Disclaimer: I don't own RvB.
Episode 54: How They Met
After Steel and Hippie were done running the Blues ragged, and once Rick had gotten himself under control after being asked to train Doc how to handle a knife, the worn trainees gave their mentors expectant looks. "What, you want another story?" Marley asked.
"How do you guys knew each other anyway?" Rick asked. Dex nodded, spinning a chair around and sitting in it backwards.
"I'll admit I'm curious as well," he said before resting his chin on his forearms.
"And don't just say, 'through the project'!" Kai added. "I want juicy details!" Eagle hummed as he copied Dex and fixed an intent stare on the senior Phantoms.
"Well, it all started many moons ago..." began Marley. Flowdie moaned and leaned back, baring his throat.
"Ah great, there she goes with the dramatic voice again," groaned Ed.
"Shush! I'm telling the story!" Marley snapped. "I met Flowdie first. Of course, when we met, he was just That One Guy in the Corner Dressed in ODST Armor."
"Wait," Flowdie cut in, flinging himself forward to lean across the table toward Marley, "that's what you called me in your head? Really?" Marley nodded with a smirk.
"Pretty much! Never said I was the best at naming, now did I?" she asked. Flowdie smiled and shook his head with a rueful chuckle.
"No. No you did not," he allowed.
"It was my third day aboard the Valiant when I noticed a newcomer sitting in the corner, servicing his rifle. Of course, this wasn't an uncommon sight so I didn't really pay it much mind. Later that day, I saw him again. Still in a corner. I mentally labeled him Corner Guy. The next day, I saw Corner Guy in better light... but still in a Corner."
"Okay," Rick cut in, leaning one arm on the table and propping the other up to wave Marley to a stop. "I need to know... is Marley exaggerating or were you really in the corner a lot?" he asked Flowdie.
"The first few times I saw her, I was in a corner," the man admitted with a slight blush.
"You do realize that was just encouraging her bad naming, right?" Rick asked. Flowdie glared at the man who sat back with hands raised in deference. "Just say'n, man."
"Might I continue?" Marley asked, eying the men with amusement.
"Nothing more to add, your Honor~!" Rick sang. Marley nodded regally toward him.
"Thank you. Now where was I?"
/*/
It was my third day aboard the Valiant when I noticed a newcomer sitting in the corner, servicing his rifle. Of course, this wasn't an uncommon sight so I didn't really pay it much mind. Later that day, I saw him again. Still in a corner. I mentally labeled him Corner Guy. The next day, I saw Corner Guy in better light... but still in a Corner. This time though, I was introduced to him by a mutual friend. Oddly enough, this happened to be Georgia. "Hey! Oregon! Come meet my new friend, Florida!" the green armored man-child called. I groaned but then noticed he was sitting by Corner Guy.
"So, you do have a name," I remarked drily as I walked over, giving Florida a rather pointed look. I'll admit, I was a bit miffed that he still had his helmet on. I wanted to see his face!
"Of course I do," he remarked brightly, though somehow managed to make it sound reserved at the same time. I'll admit, I was impressed.
/*/
"Me too," grunted Dex. "There's a reason I called the guy 'Hippie' before I even knew 'em."
"Yeah, the guy's just too perky on a daily basis for me to think 'reserved' when I heard his name," Rick added.
"Really?" Wash asked, leaning forward. "Because I always think 'methodical' and 'ohMCplease don'tlethimbeafterme!' when I hear his name."
"That's because you were the newbie near the end of the project when I was fully Secret Agent rather than a Sim. Trooper where I was oh so happy to move away from the stifling presence of the Director and the creepy lurking of the Counselor," Flowdie piped up. The other Ex-Freelancers nodded in solemn agreement.
"Those two were freaks of human nature, I'll give you that," Marley said with a shudder.
/*/
Moment of awe past, I smirked. "And wit!" I remarked. "I'll need to look out for this one. He might steal my spot as Top Snarker!" Georgia laughed at that, as I recall.
"I doubt that! Florida's just a little shy right now. Give him a week and he'll be the poster boy for positivity!" the man said.
"And you're friends with him... why?" I asked.
"Because he does, as you put it, have wit," Georgia declared, serious once more. Corner Guy, now known to have the codename Florida, shook his head at us and started polishing his knives. I watched him, curious about this newcomer. Georgia just stood there like the awkward goof that he is and kept looking between the two of us, like he was expecting something.
"Right. I can see you've very busy, so I'll be leaving. Perchance I'll see you around later, Florida," I said before leaving the awkward situation.
/*/
The Reds and Blues stared at her. "That can't be all there is to the story," Dex declared. Marley shrugged,
"That was our first meeting. It took a lot to overcome the awkwardness but once we did... He drove me nuts," she said.
"And she drove me to distraction," Flowdie countered.
"Oh, now how did I do that?" Marley asked, appearing genuinely confused. This was off putting because everyone knew how good an actor Marley was... and none of them could tell if she was faking or not.
"Well, how about I tell the story from my point of view?" Flowdie offered. When no-one objected, he began.
/*/
I was an ODST, had been for two years by that point. What place did I have in a top secret government project? Those feelings got stronger when I met Georgia. The man shared my specialty... but he did it better, harder, faster than I ever could. I just wasn't built for massive power. So... why was I here? While Georgia did his best to befriend me, I stood back and observed. That was when I noticed the spunky Agent in gunmetal green and dark purple armor. The others treated her as one of their own... but then, so did the medics. It was an interesting mix. Then I saw her when one of the Agents came in with a limp and I knew I had it bad. I also knew why the medics saw her as one of their own. Amongst all the medical jargon were threats about what she'd do if the man didn't start taking better care of himself. They were highly creative and non-damaging. I paid more attention to her after that. When I realized she was noticing me too it nearly undid me. I decided to play it cool and act like I was uninterested in... pretty much everything.
/*/
"Dude... you suck at story telling," Dex remarked dryly. Flowdie gave him a Look.
"Shush! I haven't got to our first conversation yet," he barked.
"Conversation? You two barely shared ten words!" Kai protested. "And here I thought you two would have a grand love story! I feel gypped." Dex patted his sister comfortingly on the back and glared at the ex-Freelancers, silently telling them they should be ashamed of themselves. He was remarkably good at it and that painted a bleak picture of his childhood when they thought about it so no-one did because it was depressing and they had enough nightmare fuel in their own heads thank-you-very-much.
"It's... more romantic on my side," Flowdie maintained. "Marley just doesn't like to admit that there was anything between us."
"Because there wasn't and there shouldn't have been!" Marley declared.
"But there is now," Rick pointed out, nodding toward their intertwined hands.
"I'm... more stable now. And Freelancer isn't hanging over our heads. As far as the world knows, we're dead. It's a rather freeing feeling," Marley said.
"Right... I could argue the 'stable' bit but I don't feel like it," Dex drawled, sitting back in his chair and propping his feet up on the table. "Can we get on with the story now?" he asked.
"Very well, Dex," Flowdie said, kissing Marley's knuckles before returning to his story. "Georgia, curse him, figured out my fascination with Oregon and decided to speed things along. He called out to her and I nearly froze. She prowled toward us like a hungry panther..."
"Seriously? A hungry panther?" Marley asked, giving the man an incredulous look.
"So I'm not as poetic as you, give me a break," Flowdie protested. "Anyway, she came over with her helmet tucked under one arm. 'So you do have a name,' she said, giving me a rather pointed look.
'Of course I do,' I managed to squeak out. I must say, I'm rather proud to discover that she didn't hear it as a squeak."
"Oh, I knew it was a squeak once I heard you reaming out Georgia," Marley said. Flowdie's face turned the same color as Red's armor. "Oh, don't be embarrassed! Lots of initially shy people squeak the first time they speak to a new person." Flowdie moaned and covered his burning face with his hands.
"That wasn't why I squeaked," he moaned. Marley cackled and smacked him on the back.
"I know, I just enjoy your misery~!" she sang.
"Dude... why are you in love with her?" Al asked. A loud clack rang out as the legs of Eagle's chair fell back to the concrete and the man himself leaned forward to give the A.I. a bland stare.
"Tex," he stated. Al made an odd strangled sound and fell back.
"Withdrawn," he squeaked. Eagle smirked and returned to his kicked back position, waving a hand toward Flowdie in a 'continue' motion.
"Thanks... I guess," the former Freelancer said. Eagle gave him a remarkably regal nod in response. "Anyway, the rest played out as Marley said until she walked away. That was when I unloaded on Georgia before dragging him to the practice room. I'm proud to say I trounced him and he left us both alone for a good long while after that."
"Wait, you were the reason he was a walking bruise tiptoeing around on eggshells for two weeks?" Marley exclaimed.
"Now you see why the guy scares me," Wash said with satisfaction while eying the surprised 'Simulation Troopers.'
"Wait," Rick said, regaining his not inconsiderable wits. "What was Georgia ranked?"
"Eh, I think he was... tenth at that point?" Marley said.
"Yeah, I think so," Flowdie agreed.
"Georgia was a good soldier," Ed stated with a nod.
"Wait... that's it?!" Kai exclaimed. Flowdie shrugged.
"Well, I did go out of my way to see her more after that. I... honestly can't remember how we became friends but somewhere along the way... we did. Then Marley got... weird."
"That was when my visions began," Marley stated blandly. Everyone winced.
"Guess thinking you're going insane would freak anyone out," Rick said.
"I am so sorry," Al whispered, hunkering down in his seat. "I have a feeling I was behind that, somehow."
"No. How could you have known the future?" Marley asked. Al inclined his head and gave her that point.
"So... what about Wash?" Kai asked.
"I met her near the end of her time with the Project," Wash said.
/*/
I hadn't known the Project had a second ship. The Valiant was older than the Mother of Invention, which might explain why there were so little personnel aboard, and I had been sent to retrieve an Agent Oregon. "Hey, do you know where I could find Oregon?" I asked a passing soldier wearing green and purple armor.
"Have you checked a map?" she asked. "It's right between Washington and California." I stared at her, my face heating, before shaking me head frantically. I did not need that mental image! "Oh wait... you're Wash, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I croaked out. She hissed and patted my shoulder.
"Guessing you know Cali?" she asked. I nodded she hummed, patting me a little more. "Sorry, Wash. I thought you were just being funny. And you can stop looking for Oregon, I'm right here." I managed to stop my shaking long enough to give her a betrayed look.
/*/
"Is that what that was? I thought you were getting dizzy from all that head-banging," Marley remarked. Wash gave her an annoyed look.
"It was betrayed. You could have just said you were Oregon without giving me that horrid mental image and now it's back and twice as scarring. Why do I do this to myself?!" Wash said, thumping his head down on the table with a pitiable moan. "I hate you all."
"So... what happened next?" Kai asked.
"Well, after I managed to compose myself, I told Oregon why I was looking for her," Wash said.
/*/
"Ah~! Two-man retrieval mission eh? Cool. Hope you know how to handle yourself in a fight mister Washington, because I don't like patching up idiots!" Oregon chirped in a mildly unsettling manner. Something about the woman made me nervous. It was only after the mission, and an unnecessary amount of screaming and laughing from Oregon, that I realized what it was.
"You're a Mad Medic, aren't you?" I asked dully, watching her sew up a Trooper while humming a far too cheery tune.
"I'm a surgeon, thank-you-very-much," she countered, tying off the thread. "And I'm not mad, exactly. Just a little... cracked. Then again," she stood and 'dusted' herself off, "everyone in the Project is, to some degree."
"I don't..." I tried to protest. She turned to me with soulful eyes that seemed to stare into my very being.
"It's all a matter of masks and acts, David. All a matter of masks and acts," she stated.
/*/
"And I'll admit, I didn't want much to do with her after that mission. Hearing she went MIA was almost a relief," Wash finished. Marley shook her head.
"And he always struck me as the 'sweet' one. Ah~! Life~! How cruel you are to me~!" she 'lamented.'
"HA! Wash, the sweet one?" Dex barked.
"I'd have said Ed," Eagle remarked. Marley shrugged.
"Ed and Jack were the Big Brothers of Project Freelancer. Dave was the 'little brother' figure," she said.
"And you?" Rick asked.
"I saw myself as the crazy aunt of the bunch," Marley answered easily. The men thought this over, then nodded their acceptance of that classification.
"So, what was the meeting like on your end?" Rick asked. "Something tells me that meeting was after the visions started." Marely hummed and closed her eyes.
"You're right, which makes it a little... jumbled," she told him. "It had been a rough night. The visions had been... brutal. If it had just been dreams I would have laughed but... I knew they were real. That even if they weren't happening now, they would. Still, I had no way of knowing if these events were happening in real time or not. Aside from there being no Agent Texas that is."
"So you did know," Tucker cut in. Marley shot him a glare and he sat back, properly chastised.
/*/
I'd just started seeing 'flashbacks' in my visions the night before. To say I was shaken would be something of an understatement. None of that had happened yet, viable jetpacks were still in development at that time, and I didn't know what to think. I was wandering the halls of the Valiant, trying to ground myself in reality, when I saw him. Agent Washington. The Agent that seemed to attract killer cars and was plagued by paranoid cynicism. "Hey, do you know where I could find Oregon?" he asked me. He looked like Wash... but he didn't sound like him. He was too young, too bright. I couldn't help playing a joke on the rookie.
"Have you checked a map?" I asked with a smirk. "It's right between Washington and California." The man stared at me as though I'd just said something horrible before shaking his head viciously. "Oh wait... you're Wash, aren't you?" I asked with a wince, the term 'rookie' fading to be replaced with 'traumatized veteran' in my mind once more.
"Yeah," he croaked out. I hissed and patted his shoulder, knowing I couldn't let him know that I'd already known. He couldn't find out that I'd seen his future. Still, I'd need to remember that joke. Maybe some day it would be appropriate.
("NEVER!" "Shut up. It could!" "Boys." "Shutting up!")
"Guessing you know Cali?" I asked. He nodded I hummed, patting him again. Cali could be... a bit of a handful.
("A bit?" "Story for another time, lads. Story for another time.")
"Sorry, Wash. I thought you were just being funny. And you can stop looking for Oregon, I'm right here." I said. Wash stopped shaking his head. As I said before, I thought it was because he was getting dizzy. After a few minutes for Wash to compose himself, he told me about the mission. I was fairly excited to tell the truth. I could feel my face threatening to split in half from the force of my grin. "Ah~! Two-man retrieval mission eh? Cool. Hope you know how to handle yourself in a fight mister Washington, because I don't like patching up idiots!" I said. I could tell from Wash's posture that he was unsettled but I didn't care. I wanted to see him in action! We got the the planet and reality lost all meaning. Past. Future. Present. Here. There. They were just words. Flashes of lasers, the boom of grenades... that was real. That was there. Colorful figures danced around the edges of my vision and I paid them no heed, throwing myself into the mindless fighting. I laughed, I screamed, I bellowed my challenge to the heavens and fought like one possessed. Then we reached our mission objective and reality snapped back into focus. Blood, fear, pain, the very real possibility of death and failure drew me back and it was such a relief that I hummed a happy little tune as I stitched the Trooper back up.
"You're a Mad Medic, aren't you?" Wash asked dully, watching me. I was very tempted to laugh but held myself back.
"I'm a surgeon, thank-you-very-much," I countered, tying off the thread. "And I'm not mad, exactly. Just a little... cracked. Then again," I added sardonically as I stood and 'dusted' myself off, "everyone in the Project is, to some degree."
"I don't..." Wash tried to protest. I wasn't sure what he was going to say, but I knew it would be some naively optimistic ideal. A sardonic smirk tugged weakly at my lips as I gave him a dead look. I had no clue what he was seeing in my eyes and I didn't care. I just wanted him to understand that what I said, I considered truth.
"It's all a matter of masks and acts, David. All a matter of masks and acts," I stated, the weight of my own masks nearly bowing my shoulders. Still, I had to keep up the act that nothing was wrong, that I didn't know he was going to loose his sanity and have his faith in humanity shattered.
/*/
Wash was staring at Marley in unabashed shock. "You... were trying to protect me?" he asked.
"I'm still waiting for the jumbled bit," Dex remarked drily. Marley glared at the man.
"I'm beginning to think I ruined you, Dexter," she drawled. He grinned and for some reason, Marley felt like something was missing.
"Am I the only one who thinks he should be chewing on a toothpick?" Ed asked, canting his head slightly. Marley threw up her hands with a cry, confusing the Sims.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed. Dex quirked an eyebrow... then pulled a toothpick out of nowhere and stuck it in his mouth before retaking his previous stance and drawling,
"Ya haven't ruined me yet, Marley!"
"I feel like this is a reference to something... but I don't know what it is!" Chi growled, rather put out by that fact.
"I think it's a general thing, like a trope," Doc said. Marley blinked at him.
"Since when were you genre savvy?" she asked. He blinked back, looking just as puzzled as Marley.
"What is 'genre savvy?'" he asked.
"Ack!" Rick called, crossing his arms and poorly imitating a game show buzzer from the early two thousands. "One doesn't necessarily have to be genre savvy to know about tropes, Marley, it's just that most people call them 'cliches' instead." The Phantom thought this over, then nodded in acceptance.
"Fair enough," she allowed. "Are there any other stories you want or are we calling it a night?"
"I'm tired. Later," Dex declared, hauling himself up out of his chair and spinning toward the door.
"You barely did anything today!" Kai protested. Dex scoffed and gave her an unimpressed look.
"When Steel had enough and sent you over to Niner he turned his attention on Red Team," he said. Kai winced. She may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but she could understand that Steel wasn't one to pull his punches, especially if he knew his 'training partners' could take it.
"Withdrawn," she allowed. Dex smiled and ruffled her hair as best he could with it still pulled back in a tight braid.
"Love ya, lil sis," he told her warmly before stalking out of the meeting room. Rick chuckled and rolled his shoulders before following a silent Eagle out as well.
"See you in the morning~!" the tech sang, a hint of weariness seeping into his voice. Marley nodded.
"Yes, I think it would be best if you all went to bed. We've a full day tomorrow," she said.
"We'll get to hear more about how you guys know each other later... right?" Kai asked. Marley gave her an all-too-sweet smile.
"No promises~!" she sang before turning on her heel and striding deeper into the subterranean base. Kai sighed but knew she wasn't going to get anything more from the Phantom.
"Good night," she muttered morosely before following her brother's example and making for her base. Marley was right; they had a full day of training in the morning.
/?/
A/N: Confession! This did not go the way I wanted but every time I re-read it I see nothing that I could change to make it better. Next chapter is titled 'Obfuscating... Oh Wait, He's Just That Stupid.' Shout out to whoever guesses who the chapter's going to be focused on! Hopefully I can write him properly... Should be Fun!