"... And Nick didn't snap your head off?"
Dusty sighed, leaning back against a rock.
"Trust me, I thought he was gonna mount my head on the Wall…"
Dusty was alone again, and to his surprise, Blade showed up again, sitting with him in a more private area of the base.
Blade shook his head.
"Well… rookie mistake to put out a controlled campfire… especially when your nerves are shot."
"Just… eager to please… just this stupid gearbox problem…" Dusty eyed his bracelet.
"You really should tell Nick about that, he'd be a little easier on you if he knew."
"Sure… then would probably deport me." Dusty sighed. "There's no replacement parts… I'm stuck with this so there's no fixing me."
"Now hold a minute, I thought I heard earlier that your friends may have found one while you were talking to them on the radio."
Dusty looked at Blade with a little bit of a disturbed look. "You were eavesdropping on me?!"
Blade shrugged. "I don't have a lot to do around here."
"Ahuh…" Dusty titled his head a bit, looking at Blade carefully. "You know… you're a bit of an enigma. You say you're a firefighter or ranger or whatever… I believe you… yet at the same time I don't."
Blade chuckled. "What do you think I am then?"
"Something I don't know if it has a name… you just come and go… blink and you're gone… and how come no one has never noticed you before?"
"That's kind of my own personal secret… but as I said, I keep to myself… But I want to assure you I am here to help. I'm not here to cause any harm."
"I figured… you just seem different…"
"That I can say is very true." Blade smirked. "You can guess all ya like, I won't stop you."
Dusty chuckled. "Fair enough…"
"RIDICULO! ABSOLUTELY RIDICULO!"
Dusty and Blade's heads snapped towards the sound of Nick shouting at someone.
"Oh boy… Nick's temper hit its limit… I only know one mechanid who can get him shouting in Spanish."
Dusty and Blade made their way over to the site to see Nick arguing with a man in a beige suit and slick black hair and everyone else just standing around the two of them, watching, all wide eyed.
"Who's that?" Dusty asked Blade.
"Park superintendent, his name is Cad Spinner." Blade's eye narrowed as he looked at the man in question. "Name is so unfortunately fitting… always has a way of spinning things his way."
Cad crossed his arms, staring Nick down.
"Ridiculo huh? Well, last I checked it was rude to dump that… whatever that pink stuff is on my guests."
"I'm training a recruit that won't be here for much longer once I finish up so tell your guests to just stay in the lodge for the time being… or better yet cut down on how many guests you packed in here." Nick growled a little. "You do realize how unsafe it is right now with the humidity right?"
Cad rolled his eyes. "Lighten up Loopin', this lodge reopening is more important than whatever employee you're training."
Everyone around them backed away slowly, all gasping a bit.
"He didn't…" Dipper whispered.
"He did." Maru growled.
Dusty was a bit confused, but he knew Cad had said something he shouldn't have. Just looking at Nick he could see a fire burning in his brown eyes.
"You have no right to call me that… no one does!" Nick got in his face. "And what me and my team do is important! Wanna know how that lodge of yours never gets damaged? We're the ones keeping it from being burned to the ground! We keep the fires away! And how do you repay us? Cutting our budget! Some boss you are!"
Cad stumbled back a little before staring back at Nick.
"I'll do as I please, Loopin', and I'd watch your mouth. I can easily find someone to replace you and then you can go back to acting." Cad smirked. "You do better pretending to save people than actually doing it."
"You-"
"I would." Cad narrowed his eyes. "You used to be so carefree back in your day… now look at you. Heh, wonder what he thinks of-"
"BASTA!" Nick shoved him away. "BASTA! BASTA!" Nick growled a bit, glaring at the man. "Dejar! Ahora!"
"Speak English! I can't understand a thing you're saying!"
"He means get out." Maru stepped in, glaring at Cad. "We'll be more mindful of your oh so special guests. Just get out before you really set him off. I believe you have a party to tend to."
The other firefighters gathered around Nick, all giving the man a warning look. Cad scoffed at them before walking off.
They glared at him till he left before turning their attention to Nick.
"You okay?" Maru asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Nick shrugged his hand away, heading for his hangar.
"No."
Maru sighed watching him go, the others all giving a concerned look.
"Cad was really stepping on his toes this time…" Dipper frowned. "He has some nerve."
"Yeah… but not much we can do…" Cabbie shook his head. "Just get back to work… and make the most of what we got… even if it's just duct tape."
"Duct tape is our friend." Maru said as he went back to his workshop, everyone else parting ways.
Dusty decided to go back to where he had been talking with Blade, curiosity now flooding his mind… and concern.
"Blade… What was that all about?" Dusty had worry in his eyes. "Why did Nick get so angry about being called Loopin'? And what did Cad mean by Nick was better at pretending to save people?"
Blade sighed, looking in the direction of where Nick's hangar would be.
"... Little complicated."
"Don't throw that at me. I have a friend who has a habit of saying that a lot." Dusty gave a serious look. "Whatever it is, I've got time."
Blade pondered for a moment before looking towards the main hangar.
"... Wait till tonight. The crew can explain it a whole lot better. Go to the main hangar at midnight then once you're done hanging with them, come see me near your hangar."
"Okay… if you say so."
Dusty wasn't entirely sure what he was getting himself into but… he wanted answers so he didn't care how odd the situation.
He approached the main hangar quietly, giving a small knock. He jumped back when a slot opened and he could see only Maru's eye on the other side. The man grinned as he showed his mouth.
"Password?"
If I remember what Blade told me before coming here…
"Inferno."
Maru nodded, opening the door.
"Glad you could make it. Not sure who told you but whatever, welcome to the party."
Dusty nodded, looking around, seeing everyone save Nick seated around a TV with oil and comfortable in their bean bag chairs or whatever means they had for cushioning.
"Hey ya Dustmiester!" Dipper waved. "Glad to see you join in our fun. Pull up a chair!"
Dusty nodded, grabbing a leftover chair, sitting next to Dipper.
"So… what's this all about?"
"Oh, just our way of having a little fun."
"I see…"
"Alright." Maru walked over to a shelf, pulling out a tape. Dusty titled his head when he looked t the tape cover.
"Howard the Duck? Really? You guys watch-"
"Ah!" Drip cut in. "Judge not a tape, by its cover."
The lights were dimmed as Maru put the tape in, sitting in his chair. The show started with a small commercial before cutting to an opening. The Smokejumpers were bobbing their heads to the music playing.
Very… 70's. Dusty thought, finding himself bobbing a bit himself… before his eyes got wide with who he saw on screen.
The shots were mostly focused on a highway before showing two young men, police officers flying through the skies, grins on their faces. The camera took a turn for each one as their names popped up.
Blazin' Blade Ranger… and Nick Loopin' Lopez… Loopin'...
Nick in the shot looked a lot younger… and much happier too. Dusty cringed seeing that Cad hadn't been kidding… but it wasn't just Nick only surprising him.
Blade too though? He shook his head. There is SO much that guy isn't telling me.
Dusty watched in intrigue, finding himself smiling at the cheesy yet amusing humor of the show along with the title. "CHoPs" as it was called. It was amusing to see how reckless Nick was as a cop and how Blade basically kept him from going overboard. The two were on their way to a studio fire to save a young girl's life.
"Here it comes." Dipper giggled.
Blade brought out what appeared to be grappling hooks that looked very similar to Nick's. He shot one of the claws down to the girl, picking her up by one of her arms as she held on.
"Hoist!" the firefighters shouted as they took a drink of their oil.
Dusty would've joined in but he didn't have any.
Drinking game huh? Guess it happens a lot.
The show soon ended, rather cheesily too.
"Let's do Supercopter next!" Drip cheered.
"Yeah!"
"Ugh… more?" Cabbie grumbled. "This show stinks."
"Oh come on it's great" Dynamite laughed.
"I'm with Cabbie." Windlifter mumbled.
Dusty decided to slip out as a small argument started between some of the firefighters about the show quality. Soon as he was back in his hangar he was greeted by Blade.
"So, educated?" he asked, sitting on a box.
"Yeah… Blazin' Blade." Dusty crossed his arms leaning against one of the walls. "You didn't tell me you worked with him THAT closely!"
"Guess I forgot to bring it up… but you never asked me. You just asked me if I worked here or not. Didn't ask me about my relationship with Nick."
"Got a point there…" Dusty rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'm just… Stunned. You guys looked so close, yet you weren't defending him when Cad was insulting him… He do something to upset you?"
"No…" Blade lowered his head. "Trust me, if I could, I would've gone barreling in there and slapped Cad so hard his head would've spun… but I can't."
Dusty was confused now as he looked at Blade. It was still dark in the hangar and he could make out some sort of glow around him. Part of him said not to ask… But another part was too curious.
"How come?"
Blade was quiet for a moment.
"... Dusty. I mentioned how you're the first one to have ever taken notice I was here… It's more than just the fact I was keeping to myself."
Dusty tilted his head. "... There's something I don't know…"
"Tell me… ever come close to dying?"
Oh geeze…. A haunted look came to his eyes as he remembered what had happened to him. Nearly drowning, the burn of the water he had swallowed. "...Yes.." He murmured.
"I thought so.." Blade brought his hand around something. Dusty hadn't taken note of it earlier, but Blade had a necklace on that had a gear and ring on it. Blade took the necklace off… it suddenly changing into a gear with a flame in the center that emitted a small glow. "You can see things others can't naturally."
Dusty gulped. "So.. You're…" He took a deep breath as it hit him. "... You're not mechanid… Or huminid… You're… You're a ghost!"
"Give the boy a prize." Blade had the gear turn back into a necklace. "A Remembered to be more correct… but yeah… I'm dead. Reason you can see me if because you nearly died yourself. You have the Sight."
Dusty was stunned, he was quiet as he sat on a box himself. "I can see dead people…" He echoed genuinely shocked. "I see dead people…"
"Sorry about the shock but you wanted answers and well… here you go."
"It's all good.. Makes sense now… Explains things like the glow and the teleporting."
"Yeah…" Blade sighed. "And why I can't go in to help Nick when he's in a bad spot… I can't protect him from Cad, but the least I can do is be sure he's safe while he's out there fighting fires."
Dusty's gaze softened as he laid a hand on Blade's shoulder. "I'm sorry Blade… So sorry."
Blade placed a hand over his.
"Not much can be done about it… come to accept that."
"Still…"
Blade squeezed his hand.
"Like I said… I can protect him… just wish I could do more for him."
"You haven't told him you're still here." It wasn't a question. Dusty was giving him a saddened look.
Blade shook his head. "Too afraid I'd hurt him."
"Can't you do something to comfort him?"
"I try and I do… but again… only so much."
Dusty frowned. "Sorry…"
"Don't be… you're not the one who got himself killed…" Blade stood up, looking Dusty in the eyes. "Dusty… do me a favor… help me look after him while you're here."
Dusty smiled giving a salute. "Can do. Lucky for you, you got an honorary Jolly Wrench here."
Blade smiled. "Thank you, Dusty… you got a good heart."
He shrugged. "I try… I just don't like seeing people suffer… I hate feeling useless…"
"Well… you aren't." Blade held out a hand. "We'll both look after Nick while you're here… and I'll do what I can to try and help you with your training."
Dusty grinned and took his hand. "You got yourself a deal!"
Blade grinned.
"Then we'll both do our best."