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After the Colonel's send-off, Hawk is in his new office and has called for his new top subordinates. "You wanted to see us?" Duke asks for him and Beachhead.
"I will, just as soon as the last one of you deci-" Hawk is saying when Flint enters and explains that he was busy having Stalker take over after catching Snow Job, Rock 'n Roll and a bunch of Green-shirts doing a "how many can fit?" contest with one of the Tomahawks. "Uh-huh... how'd that turn out?"
"They were at 24... by which i mean push-ups, not people... when i got your announcement."
"Good to know. Take a seat." He replies, making a mental note to ask later, and picks up a folder. "First order of business; I've gone over some of your past missions. Seems some of you have been assigned with certain teammates more often than with others. I trust you've never allowed yourselves to be distracted in the line of duty?" He asks while keeping a steady eye on them.
"Not at all, sir." Duke answers with a straight face.
After four seconds, Hawk switches to the next one. "Flint, i understand that on one of your first missions, you and Lady-Jaye ended up in Low-Light's place of residence when he was still in law enforcement."
"Yes, General. Our fuel tank was punctured when she struck it with one of her javelins after losing her grip on the skid."
"And neither of you let the stress of such an event get to you?" He asks while peering from the file to his face.
"Sir, we were in full control of ourselves, sir!" Flint replies. Both he and Duke mentally praising and battering themselves for the hours of practice at secret keeping.
"...Very well." Hawk says, and turns to the third. "Beachhead, considering you haven't been in such a situation, have you ever noticed any discrepancies in their statements?"
Beachhead glances from the General to the other two for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Negative; these two have been on thayure best behavior fahwar as long as Ahv been hare, General."
Hawk then nods and stands. "Outstanding, keep up the good work. You're all dismissed."
The three nod back and walk out. Once out of earshot, however, Beachhead turns toward them. "Ah hope chur proud uh churselves. Ah gist risked mah ass fahwar thuh both uh yoo."
"Trust me, Beachhead, i hated it just as much as you did."/"I'm not jumping for joy, either; but thanks." The other two said, only for Beachhead to start poking the latter in the chest.
"Yawl can keep chur mouths shut; Thet kinduh gratitude's not worth horse shit."
Lifeline is being shown around the base's infirmary. Despite all he'd heard of this place since enlisting, the faint sounds of shrapnel being dropped into trays, the sight of nurses with blood soaked cloth made it seem like he never left civilian life behind. If anything could get past his stoicism, it would be a half-conscious patient mistaking them for a phone book and a strawberry popsicle. "Considering how big this place is, this section seems a bit small, doesn't it?" Lifeline asks.
"Not really. This is only one of the rooms; we have a whole half of this level for keeping base personnel up and at 'em." Doc explains while checking the patient's clipboard.
"And does that apply to P.O.W.s?"
"Not in here; the stockade has it's own ward for them. Other then that, next is the filing cabinets." Doc replies.
In the office, Lifeline sees whole rows of them, two in particular catch his eye. "What's with the green and pink ones?"
"The green one is for Tripwire, cause he's accident prone. The pink one is Shipwreck's, for being a faker." Doc explains, and gives him a sheet. "Here's one for a sprained thumb; one of 41, that is. One for "an allergic reaction to bat fur" when Cobra attacked a munitions factory in Carpathia. My personal favorite is when "hay fever" made him skip out on a voluntold convoy." He adds while snickering.
"Why would that be a favorite?"
"Just because of the sudden bout of Coprolalia he developed when he found out the mission was to Fort Knox." Doc replies when an orderly walks over.
"Doc, we got two more coming in."
"Which ones?"
"A couple of the new guys; Leatherneck and Wet-Suit." The orderly replies, causing Lifeline to palm his face and ask Doc to handle it.
"O... kay. What happened to them?" The senior medic asks.
"A fistfight in the commissary. According to the witnesses, they were chatting up some of the female non-coms, and Cover-Girl and Green-shirt Pulver set them up so they, uh-" The orderly was explaining before voices from outside were heard.
"I'm not gonna make it, am i?"/"What about me? I'm the one with gyrene-germs on my mouth!"
Elsewhere in the base, Deep Six is wandering around when he spots Ace heading to the rec-room to start a cardgame with Roadblock, Cross-Country, and Dusty. After hesitating for a couple seconds, he rushes over to him. "Hey Ace, hold it!" He shouts, only to crash into the pilot when he stops to look around for the unfamiliar request.
"Look mommy, sandpipers." Ace says before shaking it off. "Deep? What's the idea of that?!" He asks while unconsciously keeping a hand over his holster.
"Sorry, sorry; i... i just wanted to ask something." Deep Six asks while helping him up.
"You? That's a first. What is it?"
"Assuming you were going to have another card game... you, you got a, uh-" Deep Six tries to say, but Ace interrupts him.
"I must not have completely shrugged off that fall just now, cause it sounds like Mr. lone-wolf-eel himself is asking to be in a group."
The diver gave his usual sour look before sighing and explaining an event from when he was a captive. "Only cause of something i went through eight weeks after i got caught. They had me and 22 other's, 16 men and 7 women, working on some kind of hydro-electric turbine. A big one, anyway, they killed 9 men and hauled off 4 of the women for reasons neither of us wants to think of... to keep us quiet before i ended up on tin-face's command ship."
"...I see. Well, consider yourself accepted."
"You mean it?"
"You can even cut the deck first." Ace replied before extending a hand.
Shipwreck is headed to the armory after finishing at the shooting range, and finds Lift-Ticket inside with his head in his hands, he asks what the problem is. "You know how we've been dealing with the Moe's truck getting blown up? Well i just-" He starts to say when Slip-Stream walks in.
"Moes?"/"It's what the pogues in the mail room call themselves."/"Oh. What's eating him?" The newest pilot and Shipwreck say before Lift-Ticket starts over.
"I just got done calling my little sis cause Low-Light mentioned getting divorced."
"He and Satin broke up?" Shipwreck asks him.
"Yeah, but it's just a ruse due to his being one of us." He explains. "It still can't be easy on their kid, though."
"Oh, i get it now."/"That would explain why he took time off after that aerial refueling session a while back." The two told him.
Iceberg is getting off the phone and gets an opposite look on his face. "Good news?" Mainframe asks him.
"Yep. I just got off the phone with a girl i met during the fake UFO business."
"That's allowed here?"
"If you mean dating, I'm not too sure. We haven't gotten that far yet. She just mentioned her uncle how struck a deal with someone from a group calling itself Ocrab financial.".
"What's this uncle of hers do, exactly?" Mainframe asks next.
"He's planning a giant greenhouse in Santa's backyard."
"Greenhouse? This lady's name wouldn't be Wendigos, would it?"
"Mahia Wendigos. You know her?"
"Not them personally, but i do know one of the tropodome's surveyors from back during basic training. He dropped out after the second week. Other than that, has anyone here seen a real flying saucer."
"A real one? You mean like Malmstrom, and Bentwaters? Beats me; since we don't have any nukes here, so i doubt it. How about you?"
"Well, me and those other two are working on a replacement for the harpoen." Mainframe finished.
Later that evening, Flint is at his apartment in Keystone watching a silent movie when he hears a knock at the door and heads to it. "Password?"
"Rampart." Lady-Jaye answers, and the two curl up on the couch.
"How'd it go with you?" He asks her.
"Been a heck of a day; first Hawk grills me on how i got caught more often then Duke did, then me and the other two girls catch that dork in the neon with Cutter, Wild Bill, Dial-Tone, Alpine, Spirit, Torpedo, and five Greenies. They were all drooling over a bunch of Japanese comics where... well, nevermind... anyway, we nab Dial-Tone and show them a thing or two."
"You did? How so?" He asks while sliding a hand under her shirt.
"Well, we... we rolled over an empty fuel drum and had ourse... lves a bonfire while he got to wear Sci-Fi's helmet, which he lost somehow, and since he was so inte... interested in girls wearing skimpy clothes... LaChance took a picture of him in a tutu so all the new guys know who's boss." She explains while gasping and squirming about a few times.
"You could have just let us know." He tells her, though he was plenty aware what her response would be, or atleast he thought he was.
"Maybe, but nowhere near as fun. Can't believe he... 's the same guy who asked me out once."
"You turned him down right?" He asks before he can stop himself.
"...You can be such an asshole sometimes." She tells him while pinching the back of his hand and walking away from him.
"I know. I'm sorry, it's just that Hawk asked Duke and i about you and Scarlett."
"Safe to say he didn't get anything out of you." She says. "If you must know; i did go on one date with Dial-Tone after graduating bootcamp. But while i wasn't quite Miss. rough-and-tumble yet; even then he was all talk. I just wasn't interested in romance that didn't come off a script... or atleast not until Albania." She replies as she glances at him. "And the stairwell."
"In the airpocket." He says as he places a hand on the back of her neck.
"At Low-Light's." She says while placing hers around his back.
"In my quarters." He says as he lets her lean back over the counter.
"The hotel in Yokohama." She says while she shuts her eyes.
"And the moon-lit beach in Crete." He finished as they locked lips.
Chapter thirty-nine.
