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 Two: Face to Face
Leonard Church let out a frustrated groan the second that the "headquarters"' doors closed. Tex turned to him with mild amusement dancing in her eyes before saying what he was also thinking out loud: "Well, that could have gone better."
It was just Tex, Church, and Caboose in the foyer now. Sheila had excused herself to some other part of the building with a polite dip of her bunned, transparent head seconds earlier. So, if Church wanted to get technical as shit, he would have counted her as "being in the vicinity" only.
"How come so many of the Specials in the Freelancer database had to be stubborn assholes?" Church asked no one in particular, groaning in frustration.
Tex raised an eyebrow, "Like you're one to talk?" She asked pointedly, amusement at his obvious misery evident in her tone.
"Right back at you, bitch."
The smirks that they gave one another held an odd sort of fondness. Although, if anyone would have commented on that moment, they'd both brush it off as nothing.
From where he had taken to sitting on the ground, Caboose raised his hand, "Oh, oh! Am I one too, Church?"
Church rolled his eyes at the blue-wearing man's question, "Especially you, Caboose."
"I love being included." Caboose hummed contentedly at Church's comment, "I like me."
Church couldn't help groaning once more, refusing to continue the conversation anymore.
The blonde woman watching the exchange smiled thinly, "At least you have one recruit already."
"Shut up." Church sighed, putting a hand to his head in an exasperated fashion, "Okay, okay. I can maybe understand some of them being fucking wary given their backgrounds, but Tucker?"
Tex raised an eyebrow rather incredulously in Church's direction, "Can you really blame Tucker, or any of them, for being hesitant?" She asked him seriously, "After all, Tucker has a son he has to be worried about. It's not like he wasn't right when he said that what happened with Freelancer has made things harder on all of us."
Church frowned, as if he really needed Agent Texas of all people reminding him about Freelancer and how they had made life craptacular for a shitload of individuals.
"I know, but it's going to get even harder with Charon acting as they are." He finally mumbled out of frustration, watching Caboose out of the corner of his eye.
The blond was clearly not following most of their conversation, having a pretty vacant "checked out" look on his face as he stared up at Church and Tex. …What else was new?
Tex frowned at the mention of the company's name that had been at the forefront of both of their minds recently. "Have you heard anything recently from Carolina?" She asked, suddenly changing the subject.
"No, not in a while." Church sighed, looking up at the ceiling high above them, "That's gotten me slightly worried too, though I know she can take care of herself. Hell, I'm kind of more worried about the people she's running across."
"Hmm." Tex said nothing to the dark-haired man's comment, instead choosing to muse out loud, "How do you think she'd feel about your plan to form a new team?"
Church laughed derisively, "Knowing her? She'd totally fucking hate it."
There was a tentative, almost hesitant knock on the side of the now open doorway, and all three people turned to see Donut standing there. The pink-wearing man appeared both unsure and determined all at once.
"I'm sorry for interrupting," Donut began, "But, actually? I don't need to wait a few days to give you my answer."
Church and Tex exchanged a puzzled look with each other before turning back to Donut, and Church couldn't help but ask the question on the tip of his tongue: "You don't?"
Donut nodded his head and stepped inside the foyer proper, his stance becoming more confident as he did so.
"I want to do my part to help keep this city safe." He informed them emphatically, "My district had been hit hard before—really nailed. A group of Freelancers helped to save it." The young man actually saluted at the memory, "I think…I think it would be an honor to try to live up to their legacy. Imagine the stirring musicals it would inspire!"
"Oh boy, we can be friends now!" Caboose clamored happily, racing up to Donut and patting him on the back, "This is so exciting!"
Tex turned around to smirk at Church, "Well, it looks like you've got your first real recruit now," she noted wryly, "Against all rhyme and reason."
Church couldn't help but roll his eyes at her words, "Oh, shut up."
"Stupid fucking Church! Pulling this bullshit…!" Lavernius Tucker mumbled under his breath as he headed home towards his apartment in Blood Gulch, passersby glancing warily in his direction.
It was just so fucking unbelievable to him that Church would even want to get back into the world of Specials' team-ups, especially considering how he'd barely gotten out of trouble due to the Freelancer implosion. Honestly, that was only thanks to Tex bailing Church's ass out.
Tucker still remembered coming across Church and Tex in the rain-soaked streets following that cluster-fuck. The dark-skinned man had rather stupidly decided back then, out of the goodness of his fucking heart no less, to offer them a place to hide out at that night since Junior had been sleeping over as a friend's house.
…That horrible lack of judgment had basically been when Tucker's life had become inexplicably entwined with Church's bullshit.
Ever since then, he'd had to deal with crazy Freelancer antics from Tex and Church's sister Carolina whenever she showed up. And don't even get him started on when Caboose had started following Church around like a little lost puppy! Tucker had never gotten the full story on just how that occurred, and, quite frankly, he didn't really care enough to want to get it.
All the while, he had tried to keep his son squarely out of their bullshit. Tucker sighed. It was bad enough for the young kid that his single dad happened to be a Special. He really didn't want Junior getting caught up in a whole lot of other crap on top of that.
It started to rain when Tucker was just about ten steps away from his apartment building, and he let out another long-suffering sigh. …Fucking perfect.
He raced the last few steps up to the familiar building, and made his way up the flights of stairs to the fourth level, once again grateful that the elderly woman next door had offered to watch Junior at the last second since his usual babysitter, Katie Jensen, had been busy. Stupid Church and his cryptic-as-fuck penchant for messages!
When Tucker entered the fourth floor proper from the stairwell, he was surprised to see a shitload of boxes in the hallway in front of him. Tucker's eyes fell on a blond-haired man who appeared only a few years older than him in gray and yellow carrying one of the boxes into the recently vacated apartment across the hall from his own.
Huh. So, it hadn't taken them that long to get the place rented. Of course, with the shitty neighborhood being what it is, it probably didn't hurt that the rental prices were cheap as fuck. Someone like Tucker wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise.
"What's up?" Tucker gave a half, sort-of greeting that his new neighbor only returned with a barely perceptible nod of his head before opening the door to his own place after sidestepping some of the boxes littering the corridor.
Okay, so the new guy wasn't a chatterbox. Tucker wasn't sure what to make of him just yet, but he definitely got the impression blondie wasn't the social type.
He was just about to shut the door when a distinct smell of recently baked cookies wafted out of Tucker's apartment. Suddenly, a little boy came bounding energetically down the small apartment's corridor to greet him.
Tucker couldn't help laughing at Junior's enthusiasm before he bent down and scooped the boy up into a tight embrace. "Hey, kiddo," He greeted conversationally, "Are those cookies I smell?"
Junior nodded, "I helped make them!" He shouted eagerly, "Mrs. O said we could have one before dinner."
"Did she now? A lady after my own heart." Tucker joked back.
There must still have been a lingering hesitation in his brown eyes from before, because Junior was looking at Tucker in mild concern, "What's wrong, Daddy?"
Tucker forced a laugh out again to reassure his incredibly perceptive kid and hugged him tighter, "Oh, nothing too much. Your Uncle Church is just being his usual dumbass self."
Junior nodded like his father's comment made perfect sense and, let's face it, it totally fucking did. His son's action amused Tucker so much that he didn't notice the blond-haired new neighbor stiffen slightly at Church's name just then from the hallway. Nor did Tucker notice when the stranger's gray eyes peered over a large box at the father and son questioningly.
Tucker put a squirming Junior down on the ground, "Let's go get those cookies, okay?"
Junior grinned up at him and nodded, "Okay!"
Tucker watched him race back towards the kitchen to no doubt help Mrs. O, smiling. He figured he would just tell Church off again and say no tomorrow.
Without really glancing back, he shut his apartment's door and the new neighbor disappeared from view.
Richard "Dick" Simmons wasn't sure what had compelled him to do so, but he found himself following Dexter Grif to a rather shabby-looking diner just a few blocks from where the meeting with Church and the others had been.
Despite how he usually didn't have much of an appetite, right now he suddenly found himself completely ravenous at the prospect of food. Which was really bizarre since it was obvious that the diner was the kind of establishment where you knew the food's grease content was out of control, and normally that would have freaked him out too much to actually eat there.
The door to the place had a bell on it that chimed softly to alert the staff to new patrons and, sure enough, a waitress in pastel blue suddenly appeared to hand them laminated menus. With a smile, she told them to "have a seat anywhere."
After they had made their way over to a corner booth and Simmons began perusing the menu—he couldn't help looking up to see Grif smirking over at him.
"You can thank me for the suggestion later." The chubby man noted, "It looks like you could use a decent meal."
Simmons blinked for a moment as the meaning behind Grif's words slowly solidified in his brain. The sudden feeling of starving that he'd only recently had…
He gasped, completely flabbergasted, "You used your power on me!"
Grif shrugged as if it was no big deal, "I just didn't feel like eating alone."
"Th—that's beside the point…!" Simmons stammered out just as the waitress returned to get their orders.
Grif ordered about three different, high-calorie meals…to which Simmons couldn't help but make a face at. Though said face was soon matched by the one on Grif's features when Simmons ordered a Veggie Burger.
It didn't take long at all for the food to arrive, and Simmons found that he really was hungry in an indignant sort of way. So, he dived right in with an agitated huff.
Grif observed him with mild amusement on his tanned features, "I can do a whole lot more than just make someone hungry, you know."
Despite himself, Simmons was rather curious at the admission, "Like what?" He couldn't help but inquire, although he felt like he'd regret asking that question later.
Grif just smirked before gesturing towards the redhead and changing subjects, "What about you? What can you do with your fancy robot get-up?"
Simmons became flustered at the sudden attention put on him and stopped eating, playing with the fries on his plate instead.
"Don't tell me you have a fax machine for an ass." Grif joked, obviously amused that he'd hit a nerve.
Simmons' face turned red at the mental image the apathetic man's comment produced, "What? No!"
"So, what can you do then?" Grif asked again, with a tone that almost sounded like he didn't really give a fuck.
Simmons frowned, having to think about the question a bit. He had avoided really delving too much into his capabilities before, but…
"I…am slightly stronger in my artificial limbs." He mumbled, "And I can use them to hack things…or even fire an energy ray. My cybernetic eye sees different statuses and the like for things too."
Grif whistled in mock appreciation, "Must be heaven for a nerd like you."
Simmons frowned, saying nothing in response. His plate of food was suddenly incredibly interesting. "What…what are you going to do?" He finally worked up the courage to ask the relative stranger across from him, "About Church's idea, I mean."
It was Grif's turn to frown, "I'm honestly not sure yet." He admitted at length, "It doesn't really seem like it would fit into my usual routine."
"What do you mean?" Simmons asked, his natural curiosity getting the better of him once again.
Grif smirked once more, "Let's just say that I've been using my special talents to make a comfortable living for myself and Kai."
Simmons wasn't quite sure what Grif meant by that. He was about to question the orange-wearing man further when Grif's phone, which had been resting on the table, suddenly lighted up with a text. One glance towards the cell phone's screen told Simmons the message was from one Kaikaina Grif.
Grif picked up the phone disinterestedly before his eyes darkened momentarily and he swore, "Fuck. Well, apparently Kai thinks the whole thing could be fun enough to give it a whirl." He announced, shaking his head with a sigh, "Damn brat."
Simmons couldn't help but jump to the absent girl's defense despite the fact that there was no venom behind Grif's voice, "W—well, that's kind of admirable of her! Don't you think?" He tried reasoning.
Grif shot him an even look, "Admirable doesn't mean much. If you ask me, it just means stupid."
Simmons wanted desperately to argue with Grif, and opened his mouth to do just that when Grif cut him off with another exasperated sigh.
"So, what are you going to do about this whole team idea?" He asked Simmons, "It looks like I'm going to be forced into helping at least for a little while. Kai can't embarrass the family."
Simmons frowned at the question, still rather unsure of the answer himself.
For whatever reason, Grif chose not to press him anymore and they continued to eat together in a surprisingly companionable silence.
Author's Notes: Just a small chapter update to get the ball rolling. Next one will be a bit longer as Simmons mulls more over whether or not to just join the team, and Church gets quite the surprise. Also, Church and Tucker both talk and are interrupted by a certain newly introduced Freelancer, and Simmons and Grif have another chat. Things are progressing at a steady pace! :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this story! :D