Plot plot plot we're starting to come all together and I'm so excited to be on this ride wth you all

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Double Time
Chapter Fourteen: Delegation Time

"I hope you have enough brains to realize that it's completely ridiculous how high tech your apartment equipment is but you never use the internet," Church grouched, hood up and robotic eyes glowing through the shade as he typed on Tucker's laptop. "I mean, who doesn't have a personal computer these days? And you're asking me to use the keyboard from Mister Stickyfingers himself."

"Hey, don't hate on me. I never thought anyone else would be touching my computer," Tucker defended, leaning against the back of the couch coolly. It was his feeble attempt to seem like he wasn't losing his mind trying to make sure that Church wasn't looking at anything embarrassing.

Washington didn't quite understand the paranoia the situation held for Tucker.

"This would go a lot quicker if you let Church hook up directly to the interphase like he suggested earlier," Wash pointed out to Tucker.

Tucker's eyes flickered immediately toward Wash. "Yeah, that's not happening. Or did you forget we have…"

Wash squinted back at him. "We have what?"

For a moment, Tucker attempted to sign something to Wash with the raising and lowering of his eyebrows a few times. When that didn't work he went for a full body shrug. "Wash, the… the photos."

Staring back at Tucker blankly, Wash tilted his head. "Photos?"

"The photos," Tucker pressed.

Suddenly, Washington perfectly understood the paranoia the situation held for Tucker.

"Why are you keeping those on your computer!?" Wash demanded.

"Why do you think the keyboard is sticky!?" Tucker fired back.

Church held up his hands to stop them both. "Stop! Desist! I cannot keep pretending to be deaf here. Okay? I'm going to delete my entire memory of this conversation as soon as everything's settled here. And I hope you both know you're fucking stupid and act like horny teenagers."

Taken aback, Wash waved to his chest. "Me? A horny teenager? I understand saying that about Tucker–"

"What the fuck, Wash," Tucker said, throwing his arms in the air.

"Okay done," Church declared, shoving the laptop from his lap to the coffee table. "Both of you shut the fuck up, I finished your stupid pet project, and it's time for you two to leave me alone even if I'm your tech guy because putting together a compilation of all the angles and footage of this non-event for you is one thing, but having to listen to your relationship up close and personal is honest to god mortifying. May we never speak of this again."

"Thank you… Church… I suppose" Wash said, though the sentiment seemed foreign and distasteful on his own tongue.

Tucker took a moment to glance back and forth between them before shoving Church out of the way and sliding into his preferred spot on the couch. "Yeah, yeah, what the fuck ever, Church. I don't want to hear it. Do you know how many nights you and Tex were having sex and I could hear you through those paper thin walls? Fucksake. How's a guy supposed to masturbate?"

"Oh, like it stopped you," Church snorted, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, it probably helped," Tucker said back before physically freezing. "Wait what."

"Wait what," Church said at the same time.

There was then a long, uncomfortable silence between the former roommates as if there was a dawning realization on them both. Washington really wasn't sure what to think about it. "Tucker? Church?"

"Oh my god I forgot about that night," Tucker gasped.

"We're never supposed to talk about that, you promised," Church responded almost viciously.

"You were crying–"

"GODDAMMIT, TUCKER, I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T THE BAD KIND OF CRYING–"

Not sure what else was within his powers to do at that point, Washington held up his hands and released a resounding clap to draw the other two supposed-adults' attention back to him and the present. Tucker looked amused and befuddled, Church simply looked irate.

"The video! Please!" Wash begged. "I… I literally cannot take another word of this conversation."

Tucker grew a put off expression. "Wash, ridiculous fucking conversations are my entire life. On repeat. You have to accept that part of me as much as you accept the part of me that takes pictures in the bedroom."

"I never accepted that part, it just happened! And you've got them saved on your computer now!" Wash cried out.

"So you don't like the me that takes photos of us?" Tucker asked.

"What is with you lately?" Wash demanded, nearly grabbing for his hair. "How come you turn everything I say into an argument? I don't understand–"

"Because you never fight back!" Tucker yelled.

"I don't want to fight you!" Wash snapped.

"No, you just want to sit back and judge and make snide comments about things in my life you don't approve of while I'm not allowed to have any say so in the parts of your life that annoy the goddamn shit out of me!" Tucker snarled.

"What do I do that annoys you?" Wash demanded. "Tell me or I can't fix it, Tucker, that's how communication works."

"Does it, Wash? Because I thought communication was for you to roll out of a moving vehicle rather than spend time with me and my friends when we're not fucking or dealing with your superhero bullshit that you bring home!" Tucker growled. "Not to mention the fact that now you're taking Junior and putting him out there on the line, too! Like what the fuck kind of conversation do you want to have?"

"Fine! I'll stop being snide!" Wash agreed. "But you have to stop having yelling contests with me rather than just tell me what's bothering you!"

"You know what bothers me?" Tucker demanded. "The fact that you shed on the pillows and bed linings!"

Despite himself, Washington reflexively gasped. "I told you I have a condition. I can't help that."

"Yeah, the condition is you're part goddamn cat and you fucking act like it! Never cuddling when I want it, just when you want it, and then randomly you'll bring up the fact that I wear socks to bed and scoot away!"

"It's not that you wear socks to bed, it's where you wear your socks that isn't as original or funny as you think it is after the eighteenth time!" Wash cried out.

"Oh my fucking god, it is my responsibility to humanity to put a stop to this conversation before it gets more disgusting," Church announced before reaching forward and pressing play with the spacebar only for the spacebar to stay down. "Jesus christ, Tucker, I'm buying you a flesh light. This is disgusting."

"Good, because I know who's not getting any," Tucker decreed.

Washington opened his mouth to protest that that wasn't as much of a punishment as Tucker seemed to think it was when the videos all began playing on the screen.

Each video was timed to correspond despite being from very different angles, and some squares were left blank, only to join up and sync with the others as the videos progressed.

Instantly intrigued, Washington leaned in and tried to get a sense of the videos and how they were all in one way or another pointed toward the building which had exploded just in the moments before its explosion. For the moment being, it was him and Felix on the roof talking. But there was no sound.

"Why can't I hear anything?" Wash asked.

"Yeah this is kinda boring," Tucker huffed.

"Because I was annoyed listening to thirteen different teenagers either narrating a livestream like they're the first geniuses ever to catch superheroes on camera, or mouth breathers who were fucking with their shit and causing nothing but rustling," Church answered, leaning back against the couch with his arms crossed. "You're welcome, by the way. I also took care of the shaky cam because none of these fuckers have apparently heard the virtues of stabilizing before."

"None of what you just said makes sense to me," Wash said, watching the screen intently.

Still, he could feel Church's eyeballs burning into the side of his skull.

"What century are you from? Goddamn," Church marveled.

"This one?" Wash deadpanned as he continued to watch the footage.

It was annoying that he could not hear their conversation – for some reason, while he remembered the gist of it, the specifics, their words were a fog in Wash's mind. Like he had barely witnessed it himself at all. A part of him was hoping to clear that up through the camera but apparently that was all for naught.

Then, he could see it. Wash watched himself jump back reflexively from the bright spark of one of Locus' explosives land between them.

But, weirdly enough, Felix did not have any reaction at all. He was standing confidently, staring at Wash as if nothing had just crashed down between them. That was odd to Washington, since he had not figured Felix for that sort of inexperience. But what truly bothered him was how smug Felix looked despite the intensity of the moment.

Surely he hadn't appeared that cocky in their conversation. Wash hadn't remembered the desire to outright punch the fellow superhero.

Then, there were two flashes, one after the other. So quick, it was difficult to tell them apart, but Wash caught the faint difference.

Those Felix reacted to, but not in the way that Washington had been anticipating for him to. Instead of bounding away from the ensuing explosion, he seemed to turn his attention toward the streets.

And Wash…

Well, to Wash's astonishment, he wasn't there after the flashes at all, and suddenly the explosion occurred, the building went up in flames, and soon Locus emerged dragging Felix.

A few of the cameras panned across the street to where Washington appeared almost miraculously.

"Whoa," Tucker said, glancing in Wash's direction. "When'd you start moving that fast."

"I can't," Wash said simply. "I have no idea how I got out of the explosion. Maybe a concussive force from the explosion, but I didn't feel like it–"

"Dude, no concussive force would have that trajectory for you to land perfectly on the other side of the street." Church snorted. "Trust me, I went to the academy and they wouldn't shut the hell up about this shit. By the way, letting your guard down, Wash? Newbie mistake. If I were still arching? You'd be stone cold dead for sure."

"Whatever, Wash would kick your ass," Tucker snorted.

"Not my ass, don't you remember my Alphabots?" Church argued.

"Oh, yeah. Where'd those things go, anyway–"

"Wait," Wash interrupted. "Didn't either of you notice that Felix had no reaction to the bomb? I mean, I may have let my guard down. Maybe. But he never had a guard. He was more worried about where I went than the explosion under his own feet."

"Sounds like usual goody-two-shoes hero bullshit to me," Church said with a huge roll of his eyes.

Ignoring Church's usual bastion of optimism, Wash pointed toward the screen. "Church, can you take the footage back some and slow it down? To the second where I disappeared from the roof?"

That earned Washington an indignant look if he'd ever seen one. "Do you two not know how to do anything beyond plug in an Xbox?"

"Dude, how dare you suggest we wouldn't ask you to do that, too," Tucker joked.

"Please," Wash tried with about as much sincerity as he could muster. Which, given, was not much considering the circumstances.

Church continued to give him a dull look before opening up the video files again and beginning to move his fingers so quickly across the keyboard that Tucker's disgusting buttons could hardly keep up.

But when they finally operated accordingly, Wash got what he wanted – slowed down video of the moments that took him from the rooftop to the safety of the sidewalk in the instant of a flash.

He had been right. There were definitely two distinct flashes, one before the explosion, and one pursuing it. And it was within the pursuing flash that everything in the images where Wash was blurred to a single, pixelated mesh of color. Gray, blue, yellow.

But, for a moment, Wash could swear there was more blue than the moment before.

Then he was gone from the screen until the pan down.

"Something happened there," Wash said decisively, pointing at the screen "Can you see it?"

"What? The blur? Or the blur?" Tucker asked with a yawn.

"How can you say that's just a blur? This saved my life, the least we can do is get to the bottom of this," Wash said, putting a hand to his chin. "My hero partner back when I was with the sidekick program taught me the basics of detective work. I need to go back to the scene and look for clues. Find Felix and talk to him about what he remembers. Then I need to ask the Reds to cover patrolling Blood Gulch for the night. Maybe I could get someone else to cover training tomorrow and–"

Wash looked up when he heard the most disgusted noise a robot could make coming from Church who stared at him dully.

"You have something you need to say, Church?" Wash asked with a raise of his brow.

"Yeah, you're a goddamn idiot," he said lowly before looking toward Tucker for a moment and then back to Wash. "Biggest fucking idiot, I swear–"

"Watch it, Church," Wash said in warning, his patience officially at an end.

"No, you watch it," Church snapped back. "I'll get a hold of Tex and the Reds and get this city protected. You can phone your Mayors in between them campaigning for an election no one actually cares about to get them to talk to this Felix chump for you. But before you call in sick to the kiddie heroes, how about you take care of house."

Tucker looked exasperated. "Church–"

"No, dude, I'm sick of this," Church said, heading toward the door. "And you two better use this time to actually talk."

Washington blinked a few times, flinching when Church slammed the door closed behind him, and then looked in surprise to Tucker, who seemed significantly less shocked by Church's declarations. He only seemed annoyed.

"He acts like he knows what's going on between us," Wash pointed out.

"Yeah, well, he's my best friend," Tucker reminded Wash. "What we do is… talk."

"Which… we don't do," Wash admitted slowly.

"We do, but I.. It's like we talk at different levels. You never hear what I'm saying under what I'm saying, you know?" Tucker tried with what seemed to be great difficulty to explain.

"Honestly, Tucker, I don't know," Wash replied. "I… I know everyone jokes that I get cryptic at times. But… I always say what I mean at the end of the day. I've never had a problem where that wasn't the case."

"Yeah, and some of the things you say probably coulda stood to be kept to yourself," Tucker noted bitingly.

Despite his first instinct to argue the point, Wash took a breath and sat down on the couch too. "Okay. That's fair. But I also think it's fair to point out that sometimes… if you're frustrated that I'm not seeing through your words to a deeper meaning, you could at least give me a hint. It's been a while since I was in AP English. I'm not used to looking for metaphors."

That got Tucker to actually snort. "You woulda been a nerd." He exhaled. "Yeah, but you've got a point. It goes both ways. Like me."

"See, I got that reference," Wash joked.

"Don't be an ass," Tucker laughed. "But… Okay you know how the other day we were on the phone… and you just said the thing? The big thing?"

"Love?" Wash asked, brows knitting together.

"Yeah. You just said it and I know you mean it but like… I don't know if I can ask you to like… show it instead of just running off trying to fight out of giant pyramids with riddles and mazes," Tucker pointed out.

"Those aren't really something outside of the comic books." Wash pointed out. "Kind of like capes."

"One of your new proteges wears a cape," Tucker pointed out.

"Yes… well we're just glad he wears at least that much considering his powers are basically to… well, sparkle," Wash shrugged. "Tucker… I'm… I'm sorry if my words don't always match my actions. And I know that, at least on some level, the excuse that I'm a superhero and that's just part of what I do isn't nearly enough to cover it. So instead I'm going to ask that… Ask that you give me something I can do to prove that I'm serious. Really serious this time."

Tucker squinted at him. "This is sounding like a setup for something else to go the way of linner."

Wash sighed. "I know."

"We'll be vaguer then," Tucker decided. "What Church just did earlier? Delegating some of those responsibilities of yours that you hold so dear? Why can't you do that, I don't know, more long term?"

Confused, Wash tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Why can't you spread around some of the territory, let other heroes and trainees take care of things that aren't immediate. Don't patrol every night. Trust other people to be part of this team you've got building up here," Tucker offered. "If you delegate more… you'd have more time for things like linner and going to the park with Junior and me."

"I…" Wash began to protest but he took a breath. "Okay. I can… delegate more. But I still want to find out what happened there at the explosion," he said with a nod to the blur.

"Yeah, sure, okay. But if anything you should take that as a sign," Tucker shrugged. "Even when bad shit's happening to us… it always seems to work out, doesn't it?"

"Is that what I'm taking from that?" Wash asked critically.

"Work with me here, Wash," Tucker all but demanded.

"Okay," Wash sighed. "I'm working with you, Tucker. We're working on this. Together. Hero's honor."

"Oh, that's reassuring," Tucker laughed, but he seemed to actually mean it.

At least, Wash hoped so.