, and was making a dangerous growl of his own, it would have to be done… more directly.

Smoker thought long and hard about stepping in to stop this right now, but he did not feel like getting bitten today. No siree. And really, they weren't going to kill each other. Probably.

Blade lunged, clearly not finished making his point all over the tug's face. Had to hand it to the little punk, though; facing down a hefty chopper several times his size that was coming for him as a bearcat comes for deere, and he didn't even flinch. Instead he actually met Blade partway, ducking low and jogging aside to leave Blade's teeth snapping at nothing. Blade had some brute strength behind him, but Maru was infinitely more stable and maneuverable on the ground. He snapped up the tine holding the wrench, which connected with the tip of Blade's nose. Painful, for sure, but the Agusta just blinked and shook it off. The weight of the wrench took Maru's swing wide, and with the tug now close off the side of his prow, Blade adjusted his facing and pounced.

Maru was not able to adjust from the momentum of his swing fast enough, and the big chopper bowled him over, pinning him under part of his bulk. With his opponent now with nowhere to go, Blade sunk his teeth into Maru's helm and back, leaving vicious, deep dents and scratches in the purple plating. His nose gear was pressed to Maru's side, keeping him down to take his beating. That was probably as painful as anything; Blade was big enough to use just his weight as a weapon.

However, he was hardly the only brute on this base; Piston Peak Air Attack had their share of ogres, and the other side of the airstrip was starting to stir. Marvin and Tracey stuck their heads out of their respective spaces, the latter with what was most probably a string of inventive curses, and the former with an exasperated frown. Both shot a look down the airstrip to a pair of much larger hangars; Cabbie was hard to rile in any really meaningful way, but Theodor was well into his afternoon nap. If it wasn't an emergency or covered in sugar, any issue had better wait until he was back up, or else. If they didn't want a particularly nasty fight on their hands, they had best shut the boys up before the giant roused. To this end, Marvin started briskly across the airstrip, spooling his engines as he went.

Unfortunately for the kids, he wasn't fast enough. The hangar door that was thrown open ended up not being Theo's at all. Instead, Charlie rolled out of the chief's hangar, followed shortly by the High Lord Fire-Breathing Dragon himself. GT eyed Marvin and Tracey, before catching the violent tussle over in the commons. Even from this distance, Smoker could see his face darken, and he spat out a lot of words that seemed to be full of the letters 'f' and 'u'. Also some 'c's and 'k's. No matter the distance, the loader was sure he'd be hearing all kinds of words up close, loudly, and very, very soon. The Boeing-Vertol didn't bother starting his engines at all, instead folding his front rotors back out of the way before charging strait across the taxiways, grass and dirt be damned. It was an impressive display; most choppers descended from military stock (including even civilian Chinooks) could fold their rotors for tight spaces, but outside of the barracks and ship quarters it was often a sign that a helicopter meant to get down in some capacity. It was typically a "get the hell out of my way, because I will go over or through you" type of body language, and GT could use it to spectacular effect. Up in the tower, Mike was watching the apocalypse come with a dry smirk, leaning over to queue the PA.

"Everyone, hold onto your afts."

Not that either combatant took any notice. Blade was still dominating this fight, but Maru was a scrappy brat from the streets, and stubborn as hell. He managed to grip the wrench in his other tine and swing it up hard, which connected quite solidly with the glass panels behind Blade's eyes. Even at the distance the track loader was at, the sound of cracking glass was audible. That made Smoker wince loudly, and Blade reeled. Being clocked in the ears was no fun, especially not with a cast iron wrench. Whether it was luck or a calculated blow was anybody's guess, but it had the desired effect; Blade instinctually recoiled just enough to let Maru slip out and put a little space between them. Blade had to shake his head a couple times. Had his bell rung good, apparently, as his vision appeared unfocused, and he twirled his rotors to keep his balance. It didn't last, and Blade eventually rounded back on Maru with a snarl and bared teeth. Maru had managed to place a good hundred feet between himself and the Agusta, and when Blade charged again he chucked the wrench hard in his direction. The tug had some pretty good aim, and Smoker could only imagine what would be damaged when it landed.

And oh, did it ever connect. With GT's canopy. It made a loud thunk as it bounced of his white hull, and if there wasn't a dent left behind it would be a miracle.

Maru looked aptly mortified at finding that Chief Vortex had just stuck his massive head right in between their fight, and taken the painful blow meant entirely for a different red and while helicopter. He flinched back and cringed when Vortex's lip curled, and he sent Maru a devastating glare punctuated with a hiss that could wither an entire redwood forest. The boy shrank into the tarmac, suitably cowed.

On GT's other side, Blade had eyes only for the offending tug, and jogged to move around the Boeing to continue his charge. Chief Vortex wasn't having any of it, and he caught Blade with a sharp bite right in the flank. That got the kid's attention and he rounded on the older helo with a snarl. Not good. GT might look harshly on firefighters who started fights with their teammates, but if one wanted to rumble, he'd sure as hell finish it.

Blade stiffened as if to lunge again, and Vortex wasn't going to let him have it. He roared and bulled straight into Blade's side, his broad prow slamming hard against his flank hatches. Blade wobbled on his gear and gave ground. The chief had about two solid tons on the younger chopper, and from the look on Blade's face, it was a harsh adjustment from fighting a forklift a quarter his size to fending off a male Chinook with more girth than he had. Whether it was that last hit or his exhaustion setting it didn't matter, but once he put a little distance between himself and the Boeing he settled a little. He now had his tail to Smoker, though, so his expression couldn't be read. At least, not by him. GT, however, finally let his piercing stare drift a little, before he turned enough to look squarely at both kids. If he could give a name to GT's expression right now, it would be whatever grade of furious caused distant stars to explode. Smoker put his coffee to his lips. Here it comes…

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?"

Maru had his gaze firmly on the ground, and Smoker could see Blade's rotors twitch.

"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with both of you!? We catch a breather for the first time in weeks, and you two dipsticks' response to some downtime is to start taking pieces off of each other? If you children feel like having your little spat, I'm sure I can drop you both off at a playground and you can continue this there. Don't you dare think about coming back to my base, though. I have my own kids; I don't need to be raising you guys, too." He took a moment to spit on the ground. "I don't have time for this slag. Charlie doesn't have time for this slag, which is unfortunate, because he's going to have to be the one to fix it."

Maru seemed to have gained a little courage, and opened his mouth.

"Don't you even fucking dare." And Maru shut up with a click. "You, I expected better from you. You might be a smart-mouthed city brat, but you're a clever brat who's learned how to work. I was hoping you'd also learned how to not clobber your teammates with your tools when you get a little sand up your tailpipe." An angry snort. "Disappointing. Extremely damned disappointing."

Smoker felt a little bad for him. Maru had worked really damned hard to get where he was; GT had been rougher than usual with him when Charlie brought him on almost four years ago. And yet, he'd busted his bumper enough to earn both the tandem-copter's respect, and an offer at a permanent spot. He'd been showing up diligently ever since, and each year he brought more credentials with him that he'd earned in the off-season. He was well on his way to being a solid mechanic in his own right. Hearing Chief Vortex's bitter admonishment looked to be particularly painful for him.

GT let him stew in his discomfort before he shifted his attention to Blade, who squirmed just slightly on his suspension.

"I am so close to letting you go, you have no idea. The only reason I'm not just cutting you loose if because you're new so I guess I really shouldn't expect any better yet, and because Mayday asked me to take you in. I like Mayday, but that doesn't mean I like you. Don't think you've got more protection behind his reputation than you actually do, because I will ship your sorry aft back to him in the same time it takes a rock to fall off a cliff. You wanna stay up here the rest of the season? I had better see some serious hustle out of you. You had better be awake before me, and in bed after me, so help your Maker."

Vortex stopped to catch his breath, sucking a slow breath in through his teeth and blowing it back out from his vents. Behind him, Marvin and Tracey had taken up places on either side of Charlie, all three at a safe distance from GT's wrath. Hell if he knew where the rest of the jump team was. Cabbie was just starting to amble over. Thankfully, there was no sign of Theodor.

"Consider both of you on the most tenuous probation you can imagine. Do not give me another reason to find fault with you, or it will be nasty." His gaze shifted between both of them for a minute. "For the next damned month, you'll both have everyone else's chores. I don't care if we're working a fire from sunup to sundown, you will get everything done, dinner included." Neither tug nor helicopter dared to even wince. "In addition, you two are going to clean my base, top to bottom. And you can't just soak it with a hose, either. I want all this slag scrubbed. The hangars, inside and out, the aprons, the taxiways, I should be able pick a surface of my choosing and be able to eat off of it. If you two aren't doing chores or workin', you should be scrubbing." If they objected to the extra punishment, both of them were wise enough to keep quiet about it. "Am I really fucking clear, or am I really fucking clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

Chief Vortex gave another disgusted snort.

"Get to it, then. Lucky you, everyone else did their chores today. I better see you both start scrubbing. After he checks you idiots for any permanent damage you may have caused each other, I'd see Charlie for brushes, if I were you." His voice dropped then, straight to the ninth level of hell. "And if you two even so much as spit in each other's direction, I am hurling you both off Canopy Dome myself, to hell with the consequences."

Blade and Maru exchanged looks that could be called venomous if you were feeling polite, but otherwise parted without incident.

Smoker relaxed back into his treads, downing the last of his (now cold) coffee. Well, excitement over, he supposed. And nobody died, which was always a plus. Still, the kids were on punishment for the next month straight. It remained to be seen if their tempers could stand the strain.

"You're a damned fool."

Charlie had been grumbling errantly to him as Maru sat for repairs. A few he could have done himself, but the majority of the damage was done where he could neither see nor reach. Damned choppers who fought with their damned teeth…

"What the hell did you do in there?" Charlie had finished hammering out the large number of dents in Maru's plating, and was assembling his sander. Turns out, that initial toss from Blade had knocked a few hydraulic lines loose, which Maru had only noticed when he'd found himself in a slowly growing pool of fluid. Hmph, no real harm, except that it had hurt and made him spitting mad.

"I didn't do anything."

"The hell you didn't."

"It was not my fault!"

"I didn't ask if it was your fault! I asked what you did!"

It took all of Maru's willpower to not snarl.

"What is the damned difference!?"

"If you don't know, then you really are acting a fool." Charlie gave him a stare before going back over his canopy with the sander. Maru grit his teeth through it; he'd pressed for Charlie to just paint over the repairs, but the older tug had insisted that he remove the flakes and abrasions first. Claimed it got better results (he was right, really, but it didn't feel comfortable having his skin scoured). Charlie was quiet for a short while.

"You figure it out yet?"

"Figure out what?" And he said it with more vitriol than the old man deserved.

"Dammit, boy," and Charlie stopped what he was doing to come around and look Maru dead in the face. "The difference is whether you're man enough to admit your mistakes. It takes two to have a fight, kid, unless you're crazy or really full of yourself. It most certainly was not all your fault, he had to make the decision to join you in your stupidity, but you clearly did something to contribute. What was it?"

"Nothing! I did nothing! He just attacked me!"

Charlie huffed and shook his head but said nothing.

Maru crossed his tines and glared at the floor. It felt like a childish gesture, but it fed his anger, which he was enjoying doing right now.

Because he had the right to be angry, after all. Damned arrogant aircraft had the nerve to give him the old nosetoss just for asking some questions.

Why are you so chilly all the time?

What crawled up your exhaust and died?

What, in your silver spoon show star life, could have happened to you to make you so bitter all day long?

Nothing in your past could possibly be that bad.

Maru's brow twitched. It was right about there that the conversation had started taking a turn for the worst. Blade had bristled, and inside, Maru had grinned. Finally, a reaction, and so he kept pushing. Digging, deeper, into the soft, pampered actor who'd managed to come out here and be so damned perfect, he knew all the rules, and GT didn't seem to give him nearly as much grief as he'd given Maru when he was new, and it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that he had brought that out with him, that softness, and maybe Maru was projecting but the more he thought about it the more angry and bitter and jealous he felt. Fame didn't come out here. Why the park, when he could have stayed in Hollywood with its perpetually clean carpets and gold award trophies and private parties and ludicrous acting contracts, the exact opposite of anything Maru had ever experience in his life. He'd been at least half-raised by the guys down on the corner who had no business raising anyone's children. And he'd learned quick to grow a tough exterior, and not let a slight come unanswered, and to bluff if you were scared, and if someone was asking for it you gave it to them, hard, because that what they deserved for taking your friends from you, all because someone had gotten their business stepped on.

Because you, movie star, haven't ever seen someone die in real life, have you?

Maru's breath hitched. And then he'd been airborne. He could remember now, clearly, like it had been in slow motion. Blade's eyes had flashed, pupils blowing out in an absolute rage, and he'd swept his head to the side, and sent Maru on a ride. He frowned. There was something there, then. He'd finally brushed up against something sensitive, and if it was anything like the wounds Maru still nursed down in his own soul, then the chopper had reflex reactions to having those agitated. Explosive reactions.

Maru chewed his lip. Well. When considering that, maybe he did do… something. He snapped out of his brooding when he felt Charlie staring at him. Which sounded odd, but it had become one of those presences that Maru could just feel out.

"What're you thinkin' about so hard?"

Many things.

"I asked questions."

Charlie cocked a brow.

"Questions?"

"What I did. I asked questions."

"What kind of questions?" Old tug gave him a rather pointed look. "I swear, if any of those began with 'Yo mama…'"

"No, none of that." Maru made a face. "Not that he would find anything funny in that. Boring slagger."

"His sense of humor ain't really any of your business."

"It's hard to feel like a teammate to someone who doesn't smile ever."

"So? He's probably got his reasons. Did Theo or GT ever smile at you when you were new?"

"No, but they had a good time with everyone else on base, so I knew they could be some fun." His frown deepened. "But this guy…"

"Just leave it." Charlie had set his sander aside (thank Chrysler), and was pulling out his supply of paint. "Clearly, he doesn't want to talk about it with you. Or anyone, probably. Heck, it may just be his personality." Maru snorted. "Don't even give me that, brat. We've all got reasons who make us who we are. I've got mine, GT's got his, heaven knows Theo and Cabbie have theirs, not that we're going to ask." He looked Maru right in the eye. "And you've got yours."

Did he ever. Maru stubbornly held Charlie's gaze before finding something in the repair bay to glare at. The mechanic was so damned right it hurt. He didn't like it; he admired it, but being on the receiving end wasn't all that fun.

Charlie had gone back to assembling his paint sprayer.

"He's still new, Maru. Whatever he's holding, it's still raw. Stop poking it." He adjusted the nozzle idly. "In the same vein, one of you should decide to be the bigger man. You two have a month to impress GT into not cutting you from the roster, and trust me, he is all over both of you with a microscope."

"What do you mean by that?" The first part. He knew he was back on GT's slag list.

"You know damn well what it means."

"I'm not apologizing for him biting me in the face."

Charlie sighed.

"Have it your way, Maru. But one of you is going to have to step up to the plate. You can't stubborn your way through this one, chief'll see to that. You'll feel a lot better having a partner at your aft instead of an rival."

Maru gave a soft huff. No way.

Not in a million years.

Maru had started with the repair bay. Might as well, since he was already there.

If there was one thing Charlie always seemed to have an excess of, it was rags and brushes. And considering what his first season had been like, he was used to cleaning the place. It was calming and familiar, in its own way. By the time he had finished scouring the inside, floors, walls, shelves and all, it was getting on towards eight o'clock. There had been a break in the middle for dinner (Maru had to smother the grin that grew watching Blade get dragged in by Theodor; he remembered when that was him, trying to work through meals. Not on Theo's watch). If the others noticed Maru's noticeably more subdued nature, they didn't say it, although the smokejumpers all looked like they wanted to ask a lot of pointed questions. GT and Charlie carried on as they always did, which meant that most of dinner was a collage of "your face" and "I am rubber, you are glue" jokes, especially when they pulled in Smoker and Tracey. Maru wanted to have friends like this, one day; people he had known long enough, and cared about enough, that he could make fun of them and make it sound like one long stream of affection. He liked this kind of friendship. Not sappy, not clingy, and funny as hell.

One day, maybe.

He idly eyed the med bay exterior as he left. Hm, that would have to keep until tomorrow; he didn't feel like being up on the scissor lift late into the night brushing the outside of this thing in the dark. He moved to the control tower. Nice and small, the inside of that was done in just a few minutes. Well, it was only about eight-fifteen. Maybe he'd do the interior walls of the main hangar; that place was gonna take up most of tomorrow anyways, especially the outside and roof. He sighed. The lift was not gonna be tall enough for the top of the place. He'd have to get creative.

He put his brushes and water on the lift and pushed that sucker out from the garage to the main hangar. First order of business was going to take the stuff carefully off the walls. Wouldn't due to get any of that wet and damaged, GT would kill—what the…

He could hear something inside. Sounded like scrubbing. Vigorously. He had to nail down a caustic stream of cursing when he got close enough to see inside. Of all the worst timing…

Blade was already in here, hard at work on the floors. He had the handle of a larger brush in his teeth, in what looked to be a frustration-induced vice-grip. He was brushing determinedly at a particularly stubborn spot on the floor when he looked up.

To say the crossing of gazes was uncomfortable was the understatement of this millennium. Maru knew he was the last person Blade wanted to see, other than maybe Satan, and the feeling was so mutual Maru couldn't even form words. He was half tempted to turn around and find another place to clean, but under this guy's frosty glare that would seem a heck of a lot like running like a coward, and Maru wouldn't give the red chopper the pleasure. Besides, it would have to be done eventually anyways, might as well get on with it.

He tried his best to wipe the scowl of his face as he pushed the lift to a corner, grabbed an empty cardboard box, and began carefully removing the posters, maps and other things pinned and hung on the walls. He only felt the eyes boring into his back for a few minutes, and a quick glance in a reflective surface confirmed that Blade had turned to face away from him, still vigorously scrubbing away.

Maru swallowed a growl. He did not want to apologize to this crankshaft. He wouldn't. It felt way too much like a surrender, and the bright crimson aft-for-brains did not deserve it. Just the thought, though, caused Charlie's voice to swiftly become the annoying phantom of his conscience. Be a man about it. He was a man; he was twenty-two, he had an education, and he had a job (at least during the summer), which was more than could be said for much of his family. He'd cut ties to his old life; his old friends didn't feel so much like friends anymore anyways. The ones that were still around, anyhow. Some had fallen to the fuzz. A few were scrap.

So why did he toss you out the door? Hell, Charlie was irritating even while nowhere nearby. He was across the base, having a meeting with GT and Marvin. About something boring, like finances. Still, it was hard to ignore. Even Imagination Charlie was right all the time!

He tossed me because I poked something important.

The "something" you poked has meaning for you, too.

Yeah, I guess, but I didn't ever have an urge to attack people for it!

And yet you clobbered him in the head with a wrench.

He pinned me to the ground and bit me!

If the roles were reversed, and you were four times his size, would you have done any different?

Yes! Probably.

Huh.

Hell, just shut up!

Then man up, kid.

I am!

No, you're sitting here talking to yourself, trying not to talk to him.

No, I—gah!

Maru did snarl then, and punch the wall hard. A couple sheets pinned loosely to some corkboard fluttered to the floor. Maru regarded it idly. Man, his tine hurt now. Imagination Charlie was silent. Oh, sweet relief—

"Is it possible for you to have your tantrum without getting stuff all over my freshly cleaned floors?"

And just like that, Maru could feel his anger start rising again.

"Is it possible for you to be any more condescending?"

"I'm not, you're just an aft."

"Well, this aft has just scrubbed the inside of two buildings, so spare me."

"I'll spare you when you pick that stuff off my floor."

"It's not your floor. And I'll pick it up when I get over there, thanks."

"Which, if you stop to slap a wall every few minutes, is going to take you slagging forever."

Maru spun around and snarled.

"Do you have a damned point? I'm sure you've got a stain to mop up somewhere, why are you wasting time arguing with me?"

Blade turned square to him, brush totally forgotten.

"Because you are wasting time. You've been staring at one spot for at least five minutes. Unlike you, I can't afford to ride someone's favoritism into a pardon from the chief. I have a base to clean. For a month."

"I was there! I have a base to clean for a month! And you're one to talk, everyone knew who you were before you got here! Favoritism my bumper."

A snort.

"He was more lenient with you."

"No, he wasn't. I'm just not new enough to be fun to harass anymore."

"Could have fooled me."

"For someone who wants to whine about my lack of work, you sure haven't been doing any scrubbing while talking to me."

"I don't have the benefit of extra limbs, thank you."

"And I don't have the benefit of having four tons to just about crush somebody with."

"Sure didn't stop you from joining me."

"Join you… I was defending myself!"

"Is it still defense when you had spent the first minutes prior verbally assaulting me?"

"What part of that was an attack?"

"The part where your mouth was moving!"

Maru's only regret now was punching the wall instead of Blade's face.

"At least I don't have any violent tendencies when being asked questions!" Maru stopped to catch his breath, and lowered his voice. GT had great ears, and he was sure if this argument got any more heated, they'd catch hell. Yeah, probably better that he didn't punch Blade's face. "What about that made you so pissy, anyways?"

"Do not…" Blade's face darkened considerably and something in Maru's core warned him away from this path. He'd already tested it, and it was not to be done again. He brushed the feeling aside.

"I wanna know!"

"Don't even go there. Not ever. My past is mine, and it will stay that way."

Maru growled, but turned back to the wall. Stubborn chopper. But he knew, somehow, that the Agusta had seen something. Probably. The possibility of seeing someone's death had triggered him so precipitously that there had to be something there. Maru wanted to know what it was. Even if it got him jumped again.

"Do you know someone that died?"

"What did I just—!"

"Because I do."

Blade was still giving a furious glare, but he shut his mouth slowly.

"I have. It's what happens when you run with other kids who are into all sorts of things that look cool, and look like freedom, and they give you a brand and call you family. But it's not. Not really, and you're all destined to end up in jail or in the ground." Maru didn't know why, but he couldn't stop. The gates were open, and he couldn't stop. The words were there, and they continued unabated. And for this jerk? Mercy, please. "But you want it, so bad, because maybe they feel more like family that the ones you have at home. Which might not always feel like home. But that's alright; with the right words, and the right… 'tools,' you can make all kinds of family on the streets. All kinds of enemies, too."

Blade was still frowning, but at least he didn't look like he was going to haul off and pummel Maru again.

"I was lucky. Right day, right time, right truancy officer to not take any of my slag. And for some reason, a grouchy, irritating old mechanic who believed in me. I hardly believed in me. No idea why he did." Maru had to get away from that topic. Quickly, before something else happened and he embarrassed himself. "So then you show up, and you're sullen and bitter and not any fun to be around, and I want to know why. Some of the old guys have reasons. The war birds; they've seen some slag, you gotta know it. But you? Fresh out of the silver screen. What could have happened in that gold, perfect place to make you think you can mope about your life?"

Blade bristled, rotors stiffening.

"You think my life is perfect? My life? I wasn't handed any of that! I did it myself. Just me. Chrysler knows my parents didn't help."

"Please, you'll hafta try harder than that. Everyone here has worked hard at something."

"'Try?' I'm 'trying' to get you off my back!"

"And I'm trying to find out why you slapped me out of a building!"

"It's none of your business!"

"It is when it injures me!"

"No, it is not!"

"Tell that to my canopy! You could have killed me, dammit! Actually killed, not like a damned set!"

"I know the difference!"

"Do you? Really? Can you tell what's real in that world of make up and effects, where people die every day and then jump back up as soon as the director yells 'Cut?' Where the dead are never really?"

"Not when he does his own stunts!"

The outburst caught Maru by surprise, and his next retort found it had nowhere to go.

"Not when he always does… did, his own stunts." Blade's eyes burned, both in rage, and something else. He'd seen it in all the people on this base, to some degree. If he had the courage to look in the mirror and be completely honest, it was probably in himself, too. But in Blade…

It was raw. And fresh. And it ran deep enough to have completely reshaped him.

"Do you read the newspapers? Or tabloids? No, I didn't think so. You don't look like the type. Others on base do, there's always someone everywhere I go. It's no secret, my co-star got himself killed. A take done wrong, a dangerous stunt mingled with a freak accident. You know what they don't tell you? How many people are on a set. Even if it isn't your take, other actors are there. I was there. When he went wide, too wide, too fast on the downslope to slow in time, I was there first. And I couldn't do a damned thing. Because they don't teach you first aid in a place where no one dies for real." Blade met his gaze, and Maru felt that if there was ever a time to keep his mouth shut, right now was perfect. "Not a thing. My best friend. Poof! In an instant and a ball of fire that shattered windows a hundred feet away. The firefighters tried, they really did. And I was mad and jealous, that these strangers could attempt to do more for my friend than I ever could. Right when he needed me most. I wanted that. I wanted that so bad. So I left that place, you can't look at a fake mockery when you've finally gotten a look at real life, and I got what I wanted. That soft, weak thing that couldn't help his own friend, couldn't help anyone, he's gone. He died on that set, with his buddy. Me though? That will never be me. Never again."

Maru sat quietly, still searching Blade's face. The Agusta stared right back, eyes still steely, until he sighed, and realized that he'd just spilled his business all over the main hangar. And to the person on base he liked the least.

"Damn, where the hell did all that come from? Whatever you did to me, you little bastard, I hate it. And I hate you."

Maru sneered. It didn't feel nearly as real as it looked.

"Good, I hate you too. I had no intention of telling you anything about me, and yet I did. So now we're even."

"So we are."

They sat there idly for a moment, still stiff and on edge, but some of the tension had sloughed away. The were both much more exposed than they would like, and were aware that they had given their deepest grievances away to someone they didn't trust as far as they could throw them (which, given earlier events, was a lot farther for Blade than for Maru). Eventually, Blade snorted and went back to scrubbing the floors, intent on ignoring the forklift entirely. Maru watched for just a moment longer before continuing, slowly, to take down items from the walls. And pick up the ones from the floor. Because he'd promised.

It was hard to work fast and think hard at the same time. He was frustrated, for different reasons. No matter how hard he hung on stubbornly to his anger, and his hate, they apparently had other places to be, because they were ebbing out of him much faster than he would have liked. He tried to nurse it, hold it in, let him fuel him because that bastard bit him, dammit. Still, he couldn't quite dredge anything up. How irritating.

Eventually, Blade picked up his brush and moved to a new quadrant of the floor. When he did, Maru noticed that his movement was… off, somehow. Like he was favoring one side over the other. Nothing seemed wrong with his suspension, and the panel that Maru had cracked was repaired, but something else was clearly causing the helitanker some discomfort.

Maru set down the framed picture in his forks, and unholstered a couple tools.

"Pop this hatch for me."

Blade blinked hard.

"What?"

"The hatch closest to me. Pop it."

He frowned, and turned to deliberately place that flank further from Maru.

"No. Why?"

"Because something in there is hurting you."

"No it isn't."

"Liar. You took GT's charge full on. Charlie fixed the class panel in front of it, but not your port cargo hatch. Why?"

"I swear, you are the nosiest person I have ever met. When do you stop?"

"When you become boring. Now open up."

"No."

"Really, afthat? I'm going to fix it, dammit, since you didn't want to go to Charlie."

"So why would I want to go to you instead of your far more competent and experienced boss?"

"Because if you guys head out tomorrow, and it turns out you're working through an injury that is an easy fix that you won't get looked at out of stubbornness, GT's going to have a fit." And a fit was the last thing GT needed to have right now. There would be corpses. Probably theirs.

Blade shot him a glare, which did not abate in the slightest as his port hatch slid open. Slowly, whether out of reluctance or pain or both Maru didn't know, but he'd find out soon enough.

"I'd really rather be trying to finish this floor before tomorrow morning, I'll have you know," he grumbled as the tug started to inspect his hatch hardware.

"Yeah? Well, now you won't be hurting while you do it. I don't know about you, but I don't like pain for no good reason."

"Smartaft."

"Douchenozzle"

"Chrysler, I hate you."

"Yeah yeah, we've been through this already."

Blade 'hmphed', but sat quietly while Maru poked around. Some of the rubber seal around his hatch was loose, but nothing that should really… ah-ha, there. The hinges of his hatch doors had been knocked slightly out of alignment. Not enough to break anything, but certainly not comfortable. Nothing he couldn't jostle back into place.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

Blade didn't move, and didn't say anything else, for a long time. Maru eventually heard him blow a long sigh out his vents.

"Well. That's different."

"Why?"

"It's just…"

"What? 'It's just' what?" Honestly, it was hard as hell to choke those words out, to admit he was wrong right to Blade's face, and this guy didn't even take it seriously.

"Hn, didn't really expect you to be, I guess." Another pause. "Me too."

And his ire subsided again as quickly as it came. Maru felt he needed a drink or ten. Might make his emotions pick just one representative tonight and stick with it. Certainly might make him make him less tired. He didn't mind too much, though. The exhaustion filled the void that the tension had left behind.

He was working on the second hinge when Blade gave an irritated growl.

"Hell, are you done yet? If I look at this brush any more, I'm going to blow a fuse."

"Don't get your upholstery in a bunch, damn. And you better get used to that brush; we've only been on punishment for less than twelve hours."

"Oh gee, thank you for reminding me that we another twenty-nine days of this slag. I'm ever so grateful." Sarcasm, sarcasm.

"If I have to suffer through the knowledge, then so do you."

"He really expects us to wash the roofs of these places? How the hell… I'm too heavy to be perching on top of most of these."

"Yeah, and the lift doesn't reach. We're gonna hafta figure that out, later."

"'We'?"

"Yes, 'we.' I'm not going to hang for not scrubbing this place by myself."

"Huh."

A few more minutes of silence, and Maru managed to get Blade's hinges to move like they were supposed to.

"Shut that, and tell me how it feels."

Blade acknowledged with a grunt, and the hatch slid closed and shut with a quiet click.

"Well?"

"It feels… fine."

"Just fine?"

"Yes, just fine. No pain, no catching, no nothing. Fine."

"Hmph."

"Don't ask for more credit than you're due."

"Alright. Next time, I'll let you wallow in your agony, then."

"I wasn't wallowing."

"Whatever."

"Just shut up and finish taking things off the walls. I'm about to scrub those slaggers."

"Hell no, you ain't done with the floors yet."

"I can't look at the damned floors any more, and since you seem to not really want to do the walls, we're going to trade."

"Hell no."

"Hell yes."

"Please, I'll be done with the walls before you can finish the floors."

"Oh come on; you're already an aft dragger, don't get delusional on me too."

"Just watch."

"Fine. I will. When I have plenty of time once I finish my cleaning faster than you finish yours."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Outside, and far enough from the main hangar door to go unnoticed, a shadow grinned into the darkness.

"Well, that turned out better than expected."

A deep rumble from a much larger shadow.

"No kidding. Faster than us, certainly. We were at each other's throats for weeks. Old man was a rotor's breadth from killing us both."

"It's not too late; we could still find one of them murdered in the morning."

"It would be your brat; the other's an experienced actor, and could get away with it."

"And that would make you sad, wouldn't it?"

"Hell yeah it would. Do you know how much paperwork would go into me covering up that boy's big ol' red body after I disassembled him? I'd be crying while filling out the 'missing person' report."

"You're evil."

"Not yet, but I can feel myself getting there."

A pause, and soft chuckle.

"You would kill your friend's protégé for Maru?"

"I like your little street urchin. Besides, he's gonna replace you one day."

"Heh, don't you know it."

"Hey, I meant that as a joke; you're not allowed to go before me."

"Make me."

"Challenge accepted."

Quiet laughter.

"And what about Blade?"

"What about 'im? Punk's too new for me to like him yet. He's got promise, though."

"And drive."

"Yes. A lot of that. Clearly."

They were quiet for a while.

"So, you're gonna keep 'em both?"

"Yeah. But don't fucking let them know. They've still got a month to impress me."

"And what if they don't?"

"They will. Trust me, they will."

"You just want an excuse to scream at them some more."

"It doesn't have to be screaming. That takes work. But I expect them to keep squirming every time I look at them." A sneer. "Besides, I'm the chief. I don't need an excuse to scream at people."

More laughter.

"You're a bastard."

"Yeah. Hm, maybe I'm there after all."

"Where?"

"Evil."

"You're not just there, you rule the place."

"Good. The universe is working as intended then."

"I can't even."

"Ha!"

More silence.

"By the way, how do you expect them to scrub the roofs of the buildings?"

"Hell if I know. But hey, if they figure it out, then I know just the two people we'll send when we finally get around to putting new shingles on the storage hangars."

"Sounds like a plan, Your Evilship."

"Thank you, Frumpy Sidekick."

An indignant sputter.

"'Frumpy Sidekick?'"

"Every evil tyrant has one."

"Well, 'Frumpy Sidekick' is gonna let you put your filters in your own engines next time."

"Aw, don't be like that."

"I hate you."

"Jerk."

"Aft."

"You kiss your momma with that mouth?"

"No, but I'll kiss your momma with this mouth."

"Can you reach my momma from way the hell down there? Do you need help?"

A dismissive snarl. More silence.

"Slag, what were we talking about again?"

"Dunno." And then came a sharp clatter as something fell over in the main hangar, to much bitter cursing. "Oh yeah." Another dark chuckle. "I love training probies."

"Then do it yourself. I've gotta hit the hay before my brain dissolves."

"Yeah, me too. I wanna see if this boy really manages to beat me out of bed."

"As long as he moves faster than a glacier, that won't be hard."

"Good night, Charlie."

"See ya, GT."

The two shadows parted ways, leaving the main hangar in the care of two not-even-almost friends. Chief Vortex managed to smile to himself.

They had time, though. A lot could change in a month.

AN:

Dear sweet Primus on a pogo stick, this is the longest one yet. I hope I didn't manage to bore you guys too much.

Emotional tension is hard for me. Like, really hard. I struggled with this one, I'm sure you could tell. The dialogue seems.. off in places. I'll fix it when I can.

I set out some new typo traps. Lets see what I catch...