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 Sixteen: Find Your Way Home

Uncomfortable silence followed the living room door shutting behind all six people, currently crammed into a tiny kitchen for an emergency meeting. Ohio decided she'd never again describe the space as "cozy" as she struggled to turn around enough to face everyone, "What is going on?" She demanded in as loudly urgent a whisper as possible, "Why is there some kid passed out on our couch?"

Sherry raised a dark eyebrow inquisitively, "Isn't it obvious?"

Ohio frowned in consternation at the slightly scarred woman's comment, "No, not really." She told her, "Last I heard, you guys were just supposed to transfer something to Headquarters."

Sherry didn't respond verbally, though the pointed look she threw the dark-skinned woman's way was enough of a reply in and of itself. Ohio's face took on an ashen hue as she realized just what Sherry was inferring.

"No way." Idaho remarked from near her shoulder, "That kid is what you were supposed to transport?"

Darryl frowned and nodded his head in confirmation, "He'd been picked up several days ago. They were holding him in a storage facility out of town."

"We were to bring him to HQ from there." Terrill continued.

"Which doesn't really explain why he's in our house now." Ohio noted, though she was starting to glimpse the bigger picture given the reluctant looks forming on Sherry and her cohorts' faces, "You didn't want to bring him to HQ."

Sherry scoffed, "Would you?" The dark-haired woman asked her succinctly, an edge to her voice as she added, "None of us signed up for kidnapping. There are just some things you don't do, especially after being treated like garbage yourself."

"True enough." Ohio had to admit that Sherry had a good point.

"It wouldn't sit well with any of us to turn some hapless kid over without knowing what would happen to them." Idaho agreed glumly.

"Yeah, since they still don't tell us anything." Terrill noted.

"But still, bringing him here wasn't exactly the smartest move ever." Ohio pointed out, "After all, Headquarters knows where we are."

Iowa seemed troubled by this turn of events as he watched Sherry's frown deepen, "I—it's not like we can just dump him somewhere!" He sounded horrified at the prospect.

"Why not?" Idaho reasoned with a shrug of his shoulders, "None would be the wiser and we'd all go on our merry way."

"Except that HQ knows we were supposed to transfer the kid." Sherry pointed out, "The timing would be too noticeable."

"But so is keeping him here!" Ohio argued, feeling panic beginning to set in.

They needed to figure out a plan where they could all walk away from this in one piece somehow. Think, damn it! Trying to come up with one caused the pink-haired female to groan in exasperation as she put her head in her hands, "All I ever wanted was to just be done with this." She bemoaned through her fingers.

Just as a concerned-looking Sherry was about to reach out across the tiny space to put a consoling hand on the other woman's shoulder, there was a hesitant knock on the closed living room door, "Um, excuse me," a young-sounding voice tentatively spoke up from the other side, "But if you guys are done with trying to figure out what to do with me right now, I could really use the bathroom."

Vanessa Kimball shifted through some papers on her desk, frowning over the new reports she'd just gotten over another Special attack. This one seemed to have all the calling cards that Carolina had been looking for: one dead Special victim, heavy collateral damage, somehow no witnesses or surveillance of the actual assault. The dark-skinned Special wondered if she shouldn't try to get in contact with the redhead again.

She was shaken out of her musings of green eyes by a sudden knock on her office door. Kimball looked up, surprised to find a tan-skinned teenager she'd never seen before standing awkwardly in the entrance. There was a hesitancy about the girl's freckled features, as if she was inwardly debating whether being there was a good idea.

Kimball quickly swept the files she'd been looking at into a drawer, smiling in way of greeting to put the girl at ease, "How can I help you?"

"You're Vanessa Kimball, right?" The stranger got out rather nervously, continuing in a hurry when Kimball briefly nodded, "You handle cases involving Specials, right?"

She nodded again, giving the girl an assessing look, "That's correct. Why do you need to know?"

The girl took a few tentative steps into the office, "I…I have a missing person I want to find." She told her, "And he just so happens to be a Special."

The teenager, whose name turned out to be Katie Jensen, explained that her friend Palomo had recently moved from their poorer neighborhood to one of the nicer districts of Chorus, and that he had suddenly stopped contacting her despite a usually daily messaging routine.

Kimball raised an eyebrow, "Isn't it possible he's just busy?" She asked, not to disparage Jensen in the slightest but to get all the facts.

"No." Jensen shook her head adamantly, "He always makes time to talk to me, and his parents haven't seen him for several days either."

Kimball perked up slightly at that bit of information, quickly making note of it, "Have they filed a missing person's report?"

Jensen frowned, "Palomo's relationship with his parents is pretty distant." She admitted reluctantly, perhaps feeling uncomfortable talking about a friend's private circumstances, "They know he's missing, but don't seem too concerned about it." Her frown deepened as she clenched her hands at her sides, "And with him being a Special too…"

"They aren't eager for the potential scandal a police investigation might cause." Unfortunately, Kimball had seen her fair share of similar incidents.

Jensen nodded and bit her lip regretfully, "This is definitely not like Charlie at all!"

"I believe you." Kimball told her reassuringly, slightly smiling as she added, "Which is why I'll take your case."

A huge wave of relief flooded Jensen's body language, "Thank you so much!" She breathed out as she took out a huge wad of cash to try and pay.

"That isn't necessary." A new voice suddenly remarked behind her. Both Jensen and Kimball started at the sight of Carolina standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.

Jensen frowned at what the newcomer had said, glancing down at her no doubt hard-earned money, "But…!"

"I'm already paying Kimball to investigate this case." Carolina informed the teen, her voice broaching no room for arguments.

Kimball raised an eyebrow inquisitively, "You are?" She asked, wondering what the hell was going on. Carolina shot her a pointed look and understanding dawned in Kimball's mind just a split-second later, "You think this incident is somehow connected to the ones you've been looking into." She surmised.

"I'd be more shocked if it wasn't." Carolina stated succinctly.

Before Kimball could ask just what it was that made her so sure, Carolina was heading towards the door again, "I'll explain things on the way, but we should move."

Kimball and Jensen both looked at one another before moving towards the door themselves, Kimball asking, "And just where are we going, exactly?"

Carolina smirked, "I know a group that will no doubt love to hear about this case and help out," she noted, "And if they're so insistent on sticking around, then I'm definitely going to put them to work."

Lavernius Tucker had just stepped out of Church's house for a quick breather. When safely away from all of the commotion inside, a snapping sound and leaves falling caused his attention to turn to a rather large tree close by. The sight reminded him that he really should bring Junior here more often, since there were hardly any trees or plants close by their shitty apartment building, "You've got to be fucking kidding me." He exclaimed as he got a good look up in the tree's branches, "Seriously, dude, what is it with you and lurking?"

From where he was sitting up in the tree holding something tightly to his chest, Washington indignantly replied, "I'm not lurking, and I wasn't lurking all those other times you said that either!"

Tucker rolled his eyes, "Whatever helps you sleep at night." There was only stony silence from up in the tree in response, and Tucker squinted up at the cutely pouting older man, "Seriously, though, what are you doing up there?"

There was a sudden commotion from within the nest of branches, and Washington quickly jumped down with a small bundle in his arms.

Tucker raised an eyebrow at the squirming, mewling package he was holding, "Did you really just rescue a kitten from a tree?" He asked, unable to hide his delight at the discovery.

Washington's face turned bright red as he clutched the brown tabby closer to himself, "I just couldn't leave him up there!"

Tucker grinned before letting out a loud burst of laughter, "I had no idea Mister Big and Mighty Freelancer was such an old-school hero at heart!"

Somehow, even though it shouldn't be possible, Washington's face became even redder at his teasing, "Have you had enough?"

The dark-skinned man's immediate response was to whip out his phone and point it at the extremely flustered Freelancer, "Hold up, I gotta send a picture of this to Junior!" He declared, positively cackling.

Washington quickly tried changing the conversation instead by staring down at the kitten in his arms with a thoughtful frown, "What we need to do now is find out where this little guy lives."

"I believe he belongs to our neighbor on the right." Sheila's calm, benign voice remarked from the stairs leading to the front doors, "He must have gotten out when they accidentally left their door ajar a few hours ago."

Lopez was also standing with her, watching the two humans with marked interest. Washington's face became a rather unhealthy shade of outright purple at the added attention being placed on his person, though he still managed to mutely nod his head in thanks for the information.

Tucker sighed and gave Washington's shoulder a mercy pat, "We should hurry and get him back to where he belongs then." He noted, starting to push a dumbfounded Washington towards the indicated house.

"You—you don't have to come along with me…" The blond-haired former Freelancer tried protesting.

Tucker scoffed, "Like hell I'm missing the chance to recall such awesome heroics to someone else!"

As the two men's voices drifted farther and farther away, Lopez sighed and stared over at the tree that Washington had been up in moments before, "...Los rituales de cortejo humano son extremadamente confusos para mí." {"…Human courtship rituals are extremely confusing to me."}

"Agreed." Sheila couldn't help but nod her head.

"And that's when I asked if the party could at least be topless, but that Church guy said no because he's super-lame!" Kaikaina Grif had just finished regaling both her brother and Simmons with her take on what had happened at Church's after they had left earlier.

Dexter Grif let out an exasperated groan at the girl's antics before catching the eye of a rather red-faced Simmons. They glanced at one another for a moment before turning back to regard the impatiently waiting young woman decked out in yellow, awaiting a critique of her storytelling.

"About the only thing I could really take away from your story is that Niner, Volleyball, and Andersmith are going to be joining our group in some capacity." The cyborg noted lamely.

"Great." Grif muttered sarcastically under his breath, "As if things weren't hectic and crowded enough."

Kai shrugged indifferently in response to her older brother's lack of enthusiasm, her brown eyes shining in anticipation, "Personally, I say the more the merrier!" She told them, "Especially since that makes any potential orgy more entertaining."

Simmons nodded his head in agreement to the first half of her sentiment, "Yeah, yeah…" And then he was hit with the second part, "Wait, what?!" His entire face turned hydrant red right up to his plating.

"Damn it, Kai, no one is going to have an orgy!" Grif swore at her in frustration.

"You never know." She stuck her tongue out at him and waved, "Later, losers! I'm going to chill in my room. With a sock on my doorknob, if you catch my drift."

Grif groaned again and Simmons let out a terrified "Eep!"

She grinned, "If you're going to be doing anything extra kinky, just let me know so I can put my ear plugs in."

Simmons made another high-pitched squeaking noise, which was quickly followed by Grif loudly going "Goddamn it, Kai!" as he chased her laughing form out of the living room.

Leave it to his little sister to always find a way to make things even more awkward. He swore that was her real super-power. When Grif turned back around to face him, Simmons was still very much red-faced as he awkwardly rose from the couch.

"M—maybe I should head to my room too." The redhead shakily declared, "It usually takes me awhile to get used to sleeping in a new place."

Grif nodded, deciding not to focus on the burst of disappointment he felt at the announcement for some reason. Indigestion, maybe? Instead, he thought hard on what Simmons had just said and asked, "Are you sure you don't need some help falling asleep?"

He wasn't sure why he was offering or why he felt like him doing so was personally such a big deal. Truth be told, he never really used his power before to try and help someone out who wasn't Kai. The nerd just seemed like he could use a little true relaxation.

Given Kai's earlier remark, Simmons' face took on such a bright shade of red that Grif was somewhat surprised his circuitry didn't start smoking. He smirked as he realized what Simmons was no doubt thinking just then, "Relax." He told him, "I just meant using my ability to help you chill out some. Not a ton, obviously. I'm not a miracle worker and you're stressed out enough to break the mirror in my bathroom."

…Which was his way of saying the lanky redhead obviously needed some help with his anxiety.

Simmons deflated visibly, "Oh." He began as he regarded Grif with a curious glint in his eyes, "You can really help someone fall asleep?"

"Of course. It's pretty fucking easy." The heavyset man informed him, "I used to do it all the time with Kai when we were younger and she had trouble sleeping."

For a long while after their mom had just up and left them, Kai had really had a hard time of it with getting enough rest. Grif really hated thinking back to those times, when he'd felt so damn powerless and useless.

Simmons almost seemed to be considering it for a few moments there, but he ultimately shook his head in response to Grif's offer, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll try it on my own first."

Grif shrugged, not sure why he felt rather disappointed about the rejection (was it because he'd gone out of his way to make it? Indigestion again? Who the fuck even cared?). Instead, he muttered an indifferent "Suit yourself."

Just as he was about to head to his own bedroom for a decent night's rest himself, a loud beeping came from his phone just as Simmons' went off as well. The two looked at one another before looking down at their respective phone screens at the same time that Kai loudly yelled from her room, "What the actual fuck? I'd just been over at that asshole's house too!"

Author's Notes: Special credit goes to the always awesome blankslate101 for the idea of having Wash rescue a kitten from a tree! :D I had a blast writing that part, and all the others in this chapter too! :D Poor Grif is trying even if he doesn't realize it just yet. He's definitely crushing hard. XD Hopefully Palomo got to use the bathroom at least! :)

Next time in Specials: the Reds and Blues launch an investigation/rescue mission for the missing Palomo while Palomo and his "kidnappers" try to get out of their current messy situation themselves; reunions are had; Simmons nearly panics when he draws similarities to what is going on with the kidnappings to his own experience in the past; a powerful figure in white armor brings a whole lot of trouble for everyone.

Thank you so much for reading! :D