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 Eighteen: Aftermath
Even Leonard Church could see that the fight wasn't exactly going well. He quickly projected his Digital Form through the group's communication devices to get a better look at the field. If Church could somehow manage to get inside of Maine's obviously very high-tech armor, he might be able to help, but a downright nasty firewall was keeping him at bay currently.
His current estimate was that it would take several minutes to bypass. Minutes they didn't really have, if he was being fucking honest. Church could only watch in growing trepidation as his newly formed team and his only living relative got their asses handed to them.
The Triplets and their Charon counterparts had formed a protective shield of constantly moving rocks and water around the two kids, Jensen and Palomo, while Donut busily maintained one of his pink forcefields around Doc (the medic's negation ability being far too risky to use) and Grey (who hopefully wouldn't need to use her healing slash skill at all).
Carolina and Washington were both swooping down from the sky in futile attempts to divebomb Maine, but the towering figure simply batted them away like flies with a wave of his hand and what appeared to be some kind of energy tether.
Both Grif siblings were trying their hardest to distract him with their powers, though the older Grif frowned after a second attempt as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, "Maybe making this guy angrier than he already is isn't a smart move!"
"No shit! You think?" Tucker yelled as he slashed ineffectively at the energy chain with his sword before jumping behind cover alongside Sarge and Kimball, who were both still firing off shots whenever they could risk it, "Try a different emotion, fat-ass!"
"That's pretty fucking hard to do when all I'm getting from him is angry and…hungry?" Grif seemed confused by that last feeling, blinking as he registered it.
"Hungry?" Sarge harrumphed out loud, "Are you sure that isn't you, dirt-bag?"
Grif ignored the older man in red, choosing instead to redouble his efforts alongside Kai. Maine wobbled under the pressure of Kai's vertigo in particular, but, as Grif surmised, all it really seemed to do was make him angrier. Still, it was enough of a distraction for Sarge, Kimball, and Simmons to take aim, right alongside Washington as he seemed to think Kimball's scattershot ability might readily do the trick.
Maine raced towards them before anyone could hinder his progress, his arm crackling with their combined attacks even as it remained wholly undamaged. He reached out, grabbing Simmons by his outstretched cybernetic arm and yanked. There was a burst of sparks and Simmons was crying out in pain as his arm was separated forcefully from its metallic joint, Maine throwing the appendage to the ground as if disappointed it wasn't flesh and blood.
"Simmons!" Grif shouted out amongst several shocked exclamations from the others.
Maine paid them no heed as chains of energy looped tightly around Simmons, and he dragged the struggling cyborg right up to his helmet with a threatening growl. But then his grip on the chain went slack and he waved his free hand again, sending Carolina and the others nearby falling to the ruined pavement once more. Maine kicked Simmons' feet out from under him and grabbed his disconnected arm from the ground just as Simmons hit the pavement with a sickening thud, the adversary turning just in time to face Lopez who had tried sneaking up on him.
"Mierda." {"Shit."} Lopez muttered as the severed arm swung down against his helmet so hard that it left a dent.
Kai and Grif dragged the still chained Simmons away while Maine focused on Lopez, the others closing in around them even though their efforts so far had been in vain. But then the sound of an air transport flying in low could be heard overhead, and Church took the opportunity to materialize in front of Maine, "Hey, dipshit!" He called out, "Look up!"
As he did so, Tex was already leaping down from the transport, her fist impacting Maine's helmet with a sickening crack. The surprised man was forced to move back a few paces, growling. Then Caboose was standing next to Tucker, waving hello, and suddenly Simmons' disconnected arm sparked all the more and Maine had to drop it, Tex and Carolina both moving forward as everyone started to combine their attacks…
Only for a nasty explosion radiating from Maine to counter them instead, knocking most flat on the ground save the more deflective-oriented types and the former Freelancers. Fortunately for them, however, Maine was gone by the time the dust settled.
Tex flexed her fingers and glanced over at the huddled groups in Church's foyer, "That could have gone better." She muttered.
"You fucking think?" Church asked her incredulously, not even sure how to process what had just happened.
If it hadn't been for Four Seven Niner dropping Tex and Caboose down, none of them would have gotten away. Maine, or whatever the fuck it was that he was now, had completely overwhelmed them, even with Washington and Carolina being there. Church glanced over at his pacing sister, wondering just how the hell she had ever thought she could fight something like that on her own. The redhead was just asking to be killed.
Tex caught his regard, relaxing enough to briefly put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you should go and talk to her."
Church frowned at the thought, but nodded all the same and went over to where his sister was burning a hole in his floor. Carolina let out a frustrated sigh at his approach, saying "Not now, Church." before he'd even gotten within a few steps of her.
He raised an eyebrow, "If not now, fucking when, Carolina?"
She frowned and turned to regard her dark-haired sibling pointedly, "I knew your team wasn't ready."
"Uh, neither were you if that fight was any indication."
She seethed at the implication behind his words for a brief moment before looking utterly defeated and sighing once more, "You're right." The former Freelancer spoke up softly, as if the admission was a painful one, "Whatever's happened to Maine, I don't think anyone has a chance to stop him on their own." Carolina looked away, "Maybe I needed to see that with my own eyes before I could really admit it."
He smirked, "Well, you are legendarily stubborn."
"So are you." She smirked right back at him, "Guess it runs in the family, huh?"
"I guess so." Church frowned at the mention of family though, "What the fuck did Dad do to Maine to make him like that?" He demanded, "The guy was crazy strong before, but never so single-minded."
"I don't know." Carolina admitted, frowning herself, "All I know for certain is that they somehow harnessed his ability to steal powers and made him obsessed with it." She continued, her green eyes narrowing in a glare, "Charon has been using him to find Specials with powers they want but who they don't believe they can control."
"Basically he kills them after stealing their powers so only he has them." Church's frown deepened and he shook his head, "That's fucked up."
Carolina glanced over at where Palomo was sitting with the other "Lieutenants" as Donut had cheerily started calling the trainees for who knew what reason, "And when Palomo wasn't brought directly to them, they sent Maine after him."
"Shit. They were going to have him murder a kid for his powers." Church let out a breath in disbelief, "That is fucked up even by villain standards."
"Fortunately though we were there to throw a wrench in the works." The two siblings started as Kimball approached them. Her brown-eyed gaze landed squarely on Carolina, "I can understand now why those Special fights had been of so much interest to you."
Carolina sighed, "I should have said more about them to you both." She admitted quietly, "I'm sorry about that."
Kimball shook her head, "I think seeing it firsthand was probably the only way any of us would have believed it."
Church nodded, "She's probably right there." He told them, "But the real question is what do we do now?" His gaze fixed on his older sister, "You can't still be thinking of trying to pursue this or Charon on your own."
Carolina glanced around the room, taking in everyone around them, "A team again, huh?" She muttered before turning her gaze back to the two of them, "Give me some time to think on it." She turned and promptly walked towards the elevator to the floors below. Apparently "thinking about it" meant beating the shit out of something in the training hall.
Church sighed. Definitely stubborn. He glanced over at Kimball who was still staring at where Carolina had been standing moments before, "What do you plan to do?" He asked the dark-skinned woman.
"Me?" Kimball seemed taken aback by the question, though she glanced over at the Lieutenants and straightened her posture, "If you don't mind, I want to officially sign on now." She informed him.
"Really?" Church asked, raising an eyebrow. Honestly? After tonight's events, he was shocked that people weren't walking up to him with resignation notices.
"I can't just ignore this situation." Kimball told him, "Besides, you probably need all the help you can get."
Church sighed, looking at all of the bruised and exhausted people around them, "You have no fucking idea." He admitted to her rather gratefully.
"That really was Maine, huh?" Ohio asked in staunch disbelief in the corner of the foyer where she and her comrades were huddled together.
"Or what was left of him." Idaho muttered darkly in response, not bothering to try and repress the shudder that went through his body.
"I can't believe we used to eat lunch with him!" Iowa exclaimed rather loudly.
"That's your big takeaway from this?" Darryl asked incredulously, "He nearly killed all of us."
"We're aware." Sherry murmured, a frown plastered across her features, "It looks like Charon was pretty quick to write us all off as traitors."
"So, what do we do now then?" Terrill asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"We'd like to know that too." The group started at the new-yet-familiar-blond-Freelancer's voice in their midst, glancing over to find that Washington, Tex, and Four Seven Niner were standing nearby.
Sherry raised a dark eyebrow, "What can we do?" She asked Washington, "We're on their traitor list now. Our best bet is to probably lay low for a while."
"But," Ohio frowned as all eyes turned towards her then, her dark eyes focused on the three newcomers, "What are you guys going to do?"
Tex snorted and crossed her arms over her chest, "I thought that would be pretty obvious." The blonde stated matter-of-factly, "We might lay low for a while too, but we have to start planning how to go on the offensive."
"Why?" Ohio asked in turn, her voice uncharacteristically small, "Why do any of this?"
"Vera…" Sherry trailed off as she reached over and touched Ohio's shoulder gently.
"Because we have to." Tex informed them rather emphatically, "Freelancer was a fucking mess and we're the only ones who can pick up the pieces."
"Especially when there's a group like Charon out there using them for who knows what." Four Seven Niner sighed, "I don't think I have enough space in my safehouse to try and hide everyone who will be affected by this."
"I know that the project hurt you, but…" Washington began speaking up hesitantly, clearly unsure how to finish his thought.
"You don't really know anything, Wash." Ohio cut him off rather brusquely, though her tone and expression softened somewhat as she added, "But that's okay."
"It is?" The blond looked at her in shock.
The Triplets all nodded and smiled, "After all," Ohio continued, "Freelancer ended up hurting you too."
"And you're right about Charon needing to be stopped." Sherry cut in, "Putting it mildly, they're a bunch of assholes."
The Triplets and their Charon counterparts regarded one another thoughtfully then, and Sherry sighed and shook her head, "I can't believe we're doing this," she muttered, "But if you're going after them, we're in."
"Yes!" Ohio grinned thankfully and hugged the other woman before she really thought about what she was doing.
"Yeah, yeah. You can thank me later if we don't end up killed." Sherry told her with a laugh, quick to return the gesture.
"Welcome aboard." Washington smiled and held out his hand, completely taken off-guard when the Triplets all opted to pull him into a group hug instead. He froze up for a moment before awkwardly returning the gesture, glancing over at Tex and Four Seven Niner for help as the seconds dragged on. Everyone else pretended not to notice, however, smiling at the scene instead.
"So, what are you planning on doing now?" Lavernius Tucker asked the Lieutenants as he, Donut, and Kai stood off to the side with them.
Jensen glanced over at Kai, Volleyball, and Andersmith rather speculatively, "You guys are training with them, right?" She asked.
The three nodded, with Kai adding in a rather proud "Damn straight!"
"And so are you two?" Jensen asked Bitters and Matthews, and once they also nodded, she asked Matthews, "And you're even staying here with the Reds and Blues?"
"Y—yeah." Matthews admitted sheepishly, "At least until Charon loses interest in me."
Bitters scoffed, "It's not like his parents even care he's gone."
"Bitters!" Matthews chided, a hurt look on his face.
"What?" Bitters shot him a defiant look, "Tell me I'm wrong."
The auburn-haired boy remained silent at the challenge, and Jensen decided to change topics before things got even more tense and awkward, "What about you, Charlie?" She turned questioningly to her childhood friend.
Palomo scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Kimball said she would tell my folks that I'm okay, so I think I might be roomies with Matthews for a while." He frowned as he admitted, "Those jerks already picked me up once. I kind of don't want that to happen again."
"Yeah, you might not wind up with such nice kidnappers next time." Volleyball tried joking.
Tucker frowned as he noticed a contemplative look settling over Jensen's features, "What about you, Jensen?" He asked her at length, "They might not know you have powers yet."
Jensen frowned, "Or they do now because of that Maine guy." She sighed as if that ultimately decided something for her, "I can't really take that chance. Plus, someone needs to look after Charlie."
"Aw," Palomo blushed, "Thanks, but…!"
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Tucker, but you'll probably have to find another babysitter for Junior for a while." Jensen informed the older man, smiling apologetically as she did so, totally ignoring Palomo's comment.
"Hey, no problem!" The dark-skinned man grinned reassuringly, "I'll figure something out."
Donut clapped his hands together excitedly, "Oh! I think this calls for a celebration!" He breathed out happily, "It would be the perfect way to get our minds off of that massive pounding we just had!"
Tucker let out an exasperated groan, "Uh, dude?" He stated tiredly, "I'm all for the celebrating part, but why'd you have to go and remind us of that?"
The teens and Andersmith all laughed a little at his probably over-the-top reaction, and Tucker couldn't help but smile himself, feeling like at least that was a little something good.
Richard "Dick" Simmons grimaced as Sarge and Grey finished the rather uncomfortable task of reattaching his arm. "There we go!" Grey declared happily once they had reattached the arm to its shoulder joint, "Good as new!"
The redhead flexed his fingers, happy to sense and feel that everything was indeed back to working order. He smiled appreciatively at the pair, "Thank you so much!" He said, meaning every word. Honestly, Simmons hadn't expected the repairs to be done in such a short amount of time. It was kind of scary just how knowledgeable Grey and Sarge were when it came to robotics, though he wasn't about to complain in this instance.
"No problemo." Sarge patted his newly repaired shoulder, "It would have been mighty awkward having you still sparking up a storm."
"Yeah, that would've been the big issue there." Grif muttered sarcastically from where he was leaning against the workshop's doorway, "Not the fact that some fucking giant went and just ripped his arm off."
There was a beat of uncomfortable silence which Grey finally broke by stating, "Sarge, that reminds me: we should check on Lopez next since he was beaten over the head."
"If I know how durable he is, he should just be a bit dented up, but you bring up a good point!" Sarge nodded his head in agreement, "Let's hop to it, little lady!"
Grey winked at the older man, "My pleasure."
With that, the two left the medical room to go and find wherever it was that Lopez had snuck off to with Sheila earlier, which just left Simmons sitting there, awkwardly still flexing his cybernetic fingers as Grif watched him do so with an unreadable expression on his face. Finally unable to stand it any longer, an uncomfortable Simmons squirmed on the chair he was sitting on and demanded, "What?"
"Nothing." Grif shrugged in feigned indifference, "It's just pretty fucking fortunate that you're part metal because otherwise…" He trailed off and Simmons looked down at his hands resting in his lap, one organic and one metal.
Simmons shook slightly as he remembered what had happened before, "Tell me about it." He wasn't really sure just why it was any concern of Grif's though, and just before he could ask about it…
Grif let out a weary sigh and turned away, "I definitely should not have signed up for this shit." He murmured under his breath.
Simmons' curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't help but ask, "So why did you then?"
Grif turned back around to regard the cyborg for a brief second as if he was contemplating a response, but then he merely shrugged his shoulders instead. The heavyset man suddenly left, and Simmons frowned at the spot where he had been standing mere moments before in the doorway, wondering yet again about Dexter Grif and why it was that he cared so much in the first place.
Author's Notes: I'm not comfortable with writing fight scenes, yet I end up creating stories where they happen to be necessary. Madness! XD
So Carolina, Kimball, the Triplets, their Charon cohorts, and the Lieutenants are officially onboard now! Woot, like a superhero team in a comic book, the team roster is getting large! :) …And there's still so much that has to happen in the story, guys! XD
Next time in Specials: Carolina introduces the Triplets and their friends to their new digs with Tucker and Washington's "help;" Donut and Doc help get things ready for the party (much to Church's chagrin); Dylan Andrews decides she needs to have a few words with a certain investigator; Kai attempts to get Simmons to try on body glitter; Grif gets a message he really doesn't want anything to do with.
Thank you for reading! :D