AN
So I have a few head cannons that will appear as you read on, just a heads up in case you get triggered by it or something.
"What the fuck is this, Simmons?"
Tucker decided to walk to visit some weird cave that was near red base to check on all the noise that was coming from it, only to see a massive tarp covering whatever it is that's being built.
"Actually, better question. Where the hell did you get the stuff to build this?!"
"Dude, don't question it." Grif made himself known. "He's been at this ever since we got on this island so he can prove some stupid theory of his."
"It's not just a stupid theory!!" Simmons bellowed from behind his contraption. "Oh.. and sup Tucker, when did you get here?"
"Uh, just now... Kinda annoyed with all the noise coming from here, you can practically hear in from the other side of the island." Tucker said.
"rrgh.. sorry about... mrrrgh... that." *clink* "Damn it!! Hold on."
A few minutes pass by as a bunch of clinks and clanks echoes throughout the cave, Tucker swore he heard a cat somewhere. This noise eventually catches the attention of a particular freelancer as she entered the same cave.
"What in the hell is all that noise? Tucker, what's going on here?" said the voice they all know too well.
"Sup Carolina, and hell if I know, I came to find out the same thing." Tucker chipped up.
"well whatever it is, can it be done more quietly? It may be the afternoon, but no one really wants to hear.. whatever it is you guys are doing here." Carolina said.
"Really sorry about that Carolina, but I'm almost-" *crash* "Oh for fucks sake!!! Hold on!"
Carolina raised her brow. "Is that Simmons?"
"Yeah, he's been at this thing since we got here, something about interdimensional travel or something?" Grif added. "Oh, and sup Carolina."
"Sup." Carolina answered back. "Slang" was still gonna be a pain to get down for her, but she's working on it.
"Interdimensional travel? Sweet!! Well count me in on that then." Tucker said excitedly. "Hey Simmons!! Hurry up with that, will ya? I wanna test this baby out first!"
Grif was scowling under his helmet. "Really Tucker? REALLY?! Can't you take a break for once?"
Tucker turned to Grif. "What?! It's getting boring around here! Don't you want some adventure every once in a while?"
"I've had enough adventure to last me at least ten lifetimes. You just don't know how to relax." Grif retorted.
"Oh I know how to relax. You know how long I've spent on the beach? You're just lazy." Tucker answered back.
But then Carolina chimed in. "I don't know... I have to agree with Tucker on this one, traveling dimensions does seem like fun."
Grif looked at her in surprise. "Oh come the fuck on!! You too?! Man, it's like you guys want to get yourself killed!"
"Ha!! see? Even she agrees with me!!" Then it hit Tucker as he turn to Carolina. "Wait... you agree with me?"
Carolina was actually surprised. "What? Don't great minds think alike?"
Tucker now widened his eyes. "Carolina, are you ok? Do you need to lie down?"
Carolina now just stared him down. "I was trying to be nice."
"Oh... heheh... sorry about that, I'm just not used to you complimenting me for, well... anything, really." Tucker said.
Carolina shrugged. "Don't get too used to it then."
*Clank* "Almost...rrrrgh... there." *Tik tik tik CLANK* "YES!!! I GOT IT!!"
Everyone looked over to see Simmons exit the tarp and grasps it firmly in his hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the R.B. Teleporter Mark one!!" And with that, Simmons pulled the tarp to reveal his contraption.
What stood in front of the trio was a wall of wires, cables, a random jet engine, generators of all shapes and sizes, and and plenty of complicated machinery. What stood in front of the "somewhat wall" was a large, reinforced titanium doorframe, connect with more cables and wires.
Tucker spoke up first. "Man, this looks complicated, just look at all the wires!!"
Grif then spoke up. "I'll be honest with you, Simmons, but I've seen you build better looking contraptions before, no offense."
"I don't know, it looks pretty functional to me." Carolina added.
Simmons took all the opinions into account, and spoke up. "Well, this is merely a prototype build. I'm planning on having the finished product mmmuch smaller, and more slick looking, if you will."
"Neat." The trio said in unison.
"well, what are we waiting for?! let's get this baby fired up!!" Tucker said with enthusiasm.
"Hold on!!" Simmons said rather frantically. "We need a significant amount of power to jumpstart the system in order to test it properly!! Just trying to start this up the normal way would take DAYS before it's at full power!!"
Tucker, Carolina, Simmons and Grif started to think on what to do, until Grif spoke.
"Hey, Tucker, maybe that sword of yours has enough power to charge this thing up."
"Hey, that's actually a good idea!! what say you, Simmons?" Tucker said with excitement.
Carolina looked towards Grif with a raised brow. "I thought you didn't want to help?"
"I never said I didn't want to help, I just said I wanted to take a considerable amount of time off from adventures." Grif answered.
"Regardless, I think your idea might actually work!" Simmons said. "Hey Tucker! You ready in the pursuit of science?"
"Of course I'm ready!! I'm always ready in the pursuit of science, and the pursuit of happiness!!"
Everyone present ignored that last bit.
Tucker handed over his sword to Simmons, who then hooked up a large cable to it.
Then Carolina tilted her head. "Wait, how are you supposed to use the sword to power that up?"
Simmons then looked at her. "Simple! With the charging cable connected to the sword, all Tucker has to do is activate it. When he does, the amount of energy exerted from the sword coming to life with pass through the cable and into the energy amplifier, which will then lead to that converter over there and into the system. The amount of power going into the system will be so great that it'll be at full power and be ready to open up the portal in mer seconds!!"
It took time to comprehend what he just said, since he spoke so fast, but eventually, everyone got it.
"Alright Tucker, do it."
" Ye-hea! Let's do this!"
Tucker grasped the energy sword and activated it, cause a surge of power to flow into the cable. After a moment, they all heard the system shake to life, rather quickly too.
Actually, maybe a bit too quickly, as the system started to spark at random places as it sounded like it was accelerating fast.
"Uh, Simmons?" Tucker said with worry. "Is this supposed to do that?"
"Uh.. yes! no... maybe?" Simmons slightly panicked. "I-I'm sure this is supposed to happen!"
Carolina noticed sparks flying from the metal doorframe. "Are you absolutely sure this is supposed to to happen?" She had to raise her voice as the system got louder and louder.
Simmons was now going in a panic. "Tucker!! Unplug the sword!"
"On it!" Tucker yelled as he yanked to sword and deactivated it, but it was already too late.
The doorframe bursted into a bright blue light, blinding anyone unlucky to be looking at it, but what made it worse was that it started to pull things in.
"SIMMONS!!! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!?!?" Grif practically screeched out.
"I DON'T KNOW!! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!"
"EVERYONE GRAB ONTO SOMETHING SOLID!!" Carolina's voice rang through the loud noise.
Grif held onto one of the stalagmites while Simmons managed to get behind a wall. Both Carolina and Tucker held on to two separate support beams that held up one of the larger generators, which was also nailed to the ground. Things seem to look up, but the worst is yet to come.
The support beam that Tucker grabbed onto began to shake and creak, and the pulling forced of the light began to lift him from his feet.
NO!! NO!!!! DON'T YOU DARE SNAP ON ME!!! DON'T YOU DARE!!
*SNAP*
"OH FUCK!!!"
"TUCKER!!" Carolina shouted.
Out of instinct, and also out of the urge to not loose a friend, she grabbed onto Tucker's arm, who in turn grasped hers.
"HOLD ON TUCKER!!!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!?!?!"
The support beam that now held Carolina also began to creak.
No...nononononononono! I won't loose him!! DON'T YOU DARE SNAP!!
The creaking stopped for a moment, causing both Carolina and Tucker to sigh in relief.
*creak*
But only for a moment.
*SNAP*
"NO!!"
"CAROLINA!!"
"TUCKER!!!"
Both Grif and Simmons watched in horror as two of their friends were sucked into the light.
"SIMMONS, I CAN'T HOLD ON FOREVER!!"
"JUST HOLD ON GRIF!!"
Simmons then notice that the massive generator began to collapse under it's own weight since it didn't have the support beams.
The stalagmite began to crack.
"I SWEAR, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, YOU!!! DO!! NOT!!!! BREAK."
The cracking stopped.
"JUST A FEW MORE MOMENTS!!!" Simmons shouted.
"UNTIL WHAT?!?!?"
"THAT!!!"
Grif looked at the generator as it completely fell the rest of the way. The force of the light pulled it towards itself, propelling it fast. But the momentum of the large object shot it past the light and smashed into the screeching system.
At that same moment, it exploded. Knocking out both Grif and Simmons.
"Grif!! Grif get up!!" He heard his name called, but he wasn't in the mood.
"Just five more minutes." He muttered.
"GRIF!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!! IF YOU DON'T GET UP NOW I'M MAKING YOU RUN LAPS AROUND THE ENTIRE ISLAND WHEN YOU DO DECIDE TO WAKE UP!!"
"Ok!! Ok!!! I'm up!!" Grif shot up with a start.
He took a look around his surroundings to see that he was still in the cave, but everything was chard black, with bits of metal and rock everywhere.
"Grif! Simmons!! What the hell happened!! Where's Tucker and Carolina!!" Washington's voice brought back his attention.
"Wash? How long was I out!?" Grif asked.
"Not too long." Wash now lowered his voice. "I saw the explosion and I remember sending Tucker to come by here earlier. I saw Carolina trail behind him a bit, but that doesn't matter... not now at least." Wash fell silent for a moment when he looked over the where he presumed the explosion originated from. "Mind telling me what happened?"
Simmons the appeared Next to Grif. "We'll tell what happened, but we need Kimball to send in a bunch of new equipment if we are to even try and get them back."
Wash could only let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I'll relay the message."
Tucker felt his senses come back to him, as he felt a cool breeze brush against his face, as well as the grass underneath him.
Strange, I should have my armor on.
"Tucker, get up."
He heard a voice call him, feminine in nature.
"Tucker, please. For the love of god, get up."
He recognized that voice, but it sounded clear to him, as in, it wasn't through the COMS. It also sounded... panicked.
"Tucker, please... I can't loose a friend like you."
That when he opened his eyes, slowly but surely.
the first thing he noticed was how bright it was. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a woman's face he'd never forget, even if he's only seen it once.
"C-Carolina?"
Indeed, the beautiful redhead that hovered above him was indeed Carolina.
"Oh thank God." She said as she released the breath she was holding. "I thought I lost you too."
Tucker smirked. "Don't worry babe, I've been through much worse."
"Call me "babe" one more time and I'll break you."
"There's the Carolina I know and love."
"Tucker."
"Ok, fine, I'll stop. Just help me up here, yeah?"
Carolina stood up and offered her hand, which Tucker grabbed and pulled himself up. The first thing he noticed was the armor, or lack thereof.
"Uh, Carolina? Where's our armor, and where are we?"
"Not sure, but at least we have... whatever these uniforms are." She said as she motioned towards their current attire. "But they look kinda... dated."
Tucker examined what they were wearing. It was a gambeson that had sleeves down to the wrist, and gloves that overlapped the sleeves. On each of their left shoulders hung a single piece of armor. As far as footwear went, both of them wore cuissardes, but Tucker was thankful that his pair was built for a male in mind.
For Tucker, the cuissardes went over a pair of pants that was held up by a thick belt, which was also littered with small pouches. On his left hip held an empty scabbard, while on his right rested the grip of his energy sword. He gave it a few reassuring pats while he let off a smile.
A look at Carolina let him know that she was in very much the same situation, aside for a layer under her gambeson came down to halfway down her thighs light a short dress of sorts, and that her right side had a small sheath with a large combat knife.
He looked up to meet Carolina's gaze, who quickly turn her head the other way.
"What?" Tucker said, resisting the urge to flirt.
"Nothing, it's just..." She paused as she looked back at him. "I never expected you to be... well..."
"Black?" Tucker said rather bluntly. "That's a bit racist, don't you think?"
"I didn't mean it like that, Tucker!" Carolina nearly yelled with a slight blush of embarrassment.
Tucker simply laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Carolina, no need to get your stockings twisted in a knot, now."
Carolina let off a heavy sigh. "So where do you think we are? This armor doesn't look like anything within our history, given the design."
"True, you think that interdimensional thingamajig worked?" Tucker questioned.
"The more I think on it, and the more I look at the armor, the more I'm inclined to believe that to be the case." Carolina said as she brought her hand to her chin. " But we won't know for sure until we look around."
"Then I guess we got ultra lucky with the pathway that's right here." Tucker said as he looked to the right.
Sure enough, there was indeed a clear pathway just a few meters off.
"Huh, convenient." Carolina muttered to herself.
"So... left or right?"
"The left seems to have a poll with a few signs on it, as well a fork in the path, so let's head there." Carolina reasoned.
"Alright, lead the way then." Tucker said as he followed behind Carolina.
AN
AHAH!!!
DID IT!!!
As far as the story goes, I'll be taking things into a different route, some similarities will show, but it'll ultimately be it's own thing.