Chapter 4: Turning Tables

Chris woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and much better than the day before, hangovers and waking up in a stranger's bed can really fuck your day up. Chris started milling around his home, getting ready for the day. He went into the kitchen and made some coffee as black as he could and downed it as quickly as he made it, figuring he would need the caffeine for the asses he was going to kick.

After a little breakfast and morning news – unfortunately still about recent bio-terror attacks- Chris grabbed his keys and started up his truck, ready to head out to base. Chris arrived after about half an hour and received some snickers and nervous glances from some of the soldiers around the base as he walked around looking for Andy and Marco.

Chris spotted one of the new recruits that Andy and Marco had joked around with and snuck up behind her before she had a chance to notice him and move away like everyone else that morning. Chris tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around wildly almost jumping out of her gear.

"Holy shit Captain Redfield what the fuck was that for?!"

Chris raised an eyebrow at the sudden burst of language. "On edge today are we S.S.?"

S.S. rolled her eyes. "As if Captain Redfield, being on edge is what keeps your old ass alive in the field."

Chris chuckled gently, "Really now, what's got you so spunked up today kid?"

S.S. rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Uh… Andy and Marco… Sir?"

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Oh really now… do you happen to know where I can find those two?"

S.S. smiled evilly. "Yeah, dumb and dumber were in the mess hall last time I saw them."

Chris clapped S.S. on the shoulder. "Thanks kid, cya later!" Chris started to walk away with a hardly evident smirk, cracking his knuckles.

Arriving at the mess hall in only an anticipating five minutes, Chris' chocolate eyes searched the perimeter for his targets; two heads of brown varying in color that were most likely at a table scarfing down semi-warm meats and vegetables. He could tell them from a mile away and silently hoped they hadn't finished eating yet.

While running a few fingers through dark, cropped hair, Chris spotted the two lone figures quietly conversing near the edge of the room, a few other soldiers scattered about but at this point, most had gone. With another devilish grin he made his way to the table, happy that the men were sitting beside one another and not across.

He couldn't ignore the other soldiers seeming to watch him out of the corners of their eyes, suppressing tiny laughs and talking quietly with their other table mates. The conversations were too quiet to hear word-by-word to Chris' ears, but loud enough to realize that they were speculating on the situation.

When Chris was at least a foot away from them, he walked forward and grabbed a fistful of hair from both heads in his large hands, ignoring Andy and Marco's shouts of surprise and protest. When Chris was sure their faces had accumulated enough mashed potatoes and other foods, he lifted their heads once again by the hair and leaned forward,

"Now whose idea was it, and who played along?"

Andy and Marco gave a quick glance behind them and then to each other, Marco grabbing a napkin from his plate. "What if I told you I had no part in this..." his voice wavered as he slowly cleaned the food off his face; crushed and ruined pieces of carrots and lettuce that were once part of a salad.

Andy shook his head (although it was quite hard with Chris holding it in place) and stuck his index finger up in disagreement, "I claim full responsibility for this but Marco is lying and if you kick our asses I recommend you screw him up first, I swear he didn't even try to stop me-"

"Andy you fucking snitch!"

Chris chuckled, a deep, quiet laugh that had Andy and Marco's bickering immediately cease as quickly as it began. "Well boys, in that case, I'll leave you two to enjoy the rest of your meal. See you at the Training Grounds."

Chris let go of their hair and turned, walking out of the mess hall calmer than he came in. All the other soldiers in the room watched him leave and then turned to look to Andy and Marco, who cleaned the rest of the food off their faces and quietly cursed at each other… "You see, I told you shouldn't have put that much-"

"-don't gimme that, if you said something we wouldn't be in this goddamned mess…"

Marco sighed. "Well to hell with it, we've gotten beat downs from Chris before, what's the worst that could happen?"

Note: This is written with another writer from ArchiveOfOurOwn. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and find us on Archive as ViridianK (Me) or SilentShifter.