"Trigger, get up."
Trigger woke suddenly. Sniffing dry desert air, which…wasn't right.
He slowly opened one eye, letting it scan the endless dunes of nothingness.
This…was not the Spare Squadron base.
A shadow slowly loomed over him. "Come on Trigger, up and at em."
He shielded his eyes and looked up at the figure.
"Look I know there's not much to do, but as the newest peacekeeper of Mage Squadron you've got to give a good impression." He closed his hand into a fist, pressing it to his chest.
Trigger's eyes went wide, he growled slightly. "Clown…"
"No need to get snippy with me, I know I woke you from your nap." He tossed a duffle bag into Trigger's lap. "We're heading to Fort Grey's soon, I need you to make sure you're all ready to go."
He jumped as the bag hit his thighs, he looked around, and Clown was gone. Squinting slightly…there was nothing. Just a single hanger, out in the middle of the desert, none of it made quiet a lot of sense.
"It's not like you're worth anything to me."
Trigger jumped, turning around as he suddenly found himself standing face to face with Clown. What the hell?
"I only used you to fill in an open spot anyways. Made up some stuff about how good you were in training exercises." There was a chuckle. "But in the end, you were just a murderer. Death is what you're good at. That's all."
"You know it wasn't me." He growled deeply.
"You were the closest one." Clown raised a single eyebrow. "Weren't you? Determined to save the day. But, one little slip up and all of a sudden one of the greatest men of our age is dead. I bet you never thought you would be caught."
"Shut up!" Trigger threw a hard punch, trying to silence those stupid thoughts, but Clown was no longer there. His punch didn't even connect as he was thrown back by an explosion.
Air Raid sirens screamed through the air.
Trigger looked around, as Fort Grey's burned. Panic gripped him as fire licked at his feet.
"What good is a murderer? You were the closest plane, so why did you do it? You were the only one who could have done it Trigger."
Those words rung in his ears, he knew that wasn't true. "I…It…it wasn't me." He may have been the closest but he did not fire a missile. If only someone would listen to him! If only someone would just check his plane! They would see everything they needed too! He could continue being a Peacekeeper! He could fight! He could be someone better, he could fix everything if someone would just listen to him!
"Mage Two! Support!"
Trigger's head whipped towards the sound. "Brownie?! Brownie! Where are you?"
A scream of pain rang out, it slowly turned into whining engine, a plane crashed into the ground next to him, detonating. It's wing missing his face by inches as it burst into flames.
"Support!" A familiar voice came through the fire and smoke. "Anyone damn it! Support!"
"Prez?" He froze.
Prez…stumbled out of the fire, limping badly. Blood covering her side as she clutched her arm. Her helmet was shattered, an eye was missing, her neck was stained red. "I'm sorry…I can't…Trigger…I can't…They left me…everyone…left…me. Don't…don't leave me…" She collapsed into darkness.
Trigger's eyes shot open, panic filled his stomach, it turned upside down and backwards as he sat up fast.
Then he froze.
There was a weight on his chest.
He looked down at let out a sigh of relief. Prez was safe. She was right there. He leaned back again and looked down at her. She was snoring slightly as her face twitched against the sudden movement. He felt his cheeks heat up as he realized she had started using his chest as a pillow.
"Oh finally, you're awake. You two have been the most adorable thing I've ever seen." Avril cackled as she stepped out from behind a F-15, slowly limping over to him out of the dark night. "I swear if anyone else saw you they might get sick from how sweet you two are."
Trigger glared at her. It's not as if he planned this, they were waiting for…replacement parts? Yes, replacement parts, and he decided to take a nap. He didn't know Prez joined him, and he certainly didn't plan this! Prez started taking her nap an hour before he did, and she was in the X-02 cockpit! How did she get here?!
Avril waved a hand. "No, no, I know, I know. She was tired. You were tired, there was nothing to do." She knelt down before her toolbox, not to far away. "Strangely enough, she stumbled out of the cockpit without a word and sat down next to you. I thought she was going to wake you up…but then five minutes later I come back to find you both asleep."
Trigger raised an eyebrow, if she had so much of a problem with it, why didn't she wake them up?
"Because you told me not to wake up Prez. And she's clingy, I tried to pry her off of you, but she wouldn't budge. Tried to bite me too." Avril laughed. "I checked to see if she was awake at all. No she was not."
"She needs her rest…I pushed us to hard…I'm afraid I might have hurt her…"
"Nah, you didn't."
Trigger looked up at Avril. Squinting slightly as he tilted his head.
"No I'm serious, she's okay. Medics came by and checked on her right after you went to sleep. Other than some bruises, she's perfectly fine." She turned around, going back to working on the F-15, her hand grabbing a screwdriver. "Apparently they reviewed your guncam footage, said that the fact that you leveled out your plane right when she passed out saved her from anything bad."
He sighed deeply, relief filled his chest. Prez was okay, that was what mattered. "Thank you…"
Avril paused, "Eh? For what?"
He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "A lot of things Avril. A lot of things, just, thank you."
She glanced back at him staring for a while with a slight pout, then shrugged, turning back to her work. "You're welcome. You two make me actually enjoy working on planes again."
He stared at her for a moment. "What do you mean?"
"Ah…well…" She froze up for a moment, took a deep breath, and went back to working. "I used to do this for fun. Worked on building a plane with my gramps and his buds."
"Ah…did it pay well?"
She laughed, a short huff followed. "Ha! Nah, I wasn't paid at all for a while. Only got paid when I started working on crop-dusters."
"Then…why?"
"Because I liked it…or…I used to. I dunno. It's all weird." She sighed. "You know how they say, if you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life?"
He nodded. "I assume that's bullshit though…" He loved flying, he honestly did. But damn did it get tiresome, and the current situation wasn't helping. A reprimand was a thousand times better than solitary any day.
"Oh yes, absolutely. While I may be amazing at repairing aircraft, no one would hire me."
"What!" Trigger sat up fast, panicking momentarily as he jostles Prez, she doesn't wake, just mumbles barely. "What do you mean you wouldn't be hired?"
"I mean I don't have any actual paperwork saying I worked where I worked, no schooling either." She sighed, wiping her forehead. "So to anyone looking for someone to repair their planes, they'd probably think I'm just someone faking it." She scoffed.
"You're telling me…I went to college, and I'm here."
Avril turned around. "You did?" She dropped her wrench into a nearby toolbox, slowly limping over to him. "What'd you study?"
He sighed. "Oh boy…here we go." He rolled his eyes. "I was studying to be a teacher."
"You…" Avril pointed at him, leaning against the same wall he had fallen asleep against. "Were going to be a teacher?"
He nodded. "I was…sadly, getting a degree doesn't prepare you for school politics, or the fact that everyone was searching for teachers with way more experience than me, or that sometimes the pay was just awful." He points to Avril. "I was all down to help out kids with learning and shit. But, for some jobs that would actually accept me I would need to have a second job as well. By that point I would have been burnt out to hell." He groaned. "Joining the airforce was just a good idea to get some money and experience. But…" His hand dropped to his side. "I don't know what I want to do now."
Avril nodded slowly as she started to clean underneath her fingernails. "I get you there, I've never known what I want to do for a career. I took a bunch of different jobs when I was younger, between school and working on my dragster Starfighter of course. But whenever I think about what I want to do for a living…" She stops cleaning and sighs. "Just nothing fits. I just feel a little lost? I guess? I'm not sure."
Trigger raises an eyebrow slightly, touching his fingers to his forehead, before bringing his hand down and making a fist with just his pinky and thumb sticking out.
"Eh?"
He shakes his head. "Sorry, why's that?"
She shrugs, "I've got a bunch of random skills, but…well in Osea at least, the job market is horrible. Most jobs pay basically nothing, the ones that do pay well treat you like shit." She pouts and scratches her head. "Actually most of them just treat you like shit."
Trigger chuckled at that. "Oh yeah, I know how that goes." He sighs. "Well…maybe we'll get out of here…."
"Well, there's that too, Osean Prison system and all that." She switches to her other hand, trying to rub off some oil. "It'll be harder to find a job."
"Ah…" He frowned. "Well then, thats true."
"Yeah…I…I don't know what I can really do, even if I do get out of this place, what would I do next? Get some dead end job that drains me until I'm nothing just so I can have some money to get food and have a roof over my head? I dunno…" She scratches at the oil on her hand.
Trigger frowns, maybe he could figure something out for them…it was a tall order, but he might be able to pull some strings. Of course that required Osea to let them go with no questions asked. It might work though…for him, Prez, Avril, Tabloid, hell even a few others. If he and Prez kept up this kill count, hitting ace on every mission, they would have to meet some of their demands. Or, so he hoped. He looked up to Avril. "We'll see what happens…for now. You need any help?"
"Aren't you trapped?" Avril grinned at him, pointing at Prez.
He gently moved Prez off of him, taking off his jacket and folding it up into a square. He placed it under Prez's head and made sure she was leaning against the wall properly. "Nah." He slowly stood up. "So what do you need help with?"
Avril's eyes widened a little. "Well…I'll be damned…" She pushed off the wall and started limping toward the F-15. "Well I'm sure there is something I can find for you to do Trigger."
"I'm told I'm good with engines!"
She laughed heartily. "You! Good with engines!" She scoffed. "Sure…just like how you took such good care of the X-02's engines right?"
He went to follow, but felt something tug at his pants leg, he glanced back at Prez for a moment.
She mumbled something as her hand reached out, almost zombie like.
He took her hand in his, "I'll be back in a bit, promise." he rubbed his thumb against her own.
She nodded just barely, and let go of his hand.
He smiled brightly, then followed after after Avril, it was going to be a long night.
To be fair, it could have been longer, but with his help Avril was able to get the first F-15 repaired in one night. He woke up at some point, to absolute silence. He had fallen asleep against the wall again.
"There you are." A cup was placed into his hand as a soft voice called out to him. "Morning Trigger."
He took the cup in confusion, trying to blink away the sleep.
"Drink up, it'll help you wake up."
He drank without a second thought, then sucked a breath through his nose as he was met with a taste of chocolate, caramel, and coffee. It was warm and filling. He looked up at Prez, smiling down at him. He smiled back, wondering where on earth she managed to get this from.
"I told you before, I've got tons of instant coffee." She chuckled as she took a sip from her own cup. "Premium quality instant coffee. Sadly…" She pouts. "It's not as good as just making my own coffee."
Trigger's eyebrow rose slowly, this drink tasted better than any normal coffee he had ever drank, and he had drank a lot of coffee in college. Probably way to much if he was being honest. But hey, it was better than energy drinks.
"Well I'm just good with my coffee, now shush." Prez patted his head as she took another sip.
He glared at her for a moment. He didn't say anything, well, at least directly. It wasn't his fault she could read him so well. Well, then again, they both knew sign language too, so technically she wasn't wrong. He looked up at Prez and took a long sip of his coffee.
"You need a haircut dude." She ruffled his hair, giggling slightly.
He pouted as he pushed her hand away. "Would if I could." With all the humidity and how thick his hair got, he was sweating buckets usually. But there wasn't exactly a conveniently placed barber nearby or anything like that.
"Truth…" She frowned again. "At least they let us shave on a regular basis. Though I wish it wasn't just once a week." She sighed deeply and pouted. "I also would kill to be able to dye my hair again, but I know thats not happening."
He was already scratching at his stubble without realizing it. He nodded back. "What's going on by the way. It's quiet as hell this morning."
Prez tilted her head. "I dunno…there was another broadcast from the Princess while I was making my coffee."
"What'd she say this time?" he growled slightly, remembering her first broadcast about how Osea had pushed Erusea to war. It played over the radio at Fort Grey's everyone rushing to put out fires, save the wounded, and watch as the Albatross sunk and burned. It still left him sick sometimes.
"The usual honestly, space elevator evil, Erusea good, Osea bad. Blah, Blah, Blah." She huffed, "Just a load of bullshit."
He nodded slowly, sipping at his coffee again with a happy sigh.
"However…"
He looked over at her, pausing mid sip, cup still at his lips.
"There weren't the usual cheers or the usual 'Burn Osea to the ground'. It was just…silent." She frowned, then turned as the sound of boots hitting tarmac grew closer and closer.
"There you are!" Tabloid jogged into the hanger, panting slightly. "You guys…phew…wow…you're tough to find sometimes."
Prez tilted her head, "We've been here."
Trigger sipped his coffee, pointing to Prez, then bringing his pointing hand and tapping it on top of his hand with the cup, nodding as he did.
"See Trigger agrees."
Tabloid frowned. "I swear the moment we get out of here I'm buying a sign language book so I can understand what the fuck you two are saying."
"Nooooooo! You can't do that!" Prez pouted. "How else will Trigger and I have our private conversations."
Trigger choked on his drink, coughing lightly. His head snapping to Prez, what the heck did she mean by that?!
Tabloid sighed deeply. "Alright, fine, fine." He held up his hands. "Seriously though, come to the yard. Apparently we're doing…a thing…for Champ and the Kid."
Trigger paused, then looked to Prez. They had to go, it was the least they could do.
Prez nodded back. "Right, we'll come along." She chugged the rest of her coffee and set the cup down.
Trigger did the same before placing his cup down, slowly standing. He made his way over to Tabloid. "How are the Osean pilots reacting to everything?"
"From what I heard?" He smirked. "Not to well, apparently the good Wiseman gave McKinsey a good talking to."
Prez ran up beside Trigger, eyes wide. "Wait what? Does anyone know what exactly happened?"
Tabloid shook his head. "No, but from what the guards said, it was a big shouting match, and there was no clear winner. The other pilots have been keeping their distance. Though apparently one has been trying to hang out with Avril all morning."
Prez tilted her head. "The Chick?"
He nodded. "Apparently. She wanted to see how things were going, Avril started working on her plane."
"Does Avril even sleep?" Trigger tilted his head.
Prez chuckled. "Probably, she's probably got a hideaway where no one bothers her."
Before they knew it they had arrived at the yard. It was endlessly quiet, even with every prisoner and some of the guards present, no one spoke a word. In the middle was a table with a single candle, an Osean flag, and, strangely enough, an airline captain's hat.
Trigger looked around for Full Band and High Roller. They were always close with Champ, sicking together whenever they could. High Roller was standing in front of the table, but he couldn't see Full Band anywhere in the crowd.
"I haven't seen Full Band at all lately." Prez tilted her head as she whispered to Trigger, then made her way over to the table, putting a hand on High Roller's shoulder.
High Roller jumped a little, but looked over to Prez and smiled. "Ah, thanks for coming, we didn't know if you would come or not. I know you and Champ didn't exactly get along." He smiled. "It means a lot to us."
"Us?" Trigger tilted his head.
"Yeah, all of us." He motioned to everyone present in the yard. "We…we're nothing special, we're just people. We made the choices that got us here, but it's usually out of desperation or…hell just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, like Champ, you decided to start looking out for us. Hell I'm pretty sure most of us in the air would have been dead if not for you."
Prez chuckled awkwardly and held up both hands. "Hey, Hey, don't give us all the credit, Tabloid covered your ass as well."
"You taught him combat maneuvers." High Roller pointed at her. "Unless you wanna bet on that?"
There was a hearty laugh. "He's got you there Prez!" Avril moved out from the crowd, giving High Roller a slap on the back. "Both you and Trigger have been saving these boy's butts for too long." She frowned slightly. "It's a shame we lost Champ and our Ten. It's even more of shame that the Base Commander won't give us the kid's name though."
Trigger frowned deeply. "Really?"
"Yeah, said it wasn't important. I'd bet that's an excuse to keep us off his ass." High Roller scoffed.
"It's Ramirez."
Everyone suddenly turned, in the corner, blonde wavy hair shook slightly as Count became the center of attention.
"His…last name at least."
"Count…you sure you're not making that up?"
He shook his head quickly. "No! Hell no! I wouldn't lie about this at all." he sighed as he stood up. "Look you can talk with Wiseman. I asked him to get information about the Kid, so we could give him a proper send off."
"Count you ran off in the middle of the battle yesterday, you barely have any money on you, how the hell did you get an Osean officer to do that?"
Count shrugged. "It was the right thing to do. That's all I said, he understood, told me I owed him one…Not sure what he means by that, but I agreed to it."
High Roller looked to Avril. "What do you think?"
Avril stared at Count, slowly squinting at him. After a few seconds of her hard stare, and Count looking a little weirded out, she smiled. "He's telling the truth." She whistled and makes a hand signal.
All of a sudden, Avril's maintenance crew was all around, handing out cups to everyone in the yard. Trigger jumped slightly as a cup was shoved into his hand. Bumping into Prez. "Oh, sorry."
Prez went to respond but found a cup in her hand just as suddenly. "What the…."
Silence took over once more as High Roller raised an arm, a beat up mug in his hand. "Too Champ and Ramirez! Their losses will never be forgotten by us, even if we never fly again. They went down fighting, not for Osea! Not for any country! But for themselves, for Spare Squadron, and the people they care about!"
A cheer filled the air as all the inmates and squadron members present raised their glasses.
Trigger mirrored the action.
Prez raised her glass as high as she could, a slight smile on her face. "May they fly forever!"
High Roller's gaze shot over to Prez.
She recoiled slightly. "Sorry…it…it's what we would say when we lost someone. Our boss…Kaiser…he said all pilots go to a special place, where they can fly free with no worries, no pain, just freedom."
High Roller smiled slightly. "Well then…in that case. May they fly forever!" He drank deeply from his mug.
"May they fly forever…" Trigger took a big swig from his own glass, it was smooth and stung, but it was the best moonshine he'd ever tasted. Looking over the yard, he smiled slightly, the silence had broken. Everyone was talking, moving around and chatting.
"So…your old squad…you miss them?" Prez looked up at him, sipping her own glass of moonshine.
He tilted his head at her. "What brought that up?"
She shrugs. "I miss mine…I miss Galaxy's bullshit…he's our AWAC's." She chuckled. "He was like Champ, though not as physical." She chuckled. "A complete ass, but you can't be mad at them for to long."
"He sounds like fun."
"He is…There's Dip and Comic too, they always stuck together. Though Comic was kinda the mom of our Squad, always making sure we were taking care of ourselves. She's very serious though, apparently she used to be quite the joker. Dip's definitely a joker though, apparently got into a lot of trouble throughout the years." She sips again. "Though…after a while they kinda stopped talking to me…"
"What about Monarch?"
She froze up, her smile disappearing. "What about him?"
"You miss him?"
She frowned, "I…I would be lying if I said I didn't." She sighed deeply. "I guess I more miss how my squad used to be…years ago we were all close, we hung out all the time…then…next thing I knew, it was just Galaxy, Kaiser and I. Monarch would barely even look at me…Dip and Comic would run off, then they would just leave me to do repairs." She smiles slightly. "I think thats why I like hanging out with Avril so much…I feel like I'm doing something right…I always felt like I had done something to piss of Hitman…was it something I said? Something I did?" She bites her thumb slightly in nervousness.
Trigger looked at her, placing a hand on her far shoulder, pulling her into a hug. "Hey, it's okay, I'm sure you'll get a chance to figure it all out. But for now, I'll say this…I'd miss you if we got separated."
Prez scoffed. "You dumbass…trying to get all sappy with me." A small smile covered her face. "Really though, you'd miss me?"
He just nodded in response.
Her smile grew. "I'd miss you too Trigger. I hope we get to stick together when this is all over."
"That's the plan isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is." She took a small sip of her moonshine.
"Hey!" There was a grunt as someone hopped onto a chair. Avril hefted a guitar into the air. "Does anyone play?"
Prez's face went slightly red. "Ohhhh no…"
No one raised their hand
"Come on, we should at least send them off with a song!"
Heads nodded and everyone started asking around.
Prez looked around quickly, scanning every inch of the yard.
Still no hands were raised.
She rolled her eyes, took a big swig of Moonshine, then handed her cup over. "Trigger, hold my drink." She raised her hand. "Come on Avril, hand it here."
Trigger took the drink in confusion, but followed after her.
Avril leaned down, handing off the guitar and a pick.
Prez pouted slightly. "This is missing a string…"
Avril shrugged as she hopped off the seat. "It's not mine, you'll figure it out soon enough."
Prez rolled her eyes and sat down. Giving a few experimental strums, she looked up as Trigger approached. "I'm rusty…But this is tuned so…" She tapped her fingers on the guitar a bit.
"You got this." Trigger moved next to her.
She nodded, after a minute of thinking, she started to play.
It was a simple tune, each strum only hitting a few strings, then she paused, took a deep breath, and continued.
"Kind Friend and Companions, Come join me in rhyme, Come lift up your voices, In chorus with mine." She smiled looking over to Trigger a bit as she kept playing and singing. "Come lift up your voices, all grief to refrain. For we may or might never, all meet here again." She took a deep breath, readying herself for the next verse.
"Here's a health to the company and one to my lass," Three more voices came from the yard, joining in on the next verse, Tabloid in the front, singing the loudest of them all.
"Let us drink and be merry, all out of one glass, Let us drink and be merry, all grief to refrain." More voices joined in as the verse continued, Prez's smile was bright as the sun.
Trigger recognized this song, it was something that he had heard long ago, when things were normal, when he actually had a slight idea of what he wanted to do with his life. When things made sense. He didn't know what would happen next or what he would do, but he had to at least try and keep his promise to Prez. None of them deserved this.
"For we may or might never, all meet here again." Trigger's own voice joined with the chorus, a smile on his face. The rest of the day was a celebration of life, spent drinking, talking, and singing. It would always go down as the best day in the history of Spare Squadron, a day to never be forgotten.
"So…" Trigger tossed a rock at the calm ocean, it plopped in with a splash, illuminated by the setting sun in a dazzle of orange.
"So?" Prez expertly threw a rock, it skipped three times before sinking into the water.
"Where did you learn to play guitar?" He turned towards her, picking up his mug of moonshine, sipping at it lightly, glancing over for a second at the prison guard not to far away. Watching them quietly.
She blushed slightly. "Oh god…So…basically, a few places. My dad was a sailor in the Navy, so, he taught me all the songs he knew, then I served in the IUN for a bit, learned to play better. Then…my sister made me play more and more." She chuckled.
He glanced at her curiously. "Sister?"
"Yeah! Twin sister actually, Sybil…she…she always wanted me to come back home. Stop giving my life up to a country that wouldn't even care. She…she didn't know the truth." She frowned. "I'm still a little worried about them."
"Well if your family is anything like you…I'm sure they will be fine."
She huffs, rolling her eyes. "I wish…I was the odd one out honestly. Well…except my Ba, she used to be in the military…doesn't talk much about it though. Either way, I think they'll be okay. We're a big family, and we look out for each other…though…if they know what I was actually doing for work. I'm gunna get skinned alive." She shivered and laughed. "Ohhh fuck I'm so dead." She sipped her moonshine again.
"Hmmm…I would say I understand…but…my family is small." He shrugged. "I've basically only got my sister, and my dad."
Prez's eyebrows raised high. "What? No Cousins?"
He shook his head.
"Aunts? Uncles?"
He tilted his head, then shook it again.
"Any other siblings?" Her eyes went wide.
"Nope." He pursed his lips.
Prez stared at him for a good minute. "That just sounds…lonely."
"It wasn't ever too bad honestly. We always had each other." He smiled slightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way." he looked her way, picking up another rock, he found a nice flat pebble. "I'm sure you feel the same way about your family."
She smiled, finding a rock of her own. "Eh…you're right." She throws her rock across the ocean, it skips three times then slides across the water before sinking. A smirk covers her face. "Nice…almost four skips."
Trigger threw his pebble, watched it skip once, then sink. He frowned. "You know…I've never been good at this."
Prez chuckled. "I mean it can be a bit random sometimes, and it's an acquired skill."
He frowned at her, putting down his mug, then making a bridge with both his hands, his fingers touching, then moved one out quickly, pointing forward. He shook his head.
She giggled more. "Oh come on! It's a little funny."
He rolled his eyes, picking up his mug once more. "A little…yeah."
She smiled at him staring off at the ocean. "You never answered my question by the way."
"Question?" He tilted his head, taking a sip.
"Your old squad." She took a slow sip of her moonshine. "Do you miss them?"
"Ah…" He frowned, pausing mid sip, he had forgotten she had asked that earlier. There had been so much going on. Still, it was unfair of him. He did this before, Prez had always been open about things with him and yet he would skirt around the question. He bit his lip slightly, taking the time to actually think about it.
Did he miss his old squad?
Brownie was gone…there was nothing he could do but accept that fact, no matter how much he missed her.
Clown? No…no he didn't miss Clown. The Mage Squadron leader threw him under the bus for crying out loud. No apology, no attempts to save him. It still left Trigger feeling sick to his stomach.
Perhaps Knocker? Fuck no, he was just as bad as Clown. If not worse with how aggressive he turned.
Faun? Barely met the guy…
Footpad? Eh…he was nice…ish? Didn't really interact with him to much. He did spit at him after the lighthouse. So no.
Boggard was mostly alright, but basically disappeared once everything went to shit.
He eventually looked at Prez, "No." He shook his head slowly. "I really don't. I lost the person closest to me, the other ones basically betrayed me, or I never got really close with…I didn't know them for two long either." He sighed. "I was just a replacement. I was randomly picked to fill a slot that needed to be filled. That's all." He smiled slightly. "I'm not like you, who had a long time to get to know everyone a-" He paused, his hand lifting up to his breast pocket. Picking up the picture of Golem and Mage. Everyone smiling, with Brownie's arm around his shoulder, his arm around hers. "No no…thats not right." He frowns, handing her the photo. "I miss the ones here. The people who were kind to me. Who looked out for me. I miss them…Not who they became after I…" he bit his lip. "After Harling died."
Prez frowned, holding the picture gently. "And Brownie?"
"I miss her…I do…But she's gone. I need to accept that." He sighed, pouting slightly.
She nodded, handing the picture back to him, a slight frown on her face.
He smiled slightly as he accepted the picture back, putting it into his pocket. "Whats up?"
"I…" Her frown deepened. "I don't know…I'm just feeling…I dunno." She started to pace back and forth. "I miss my squad…thats not a lie. I know your squad kinda stabbed you in the back…but…"
"But?"
She paused in her pacing. "I…" She started to pace again. "I don't know! I miss Hitman, I really do. But…I don't know how I feel. Something isn't right! Every time I think about them my stomach goes south and sideways."
Trigger tiled his head at that, Prez always seemed so sure of herself, so headstrong and determined.
"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm having doubts about things, shocking isn't it?"
He shook his head.
"Sorry…I was…I was trying to be sarcastic. It didn't come off well did it?" She groaned as she turned to pace back down the beach. "Maybe…I could have…No."
Trigger's eyes widened, he had seen this before, with himself whenever he was in solitary. Was she blaming herself for what happened? He frowned, deeply. He had heard nothing but good things about Hitman and Sicario, other than them ditching Prez. But…
Prez turned around, pacing up the beachside towards him, mumbling slightly.
He made his way towards her, meeting halfway. "Prez."
She froze. "Eh?"
"It's not your fault." He put a hand on her shoulder.
Prez went to answer, her mouth opening and closing a few times. "But…What if i-"
"No." He looked down at her, he was worried about his friend damn it! He didn't want her thinking that, that thought eating away at her from the inside. "It's not your fault Prez."
She looked up at him for a second, then back down at the ground. She pushed his hand off her shoulder. "No no no, it had to be something I did. I fucked up Trigger, I was the one who made the mistake here. That's the only way it makes sense…Monarch…Monarch…He…" Her lip twitched, she blinked quickly, trying to fight back tears.
"Prez…"
"No! No no no!" She pointed at Trigger, glaring at him. "I'm sorry but you don't know them. They…They were…They were my team. My Squad, I know them. Monarch…" She took a breath, tears dripping down her cheek. "Monarch."
Trigger reached out a hand. "Robin…I know you."
A moment passed. Prez staring at Trigger's open hand, tears rolling down her cheek, her body shaking slightly. "Trigger…Monarch…He…He…"
"It's not your fault. Okay?" He smiled slightly. "I know you, it's not your fault."
"He left me!" She screamed, her voice raw, her hands coming up to strangle air, "He fucking left me!" She kicked a stone, watching it skip across the ocean. "It was bad enough that he just fucking stopped talking to me, hanging out with me, and barely interacted with me the moment he got that fucking, stupid, F Twenty Two." She growled, her teeth grinding slightly. "The one person I thought I could always rely on, and he fucking left. I watched as they flew away, they didn't even take the time to look for me. They just left."
Trigger's eyes widened, not really knowing what to say, he tried to think of something that would held, he could say he was there before…he was still there! Everyone from the Peacekeepers just dropped him, there was no support, no one even tried to talk to him. Just, nothing.
"No, I know, I know, we've both been there. Hell it's how we both ended up here. But it still pisses me off to no end." She downs the rest of her moonshine. "I'm so angry about it, I feel like I shouldn't be, there's an endless amount of what could have happened scenarios, any one of them could be what actually happened." She sighs. "But when you fly with the best…you expect a certain amount of…flair. You expect the day to be saved. You expect the world to understand what you're saying. You expect the person you thought to be your closest friend to…just…talk with you." She sighs, dropping her cup, it clatter to the ground with a metallic ping. "But in the end, I could barely get that. Let alone have someone come and find me. No one came for me…they gave me a phone call too, I tired the main Sicario line, but that was down."
"I…" He frowned, not knowing really what to say. It could be possible they counted her as KIA or MIA, and were waiting for official demands or reports of her capture. Maybe no one in the IUN sent out that notice? Maybe Osea was supposed to handle it?
"I'm just…Grrrrr! Angry! Pissed! Fucking Furious!" She kicked another rock. "I can't stand it! I'm so…happy to have you as a friend…but because of fucking Monarch, I can't trust anyone to just…leave me! Why do I keep thinking everything is my fault? I don't know how to handle it either! I start panicking randomly about all sorts of things now, people leaving me, Crimson One coming back for my ass, if I do something to help us, to protect us, will I get stuck in solitary again?" She brought up her hands, grabbing at her own hair, then at the air. She gritted her teeth, stamped her feet, and roared at the ocean. It was a raw, primal yell.
Trigger almost jumped out of his skin, recoiling slightly, but not moving.
The Guard far behind them, quickly backed away even more.
Prez panted deeply, slowly sitting down next to Trigger. "I…I just want things to be normal. I want everything to go back to how it was."
He pouted, his stomach dropping, "With…Sicario? And Monarch?"
Her face paled quickly. "No, no, no, I'm to pissed off with them to even want to see them right now. I don't mean with them…" She took a deep breath, turning her legs towards him. "I mean with you."
He felt his cheeks warm. "Wh-…Eh…I mean…Hmmmm…what do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow and a palm in a half shrug. "We…we never even met before this." He motioned to the air base.
"Yeah! I know! I wish we had though, hell I wish we all had! I want to run missions with you. I want to work on planes with you. I want to laugh about stupid shit with you. Without having to worry about if we'll get fed today, or if we'll be thrown in solitary. I want to get paid for all my hard work. I want to spend nights hanging out with You, Avril, Tabloid, and even Count! I don't want to have to hide or have someone eavesdropping on our every conversation." She turned around quickly. "No offense! I know you're just doing your job!"
The Guard nodded and backed away to a safer distance.
She put her palm to her forehead, gripping her hair. "I want to wear what I want, sleep when I want, do what I want in my free time. Take a nap for a whole week, then, and only then, I'll start taking time to think about everything that happened with Monarch and Sicario!" She slowly leaned back, laying on the rocks, sighing deeply, she ran her hand down her face. "Sorry…I'm…"
"Upset?" Trigger raised an eyebrow.
Prez nodded. "Yeah…upset. I'm not used to this." She waved her hand in the air.
He tilted his head. "To…"
"Loosing people…" She frowned. "I don't know how…I don't know why…but…back in Sicario we never lost anyone. Or at least it seemed that way. There were a few people here and there…but…It was never my team…We always…Always came back fine. No matter how much our planes were beaten up. No matter how tough a mission was. We…We always came back." She tilted her head slightly, then slowly shook it. "It's going to take a while to process this…isn't it?" She looked at him, her lip wobbling a little. "I…didn't know Champ that well…and I just feel…I dunno…I keep expecting him to pop up and make some silly little jab that I can bite back at. I keep expecting him to challenge us to do something crazy and smile when we pull it off." She frowned. "But then…I remember that he's gone. Everything just feels…cold…empty…"
Trigger took a deep breath, then reached over, taking her hand into both of his own, holding them there.
Prez froze up for a moment, her cheeks heating up a bit, from the alcohol? Absolutely. Totally the moonshine. Nothing else. She looked up at her friend. "Eh?"
"It's going to be okay…It's going to be rough for a while…but it will be okay." He smiled slightly. "Just…understand that it's normal to miss people when they are gone."
"You promise?" She frowned deeply. "I…I don't really know what to do."
"I didn't either…when…Brownie died…and she was my best friend. But…I think I've accepted her death…but I'll never forget her. Just like Champ and Ramirez." He smiled to her. "May they fly forever right? I'm sure if they're in that special place you mentioned…Brownie's taking care of them. In that case, I can tell you they're in good hands."
Prez smiled back, laughing lightly. "Yeah…Yeah you're right." She squeezed his hand. "Thanks Trigger."
They spent the rest of the night there. Not saying anything at all. Just enjoying the company of each other.
As a quick note, I have mentioned this before a few times in the comments, enough that it has become an FAQ, if you have ever done a playthrough of Project wingman where you only used Single Seaters. Prez in Project Wyvern is the Prez that was left behind, who was turned into the mechanic who no one paid much mind to, who wasn't able to get into Hitman team's circle. (Check Prez's dialogue in mission 9). Hence why she feels the way she does.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We're getting closer and closer to the end of the Spare Arc. But there are still a few twists and turns to be had down the line. I'm really excited for them (So excited that when playing pipeline destruction I crashed into an oil facility tower). I want to give hints, but that would be cheating. Not only that but I'm really excited to get started on the LRSSG Arc too. Then the Alicorn Arc, while far away is another one I'm very excited for. Which that's another FAQ I've seen a lot. Yes I will be doing the Alicorn Arc. We'll see where we go with that one.
Lastly, thank you all for the support and comments, I love reading all the comments you all leave. It's really nice.