Tunnel Rat walked into the club and gave his jacket to a bouncer. He was dressed to kill. The leather was cold against he skin but the tight ,sleeveless shirt showed off his muscles a little. He was a bit self-conscious ,however, not having been in the Boondocks in several years. The rest of Brooklyn was all nice and clean ,but the Boondocks hadn't changed. Walking to the bar he looked around for the bartender.
"Hey! Tony!" he called.
He ordered a beer and sat facing the dance floor. The gun he was hiding near his ankle was colder then his shirt. A few of the ladies whistled at him .He gave them his best smile but he was all business. He was starting to get edgy as he looked for his contact. Calm the fuck down Nicky . Everything's fine . She'll show, Tunnel Rat thought ,getting everything in in one glance. A pretty red-head walked to the bar and ordered a beer. She smiled at him.
"So, Nick, what brings you back to the Boondocks?" she asked.
"Cobra. Seems they set up shop here. I'm helping to give them their eviction notice. You got that info I wanted?" He replied.
"Here. Are you goin' 'ta stay for awhile after this whole thang blows over?"
"Sorry, Becky ,but I got a job I gotta do. I'll come back if Duke gives me off time but there ain't no way that's happinin' any time soon."
He finished his beer, paid for it and walked away ,with Becky still staring at him.
"Give it up Becky. Nicky's a trained soldier," Tony said.
"I know. But that don't mean he don't have a heart in that chest somewheres," she said.
Tunnel Rat ran a hand through his blonde hair. He got the urge to say screw it and give up the soldier thing but what else could he do? Being a soldier was his life, he didn't know anything else. Growing up in the boondocks was growing up in hell, literally sometimes. He was always fighting for his life as he grew up. Hell was hell and it rarely changed. Would he be able to do anything else if he left? He didn't think so.
He could always become a cop. But ,after this nothing would ever be so exciting. He was born a soldier, he'd die a soldier. Tunnel Rat stopped at a corner, leaned against a telephone poll, and stared at the sky. The moon was out but it was covered by a thin blanket of clouds. He wanted to say here, he was home for the first time in ten years and for the first time ,in all those years, he finally felt safe. This place gave him the stability that being a soldier didn't. Sometimes the stress got so bad that he couldn't think straight and his mind wandered into place that it shouldn't. It wandered into that dark place that was him before General Collin saved him.
He pushed of the telephone poll and started walking before some passing cop thought he was a street walker. It wasn't hard , considering the outfit but he wasn't up to getting arrested now. Not with his good record. He bumped into a few real street walkers, getting more whistles. He even whistled at a couple of girls he'd grown up with , who in turn whistled back.
As the R.O.C.C came into view ,he felt his heart sink into his stomach. General Collin had given him the time and place to meet Becky but had he told the others what Tunnel Rat was doing? The young Joe was getting his info from trustworthy people he knew he could trust but would the others trust the info as much? He stepped inside the vehicle but no one was there except for Hi-Tech.
"Hey ,Hi-Tech ,has anyone else come back yet?" he asked.
"Huh? They did but you were late so they went looking," Hi-Tech said.
"Late? What time is it?"
"Nine-thirty."
"I was only gone an hour and a half. "
"Where were you anyway?"
"A bar. Don't look at me like that. I wasn't partying, I was meeting a contact there. It's a fifteen minute walk both ways and my contact was late," Tunnel Rat explained.
"Right."
"Wee bit untrusting aren't we?"
"I do trust you Tunnel Rat but Duke is worried about you and he doesn't think-"
"Duke can fuck off!"
Hi-Tech whirled around to look at his friend. Tunnel Rat looked beyond pissed. He'd never seen the young man so mad. Tunnel Rat headed towards the door.
"When Duke gets back ,tell him I checked in and went out again and that I'll be back when he pulls his head out of his ass and stops treating me like I'm two," the Joe growled ,giving him a dirty look.
"Ok ,ok. Just go," Hi-Tech said ,waving him off.
He left and the young genius rubbed his hands together. What was eating him? Tunnel Rat was never like this. Maybe he was mad because Duke was hindering him from doing his duty? Who knows, he thought. This was one hell of a mission.
Three hours later everyone was back except for Tunnel Rat. Hi-Tech relayed his message to Duke ,who was pissed. He ranted on about it until Scarlet got mad, and told him to shut up because it was his fault in the first place. The COM link started beeping : someone was trying to call in.
"Hello?" Duke snapped ,pressing the button.
"Hi guys," said a small voice.
"Tunnel Rat where the hell have you been!"
"Don't yell Duke please. Don't be mad…"
"Like hell ! You're being insubordinate. You are in big trouble."
"Don't yell ,please! I'm sorry ok? It's just the stress-"
Tunnel Rat sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He was really upset. Before Duke could say anything else Scarlet cut him off.
"Hang on. Tunnel Rat are you drunk?" she asked.
"A little."
"What !"
"Please don't be mad. Please !I'm sorry alright! It's the stress getting to me. Don't be mad at me."
Now the tears were starting. Tunnel Rat really was upset. He was broken up over ,not just stress, but Duke's treatment of him as well.
"Can you guys come get me? I don't want to be out here alone."
"Sure. Where are you?"
"Third and….Western."
They headed to the streets given. Tunnel rat was sitting on a bench near a payphone. Scarlet scolded Duke one last time for getting him upset and went to talk to him. He was shaking from the cold. Scarlet wrapped an arm around him.
"Wanna talk?" she asked.
"It's not fair Scarlet. Why does he have to treat me like this? Am I that useless?"
"Don't say that. He's just being a prick. I think he's just in a bad mood."
Scarlet did the best she could but he really needed to get this off his chest. Duke had been rather cruel. Finally , Tunnel Rat wore himself out from crying and fell asleep. Heavy Duty carried him inside and nobody would speak to Duke.
Thank you very much Southern Shinigami for your review. I love getting these kinds of reviews. This won't become an abandoned fic so don't worry. I have never abandoned a fic before and I won't do it now.