Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Chapter Sixteen:
Richard "Dick" Simmons could both see and feel Grif tense up at the sudden appearance of the man in blue behind their group, which was more than a tad disconcerting given his own increased anxiety.
Everyone was looking rather ill at ease with the sudden intrusion, but it was the visible apprehension radiating practically in waves off of Washington that increased everyone's stress levels about tenfold. After all, before this Washington had been more or less steadfast in his reactions. Seeing the blond Seas off-put during an already tense situation was, to say the least, more than a little upsetting.
Comparatively, despite also knowing this particular Freelancer, Simmons' cousin's currently high levels of frustration weren't noteworthy considering Church's default mood tended to lean towards highly stressed.
The newcomer, apparently named Florida, seemed to catch on to the tense mood encompassing the group rather quickly. There was a brief flicker of amusement in the Freelancer's eyes before he raised up his hands in what appeared to be a pacifying gesture, "I am not an operative of this base, I can assure you that." He informed them rather succinctly, "I'm here to help."
Simmons couldn't help but cast a skeptical glance towards Grif's direction, the Orc shooting back an equally doubtful expression. After all, the last time a Freelancer had offered their "help"…
"Washington." Florida's tone was as pleasant and cordial-sounding as it had been since he had so expertly snuck up on them, "You remember when we were allies, don't you? The good old days?"
As far as Simmons could tell, if his last remark was meant to be sarcastic or mocking, it honestly didn't come across in his tone.
Nonetheless, Washington frowned, his hand rubbing the side of his head that South had slammed against Grif's skull mere hours before, "That was a long time ago," Washington finally stated at length to Florida, "And some of my recent meet-ups with former teammates haven't exactly gone smoothly."
"Ah." Understanding loomed across the older human's face then, "Are you referring to what happened with South?"
"You saw that?" Doctor Grey asked in surprise, expressing the question going through all of their minds just then.
For how long had they had been observed? …Maybe from the minute they had arrived in Rat's Nest. The idea left a sick feeling crawling through Simmons' stomach.
"Of course he would have." Washington answered for the other Freelancer, "He is one of the best when it comes to surveillance."
Florida inclined his head slightly as if in humble acknowledgement of Washington's statement, "South's way of doing things is rather rough. I'll give you that."
"That's a fucking understatement." Grif muttered under his breath, also subconsciously rubbing the side of his head.
The Seas took a step forward then, actively putting himself between the Guildsmen and his former teammate, "Can I take that to mean that the two of you have been working together?" Washington inquired abruptly, "Along with C.T.?"
Florida's expression remained decidedly blank and neutral, "I happened to give her the intel about what was going on here, yes. But South and C.T. are doing their own thing." He stiffened his shoulders somewhat, an oddly faraway look in his dark eyes just then, "There's someone here that I'd like to meet up with again, you see."
Church rolled his eyes, "I'll give you one fucking guess as to who that probably is." He noted sarcastically to Washington, glancing the blond's way.
Washington nodded, as if whatever aside Church had just spouted made perfect sense. Grif and Simmons both glanced at one another again. They didn't even need the Linking Magic to know what was going through the other's mind.
…Fucking Freelancer problems.
"Always did have a sharp eye, Church." Florida complimented the goateed man in cobalt before turning his attention back to Washington, "Seeing C.T. again in particular must have been a pleasant surprise for you, Washington. You two were practically family, I recall."
Washington pointedly ignored the questioning sets of eyes that trailed his back following the Freelancer's comment, instead choosing to still glower at Florida, "You said that you were here to help, didn't you?" he questioned sharply, "Then prove it."
Florida shrugged indifferently as if he had expected harsh treatment from Washington. Very pointedly moving so that his back was to the group, though Simmons still suspected that was merely a show and he was well-aware of any actions they may take, the older man walked over to the closest wall of the ruins.
Upon closer inspection of the area, Simmons could just make out the faint outlines of what appeared to be a door. It was built in such a way that it wasn't immediately noticeable from the stone that made up the rest of the wall.
He also couldn't help but notice the two dead bodies off to the side, partially concealed by the tall blades of grass. Their armor was very distinctive of the Charon soldiers they had seen meandering elsewhere in Rat's Nest.
Florida picked up on the redhead's suddenly queasy regard, "I would have concealed them better, but your group caught me a bit by surprise when you showed up on the hill." He admitted nonchalantly before rasping his knuckles against the door, "You can use this way to get inside the facility. I estimate about twenty minutes before these two are noticed missing."
"Well." Sheila looked slightly disturbed by the sight of the two corpses as well, "I guess that's one way to deal with things."
Donut gave her shoulder a slight, sympathetic squeeze just then. Simmons and Doctor Grey both nodded at her encouragingly. This was outside of all of their comfort zones.
Church glared at Florida suspiciously, "That's all well and good, but why the fuck should we even trust you?"
Washington said nothing, his lips pursed in clear contemplation as he listened in to how his former Freelancer ally would respond.
Florida sighed, "You probably shouldn't. Completely, at least. That's just simple strategy." He squared his shoulders before turning around and fixing the group with a level stare, "But if you don't infiltrate this place soon, how long do you think the others in your traveling party will last on their own?"
At the reminder that Tucker and the others were already inside, a momentary flicker of urgency crossed Washington's gray and yellow-tinged face. He stepped forward towards the door, "Let's go."
Florida pressed against the stone of the door, the heavy object sliding out of the way with a spattering of fallen dirt and a soft, grinding noise as its ancient, unseen mechanisms came into play. Pressing the stone by the door outline again caused the whole process to happen in reverse once everyone had stepped inside the dimly lit corridor beyond.
The inside of the ruins looked surprisingly sturdy and fortified compared to the shambling, threatening to crumble patches of it that were still visible on the outside.
"Oh!" Donut exclaimed breathlessly, twirling around at the sight, "Someone's been busy redecorating!"
Florida nodded, "This building goes underground several levels. Everything below the surface was rebuilt for Charon's purposes."
"So their lair would be completely hidden from view." Doctor Grey surmised, awe-inspired by the genius of the plan.
"As fascinating as all of this architectural talk is," Church spoke up not a minute later, "Standing in the hall like a bunch of fucking losers is a surefire way to get killed."
Washington nodded his head in agreement, "Let's move."
They made quick progress from the ground level to the one just below it without alerting any guards. But, just as suddenly as they made it to the stairwell for the next floor, Florida grabbed at his side and collapsed in an open doorway. A quick, pained gasp escaped from the older human's mouth at the sudden motion.
"Florida?!" Washington couldn't hide the momentary concern that crossed over his features at the unexpected action, "What's wrong?"
The older man's face contorted in a grimace as he removed his hand from the dark blue material at his side. Florida held the hand up, palm outwards, to reveal that it was coated with blood. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, there was a darker stain soaking through his outfit.
"Looks like…my infiltration was a bit more difficult than I first thought." Florida breathed out haltingly, clearly pained.
Washington frowned, bending over to get a closer look at the wound, "It's not like you to get sloppy."
Florida smiled rather self-deprecatingly at the remark, "Guess I had my mind elsewhere."
"Yeah, like on making out with Wyoming." Church muttered under his breath by Simmons' shoulder, the redhead turning a quizzical glance towards his cousin before glancing back towards the wounded man.
Doctor Grey moved forward then, a serious look of contemplation on the foxlike Beast Folk's face as the dark-skinned woman reached for the medical kit by her side. But, before Grey could open it, Simmons reached out a hand to stop her.
"Doctor Grey, it's best if he gets healed up quickly. Besides, what if someone else needs your help even more down in the cells?" Simmons questioned as her dark eyes shot towards his green ones in a probing stare, "I…I can stay behind and use my healing aura on him."
A spark of sudden panic and urgency flared down the maroon-wearing man's spine as Grif's rather large and tan hand grasped around Simmons' arm, "Wait a fucking minute, Simmons! That's—!" he began, clearly panicked.
Simmons broke through the Orc's heated protest with a firm shake of his head, "I'll…I'll be fine, Grif!" He reassured him, trying to pry away from Grif's vicelike grip, "Kai and the others still need help."
Grif's frown only deepened at the mention of his sister, but he nodded his head and reluctantly let go of Simmons' arm a split-second later. Simmons felt a small twinge of loss at the sudden removal of warmth, but smiled thankfully at a rather anxious-looking Grif all the same.
Donut watched the exchange between the two men play out before he grinned and patted both of them on the back, "Now don't you worry, Grif!" He said jubilantly, "I'll stay too and make sure we all catch up before you know it! So, just soldier on and mount up!"
Grif finally tore his eyes away from Simmons' face to smile slightly at Donut, "Thanks. I think."
"Anytime, pal!" Donut beamed, clearly thrilled to be acknowledged.
"Say hi to Kai for me, okay?" Simmons asked the orange-wearing Orc in an attempt to ease the situation.
Grif nodded before Washington ushered him through the stairwell along with the rest of the group.
As soon as their heavy footsteps receded from earshot, Simmons bent down over Florida and held his hands out above the wound. A warmth began spreading out over his fingers.
Florida's posture relaxed slightly, "Thank you."
The redhead simply nodded in reply, trying to concentrate spreading his aura out over the injury itself.
Donut, meanwhile, paced the hallways, peering down the stairwell that the others had gone through. When the dirty blond turned back around to regard Florida, all traces of his usual mirth had entirely disappeared from his features.
"All right, mister." The pink-wearing man stated in a rather knowing tone, "Whatever you need to tell Simmons, you can get to it now." The look in Donut's brown eyes was quite serious and, not a second later, his arms uncharacteristically crossed over his chest.
Simmons lowered his hands abruptly, nearly falling out of his crouch in shock, "Donut? What are you—?"
"I'll give you points on your acting and delivery though." Donut quickly added as he cut off the redhead's lingering question by continuing to address Florida instead, "Getting yourself injured on purpose was a nice touch too."
A smirk crossed over the Freelancer's face at Donut's remark, "Those are observations not even Washington picked up on in the heat of the moment." He sounded rather impressed, "I should have expected no less from the prince of the Unsc."
Simmons turned his head to openly gape up at Donut, but the Guild member suddenly refused to even meet his eyes.
Florida sighed as he stood up to dust off his clothes like his injury had been nothing, "The two of you seem like nice enough boys," he informed them, "So I'm going to apologize in advance for what's about to happen. But, I need to be sure of something."
Donut reached out quickly then, latching onto Simmons' arm as if to try to teleport them somewhere away from their current location.
"There's no need for that."
Suddenly, a calm voice filled their minds and both men felt an inexplicable urge to stay right where they were.
"It fucking took you long enough."
Antoine Bitters was waiting for the group by the exit of the fifth stairwell they had gone down. The younger dark-skinned human was already turning on his heels and marching down the corridor before anyone had the chance to respond to his biting remark, his stride quick and purposeful.
"It's not like we have a shitload of time before the "tour" brings the others close by." Bitters noted hastily in way of further explanation.
"Is Kai okay?" Dexter Grif asked as he once again glanced behind him for any sign of Simmons or Donut before swallowing down empty air and moving to quickly match the younger man's stride. It was an easy enough feat for someone of his Orc stature to do.
Bitters stopped in front of a nondescript door, slamming his fist against a glowing stone panel next to it. "Why don't you go and see for yourself?" He asked as the door opened with a hiss of air from the other side.
Inside the revealed space was what could only be described as a dungeon. It was practically stereotypical in its structure, right down to the rows and rows of cells it contained. The bad guys were clearly not ones for originality.
Grif pushed past Bitters and stepped into the bleak scene, heart thudding in his chest as he scanned the room for any trace of far too delicate-looking butterfly wings.
Outside of the cells was a woman who seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Sheila due to how her form appeared to be sculpted entirely out of diamond. She apparently had Sheila's strength too as she broke the lock on a nearby cell by simply slamming her fist into the panel next to it, the panel cracking as if it wasn't made out of stone. The young Seas boy inside the now open cell gingerly stepped out after a few hesitating moments. Next came Volleyball, who gripped onto one of the auburn-haired boy's shaking shoulders reassuringly, along with…
"Kai!" Grif couldn't hold back the shout that escaped from his lungs at the sight of his sister, even as he heard the alarmed hiss of warning from Washington nearby.
The tan-skinned girl turned in the orange-wearing man's direction once she seemed certain that the female Guild apprentice could handle the weight of the Seas prisoner just fine on her own.
Her brown eyes lit up when she caught sight of Grif, "Dex!" Kai exclaimed as she raced past Palomo, who was busy talking to a human girl and a slightly older Dwarven woman, tears in her eyes as she threw her arms around her brother's neck, "Where the fuck have you been?!"
"Trying to fucking rescue you!" Grif shouted back as he returned the girl's hug just as tightly while also trying to hold back his own tears. After all, he wasn't a wimp like Simmons and he sure as hell wasn't about to give Kai ammunition to tease him with later. He wasn't a fucking crybaby, damn it!
"Well, you sure took your sweet-ass time!" Kai sniffled, pulling away, "We were about to break out of here on our own. Asshole."
Grif rolled his eyes again, "Whatever. We're here now, okay?" He cast a scrutinizing look over her from head to toe, "Are you hurt?"
"Nah, but it's been boring as fuck here!" She narrowed her dark eyes in sudden recollection, "I couldn't even get the guards to smuggle me in some porno mags or a vibrator to pass the fucking time!"
"Yeah, yeah," Grif nodded his head before her words actually registered, "Wait, what?"
"You heard me. Bitch." She glanced around him at the others in the rescue group, "Where's Simmons? Don't tell me you lost your nerd."
"He'll catch up with us later." Grif assured her, smirking at her comment.
Meanwhile, Doctor Grey had pulled Sheila into the dungeon room as well, glancing towards the other statuesque woman who had just helped open the cells. The women regarded one another as they stood frozen in place. It was a rather awkward reunion, given how long it had been since they had seen each other last.
"Filss?" Sheila finally breathed out, hesitatingly.
Filss fidgeted uncomfortably on the spot where she stood, "Sheila."
The Beast Folk doctor looked between the two women, "Ah, so you too are siblings!" She chirped away happily at the reunion, "What a coincidence to meet up again here of all places, huh?"
Washington strode past the two family reunions and towards the recently freed tan-skinned Dwarven woman, who raised a black eyebrow in his direction, "Wash." She greeted with a wry note to her voice and a slight incline of her head, "I guess I have you to thank for this rescue operation?"
Washington smirked slightly as he looked over the assembled team around them, "With some help."
"So I see." She smiled thinly, "It's good to see you playing nice with others again."
The Seas smiled rather awkwardly at her comment before turning his attention to the room at large once more, "All right," he began curtly, "We need to find the others and secure our route out—"
"Oh, I'm afraid those escape plans of yours will have to wait." A mocking voice interjected snidely from the doorway.
The group turned in that direction to find Felix standing there alongside a dark-skinned man. The stranger appeared to be regarding everyone with an eerily calm demeanor, as if assessing the situation.
Washington's own stance tensed up abruptly at the sight of whoever this newcomer with Felix was, as did the body languages of all of the escaped prisoners as well as Filss and Bitters, "Aiden Price." Washington muttered, although the newcomers didn't acknowledge him.
"Though those reunions were certainly quite touching." Felix continued, the mercenary grinning broadly as he turned his head to the side, "Wouldn't you guys agree?"
One of the dungeon walls completely disintegrated from view as if it had never been there at all, revealing a group of Charon forces led by a guy with a shark motif woven throughout his armor and another rather large man decked out in steel and green. They were surrounding…
"I don't believe it." The woman who had been talking to Washington was staring wide-eyed at one of the figures, "Michael?"
"Hey, sis! We are here to rescue you!" Caboose waved cheerily despite the situation, "And Church is here too! Hi, Church!"
Church grumbled something under his breath and lowered his head, but still waved weakly in Caboose's direction all the same.
"Hey, guys! Funny meeting you here!" Doc said cheerfully, clearly a new member of Caboose's "can't read situations well" club.
"Katie!" Andersmith called out, causing the tan girl with freckles who had been with Palomo to look over at him in shock.
"Tucker!" Washington exclaimed before the Katie girl could react, and he was only able to stop himself from racing forward to where the teal-wearing Guild member and the others were by sheer force of will.
Grif glanced at the newcomers. It appeared that only South seemed to be missing from the group that had won the "tournament" round earlier. Sneaky Freelancers.
Meanwhile, the dark-skinned Beast Folk grinned sheepishly back at Washington from his spot in-between Sarge and Lopez amongst the winner group, "Hey, Wash…guys. Looks like you found them, huh?"
"I have a fairly good idea on just what it is that Aiden Price wants you to do here, Simmons." Florida noted quietly as the redhead and Donut followed the former Freelancer further and further into the myriad twisting corridors and tunnels of the ruins.
Simmons said nothing in reply, his mind and heart both racing a mile a minute. He had long since given up on trying to keep track of where they were going, his feet still moving with a purpose all their own.
Eventually, Florida stopped in front of what appeared to be a fairly massive stone chamber at the very center of the facility.
Inside, floating just over the top of their heads was a large Remnant, halfway pulsating with blue light while the other half of the crystalline structure was completely black. There was a hum filling the chamber, but the sound seemed to be fractured too. Its echo stopped in sharp abruptness every few seconds.
"They found the Remnant like this when they were restoring this place." Florida explained as the trio entered the chamber, "As you can see, it is in desperate need of "healing.""
Simmons planted his feet directly in front of the floating crystal.
"S—Simmons…!" Donut managed to somehow get the words out through gritted teeth as a pale hand extended upwards towards the smooth surface of the Remnant.
"Just a friendly warning," Florida's voice stated from behind the maroon-wearing human, "You're probably not going to like what you see."
Simmons tried biting down on his lip to break the compulsion, but his hand touched the warmth pulsating out from the magical artifact anyways. He couldn't even stop himself from letting out a heartrending scream at the sudden onslaught of images that flared to vivid life inside his mind.
Grif, in the midst of thinking about just how things couldn't possibly get any fucking worse, was suddenly hit with an overwhelming, crippling sense of sheer panic that he quickly registered as not his own. The Orc let out a loud groan as he crashed roughly to his knees on the ground.
"Whoa!" Kai cried out as she tried to pull the heavier-set man up by his shoulder, her own fear and worry clear as day as she bent over her older sibling, "Dex! What the fuck is going on?"
Felix smirked, "Even the big, scary Orc is having a panic attack because he knows how fucked you guys are."
"Dex!"
"Shut the fuck up, asshole!" Tucker yelled out towards Felix at the same time as Kai's shout.
There are people running everywhere. All of their ears are pointed and, despite the looming terror in the air, he can't help but think that is odd.
Everything is dark and cold, and there is no escape from the yawning chasm in the peoples' midst.
Those that don't die instantly, that don't get their souls taken away right then and there…change. The sounds of bones snapping and reshaping, of flesh tearing and stretching overrun the screams until only something truly inhuman lies in wait.
Tears pinpricked Grif's eyes, and his breath turned to sharp, piercing ice in his lungs. Was that…was it something that Simmons was seeing then? What the absolute fuck…?
Kai's nails dug into his flesh painfully. But, before Grif could remotely try to collect himself and shake everything off for the moment to reassure her, the area around them began to shake violently.
The dark-skinned man, who Washington had called Aiden Price earlier, continued to have a rather disconcerting smile as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. It seemed as if he was not at all alarmed or displeased by the sudden turn of events. Instead, the slight curve of his lips only intensified, "It appears as if the Remnant has been restored."
Author's Notes: I apologize for how long it took me to update any of my stories. I was dealing with a heavy combination of extremely disappointing news and a whole lot of sickness over the last two weeks, which kind of threw my writing schedule completely out of whack.
This chapter ended up being a doozy to write, with quite a bit happening and at least one semi-important plot reveal! :D I'm sure that it is all a tad confusing at the moment, but things will be explained in due time! I need to keep some mysteries, after all. …Also, I feel like at this point I should just throw in a blanket "sorry for the cliffhanger" comment at the end of all of this fic's chapters. XD
Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read this fic. :D