What exactly happened to Erica will be revealed in this chapter. ...That'll depend on how they'll react (and you guys). Here's chapter 12.
Disclaimer: I own no one.
It took a while, but I managed to clean off the armor of the light blue spray paint. It hurts my arms though, but, I hope it was worth it. I decided to be smart and put the armor pieces into a box to make it easier to carry them before I headed out to where the two of them are.
Thankfully, there's no sign of Mikey when I got to them. "Hey guys," I greeted, carefully placing the box down.
"Ya era hora," Lopez said. "¿Qué te llevó?"
"Hey, I had to scrub the living hell out of them, then polish them for good measure!" I retorted, having a guess on what he's saying. "See?" I held up a piece for him to see. I can literally see my reflection on it – and it seems like Lopez can too (and it's weird to see the robot without his helmet).
"Hmm," the robot let out… did he actually sound impressed? "Impresionante."
"Yeah. Uh, yeah," I nodded. "…Do you want me to help you put them on?"
He gave a wordless nod and the two of us went to place the armor back on. It took a lot to convince Sheila that I was just helping her boyfriend, and not feeling him up. I mean- he's a fucking robot, how the hell does that work?
Anyways, it took us a bit – and I was seriously confused by what Lopez was trying to tell me before Sheila directed me right – that we're done. I stood back, admiring my handy work. "There we go! Good as new!" I smiled.
…Huh, now that I noticed it, Lopez is in a Mark VI MJOLNIR armor. Like Tex. Then again, they probably used those to rebuild a body for either Tex or Church in case they lost their previous bodies.
Lopez looked over at himself. "Bueno, al menos yo no estoy en azel más," he commented, nodding to himself.
"I agree," Sheila 'nodded'. "You look much better in brown."
"Uh, right, uh, did you build me that thing?" I asked – I don't want to be around in their alone time.
Lopez seems to catch on and handed me a couple of things. "Aquí."
I looked over at the things in my hand. They do look like a hearing aid. How do I put it in? Into my ear? I nodded and pulled off my helmet and looked over at it. "Okay… like this…?" I put one into my right ear, but… it doesn't feel right.
I heard the robot sigh. "Aquí." He carefully inserted the two pieces into my ears. I barely noticed that they were in there. I heard a 'beep' once they were in for a bit.
"So? Do they work?"
"I dunno," I shrugged a bit- then blinked. I looked over at Lopez. "…Say that again?"
"Do they work?" Words. Actual English words from him.
I gawked at him.
"Well, looks like they do," Lopez said with a bit of mirth.
I still gawked at him before I lifted my hand to point at him. "You… it…uh…"
"It seems her mind has short circuited," Sheila said.
I shook my head. "I- Holy shit, this is… wow," a grin worked its way up my face. "This is- This is amazing! No- more than amazing; fucking badass!"
I giggled like a little girl. I mean… this is fucking awesome!
"It seems she likes it Lopez," Sheila remarked.
"Yeah," Lopez nodded.
I then hugged the robot. "Thanks Lopez! You're awesome!"
"Uh… yeah," I released the robot, hearing him sounding uncomfortable. Then he cleared his throat. "But, you should be careful taking them out. They don't have a protective covering, so they aren't waterproof."
I didn't have to imagine what could happen if I left them in my ears for long. "Got it." I nodded. "Is there something I should know about how to clean it properly?"
"You just had to clean out the ear buds once you pull them out every once in a while," Lopez told me. "Also, you should take them out when you go to sleep, understood?"
"Okay," I nodded. I need to write this down somewhere.
"All right, now what did I tell you?"
"Don't leave them in when you take a shower or go to bed," I stated, "and clean them every once in a while."
"Okay, good," Lopez nodded. "At least you're a bit smarter than most of the people here."
"But…not as smart?"
"Yeah," the robot nodded.
"Ah, that's okay," I shrugged. "No one's perfect – I'm just regular old me." I looked between the two. "Well, I guess I'll leave you guys alone now. The least I can do after bugging you guys for a few days."
"Yeah… I'd like to at least have some peace and quiet with Sheila," Lopez deadpanned.
Yeah, he's mad. "Right… uh, if you'll excuse me," I mumbled as I backed up. "Oh, uh, I should probably warn you: Mikey's kind of jealous of your relationship you guys. So uh… watch out."
With that, I turned and left. "…Should we add her to our list of people to conquer?" Sheila asked the robot.
"Eh… if she attacks we'll have to," Lopez said.
I pretended to not hear that…
~o~
"Hey, aren't you worried?"
"Huh?" I let out, looking back at Lav as I was making myself lunch. We had gotten a recent order of ramen noodles and I took the chance of making myself ramen. I had to make just one pack, because… well, who knows what might happen today or tomorrow.
The dark skinned man let out a sigh. "Sheila and Lopez talked about making their own robot army," he said. "They said that known would oppose them."
…Uh oh… "…That's not good," I let out, nervous (or trying to sound nervous).
Unfortunately, he noticed it. "C'mon, are we the only ones who noticed just now?"
"Well, sorry!" I retorted, turning my full attention to him. "I'm trying to cook myself some food. You're lucky that I don't eat it in my normal amount."
He raised his eye brow. "…What's your normal amount?"
"Two packs," I answered, turning back to the stove.
"What? Two?" Lav exclaimed in surprise. "Damn, isn't that an overkill?"
"I'm… pretty much a glutton," I admitted with a shrug. "Two packs fills me up."
There was a bit of silence. "…Somehow I doubt that," he said. "But, seriously, I tried to tell them to keep a low profile due to Caboose's jealousy, but they pretty much rebelled, saying that they got blown up, possessed and left to rust-"
"Those were our fault," I said to him.
"Well, I guess, but what the hell were we supposed to do with a busted tank?" He asked me back.
"Hmm…" If Church didn't possess Lopez, he would've gone back to the Reds first thing… or, if he and Sheila fell in love earlier, she might've gone with him to the Reds. …Or maybe go and get eloped. "Well, I guess you made your point," I conceded (mostly to avoid giving myself a headache).
"Yeah, then they said that they're going to build their robot army to conquer us," he added. "No one would dare impose them."
"Yeah, I'd be intimidated too by the tank," I admitted, stirring the pot. If only we had like fish sauce or something. That'd be great…
"I won't dare try to talk them out of it," Lav continued, as I nodded with satisfaction that the noodles and the eggs are done. "Because…yeah."
"Yeah," I nodded, dumping the noodles and eggs into a bowl. Too bad we also don't have chopsticks… Feels weird to use a fork after all of these years. I sat down with my food and… okay, it's a bad habit, but I began to slurp it down. I just automatically done it.
"Uh…" Lav let out, slightly disgusted. "Do you really have to inhale your food?"
After I swallowed, I made a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"So it's a habit of yours to get your food… fast?" He asked next as I ate the eggs and more of the noodles.
"Only when I'm in a rush," I answered, before I drank some of the broth.
After I finished, I wiped my mouth. "Sorry you had to see that," I apologized, before dumping the rest into the sink and cleaned it out.
"Uh…"
"Right, uh, you wanna go out on patrol?" I asked awkwardly.
"…Yeah," he nodded as we both grabbed our helmets to head out.
"Hello!" Mikey greeted us.
"Hey," we greeted back, as the regulation blue guy followed us out.
But, once we did, we heard: "I saw something really weird in the cave that-" We gave each other a look before following the voice towards the source…
…And lo and behold, it's Donut. "Hey, it's that chick from Red Base!" Lav let out.
I narrowed my eyes. Well, everything is going according to how it is in the show. I strode up to him and pointed my gun at his gun. "Okay buddy, hands behind your head and turn around. Slowly."
The guy in pink armor jumped before he quickly did as he was told. "Oh no!" He yelped out.
"Oh yeah," Lav said as I heard a couple of clicks behind me.
"All right, buddy, drop your weapons," I commanded. "Or any weapons you have on you."
"Uh- okay," he let out, nervously – and I feel bad for threatening the guy – as he did so. "Just…don't hurt me, okay?"
"We'll only attack if you attack us," I told him. "Now, let's take you to the brig." I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into our base.
"…Huh, never knew she could take command like that," Lav let out behind me.
"Maybe she's better at this than Church," Mikey mused.
"I'm NOT taking his place!" I called back at them.
"What's that about taking my place?" Church called out.
"Nothing!" We chorused.
A few minutes later, we had to tie Donut to a chair as the three of us kept watch over him.
…It feels weird to do something like this. On the other hand, the brig's handprint scanner could only work for our old captain and his second-in-command (I have no idea WHY that would be for Church. He's an AI), so…we had to improvise.
I just leaned against the wall in boredom as Lav paced in front of Donut. "So, they sent a female assassin to try and kill us," he said curtly. "Clever, but it won't work. We're immune to your feminine wiles…" he stopped and looked over his shoulder at him. "…Unless you wanna date one of us."
"Female!?" I palmed my visor at their stupidity. "I'm not a girl; I just have light red armor."
"Idjit…" I muttered under my breath along with Lav.
Mikey looked over at Donut. "How is that pink armor by the way?" He asked. "It looks comfortable…"
"Yeah, it is," Donut nodded. "At first, I really hated it but it's kinda grown on me. My old one used to chafe my thighs somethin' awful." Too much information, Donut. "But the crotch in this pink one is surprisingly roomy!"
I blinked. "…How roomy exactly?" I asked, curious.
"What? Come on!" Lav whined.
"Pretty roomy," Donut said. "At least it wasn't tight."
'…Oh dear god,' I thought with a blush. It's not the end of the second season and he let out an innuendo!
"Why exactly would it be tight there?" Lav then asked, before tapping- I quickly covered my eyes. "I mean… you're a chick, aren't you?"
"I keep telling you, I'm a guy!" Donut insisted.
I can't take much more of this. I sighed through Lav's, 'Well if you are a guy, then prove it!' and moved forward, removing Donut's helmet-
…He looked no older than Caboose, I thought, staring at him dumbly. He has curled blonde hair, bleached from the sun and his face had a farmer's tan…and the right side of his ear has a pretty nasty scar over it. It's all… pale and had cracks along his right cheek.
He blinked his blue eyes at us as we stared. "…What?" He asked.
"…Okay… I feel dumb…" Lav muttered, slumping as Donut's helmet slipped from my fingers.
"What happened to your face?" Mikey asked, poking at it slightly.
"Hey! It stings a little!"
"Sorry!" Mikey quickly drew back his hand hurryingly.
"Ummm…" I looked over at Lav when he made that sound. "I'm, uh, go take a cold shower… Later." He slinked off out of the brig, closing the door behind him.
"…What's with him?" Donut asked.
"Oh, he thinks you were a woman for a long time," I told him. "With that pink armor of yours."
"It's not pink, it's lightish-red," he said.
"Boy, please don't test my patience," I said to him, holding up my hand to forestall any other argument.
I then looked over at my fellow rookie. "Mikey, can you go and get us some chairs?" I asked him. "I guess we're on our own to deal with him."
"Okay," he nodded before he went off to get them.
In the meantime, I went over to him. "Listen, if you do anything funny, I won't hesitant to hit you," I said as I began to untie him. "You know, us being enemies and all."
"Uh… okay then," he nodded.
God, this guy is just too friendly for his own good…
~o~
"All right so what's your name?" I asked him once we got situated. I gave Donut his helmet back to him, and we sat around in a triangle, me and Mikey facing Donut.
"Well, I'm Franklin Delano Donut," he introduced himself cheerfully. "I haven't been on the Red Team for a while, but I'm having a pretty good time so far." How in the hell does (nearly) getting himself killed a lot of times a 'good time'?
"For how long?" I asked.
"Um, about three months," he shrugged.
"That's sort of like with us then," I nodded. "I guess the three of us are pretty much rookies."
"I guess," Donut said. "So what are your names?"
…Should we tell him? I mean, who knows-
"My name is Michael J Caboose," it seems that Mikey decided for me. He looked at me. "And this is Erica Helms. She usually calls us by nicknames."
"Nicknames? Cool! Do I get one too?" Donut asked eagerly.
…Ah crap.
"Uh… okay…" I let out awkwardly before thinking. Let's see… we already have a 'Frank', as in Doc… Maybe… "Uh… How does… 'Frankie' sound?"
"Frankie?" Donut repeated.
"Yeah. Or, if you would prefer a different name…" I trailed off as I watched him rub his chin.
"…I like it!" He said with a smile in his voice. "Yeah! Frankie!"
…That guy is way too cheerful.
"O…kay, Frankie it is," I slowly let out.
"You know, you seem a lot nicer than you were a few minutes ago," Donut- err, Frankie admitted.
"Well…we're enemies," I pointed out. "We're pretty hostile towards each other, aren't we?"
"Well, you guys seem nicer," Frankie said. "You untied me and talked to me after all."
I shrugged. "You don't seem to be a threat to us," I said. "What were you doing running around anyway?"
"Oh, uh… I'm not sure if I could tell you that," he said, a bit uncomfortable.
I looked around a bit. "…Well, what our leaders doesn't know won't hurt them," I said. "You can just tell the two of us."
"I/He can?" Frankie and Mikey let out as they stared at me.
"Well… yeah," I nodded. Frankie's a nice guy – I don't want him to get into trouble.
He looked over at the two of us for a bit. "Well… okay then," he shrugged. "Me and Grif were doing spy stuff to spy on you guys. He then suggested that I should get to higher ground, and that's what I did. But when I got near a cave, I heard someone talking." Oh, it sounds like Frank's okay. "I sneaked in further and I overheard the doc talking to people." Huh? People? "I saw him talking to this person and I couldn't find the other guy. Anyway, they were talking about causing trouble for all of us… and the other person said that they had to test out the power of someone named 'Zero'."
"Zero?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," he nodded. "It got scared and ran out as fast as I could. But… I think I got lost again and ended up at your base."
"What do you mean again?" Mikey asked with a blink.
"When I first got here, I was kind of directed here by this one guy," Frankie explained. "I was at first confused on how he got here so fast since I saw him in a cave, but he was pretty rude. But I met a couple of people who are nice. In fact…" he looked between us. "They look kinda like you guys."
Again, I decided to feign insight. "…Wait, were you the guy in red that took our flag?" I asked him.
"Really?" Mikey let out in surprise.
"Wow! It is you guys!" Frankie let out. "Small world."
"We're in a box canyon," I pointed out. "A boring box canyon."
"Still, I can't believe it's you guys!" Frankie let out with a smile. "You two were one of the nice ones that I met so far."
"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"Yeah, the other guy is nice and all, but he rammed into Sarge a couple of times in the Warthog," Frankie let out.
I winced a bit. "Ouch…"
"Yeah…." Frankie nodded. "Seems kind of mean of you guys to not take him back."
"Well, our leader and co-leader are assholes" I said as I leaned back. "But…what's a guy gotta do in a canyon filled with mostly jerks?"
"Well… the guys at Red Base are kind of mean," Frankie agreed.
…Wow, it's amazing that we can talk about random shit with this guy.
"Uh…." We looked over at Lav as he stared at us. "…What the hell are you guys doing?"
"…Nothing," we chorused.
"Oh, that reminds me," Frankie dug into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper to hand to Lav. "It's a list of crock pot recipes from my home."
"Uh… thanks?" Lav lamely let out as he took the list from the blonde farmer.
I looked at Mikey. "Do we have a crock pot?"
"Um… I think I traded it out to someone," Mikey said. "It's a mystery box he says."
"What's in it?" Lav asked him, curious.
"One hundred and forty jars of mayonnaise."
"…That's a horrible trade," I said, crossing my arms. "What the hell are we supposed to do with that many mayonnaise?"
"It can be used as a sunscreen," Lav said helpfully.
"…Somehow I doubt that," I muttered.
"Hey Tucker!" Church called out to him.
"Oh, uh, I'll be right back," Lav said to us before he left the room.
Frankie looked over at us. "So what do you guys wanna do?"
Mikey thought about it. "…How about Truth or Dare?"
"Okay then!" Frankie grinned.
Oh god…
~o~
"Hello, inferior Red Squad!" I just stood there with a bored look as Lav called out to the Reds.
Church, now in Frankie (goddammit) has his wrists tied behind him, stood next to Lav. "We would like to talk to you about-"
"Sneak attack!" Mikey cheered.
"Shut up, you idiot," Church growled. "We're not here to fight, we're here to negotiate."
"Oh, right," Mikey let out as I sighed. "A sneak negotiation!"
"Donut!" Sarge called out. "What is this?"
"I think he's talking to you," Lav whispered to Church.
Church nodded. "We, uh I mean they," I palmed my visor, "would like to negotiate a surrender, to us. No to them, no wait nono that's right, to them, to us."
I looked over at Church. "Dude, you fucking suck."
"Fuck off."
"You can't surrender, Blues, we haven't attacked you!" Simmons then shouted. "Now go home and wait for us to attack, and then you can surrender."
I shook my head. "No way! If anyone would be surrendering, it would be you guys!" I shouted.
"What the hell are you doing?" Church hissed at me.
"What?" The Reds called out.
I boldly stepped out and crossed my arms. "We came here to negotiate a prisoner exchange, Reds. If you want one of your own back, AND your robot, we'd like an exchange for two robots. One for each prisoner!"
The Reds looked over at each other, their heads bobbing.
"…Wait, is that my sniper rifle?" Church asked, just now noticing the gun on my back. Yeah… I snagged it from where Church last put it. I have a feeling I might be using it.
"I'm only borrowing it," I said to him as I pulled it out. "Quit your bitchin'."
"Dammit!" Lav complained. "I was looking for that!"
"Tucker, shut up!"
"C'mon man, I never get to use a fucking sniper rifle!" I continued to watch the Reds as Church and Lav argued behind me. Sarge looked over at Simmons, before Grif suddenly held his helmet and seems to be crying. Simmons then pulled out their own sniper rifle-
"Oww!" Simmons yelped out as I (somehow) managed to shoot it out of his hands.
I lowered the gun. "I only attacked out of defense," I shouted. "Quit your bitching and surrender!"
"…Nice shot," Church commented.
"That was a one-time thing," I admitted. "I don't think I can do it again."
"Oh-ho! Nice!" Lav laughed.
I watched as Sarge seemed to be angry. Simmons said something to him, but the old man shook his head, making Simmons step back in surprise before palming his visor.
"Fine!" Sarge shouted. "We-" He seemed to be grimacing before he uttered something.
"What?" I called out.
"I said, we-!" He cut off again.
I sighed. "Okay, close enough! You surrender!" I shouted. "Now, in exchange for the…" I glanced at Church. "Pink one and your robot, we demand that you build two robots. One for each prisoner we're giving back!"
"Wait, why two?" Lav then asked.
"Well, one for me and…one for Tex," Church admitted.
"What?" Lav exclaimed in disbelief. "Don't tell me you're doing this for Tex! You're still in love with her, aren't you?"
"Hey, get off my back man!" Church retorted. "Most dead chicks aren't exactly linin' up to haunt this dirt hole. Besides, if I don't get her a body, she's gonna steal mine anyway…" He grumbled something else under his breath.
"Eh, good point," Lav conceded.
…Why are men so weird?
"Alright, you Blue scum suckers!" Sarge called out- better pay attention. "What robot models did you have in mind?"
"Make them like yours," I called out. "Except, just a hollow shell. No intelligence, no Spanish," I glanced at Church, then back. "And a bigger switch!"
The three Reds talked among each other for a bit before Sarge turned back to me. "Okay, we got a deal," he called out. "Meet us in the center of the canyon at 0600 and we'll make the exchange!"
Tomorrow morning at six a.m. sharp… This will fucking suck.
I sighed. "Okay, BUT! Don't think you can try to scam us by saying that every part of them are optional!"
Sarge seemed startled. "What? Err, I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Right…
I rolled my eyes. "Look, we want ALL of the body parts on those robots! Bitch to your accountants!"
"Okay, this is fucking awkward," Church said. "I'm going to head back to the base so Lopez and Sheila won't get suspicious."
'Yeah, you're already too late on getting there,' I thought as the AI got out of Frankie (and ignoring Frankie's yelps again).
"What the…? Where am I?"
"We're just talking to you buddies, Frankie," I said, heading over to my team. "Anyways, you'll be spending the night at our place for tonight."
"Oh, I am?" Frankie asked. "Cool! It'll be like a sleepover!" Way too cheery for his own good.
"C'mon, Frankie," I said as we began to escort him back-
I had an odd feeling of being watched and looked behind me. I don't see anything, other than the canyon wall. I blinked and followed the others back to the base.
...Though, I can't help but feel that I'm in danger…
In danger of what, exactly? I put it at the back of my mind for now. I've got other things to worry about.
Of course, I wasn't surprised that Sheila and Lopez are gone. "Hey, where'd they go?" Lav let out in surprise.
I patted Mikey on the shoulder. "Mikey, take Frankie to the room he'll be staying in," I told him.
"Okay," he nodded. "C'mon, let's go to my room!"
"Oh boy! This will be awesome!" Frankie cheered as they headed inside.
'…What…have I done?' I thought, slightly horrified on what happened.
I shook my head and headed up to Lav and Church, just in time to hear Lav say, "So Shelia and Lopez were just gone when you got back here?"
"Yep," Church nodded before pointing at the letter tacked on the wall. …And didn't he think it was weird that he's able to understand binary code? It's sighed 'Lopez y Sheila'. "It says they've gone off to start their own robot army."
"Well that's great…" I muttered, sarcastic.
"Didn't they have a non-compete clause?" Lav asked.
Church looked back at the letter again. "It also says they want us to meet them in the middle of the canyon at 0600, to discuss the terms of our defeat…and/or surrender." He scratched his head. "0600… What does that mean?"
"It's a military term for '6 o'clock in the morning'," I explained. "That's around the same time the Reds are supposed to surrender to us."
"Right," Church nodded. "I, uh, I knew that."
"Sure…" I deadpanned. "But, I don't really care."
Lav groaned. "Man, we should get a day planner or something, 'cause this shit's getting ridiculous."
I looked back over my shoulder again, at the cliff wall. Seriously, why can't I get that odd sense of danger to go away?
"You okay?" Lav's voice startled me back to reality.
I looked at him, at the cliff wall, and back at them. "…Hey guys… do you have a feeling that something…bad is going to happen?"
"I seriously doubt that," Church waved it off. "O'Malley's gone, and for the first time, we're not the ones surrendering. You're just being paranoid."
…Honestly, I hope he's right. I looked over my shoulder again. I hope nothing bad would happen tomorrow…besides what's going to happen in the show.
~o~
I couldn't sleep at all that night. The anxiety that I felt yesterday just wouldn't go away. Am I nervous on what could happen in the morning? I made some slight changes, but not enough.
But… I don't think that's it. I just… have an odd sense of danger. Like… I'm the one in danger – but why?
Sure there was the near death with Omega… but, wait. What about that person that Frankie talked about, the one who talked with O'Malley? The only person who Frankie eavesdropped on was just Frank and O'Malley, talking about sabotaging our equipment. Who are they?
I was so terrified that I just couldn't fall asleep.
Before I knew it, I looked over at the clock. 5:29 A.M.
…Well, no point in going to sleep. With a sigh, I got up from the bed. I had a feeling that we would be gone for a while, so I went ahead to pack up some of the things I might need for our…'trip'. But, I have a feeling that I might lose all of this in the explosion. Still, I'd rather pack all of my stuff to take for what comes next.
After I got my stuff, I wordlessly headed out to get into my armor.
Once I'm in the indigo colored armor, I carried my helmet under my arm as I headed into the kitchen. To my surprise, Lav and Church are already up.
"Hey," Lav greeted me.
I just grunted and sat down heavily in a chair. "Damn, you look like shit," Lav commented to me. "Have you slept at all?"
I sighed. "No."
"Anxious about today?" He asked.
"Yeah," I nodded, before resting my head onto my arms. I didn't bother to put my hair into its usual ponytail, so my hair ended up covering my head.
"…You know, I never noticed your hair before," Lav suddenly spoke up. "I mean… look at all of those curls."
"…Now that you mentioned it, is all that natural?" Comically enough, even Church seemed curious about my hair.
"Guys, leave my hair alone," I muttered. "…And yes, it is natural."
"Huh," Lav let out.
"Is Mikey up yet?" I asked, shifting my head so that my chin is resting on my arms.
"Yeah, and so is the prisoner," Lav said. "I told them to get ready a few minutes ago." Most likely saying their last good-byes (or so they thought).
"They'll come," I assured him.
As if on cue, Mikey and Frankie came in…and I looked over to see the latter crying as the former patted his shoulder. "…Yeah, I don't think I should ask," Church muttered.
"Me too," Lav said.
"Ah… stop blubbering, you," I said halfheartedly as I got up and patted Frankie on the shoulder. "It'll be okay."
"I-I know!" Frankie let out, sniffling. "But, still… I'll miss the moments we had together…!"
I shook my head with a chuckle as I began to lead Frankie out. "C'mon, Frankie," I said.
"Wait, you even gave our enemy a nickname?!" Church shouted.
"Problem?" I asked. "He's basically harmless."
"…Well, yeah that's true," Church admitted as Frankie looked back a bit then at us.
"Your leader's a ghost?" He asked, confused.
"Yeah…" I droned out. "A pissed off ghost, but a ghost, nonetheless."
"…That's kind of weird, actually."
"Tell me about it," I nodded.
"It's almost time," Lav then called out. "Let's get moving."
Oh boy…
Trying to calm my beating heart, the five of us proceeded out into the canyon, towards the center where the exchange would take place. I was nervous, to say the least – a lot of events are going to happen today. Omega's attack, the Reds and Blues transporting to different areas, the explosion at Sidewinder…
I looked over at Lav. His head was tilted as if he was listening to something. Must be listening to the Reds chattering…and Grif and Simmons arguing a lot.
I looked over at Mikey and Frankie. The two chatted a bit about something or other.
I looked over at Church. He was already making his way up the cliff to be the eye in the sky for us.
I let out a sigh. I hope everything goes well.
Finally, we made it up the hill…and I looked over to see Lopez and Sheila already there at the other side. Oh boy… I thought with a gulp. This…will not end well.
"That's far enough Frankie!" Mikey warned- wait. What?
I looked over at him. "You're calling him Frankie?" I blinked.
"Yeah, we agreed on that last night!" Frankie said cheerfully. "I call him Mikey and he calls me Frankie! It's nice to have a best friend to call you by a nickname!"
This is…wow. I never thought that this could happen. Everyone just call each other by their last name…
"Huh," I let out, surprised.
"Yeah!" Frankie nodded before rubbing his chin. "Maybe I should come up with nicknames for the guys as well."
"Um… maybe you shouldn't," I said. "I don't think they'd appreciate it."
"Why not?" Mikey asked me.
"Nicknames are kind of reserved for friends," I explained. "And…" I glanced at the Reds and back at them. "I don't think they're 'friend' material."
"Well, I'll try to talk to Sarge about it," Frankie optimistically said. "Maybe he'll warm up to the idea eventually."
"…Somehow I doubt that," I deadpanned.
"Alright, alright, sorry," Lav muttered at that moment. "Initiating primary commencement phase."
We stared at him. "What's he talking about?" Frankie asked.
"We should probably not think much about it," I said.
Lav then turned me around and pushed me a bit. "Okay, Erica, you're up," he said.
"What- why'd I have to be the negotiator?" I asked in surprise- this isn't how it goes!
"You got the Reds to surrender to us, so it'll be better if you're the one to do it," he whispered to me.
…I don't like this… "Ugh… fine," I groaned as I made my way to be seen by all sides. Once I made myself visible, I began to falter. Fuck, my stage fright's kicking in. …And why does it feel like that I have something trained on my head.
"Hurry up!" Lav called out to me.
"All right," I called back irritably. I took in a deep breath. Here we go…
"Hello everyone!" I called out to everyone in the canyon. "We're here to discuss our victory/surrender! But first, we'd like to focus on our victory. Now, we would like for one representative/prisoner from each group to cross sides."
I noticed Grif looking over at Lopez and Sheila, before Lopez shouted, "Lopez the Heavy takes orders from your kind no more!"
Wow… still weird to hear him speaking in English.
I looked over at my team to see Lav talking with Frankie before he nodded. "Okay. Later guys!" He called out as he set off across the field.
"Goodbye, Frankie!" Mikey waved at the pink clad man.
"Wait, 'Frankie'?" Lav asked Mikey.
"Oh that's a nickname Erica gave him," Mikey answered him cheerfully.
Lav looked at me than back at him. "…Is this going to be a common theme or something?"
At that moment: "A robot! They wish to turn our own kind against us!"
"Oh shit," I let out as I looked over at Lopez as he headed towards where Donut and Zanzibar are going to meet up. I quickly ran up to him to intercept him. "Wait, Lopez!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" He demanded.
"Lopez, this is a HUGE misunderstanding," I tried to explain. "We're not going to use the two robots against you!"
"And how would you know that?" He retorted. "For all I know, you're probably tricking me!"
"Why in the hell would I trick you?" I asked back. "I can't hide my intents very well! And we're gonna discuss our surrender with you anyway!"
Lopez crossed his arms at me. "Oh really."
"Yes, really!" I took off my helmet to emphasize my expression. "Lopez, c'mon man, just-"
I was suddenly cut off when I felt something go through my head to the other side. But… I had realized that just AFTER I fell.
Oh, I-I was…shot. Am I going to die?
Damn… what a one track life-
My head jerked back at the last moment- just in time to feel something graze my chin before something hits the ground. I stared down in shock at that. "…What… the fuck…?" I breathed out.
"Sweet Selina, what is going on here?!" Sarge suddenly yelled.
"I don't know!" Simmons then cried out.
"That's it, I'm calling in an airstrike!" Sarge shouted. Shit. Shit. SHIT!
"Wait-!" I called out as I turned around, ignoring Lav screaming in pain. This is- What the fuck is going on here?! What-?
"Fuck!" I screamed as I felt something go through my arm. 'Motherfucker it stings!'
On reflex, I put my hand over my wound and crouched onto the ground and everything is blurred out. What…what the hell is going on here?! Who tried to shot me?
I forced myself to calm down – but it's so fucking hard to do so; I was nearly shot in the head! – to see the Sarge hollering out war cries as Lav tried to stop the chaos. Soon, even Mikey joined in- and there's just constant screaming and shouting and its making my fucking head hurt!
I just happened to look over to see Doc coming over on the Ghost…and further away, I saw future Church arming himself with a rocket launcher.
I took in a deep breath through my teeth and my legs moved on their own, running towards Lav as fast as I could.
I didn't think. I acted.
"I said there's no Red versus Blue! It's all a- HEY!" I shoved Lav out of the way…and I felt something collide with me.
It was a lot worse than the explosion from the grenade. It's hot all over, and I heard myself screaming and I felt myself hit the ground. I saw the ground, the sky and the ground again and the sky before my head collided with something.
My last thought was, 'Why didn't I put my helmet back on?' before I blacked out.
~o~
"…I mean, I dunno, she took a pretty bad hit." ...Whozzat?
"Ugh…" That's basically what I feel like. …Where am I?
"Hey! I think she's waking up!" That voice… isn't that…?
"…Frankie?" I coughed out.
Augh… my right arm is on fire. What happened?
I tried to move, but it hurts to do that. "Don't move around so much," Lav? "I mean… you took that hit for me."
Hit? Then my brain suddenly remembered what happened. "Ugh… what's happening?" I managed to get out – my arm feels tingly.
"O'Malley got you is what," Lav told me. "After that, he took off with Lopez while possessing Doc."
"Thanks… for the update…" I grunted as I tried to push myself up. God my head hurts… so does my right arm. …Though, it doesn't feel painful at all.
I was helped to sit up by Lav before I looked around. Church – in Robot Number Two's body – is arguing with the other Reds at the top of their voices…so it looks like we're on the Red's roof.
I let out a sigh. "I feel like shit…"
There was a bit of silence. "…Well, I would say you look like shit, but…"
I blinked at Lav's words and looked at him. "What?"
"Um… how can we say this?" Lav began. "You sort of…"
At that moment, I saw a blue head pop in front of me. "Erica!"
"AH!" I jumped.
"You're okay!" He exclaimed, before gently hugging me. "I had no idea you had superpowers!"
"Super powers?"
"Yeah, as soon as you started to wake up a few minutes ago, your wounds started to heal," Frankie provided helpfully.
…What?
I looked over at my right arm. Though from the way that the armor had been dented horribly by the missle and some of the kelvar burned and torn… I cringed when I managed to find burn marks through some of the holes in it. Tentatively, I poked it. It actually feels like how I'm slowly healing from a burn…from a few accidents (I burn myself getting a pan full of brownies once…and I was also tending to the fire at times). It stings, but not by much, really.
And I slightly touched the back of my head. It feels like I have a…bruise on the back of my head.
I looked over at my hand in shock. "…What the fuck…?"
"Wait, you didn't even know you can do that?" Lav asked.
I just looked up at him and shook my head, just… too shocked for words.
"Huh… that's kind of weird," Frankie let out. Weird, is an understatement.
"…Well, does it matter?" Lav finally spoke up after being silent for a while. "She's alive, isn't she?"
"Yeah, that is true," Frankie nodded.
Desperate to change the subject, I looked back at Church still arguing with the Reds – well, Sarge and Grif, Simmons is working on the teleporter. "What are they arguing about?" I asked.
"Ah, something stupid," Lav shrugged as he moved away to let me sit on my own. "We made the agreement to work together to stop O'Malley and rescue Lopez – well, mostly the Reds on the last part. Then they spent nearly two hours arguing about how ironic this is."
"…That's stupid," I flat out said, pushing myself to stand up. It still kind of hurts.
"That's what I said a few minutes into the argument," Lav agreed before we looked over at the others.
"…Um… are we still talking about Erica's superpower or something else?" Mikey chose that moment to ask.
"Something else, Mikey, something else," I answered.
"Oh."
At that moment, Church raised his hands up. "Okay," he said slowly. "We all agree that while the current situation is not totally ironic, the fact that we have to work together is odd in an unexpected way – that also defies our normal circumstances." He looked over at them a bit. "Is everyone happy with that?"
"Yes," Sarge said.
"About time," Grif grumbled.
Simmons then walked to them. "And I just finished reprogramming our teleporter to take us directly to Lopez and O'Malley's coordinates."
"Very good, soldier," Sarge nodded.
"Thank you, sir!" God, what a kiss ass…
"However," Sarge then crossed his arms, "in case that each team wouldn't trick anyone and try to take over the canyon… we'll leave one member of each team here. Our man will be Donut."
I looked over at Sheila and back at them. "What does that make Sheila then? She and Lopez are their own 'team' aren't they?" I questioned.
They looked over at me. "What the-? weren't you practically dead back there?" Grif asked me.
"Uh…."
"Erica's got a superpower!" Mikey exclaimed. "She healed really fast! It's kinda neat!"
"What's so neat about seeing your body heal itself from a horrific wound?!" I shouted. "It's fucking creepy!"
"…I actually had to agree with her," Grif said.
Church groaned. "Look, I don't care how fast you can heal; you're staying here."
"No way!" I crossed my arms. "I've played 'diplomat' for you guys twice in two days! I want piece of the action!"
"No."
"Oh come on!" I complained. "Please?"
"NO!"
"C'mon, I don't want to be left here with a guy and a fucking tank that can kill me before I can blink!" I exclaimed. Then I muttered, "Even if said guy wears pink…"
"You'll be fine," Church said sternly. "Which is why we're leaving you here as well."
"What are you, my mom? You can't just decide what I should do!"
"I'm your leader!"
"No you aren't; our real leader died," I pointed out. "You may hold his title, but that doesn't mean shit."
"Oooh!" Lav let out, as if Church had got burned…which he did, as he groaned in annoyance.
"I gotta admit, that was a good burn," Grif let out.
"Don't encourage the enemy!" Sarge ordered him.
"Okay! Fine! We'll leave Tucker here," Church decided.
"What? That's bullshit!" Lav complained.
"Listen man, you guys annoy me but you two are the only ones that are remotely smart compared to Caboose here," Church explained to him. "It'll be better if you stay here."
"Yeah, but you'll be leaving her with another guy!"
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Church said dismissibly. In a way he's right – Sarge wouldn't hurt a girl; Simmons is afraid of girls; and Grif…well, he's lazy.
"Yeah, I think I can take care of myself," I assured him.
"Right…" Lav muttered.
With the issue settled, Church looked over at us. "Alright, we're gonna do this one at a time then. You first, Sarge."
Sarge raised his shotgun, and I can hear the grin in his voice as he declared, "Today seems like a good day to teleport! Geronimo!" And off he went into the teleporter.
"Piscataway!" Mikey cried out as he followed the old man.
Church turned to me. "Okay, now go with Simmons."
"What?" The maroon man cried out in a high pitched voice.
I ignored it and nodded. "Okay."
Simmons sighed and walked to the teleporter before he paused. "Hmm…." He let out, looking around.
"What's wrong?" Grif asked.
"I dunno," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "I just had a really weird feeling that I'm never gonna see this place again." Nope. You'll see this place again after a while.
Oh yeah, that reminds me.
I picked up my helmet and headed to Lav. "Hey, can I ask a quick favor?"
"What?"
"If you see Tex, can you tell her to go to my room?" I asked him. "I packed some stuff."
Lav stared at me. "What stuff? Are you going somewhere?"
"Well, sort of, but no," I said. "Just tell her that, okay?"
He sighed. "Fine…"
I nodded. "Thanks." I placed my helmet on and headed back to Simmons. "Okay, I'm ready."
"Um… right," I blinked when I heard his voice crack a bit before he ran into the teleporter.
I hesitated. What would I expect if I go through it? Is…is it gonna hurt?
I shook my head with a sigh. "Here goes nothing…" I muttered before I ran through-
A bright flash went through my eyes, and I saw a colorful array of lights that shot by me in a tunnel. I couldn't blink, my eyes wide as all of them flash by me at a speed I couldn't even fathom. My hands reached out towards the light-
-and I fell on the ground, face first. I pushed myself up and shuddered. "Never again…" I muttered. That was… a very weird experience. I…how long had I been through there?! Is that what Lav and Mikey experienced? Traveling at a near speed of light?
Then I cursed to myself after I remembered that I had to go through it again. "Are… you all right?"
"Huh?" I let out as I looked up at Simmons who spoke. "Uh… this is my first time," I admitted.
"Oh, um, yeah," the man muttered a bit before we looked around.
We're in that place with a lot of corridors filled with glowing teleporters. As I stood up, I asked, "Uh… where are we?"
"I dunno," Simmons said. "But… the bigger question is… where is everybody?"
I looked around as well. It was just me and Simmons in here.
I looked ahead. "Uh oh."
(Spanish translations: last time. Hopefully.)
'Ya era hora. ¿Qué te llevó?' – 'About time. What took you?'
'Impresionante' – 'Impressive'
'Bueno, al menos yo no estoy en azel más.' – 'Well, at least I'm not in blue anymore.'
'Aquí' – 'Here'
And so ends season two...and begin season three. It seems that Erica is targeted...but by who? Would she really survive what's to come? Well... maybe, but her mentality probably won't.
And the poll is done. I got like... three votes. That's just pathetic; but, there's not a lot of people who read stories like these. Pretty soon, Church will have his own nickname! Anyways...
Leave a review, and have a good day!