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: War Machines
The hum of the elevator and the feel of movement told Richard "Dick" Simmons that he was below the Temple of Interior Decorating even before the clunky display in his red, cybernetic eye did. He had already gotten used to Sarge's less than ideal "innovations" when the older man had made him a cyborg given the emergency conditions under which it had happened. The memory still replaying in his head: Simmons had never seen so much blood before in his life! If only he'd been quicker than the precariously placed equipment, then maybe it wouldn't have crushed poor Grif. Truth be told, it wasn't anything more than a mild inconvenience at this point considering becoming a cyborg saved Grif's life.
No, what worried Simmons now was that he'd been called back from Blood Gulch, and by no less than an official summons from Chrovos. That was a big fucking deal no matter how you looked at it! After all, Chrovos usually allowed their artificially created "fake humans," as some of the native Chorusians referred to them, to fulfill their assigned duties amongst the humans as they saw fit. A direct summons away from the humans was often saved for only the most extreme of cases.
Simmons supposed sacrificing parts of himself to save an inexperienced young human from certain death did count as a rather extreme case. But Sarge hadn't been sure about the cybernetics and Grif's vitals had been tanking, and…! He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his now whirring artificial lungs, trying to keep the surge of panic and unease he was feeling from fully overtaking him. The redhead only partially succeeded.
Following his recovery from the cybernetic surgery, Simmons had done his best to make up for lost time, returning to his duties in aiding the human citizens of Blood Gulch to the best of his ability. He'd thought that he'd done a decent job of it, all things considered, even though it pained him that Grif couldn't even look him in the eye anymore. So, he honestly wasn't sure what to make of the sudden summons away from the outpost and into the inner chambers of the Temple of Interior Decorating. Helping to organize things, updating computer networks, repairing old and non-functioning machinery? Truth be told, Simmons thrived in his job as a liaison to the naturally born humans of the planet.
But anyone who grew up on Chorus knew that one did not defy the will of the God of Time, Chrovos, especially not if you were one of their Servants. It had helped Simmons move even quicker that the Servant who'd come around to deliver the news, Franklin Delano Donut, was so insistent that he do so immediately, way more so than was usual for the pink-armored man's generally cheerful, undemanding self.
So, without there being much choice in the matter, Simmons had been forced to leave Blood Gulch behind without even getting an opportunity to say goodbye to his friends. He could nearly picture Grif's face in particular just then, could see the teenager he'd started developing a rapport with because somehow "You do realize you could spend less time working on something if you just stopped trying to avoid it in general, right?" turned into a discussion on "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" and now they seemed to be stuck like glue to one another no matter how much Simmons tried to put some distance between them. It wasn't good to get too attached to humans, after all. What if one's duty to Chrovos got in the way, like right now? Not that he'd had to worry about that too much following the surgery, seeing as how Grif was actively avoiding him since then.
Thus why Simmons was here at the Temple of Interior Decorating, which just so happened to be one of Donut's favorite temples but one of the redhead's least favorites due to how unnecessary and impractical it seemed. He'd been ordered to come, so he obeyed. He could imagine Grif saying "Kiss-ass" under his breath and Simmons couldn't help but smile despite himself.
The redhead was surprised to see, upon stepping out of the elevator, one lone cryogenic pod in the barren chamber beyond. A singular brown-haired figure in purple stood by the coffin-like device, running a scanning diagnostic over it.
"Doc?" Simmons called out to his fellow Servant of Chrovos, the uncertainty plain as day in his voice, "What's the hell's going on?"
In hindsight, it was probably a waste of time to even ask Frank "Doc" DuFresne that question. Most likely the medic knew just as little about these matters as Simmons did. After all, it wasn't either of their places to question the will of their creator.
"Hiya, Simmons!" Doc looked up and over at the maroon-armored cyborg cheerfully, offering a friendly wave before gesturing down at the pod, "We're just about all set up for you!"
"I'll be going to sleep?" Simmons asked, blinking in surprise.
It wasn't all that uncommon for Servants of Chrovos to be cycled through on occasion, but that was usually done in batches for efficiency's sake. There was no one else here, as far as he could tell, and the lone cryogenic pod indicated only one person would be using it.
Doc rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, those are Chrovos' orders." He told Simmons as a way of explanation, "Apparently you're to get some new upgrades for your upgrades. Or something like that."
It should probably worry Simmons that one of their medics, the only one here who would be putting him into cryogenic sleep, didn't seem to know the full details of his "upgrades." He self-consciously rubbed his slightly bulkier-than-needed-to-be cybernetic arm. He should be grateful considering that Chrovos could just as easily scrapped Simmons following the accident.
But Grif had managed to survive, and that meant something, didn't it? Well, he probably shouldn't focus on how his arm currently looked or felt now anyways when his heart was literally beating in someone else's chest. It was a good thing Sarge had been there and thought as quickly as he had, even if what he'd done was rather unorthodox. Even if Grif had avoided Simmons ever since. He shook his head to clear away those thoughts for the moment, "Do you know when I'll be woken up?"
"Oh, it should probably be in a few months!" Doc assured him, smiling and gesturing down at the pod again.
Simmons reluctantly walked over and complied with Doc's urging. The softness of the lining of the pod still doing nothing to put him at ease as he obediently laid down and closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered before drifting off was Doc humming to himself as the medic got down to work.
…Then a sensation of cold, dusty air hit his face. Simmons couldn't help but grimace slightly as a result. But, as was always the case with cryo-sleep, waking up was a slow and gradual process.
"…Should be any second now!" A high-pitched female's voice he didn't recognize exclaimed close by, "Keep watch for me, all right?"
And then feet were moving away as a non-comital grunt responded to her query. Simmons was left struggling to open his eyes and clear the cobwebs from inside his brain. He paused in doing anything, however, when he felt a finger trailing a line on his face, right where the metallic seam was. A sudden sensation of something warm and cool all at once pressed against his forehead mere moments afterwards. He groaned and the feathery light weight disappeared.
When Simmons was finally, finally able to open his eyes, both looking around with the natural dark colors of the space he was in instead of one side of his vision being clouded with a hazy red. He found himself staring up at mismatched, altogether familiar orbs of brown and green above him in a face that was also hauntingly familiar but older than he recalled too…
"Hey, Simmons." An adult Dexter Grif greeted as if this was the most common occurrence in the entire world, "It's been awhile, huh?"
Dexter Grif hadn't exactly been thrilled when he was told that he'd been assigned to check out what was undoubtedly the least useful of all of the ancient alien temples that littered the surface of Chorus. But, it was either that or stay around Armonia while that jerk Genkins was there. It figured that he'd been the one to suggest the foray to Vanessa Kimball in the first place: "You never know what you may find this time around." …which was just further proof in Grif's mind that the sage-with-gold-and-teal-trim-armored man wanted to make everyone's lives as fucking miserable as possible just for the shits and giggles.
So Grif reluctantly assembled his team: Matthews, Kai was letting him borrow her over-eager subordinate yet again, (oh, goody!); Bitters, who seemed about as thrilled with the whole prospect as he was; and Huggins, who had also simply wanted to get out of Armonia while Genkins was there. Together with Doctor Emily Grey, they trekked through the wastelands and rubble surrounding the capital city. Not much had been left standing following the Great Disaster save those blasted temples, and most resources were spent now trying to keep Armonia up and running. That was until they finally fucking arrived at the rather useless Temple of Interior Decorating.
He could just picture how shocked and scandalized his teammate Donut would be by Grif calling a space created solely for décor purposes useless, but he was so tired and grumpy from the rather harsh travel that he didn't really care. Not that he probably would have cared regardless, really. Besides, it wasn't like the damn thing even worked anymore.
All Grif wanted to do was set up a camp and cook up some rations while Grey did her way-too-thorough walkthrough of the area to confirm that, yes, the temple was still very much inactive, something they shouldn't have needed to come all the way out here to confirm since none of the temples were working anymore. But, for some inexplicable reason, Matthews and Huggins decided that they needed to explore some and Matthews had managed to fall down into a hole as a result. Said hole led directly underneath the temple: no doubt the ground around the incredibly advanced alien building had weakened when the planet's automated weaponry had gone online.
"Um! A little help, please?" Matthews called out, "It's really dark down here!"
Bitters, who had exasperatedly been beside the hole in an instant, rolled his brown eyes at his friend's attempt to remain cheerful in tone despite his current situation, "Hang on. I guess I'll pull you out." As he reached his hand into the hole to try and grasp Matthews, there was a strange hum of activity from down below, a soft glow now emanating from the previously dark space.
"Huh." Matthews mused, "Suddenly it's not so dark."
Grif looked over at Huggins, the girl in tan armor with purple trim currently trying not to giggle, and rolled his eyes, "Thanks for stating the obvious, Matthews." He muttered.
"Anytime, Captain Grif!" and Grif could nearly picture the auburn-haired young man actually saluting up at him and sighed.
"Fascinating!" At this turn of events, Grey shoved all three of the bystanders away from the hole so that she could peer down into it, "The chamber down below must have been built to react only to Servants of Chrovos."
"Yay me." Antoine Bitters muttered, sounding less than enthusiastic at the reminder of his late mother's origins, "I'm going to find a rope or something."
"And we'll be right here waiting for you to get back!" Doctor Grey shouted, eager to explore the only portion of the temple that appeared to have any life in it.
It was Huggins, in the temple's dim emergency lighting, who found the pod first. She always seemed to have extremely sharp eyes in the dark, as though some unknown ball of light was constantly illuminating her way, "Whoa," the young woman breathed out as she pointed to the new structure, "Is that what I think it is?"
"A cryo-stasis pod!" Doctor Grey practically shrieked in glee at the discovery, "Oh, and it's intact too!"
Well, that was definitely a first. The only stasis pods any of them had run into in the aftermath of the Great Disaster had been broken, their contents long since given up the ghost. A functioning one would mean that…
"There's someone inside!" Huggins exclaimed as she, Bitters, and Matthews crowded around Doctor Grey to peer at the device.
"Yeah, and he's still breathing!" Matthews added in excitedly.
That caught Grif's attention and diverted it away from his pondering. He looked up and over at the pod as both Matthews and Grey removed the years' worth of dust from the clear lid of the container to reveal a familiar, dozing face he'd long since thought was lost. Grif's eyes widened at the sight, no words escaping his suddenly dry mouth.
Richard "Dick" Simmons. The Servant of Chrovos who had literally given Grif an arm, a leg, an eye, and an assortment of internal organs including his heart when Grif had been a dumb teenager. All because of the accident and how "Grif still clearly had so much left to live for!" It had been utter bullshit then, and it was probably utter bullshit now, but the young man had always carried those words with him for some reason.
Simmons, who had been a Servant of Chrovos and who had worked in the outpost of Blood Gulch where Grif had grown up. Chrovos had a ranking system for his artificially created minions, and evidently working at Blood Gulch was a sign of not being too high up on the chain, though that was how Simmons had come to meet Sarge, Kai, Grif, and the others. The redhead even lived with Sarge and Lopez whenever he'd been stationed at the outpost.
Grif remembered all of this because he had found the lanky Servant of Chrovos fascinating, from his looks and awkward personality, to the way he was just as human and fallible as the rest of them. Grif had even helped him out a few times with his work as result. Then the accident in the junkyard happened, and Simmons had chosen to become a defect in order to save Grif's life. Despite how much adjustment that had taken, Grif's opinion of the man had only become stronger after that. Maybe even changed from acquaintances to they could maybe be friends, and then one day they could maybe even….
But then the dumb cyborg had gotten recalled on account of him and left without fucking saying anything. Though to be fair, Grif had been rather avoidant of him just because he wasn't sure how to process the new wealth of feelings he was experiencing. Grif had been pissed off so much at both Simmons and Sarge, though he understood that the Servants of Chrovos couldn't exactly abandon their calling.
He'd always assumed that the redhead had been scrapped, but since his heart always ached at the thought he tried not to dwell on it. Or that Simmons died when the war machines had been activated as so many of Chrovos' Servants had due to the sudden loss of their creator in that calamity. But here, now, was Simmons. Right in front of him. And fucking alive. Grif couldn't believe it, and he only barely registered when Doctor Grey started up the task of deactivating the pod.
"What are you doing, Doctor Grey?" Grif heard Matthews question curiously.
"Well, we certainly can't lug this huge thing back to Armonia with us, so our friend here will have to walk!" She informed them cheerfully.
"Poor bastard." Bitters muttered sympathetically, earning him a horrified look from Matthews and a stifled giggle from Huggins.
Grif, rather uncharacteristically, started. That meant that he'd get the chance to talk to Simmons sooner rather than later, right? What had he even been doing down here in stasis all by himself? Did he even know of what had happened to Chorus? Would he even recognize him or the others or…?
The cybernetics that now made up the visible portions of Simmons' arm and part of his face were no longer the crude, secondhand ones that Sarge had hurriedly cobbled together. They were comprised of sleek metal and circuitry, perfectly proportioned to his body. Had Chrovos actually gone to the effort of upgrading the nerd instead of canning him entirely? That was a bit hard to wrap Grif's brain around given how disposable the god's Servants always seemed. And yet…
Huggins shot Grif a concerned look for his continued silence, but ultimately said nothing as she and the two lieutenants dispersed to investigate more of the temple. After all, with this chamber suddenly becoming active, it could mean that other areas of the space long since thought a lost cause could potentially be reactivated too.
"I still have some work to do myself!" Grey happily stated, turning to Grif, "It should be any second now. Keep watch for me, all right?"
…And then the dark-skinned woman in white and purple was gone following Grif's grunt of bare acknowledgement, leaving Grif alone with a still sleeping Simmons. Disbelieving that Simmons could really be right there after all this, Grif reached out tentatively with his hand to gingerly touch the cyborg's face. He used the excuse that he was just trying to remove a bead of sweat that had suddenly formed there from Simmons' recent exposure to the dry air.
The redhead's skin was clammy and warm, his metal plating cool to the touch. He was right here. The kiss-ass nerd was back. Grif suddenly grinned and, before he could really stop himself to think about what he was doing, he pressed his lips briefly to Simmons' forehead.
It was an impulse he cursed himself for two minutes later when Simmons groaned and blinked open his eyes, both green now instead of one being an artificial red, although one still shined a bit more than natural though. The redhead took in a deep breath as his brain worked overtime to process just what was going on after having been asleep for who-knew-how-long.
Simmons' eyes finally zeroed in on Grif's face. The recognition that suddenly bloomed there causing Grif's breath to freeze in his chest, then he smirked expectantly at the redhead (who appeared to be what now, a year or two younger than him? He could get used to that), "Hey, Simmons. It's been awhile, huh?"
Author's Notes: Here it is, the first chapter to my NaNoWriMo project for this year! :D I have the entire story already outlined, though I know I might not finish it in the span of this month. Still, hopefully I'll be able to get a decent chunk of it out all the same! :) And then it is back to working on my WIPs along with this one, I promise! :D
The story will be written from both Simmons and Grif's POVs, though I'm planning lots of plot and relationship moments for everyone in the story still. Other pairings will include Docnut, Tuckington, Kimbalina, Sarge x Grey, Huggins x Kaikaina, Bitthews, Jensen x Palomo, and Locus x Andersmith. I hope you'll enjoy it, and thank you so much for reading! :)