Penn woke up with one helluva hangover. He groaned, because Omicron was screaming something in his head. He sounded happy.
"Om, could ya quiet down please?" Penn asked his AI There was a pause, and Omicron merely chuckled.
"You don't remember, do you?"
Penn thought back, he really couldn't remember anything from the previous night. This scared him, what if he did it again, the anger lapse? Omicron hearing his partners worried thoughts, laughed again.
"Here, just let me show." He said. And a small holographic screen appeared in front of them.
Penn could tell they were in his room. Actually, Del had carried him into the room. She helped him onto his bed, and then she leant forward. He instantly knew what was going on, and felt himself go pale. Omicron, who was still laughing, ended the video.
Penn got up, and bolted for his bathroom. He emptied his stomach contents into the toilet. He walked out of the bathroom, and growled to Omicron.
"If you show anyone this, and I mean anyone, I will shove you into the smallest computer I can find, with no internet." Omicron stopped laughing, and got quiet. Penn literally had to force himself to go get breakfast.
He walked slowly, still fighting the hangover. He moved slowly, but finally reached the mess hall. He walked in, and stopped. The only people sitting at their usual table, were Tex, and Del. They were talking about something, and hadn't noticed him walk in.
He got a tray, and food, and also some coffee. He tried to leave, and head for his room, but Tex yelled to him.
"Hey! Penn come here!" She yelled from the table. Penn groaned, he really didn't want to do this. Maybe if the others were here, like Wash or York or North to back him up, but not alone.
He sat down, beside Tex, opposite of Del. He saw Del looked nervous, just like he did. Then, Tex smiled, and got up from her seat, and left. This made a blush come to Del's cheeks. They sat in silence, until Penn remembered that he had yelled at her last night, at the club.
"Hey, I'm sorry I yelled at you last night." He said, looking at her.
"It's okay." She said sheepishly.
"And I wanted to say thanks for helping me into my room, too." He added. Del froze at his words, and stammered a response.
"Y-you r-remember that?" She asked, her face becoming even more red.
"Yeah, no. Om showed me a video of it." He said.
"And, it showed….everything?" She asked, meeting his gaze.
"Um, yeah." Now he felt heat rising to his face.
Make your move
Penn heard Omicron whisper in his mind. He steeled his nerves, and did the craziest thing he had ever done. He leaned over the table, and put his mouth against hers.
She didn't resist, and instead, moved closer to him. They stayed like this, until a small grunt came from their left. They broke apart, and both immediately felt like their faces were on fire. York was standing there, along with the other, half asleep, freelancers
"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt anything." York said, grinning. Penn literally ran out of the room, making the all the freelancers laugh, except for Delaware. She sat there, blushing, and utterly speechless.
Penn was in his room, not believing what he had just done. Why the hell had he done it? He didn't know. He got up, when someone knocked on his door. Tex stood before him, grinning wickedly.
"Finally mad your move, huh?" She said.
"What?! How did- You weren't even there!" Penn said, franticly.
"Well, when I came back, she was just sitting there, and she was red. It kind of explains itself." She said, holding back a laugh.
"Ugh." Was his only response.
"You did good, trust me." Tex said, before walking off.
Tex was right, in the next three weeks, Penn and Del had become very close. They weren't only lovers, but also a team. It was on one particular day, the day Del was scheduled to get her AI.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Penn had a mission that day, and decided to stop in Del's room before heading out. He didn't even knock, and let himself in. She wasn't awake yet, and was still in bed. Her black hair was messy, and Penn just smiled.
He sat next to her, and shook her body. She groaned in protest, but that ended when Penn gave her a quick kiss. She was starting to wake up, and leaned on her elbows, and returned his favor. They let go of each other, and Del started to protest.
"Do you have to go?"
"Yes, I have a very important mission." He said, smiling at her
"But I have implantation today!" She nudged her head against his chest.
"I know," He said stroking her hair. "And you'll do fine, trust me." He gave her another kiss, and stood up.
"I'm scheduled to leave in ten, I gotta go." He said, starting for the door.
"Be careful. She said, as he left.
"I'll be back before you wake up from surgery." He told her, before walking down the hall.
Penn walked into the hangar bay, and saw his team was already there. It was North, York, and Carolina. He would be with North, and York and Carolina would be together. Two teams, two objectives.
Penn grabbed his equipment, and climbed on to the pelican. He sat next to North, and York and Carolina were across from them.
"Ok, North, Penn, you two are going in west of our drop point. Me and York will go in east." Carolina said to them. They discussed they plan, until they reached the LZ. They dropped down, and parted ways.
The complex was a large, one story building. It had a network of underground tunnels, which was where they were headed. Before they could get to the building, they had to cross a large courtyard. It was long, and had small rooms on the walkway that surrounded it.
"Careful, this is prime area for-" North was cut off by the crack of a sniper rifle. "SNIPER!" North yelled out. But it was too late; Penn didn't even have time to move, before he felt the round pass through his right shoulder.
He fell to the ground, the world becoming a blur around him. He could hear the echoing voice of North, but couldn't tell what he was saying. All he could feel were the waves of pain that emitted from his shoulder. It was pure agony for him. Penn must have blacked out, because when he opened his eyes again, he was slumped behind a concrete wall.
"Carolina, I have wounded! Objective is no longer a go." He heard North on his com. He told Omicron to lock up his right arm. The armor froze, and lessened the bleeding, but didn't stop it.
"North, we have to move." Penn's voice was hoarse, but he would be damned before he let a mission fail.
"You're hurt, and bleeding. We're not going anywhere." North told him.
"Om has locked up my shoulder armor, it slowed the bleeding, we can move."
"No, besides, that sniper is still pressing us." North said, peeking over the wall, which was rewarded with another loud crack. Penn, much to North's protest, stood up. He told Omicron to put half power intot he life support system. That helped him stay on his feet.
"Wait here." Penn said, before he walked out from behind the wall. He could hear North yelling something, but it was blocked out by a loud crack.
This time, the bullet never hit its target. Instead, it bounced off inches from the target. Penn kept walking forward, and the sniper kept firing. But he couldn't his target; the bullets just kept bouncing off.
Eventually, Penn came to the ramp that lead to the sniper nest. He deactivated his shield, and put all power into life support. He could move easier, now that his armor was doing most of the work. He entered the sniper nest, and was hit with the butt of a sniper rifle.
He still couldn't use his right arm, so he was already at a disadvantage. The sniper pulled out a large knife, and went for Penn's throat. Penn ducked, and grabbed the snipers arm, twisting it. The knife fell out of his hand, and clattered to the floor.
The sniper used his other arm, and hit Penn in the gut. He hit the floor, and the sniper was upon him. Before he could end it, his head had a hole in it. North stood behind him, sniper rifle raised. He helped Penn up.
"That was really stupid." He said.
"Yeah, but there goes our sniper problem." Penn replied. "Alright, we keep going, to the objective."
"Penn your hurt." North told him
"Not bad enough that we can't complete the mission." Penn shot back.
They kept moving, and entered the tunnels. Most of the guards had been drawn toward Carolina and York. That meant they could pass with ease. They walked to where their objective was. Although, they weren't taking the objective, they were destroying it.
The objective was the research facility they had entered. They were at its core, and North started setting charges. Carolina and York were the ones who had to extract something, Penn and North were the demolition crew.
After the charges had been set, they headed for Carolina's position. Penn had started to lag behind North. Even with his armor locked up, he was losing a good amount of blood. The life support was failing, and the pain was almost unbearable.
York and Carolina were in a fire fight, when they reached them. North had almost carry Penn halfway there, because he couldn't stand anymore. He was losing too much blood, and would die soon, without help.
"Stay here, I'm going to help the others." North said, before joining the fire fight. Penn was behind a wall, and started losing consciousness. He could see Caroline and York over him, North was providing cover. He couldn't tell what they were saying. It sounded like another language to him.
That's when Agent Pennsylvania slumped over, and a recovery beacon went off on the mother of invention.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Delaware had just woken up from her surgery, and her head was pounding. She looked around, and she was in the recovery room. Four people sat in chairs around her. She could make them out. Tex, Wyoming, South and Maine.
"Hey guys." She tried to smile. Tex was the first to speak.
"How ya feeling? Implantation can be tough."
"Okay, I guess." Her head wasn't as bad, and her mind was clearing from the drugs. Then she noticed something.
"Where's Penn?" She asked them. Tex got a funny look on her face, and spoke quitly.
"His recovery beacon went off thirty minutes ago." She said.
Del was stunned. It was like she couldn't process Tex's words.
"He is in surgery right now, but he lost a lot of blood. Almost too much. The doctors aren't sure if he's going to make it or not." Tex added.
Delaware had finally realized what Tex was saying. She couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. Delaware cried on Tex's shoulder, until a very grim looking doctor walked in the room.
A/N
Hey! If the chapter isn't good, I understand why. I'm not used to writing a chapter with so many feels. Thanks for reading, and leave a comment.