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 Nineteen: That Was Yesterday
"Here it is." Carolina said, sweeping her arm for added flourish as she opened the rather spacious apartment's door.
"Whoa." Lavernius Tucker breathed out at the sight, unceremoniously shoving his way past the Triplets, their former Charon counterparts, and Washington, "You've been living here this whole fucking time?"
"It's one of Fa—the Director's safe houses." Carolina explained, apparently surprised at his sudden outburst, quickly adding to answer unasked question that the Triplets and Washington were obviously thinking to themselves, "He kept it off any records, of course."
"Of course. Just like Church's special headquarters." Washington surmised.
Carolina merely shrugged in response, leaving the teal-armored man to break the silence. "You mean to tell me that you had access to this place and you decided to just crash on my floor with your brother and Tex for who knows how long, completely rent-free?" Tucker demanded.
Carolina blinked, "It took quite a lot of digging on Church's end to find these two places." She explained matter-of-factly, "We really did have nowhere to go then."
"Sort of like when we were dumped." Ohio murmured.
Carolina looked uncomfortable at the comparison, but ultimately nodded her head, "Something like that."
"Carolina—!" The other woman started, but she was immediately cut off by Idaho, Iowa, Darryl, and Terrill all clambering into the revealed space after Tucker.
"Whoa, check it out!" Darryl's voice held a note of awe, "You could probably have three people sleep on the couch!"
"There are two bedrooms off to the sides, as well as a fully-stocked refrigerator." Carolina told them, smirking a little as she added, "If you're going to be lying low for a while, why not do it in style?"
"Huh." Sherry shot the redhead an assessing look, "And here I thought I had you pegged."
"Thank you? I think." Carolina replied, shifting awkwardly on the spot.
"When you said you could help us lie low, I definitely wasn't expecting anything like this." Ohio explained, her brown eyes wide, "So much better than our old digs."
"That's for sure." Sherry grinned, "I call dibs on the master suite."
"Hey, no fair!" Ohio quickly called out.
"Oh, lighten up! You know the two of you are just going to be sharing it anyways." Idaho joked with a rather knowing gleam in his eyes.
"Y—you guys!" Ohio started, just as Tucker muttered, "Bow-chicka-bow-wow!" under his breath excitedly.
Sherry seemed completely nonplussed by the situation, "That would be totally fine by me."
"Really?" Ohio sounded like she was both hopeful and as if she desperately wanted to ponder over this sudden turn of events, causing Sherry to wink in her direction.
Meanwhile, Carolina glanced over at Tucker who was currently engaged in a battle with Terrill over who could try out the remote for the TV, raising an eyebrow, "Remind me why he tagged along again?" She asked Washington.
"Because he wanted to see exactly what kind of place you've been hiding yourself away in and I couldn't persuade him otherwise." Washington sighed exasperatedly at the memory of that particular lost cause before shooting her a grateful look, "Thank you for helping them out this way."
"We were all hurt by Project Freelancer in one way or another, Wash." Carolina's reply was earnest, "This was the least that I could do."
There was a loud crash from somewhere further inside the apartment, followed by Iowa quickly stammering out, "I—I didn't do it!"
Washington looked over at Carolina as she frowned in response, "I take it that you're not going to be living here with them though?"
She smirked, "Nope." The former Freelancer informed him quickly, "I figure it's about time I start bonding with my baby brother again, whether he likes it or not."
"Ah, I see." Washington nodded his head, "You want to help train and monitor everyone."
"What's left of Maine is still out there, being pulled along by Charon." Carolina frowned, a faraway look in her green eyes, "All of us need to be ready. Besides," her tone softened slightly, "I really haven't seen as much of Church as I'd like recently. Or Tucker. Or even you, for that matter."
"Carolina…" Washington began before trailing off, feeling oddly touched by his inclusion and maybe just a tad guilty too, all things considered.
Carolina frowned once more, "This time I don't want to be out of the loop." She clenched her fists at her sides, "I'm going to work hard to try to keep in it."
There was another crash from inside the apartment as Iowa quickly announced: "I may have done that one."
"Really, really hard." Carolina managed to get out through gritted teeth.
The transparent form of Sheila flitted through Church's residence much like a ghost, watching curiously as Franklin Delano Donut hung colorful streamers from the ceiling. Frank "Doc" DuFresne sported him from the bottom of what seemed to be a rather precarious ladder. At least that was the assumption one could make if the purple medic's nervous expression was anything to go by.
Donut decided to ignore that part of the scenario though. He just hoped that Doc would be able to catch him if he fell, otherwise he'd be in for a very hard-yet-not-at-all fun tumble. Though it helped to be able to project force fields, he supposed, even if Doc catching him would be more fun.
"Wouldn't using my holographic projectors be more efficient, Donut?" Sheila asked after a contemplative moment, tilting her head to the side.
"Aw, but where's the fun in that, Sheila?" He responded back, "We need to put our blood, sweat, and tears into this party to show just how much we care!"
A party you could walk straight away from was not a party Donut wanted to be any part of.
"Realmente espero que solo estés hablando simbólicamente, porque de lo contrario es una violación grave del código de salud." {"I really hope you are only talking symbolically, because otherwise that is a serious health code violation."} Lopez muttered from where he and Caboose were putting down a long table ("Size doesn't always matter, but the longer the better in this case!") for food and drinks.
"That's the spirit, Lopez!" Donut called out satisfactorily, "It has to be done right or not at all."
"Al menos si estuvieras a cargo de las decoraciones, no se vería como un baile de graduación." {"At least if you were in charge of the decorations, it wouldn't look like a reject prom."} The brown-armored robot joked up at Sheila, who smiled at him warmly in response.
"That might fit the aesthetics Donut is looking for since so many of the guests are teenagers." Sheila noted to Lopez quietly before raising an eyebrow and asking, "I'm still in charge of the lights though?"
As if Donut and the others could entrust just anyone with such an important task, "Of course!" The pink-wearing man exclaimed from his perch still atop the wobbly ladder, "That is crucial for ambiance and we're totally counting on you, Sheila!"
"Oh, a light show will be so awesome!" Michael J. Caboose shouted, dropping his side of the table entirely to clap excitedly, "Can you make dolphins?"
"I can certainly manage to do so for you, Caboose." Sheila informed him kindly over Lopez's muffled cursing in Spanish.
"I don't know," Doc looked up at Donut worriedly as the dirty blond began his shaky descent, "Do you really think this is such a good idea?" He bit his lip, "Everyone's still on edge because of the fight with that Maine guy."
"You mean the one where we got our keisters handed to us?" Sarge harrumphed as he entered the foyer, "Why, a party is just what we need to get the blood boiling again after our strategic retreat!"
"...Esperadlo." {"…Wait for it."} Lopez stated up to Sheila.
"And then we can beat the living tar out of him good and properly!" Sarge declared with an emphatic laugh.
Well, it was good to see one person still in such high spirits. A part of Donut wished that Sarge's outlook could be infectious as his feet finally touched the ground, he and Doc sharing a rather unsure glance. But Donut forced himself to smile reassuringly regardless, "C'mon, Doc, a welcome party for everyone is just what we need to get our minds off of things!"
"I guess so." The bespectacled man reluctantly agreed, though Doc muttered something under his breath that Donut didn't quite catch.
"My sister said that they would help with food." Caboose told him, nodding, "Andersmith is a very good cook."
"That's great, Caboose!" Donut assured him, "We haven't forgotten that this is about welcoming them, after all!"
Church walked into the foyer with Matthews and Palomo following from a side room, something about "water usage" on the tip of his tongue, though he quickly trailed off as his eyes took in all of the half-finished decorations, "Why the fuck does it look like a discount party store just exploded in here?" He demanded rather shrilly.
"Heh. I wish." Sarge was the first to respond, and Church couldn't help but groan in exasperation.
"An explosion?" Dylan Andrews looked up from the various reports and leads strewn about her desk with an exasperated sigh, "That's what they're going with for whatever went down in the warehouse district the other night?"
"Well, it did look pretty explosion-y when we saw it afterwards." Jax Jonez tried stating helpfully.
"That's not a word, Jax, and they aren't even trying this time to explain what type of explosion could have caused such a multitude of damages in the first place." Dylan frowned, "It was most certainly not just caused by a random gas leak."
"So, your theory on the cover-up still stands?" Her young cameraman asked.
She wanted to tune him out, but considering that he was the only person giving her thoughts the time of day in the office… "It's more than just a theory." Dylan told him for what was close to the fiftieth time, "Someone is actively going out of their way to cover up these incidents."
She glanced down at the stack of papers on her desk, and then proceeded to rifle through a drawer until she came across a thick file labelled simply "Freelancer." "Some of the damages at these sites could be extreme elemental damage." She noted thoughtfully, "Which fits with the power sets of a few known Specials involved in a certain infamous project a while ago."
"So if you find those Specials, you think you might find out what is really going on?" Jax surmised as he watched her open the file and begin to skim its lengthy contents, "But how are you going to do that? Didn't they all pretty much drop off the face of the Earth after that project collapsed?"
Dylan tapped a finger along the edge of her desk, "One of my police department informants mentioned that there is a certain investigator they go to for cases involving Specials because she just so happens to be one herself." Her brown eyes glittered with determination, "We need to pay Vanessa Kimball a visit."
"Are we seriously going to this stupid welcome party?" Dexter Grif groaned out as Kai twirled around to show off her ridiculously skimpy new party dress. He would have flat out told her not to wear it and embarrass the family, but that would have had his little sister defiantly yelling "You're not the boss of me, bitch!" and wearing it anyways.
"Duh, of course! A party is just what the doctor ordered," Kai said, grinning, "And that Volleyball chick is going to be there, so…"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." Grif sighed and ignored his sister's accompanying lewd hand gesture, "But why do we have to go?"
He motioned over to where Simmons awkwardly fidgeted in their living room, clearly as ill at ease about this turn of events as he was. The redhead shot him a grateful look and muttered shyly, "He does have a point. We could stay here and—!"
"Oh, come on!" Kaikaina Grif pressed, hands on her hips, "Live a little. You can stay at home and sleep anytime."
"Really?" Grif muttered, and he couldn't stop a tinge of bitterness from creeping into his voice, "Because that seems like it's been happening less and less lately."
"After being nearly killed, I'd think a party would be something you'd be glad about!" Kai pointed out, ignoring Grif's tone completely for the moment since they didn't really need to have that particular discussion again in front of Simmons.
"I'm not really the party type." Simmons said with a shaky laugh.
"And I'm regretting getting involved as much as I already have." Grif stated bluntly, causing Simmons to look at him rather questioningly. The orange-wearing man pointedly ignored the redhead's regard.
"Neither of you are cock-blocking me!" Kai loudly declared, turning her full attention onto Simmons, causing the cyborg to start as she suddenly and purposefully strode towards him and grabbed his hand to guide him towards the bathroom, "Now, come on, gray guy! I have some body glitter that will look great on you!"
"Wh—what?!" Simmons exclaimed, glancing over to Grif for help.
The chubby man only smirked at his plight. Just as the door to the bathroom shut, Grif's phone beeped. "We're waiting." was all that appeared on the message display. Grif frowned down at his phone as he quickly deleted the rather ominous message, letting out a sigh as he did so. He was already hating tonight and it technically hadn't even started yet.
Author's Notes: I apologize for this chapter taking so long to come out, as well as for the break I will have to take from writing it in general come November. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year with a new RvB fic! But that should give me plenty of time to brainstorm where I want this story to go, and believe me, there is quite a lot of plot I want to see happen in it that I still need to outline in order to get the chapters out quickly. Thank you so much for reading and for being patient with me! I love this story and, similar to my other WIPs, I definitely want to see it through to the end no matter how long that might take! :)
Next time in Specials: party shenanigans all across the board with some surprising twists! :)