Disclaimer: I don't own RvB, only the changes I've made to the characters and timeline.

Episode 60: What About Hawaii?

As the sun set, the Teams retreated to their bases before slipping underground to the Phantom Base. "Okay, you guys have been volunteering stories, now I want to request some information," Dex said. Heads perked up while the Phantoms tensed. What might Dex want to know? "You guys were all codenamed after states, right?" A round of nods. "Well... what about Hawaii?" Steel moaned something indistinct about mutes, causing Niner to snort, while Ed shook his head with a wry smirk. Jack cackled and rubbed his hands together evilly, Flowdie grinned deviously, Marley quirked an eyebrow, and the Teams were beginning to be cautiously curious.

"What's so bad about Hawaii? Exempting it being Dex's home state?" Rick asked, which earned him a mild glare from Dex.

"Hawaii was... She was the original Scary Mute in Freelancer," Ed said. Dex grinned proudly.

"Agent Hawaii was a mute woman who kicked ass? I approve," he practically purred. Rick and Eagle slid away from him slightly.

"She also didn't like Wyoming much, if I remember correctly," Flowdie said.

"Yeah... I approve," Dex once again purred, sitting back like a self satisfied panther. Marley chuckled.

"Yeah, she sounds pretty awesome," she said.

"You never met her?" Rick asked, shocked that there was someone within The Project that Marley hadn't come in contact with... and subsequently scarred.

"She went straight to the MoI," Marley said with a wry smile. "I never set foot on that ship." The others hummed in acknowledgment and turned back to the ex-Freelancers who had been on the MoI.

"So... what was so scary about her?" Rick asked. Flowdie sighed as Steel shuddered and Ed retreated to a dark corner.

"Where do I begin?" the former Agent Florida asked rhetorically. Unfortunately for him, Caboose was in the room.

"I find the beginning is always a good place to start," the simple Blue answered. Flowdie chuckled hollowly.

"Thanks, but I'm having trouble finding the beginning," he told Caboose.

"How about your first meeting?" Dex offered, really curious about this badass mute named after his home state.

"Our first meeting?" Flowdie echoed, leaning back with a pensive look on his face. "Well. That's a start I suppose. I was still an ODST back then. Didn't get my SPARTAN armor until I got stationed in Blood Gulch. It was a few days after I left the Valiant and I was feeling... out of sorts. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. She didn't make a sound even as I bounced off her armor. "Sorry, should have been watching where I was going," I apologized. She just... looked at me. Her armor was just shades of gray with a Scout helmet, if I recall correctly. As I picked myself up off the floor, she just... watched me. It was quite unnerving." Dex pouted.

"That's it? Lame~!" he groused. Flowdie shrugged.

"She was unnerving! Even though she made a device that allowed her to communicate she wasn't very easy to get close to," he said, attempting to defend himself.

"I dropped my gun in front of her once," Steel said in the quiet, haunted tone of one remembering a past trauma. Flowdie winced.

"Oh~! I'm sorry," he said. Eagle quirked an eyebrow. "Hawaii was the weapons handler. Dropping a gun in front of her was like... messing with Dex's Warthog or Marley's scalpels. You just didn't do it!"

"Dude, you had me at 'weapons handler,'" Rick drawled, the others nodding behind him.

"Whoa hey! Is Dex... sparkling?!" Tucker asked. Rick edged away without daring to look.

"Wouldn't put it past him. Someone, distraction. Please, before he starts keening," the hacker stated blandly.

"She pulled up her holographic interface and silently reamed me out before ordering me to run maintenance on all the weapons aboard ship," Steel said.

"That's not so..." Tucker began. Steel turned dead eyes on him.

"She shot at me when I slowed down. With lockdown paint," the former Agent Washington added. "Which is almost as bad as Eagle's glitter rounds." Tucker winced, intimately aware of how much those things stung and how freakishly hard they were to clean off armor. Eagle chuckled disturbingly from the rafters.

"Dude!" Rick yelped, falling out of his chair and glaring up at the grinning sniper. "When'd you get up there?!"

"When Dex began sparkling," Eagle answered dryly. Rick's face went blank before he nodded solemnly.

"Fair," he admitted. "Still freaky how you do that though." Eagle Eye just smiled down at the tech. "Oh, the smug is strong with you today."

"Back on topic, please?" Dex asked.

"Honestly, there's not a whole lot more we can say about Hawaii," Jack said.

"Not with Ed in The Corner," Steel admitted. Dex pouted and Kai yawned, leaning up against her big brother. His expression softened and he cared his fingers carefully through her hair.

"Okay. I admit defeat," he said quietly before scooping his sister into his arms. "Al? Care to lead me to her room?"

"Sure thing, Dex," the AI said, hopping up to show the weapons expert the way. Marley nodded.

"Right. Been a long, mildly confusing, day and I think we could all use some sleep," she decided. With a minimum of grumbling and muttering, the rest of the Reds and Blues filed out. The Phantoms set about coaxing Ed out of the corner so he could at least attempt to get some sleep. No-one held out too much hope on that front... unless Marley knocked him out but she didn't want to waste the tranquilizer.

/?/

A/N: I realize this is... quite late. I have no excuse except... It's hard to write for Hawaii! And I'm a college student! With procrastination issues. Ahem. Hopefully the nest one won't take me as long and will be longer... maybe. Up next: Nascar, RvB edition!