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 Five: Band Together
Lavernius Tucker caught up to Washington about a block and a half away from Church's place. The mother fucking Freelancer was walking at a brisk and, evidently, rather determined pace away from the building. Tucker could kind of understand Washington's rush. If he had any common sense, the teal-wearing man would have been getting the hell away from those jerks too.
"H—hey, wait up…asshole…!" Tucker managed to wheeze out while his legs felt as if they were on fire from moving fast just so he could actually catch up with the older man. Damn. He was out of shape.
Fortunately for Tucker, Washington did in fact stop. With a heavy sigh, the blond turned to fix the dark-skinned man with an indifferent look in his gray eyes. "What is it?" He asked the heavily breathing Special behind him, "Also, wow. How are you so out of breath?"
"First of all, fuck you. We're not all in crazy ass Freelancer shape." Tucker frowned and took a few minutes to collect himself, "You could have stayed until the sparring match was over, you know."
"I did." Washington's response was enough to catch Tucker off-guard, "You and the others aren't without some skill, although you clearly need some stamina training." He noted rather begrudgingly.
Tucker was going to take a compliment when he heard one, deciding it best to ignore the jab at his fitness. At least until his lungs stopped burning and his heavy breathing subsided.
Tucker couldn't help grinning at Washington, "Damn straight, we are!" He informed him emphatically before fixing the blond with a quizzical stare, "But something tells me our awesome-as-fuck skills still weren't enough to convince you that this is a good idea."
At least, that was the impression Tucker got. Kind of hard to interpret someone walking out like Washington had any other way.
Washington sighed yet again and Tucker couldn't help but feel that that was par the course for him, "I still think it is a bad one." The blond told him point blank, before fixing Tucker with a level stare and changing tactics, "Does this mean you've changed your mind?"
Tucker harrumphed, "Fuck no, dude! I still think it's a piss poor idea." He informed Washington before letting out a tired sigh himself, shoulders slumping as he shook his dark-haired head in disbelief, "I am seriously regretting that I'm even considering it, especially with my kid and all."
Washington raised an eyebrow in surprise to his response, "What do you mean?" He inquired, for the first time in their conversation dropping the hard edge tone.
"Dude, I've had run-ins with all sorts of people before who weren't exactly fond of Specials." Tucker explained, frowning, "I just want to make sure I can keep Junior protected from that Special phobia shit, especially considering his dad is one." He smirked self-deprecatingly, "Church is an asshole, yeah, but I know he means well in his own weird-as-fuck way by attempting this."
Washington frowned, "You might be right." He admitted rather begrudgingly, before casting a questioning look over at the younger man, "So, just what are you going to do then?"
Tucker couldn't help shrugging his shoulders in response to the gray-eyed man's question, "Fuck if I know." He answered honestly, "I'm just going to see what will happen one day at a time." He couldn't help smirking in Washington's direction a second later though, "Someone like you might want to try that as well."
Washington said nothing in reply, though he looked a little flustered all the same. Good. He had wanted to see cracks in the Freelancer's tough exterior. Tucker took Washington's expression to mean mission accomplished.
With a sigh, he turned in the direction of Church's home, "I've got to pick up Junior." Tucker informed the blond-haired man, casting a quick glance sideways at him, "But I suppose I'll be seeing you around some?"
For some reason that he couldn't quite explain then, Tucker really sort of hoped that would be the case.
"I suppose so." The Freelancer said at length, a blond eyebrow raised as if surprised at his own answer.
Tucker nodded with a welcoming sort of grin suffusing his features before he started to jog back towards where his son was. Jogging at a more comfortable, leisurely pace than he had been going before, obviously.
Washington simply watched Tucker as his form got smaller in the distance, a thoughtful frown clouding his face.
Richard "Dick" Simmons found himself in the foyer of Church's building once again, having returned to the location in order to recover from the sparring match. He startled slightly at the sound of a large commotion coming from behind the door that led down into the training area. The redhead couldn't help but wonder just what kind of shenanigans going on down there had created it.
"Are they still going at it?" A lazy, all-too-familiar voice asked from behind him, "Don't they know it is too much effort for this training shit?"
Simmons nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun around, causing a flash of amusement to dance in Dexter Grif's brown eyes as he and a thoroughly bored-looking Kaikaina Grif stood in the foyer.
Dimly, Simmons recalled that the two siblings had slipped upstairs before the next match had even begun. He had just assumed it had been due to their wanting to leave the premises. Evidently, they had just been exploring Church's building instead.
Simmons shakily recovered when he realized it was just the Grif siblings, and he even managed to nod his head in response to Grif's question. The cyborg was painfully aware that his voice would more than likely squeak in anxiety if he actually spoke just then.
Grif whistled as he stared at the door contemplatively, "With Doc's power being negation, I would have thought that things would have ended by now."
Simmons frowned as he recalled what he had seen of the ongoing match before he had made his escape, "It probably would have, if Doc actually tried fighting." He informed the Grif siblings, "He was just dodging Sarge's bullets or accidentally canceling out Donut's force fields if he got too close. Caboose was just running around and trying to play tag with everyone."
A yell of exasperation from Church made its way up to the foyer level then, "Come on! Just fucking do something already, Doc!"
The foyer's door opened not a minute later, revealing the holographic form of Sheila along with the more tangible forms of Junior and Lopez. Sheila had her head bent towards Junior as she continued whatever story she was telling him just then about his father, "…And Tucker was quite surprised to find out that I had recovered the entire thing in my database."
"I'll bet!" The child grinned up at her, clearly enjoying the story.
Lopez let out a mechanical sigh just then.
"Nadie se dio cuenta de que me había alejado. Figuras." {"No one even noticed that I had walked away. Figures."}
Sheila and Junior both turned their heads towards the Spanish-speaking robot, "Lopez, you are more than welcome to hang out with us for the time being." Sheila informed him politely.
"Yeah!" Junior nodded his head in agreement.
Lopez actually seemed oddly touched by the gesture, though he wasn't able to respond to it vocally as the trio finally noticed the Grif siblings and Simmons.
"Oh, son ustedes tres." {"Oh, it's you three."}
"Hello." Sheila greeted politely with an incline of her head towards their direction as Junior nodded and waved his hand shyly in greeting.
"Fucking awesome. New people! What's up?" Kaikaina asked the three newcomers, "I'm bored talking to nerdy gray guy and my brother."
"I believe that Tucker should be back any second for Junior." Sheila informed them, "I was going to take him to meet up with his father so that they could make the trip home."
Simmons became curious at the holographic projection's words and couldn't help asking, "Is it really even possible for you to leave the building?" He realized how that sounded, his face burning up not a second later, "Er, I mean…!"
Sheila smiled, "Thank you for your concern, but I have left the premises on multiple occasions in the past."
"Worrywart." Grif muttered at Simmons under his breath. Save for a twitching eyebrow, Simmons ignored him, choosing instead to focus on Sheila's remark. Whatever technology made her was certainly fascinating.
"¿Tu estar aquí todavía significa que has decidido?" {"Does your still being here mean you've decided?"}
As everyone else stared blankly at Lopez, Sheila nodded her head in quiet understanding of whatever the robot had just said.
"Lopez was simply wondering if you had made up your minds about joining Church's group." She told them, much to the brown-armored robot's open astonishment.
"I…I want to try to convince my dad to join up!" Junior told them just then in a rush of words, "It would be so cool!"
"Yeah, you should totally go for it, little man!" Kaikaina agreed with her usual level of exuberance.
"Realmente no tengo mucho que decir en el asunto, aunque supongo que hay cosas peores que podría estar haciendo con mi tiempo." {"I don't really have much say in the matter, though I suppose there are worse things I could be doing with my time."}
"Fuck, yeah! I'm doing it!" The tan-skinned girl in yellow proclaimed, "It seems like it will be fun, and for once not in the bend over variety."
"Damn it, Kai!" Grif said to his sister before turning his attention to the others, "I'm thinking about it, though it seems more like a pain to me."
"Aw, you're no fun!" Kaikaina turned to him then, sticking out her tongue for added emphasis.
Her brother simply shrugged his shoulders, "Your definition of fun is questionable." He noted, "I prefer just lying low and staying alive."
"You suck!" was Kai's immediate reply.
All eyes landed on Simmons then, and he couldn't help fidgeting awkwardly under their gaze. "I…I'm not sure yet." He admitted rather sheepishly.
Grif grinned, "I'm honestly surprised that you came back at all, nerd." He told him matter-of-factly, as if he could read the maroon-wearing cyborg like a book.
Simmons bristled at the heavyset man's tone, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Grif, however, chose to ignore the question entirely, much to Simmons' growing frustration. Instead, the orange-wearing man turned to face his little sister, "We need to get going, Kai." He told her, as if he was done with the whole conversation.
"Aw, that's no fun!" Kaikaina frowned in disappointment, but skipped to the exit all the same.
This surprised the others, particularly Simmons, "Why are you leaving so early?" He couldn't stop himself from asking, suddenly vividly aware of how clingy that sounded. It wasn't that he cared what Grif was up to. He was just naturally inquisitive, that's all!
Grif smirked at the redhead, "Why are you so curious?" The look in his dark eyes indicated he was enjoying the self-inflicted torment the redhead was going through.
Simmons felt the heat rush to the flesh parts of his face then, "I—I'm not!" He promptly denied, "I just… Oh, never mind!"
"At any rate," Grif continued, turning his attention to Sheila after casting one more amused glance at the flustered Simmons, "We'll probably be hanging around here for a while just to see how things play out."
Sheila nodded her head in understanding, "I'll be sure to inform Church of that."
The two Grif siblings left then, and Sheila noticed the sudden frown plastered onto Simmons' face. "There is no pressure to decide on things right away." The Virtual Intelligence tried reassuring him gently.
"...Probablemente es mejor no hacerlo, si se le da la opción." {"...It's probably better not to do so, if given the option."}
Sheila nodded her head in agreement to whatever it was that the robot had said, "Lopez is right. This is a decision that is best made over time."
Simmons smiled gratefully at the two as Church's voice could be heard yelling out in exasperation once more: "Somebody just do something, damn it! Tex, stop laughing, you bitch!"
Simmons returned to his shabby one-room apartment a little while later, eventually having given up on waiting for the outcome of the sparring match. The moment the apartment door shut, he promptly began getting himself ready for bed. All alone at night. Looking at the clock that flashed 9:30 PM, he could almost hear Grif saying "Nerd."
The redhead frowned in thought, knowing full well that he had to make some kind of a decision soon. He honestly still wasn't sure of what it was that he wanted to do, and he couldn't help but hate himself for being so indecisive.
He looked down at his carefully crafted Pros and Cons list, and definitely heard his mind say "Nerd." in Grif's apathetic tone. The cyborg figured that maybe going back and listening some more to what Church had in mind wasn't such a bad idea in the grand scheme of things, especially if the others were willing to do so. After all, there wasn't much harm in listening more to what Church had to say.
It wasn't like he was being forced to join the group. It was just that he couldn't reach a conclusion without collecting more data.
Simmons fell into a restless sleep soon after having reached his decision, not even bothering to eat his usual convenience store bought meal.
Dexter Grif opened the door to the house that he shared with Kaikaina in the lower districts. The chubby man sighed to himself as he let his coat drop haphazardly to the floor, wondering just how it was that he had gotten caught up in all of this bullshit.
It had been bad enough when it had been just him and Kai struggling to make ends meet after their parents had abandoned their "freak" children. Grif, and Kai when she had gotten older, had worked hard and they were pretty well off now, all things considered. He really didn't want any so-called "heroics" ruining that for them. Being a hero wasn't going to pay their bills, and it also wasn't exactly going to help him keep his low-key, little effort lifestyle.
But, what could Grif do, exactly? Kai seemed pretty dead set on helping the ragtag group of hopeless misfits, and he wasn't about to let his little sister do so all on her own.
Besides, some of the people that Church was bringing in seemed all right or, at the very least, downright interesting and fun to tease. Like that Simmons guy.
Grif's thoughts on that particular matter vanished when he stepped on an envelope that had been shoved under their door. The letter was definitely not one of the ones that he or Kai had accidently dropped from their "wait until the last possible second to open" pile, which was usually where bills were thrown and promptly forgotten about.
The orange-wearing man frowned, noting that the typed-up envelope in question was addressed to him by name and had no other information but his name printed on it. The message contained within the envelope was brief and to the point: "Come to the park to talk. Come alone."
He sighed again in exasperation. Fucking damn it. Grif couldn't help but wonder what this particular new bullshit was as he yet again reached for his coat.
"Kai, I'm heading out on a food run." He lied (well, it really wasn't a lie since he probably would be getting food on his way back, but it wasn't his initial destination), "Be back soon."
Grif didn't even wait for the girl's response before he was out the door once more, a crumpled letter in his coat pocket next to an empty Oreo wrapper.
Author's Notes: This was a fun chapter to write, albeit a slightly shorter one. The plot thickens though, especially with the mysterious letter that Grif received! Yay for fun character interactions too! :D
Next up on Specials: Tucker, Church, and Tex discuss their next move; Simmons interacts with his neighbor; Washington and Junior have a chance to talk while Jensen babysits; and Grif finds out just who sent him that message and what it is they want. I hope the chapter will not disappoint! :D
Thank you for taking the time to read this story! :)