Nether Worry

Part 12

Pairing: Agent Washington/Tucker, Caboose/Church, Grif/Simmons

Description: In which the Reds and Blues come across a lonely Creative Mode dweller, Sarge makes about ten times more Iron Golems than are strictly necessary, and where Tucker learns that Wash is indeed not a replacement for Church and that may or may not be a bad thing after all.

A/N: It's here, it's queer, fucking sue me. (Enjoy the chapter 3)

"So, like, do you have ANYTHING interesting to talk about?" York asked, trying to walk ahead of Doc as the two made their way closer to the lava lake.

It had been about six hours since they spawned in the Nether, and so far, they hadn't seen all that much. Sure, they'd seen a few Zombie-Pigmen, and one or two Ghasts, but otherwise, there was next to nothing in the Hell-ish environment. Doc was trying to bring more morale to the twosome, but it was pretty obvious that he wasn't the most uplifting person, especially when compared to York. York was a very charismatic person, yet, for whatever reason, he struggled greatly when interacting with Doc. Maybe it was the disappointment of the fact that he was unable to be paired with Carolina, or the fact that he hardly knew Doc, but either way, the two of them were struggling social-wise and something needed to change.

"Well... I know some games we can play while we walk!" Doc eventually responded, looking extremely nervous. It was no secret that he was equally as awkward towards York as York was towards him.

York wanted to groan, but hey, he made the Freelancers play these kinda games when THEY traveled about, so why not humor the poor medic? It was obvious that they could both use the distraction to begin with. "Alright, fine. What game you wanna play?"

Doc thought for a few minutes, before snapping his fingers, smiling proudly at York. "I know! How about we play that word game? You know, the one where each person says a word, and everybody makes a story! Come on, it'll be fun! Okay, I'll start! Seven-"

"Lonely."

"Pioneers."

"Licked."

"Their."

"Cocks."

Doc froze, glaring wholeheartedly at York. "You took that out of the fun zone and straight into inappropriate zone with one word. That was awful."

York threw his hands up, unable to wash away the grin from his face. "Hey, you're the one who said 'their'. What were you expecting? 'Feet'?"

Doc hung his head, pouting at the ground. "... Maybe. You could've at LEAST kept it tame though! I know there're no kids here, but it's important to keep everyone thinking positively!"

"What if having positive thoughts involves inappropriate jokes in mixed company?" York asked, grinning as Doc shot him a slightly exasperated look of defeat.

"Then I feel very sorry for your friends." Doc decided, rolling his eyes at York's childish behavior. "Okay, how about another game? And this time, don't curse or say lewd language please. Okay, let's play ABC Words, where you go alphabetically saying a word for each letter, back and forth. I'll start: Apple."

"Beautiful."

"Coconuts."

"Dog."

"Espresso."

"Freelancer."

"Guacamole!"

"Is there a good reason why you keep using foods?" York asked, before his stomach growled, followed by Doc's. "Oh... guess we haven't eaten in awhile, huh?"

"I wanted to take a snack break a little while ago..." Doc defended, already pulling off his backpack and digging out two packaged pork-chops. "Come on over here, we can rest until we're done eating."

"Alright, whatever you say." York agreed, walking back over to Doc to sit beside him, taking one of the pork-chops with a small 'thank you'. "So-" He began, in-between bites of his lunch. "-I hate to ask, but how come you haven't just found another village, like the one you were in before? It's not that we don't want ya, it's just been on my mind since we got here."

"Oh, well, the village I was from was full of gossipers... other villages know my face now." Doc explained, shivering at the thought. "They're not exactly lining up for my help anytime soon. I didn't try to cause trouble, really, it just sorta... happened..."

"Hey, Zombie Poisoning happens, dude." York replied, shrugging it off. "I mean, sometimes I fuck up, and yeah, everyone gets pissed at me, but it's all good. We're all okay, so it's not like it really matters if I fuck up, as long as we're all okay in the end."

"That's a... surprisingly knowledgeable input." Doc decided, finishing his pork-chop. "Man, I feel like we're just filler characters for some kinda author right about now... kinda feel like they wanna move on, but can't. Ya get what I'm saying?"

"I guess so." York muttered, still chomping down on his food. "Man, no offense- okay, this is totally offensive- but I wish I'd gotten paired with Lopez, Red Team's puppy..."

"... That 'puppy' is a fully grown, vicious, uncontrollable wolf that has bitten, like, everyone but Junior." Doc pointed out, feeling it was necessary to tell York this.

"Yeah... what a good puppy..." York mumbled, finally giving the author an excuse to move onto someone else.

Maine walked in silence behind Lopez, the brown wolf running ahead of him, which was no real surprise. Really, who in God's name thought it was a good idea to take Lopez away from Sarge? It just wasn't a very tactical decision. The wolf was too intent on finding Sarge to even notice Maine, which Maine didn't seem to mind one bit. He was more of an ocelot person, and was more focused on finding the others than dog-sitting. Not too unfortunately for him, he and Lopez had spawned right in front of a Nether Castle. Lopez seemed pleased, sniffing the place out, while Maine was more or less neutral on the matter... he was neutral about a lot of things, wasn't he? No matter, he usually left the others to react to situations that needed reacting to.

"Arf! Arf arf arf!" Lopez barked out of nowhere, bolting down one of the corridors, leaving Maine completely in the dust behind him.

Officially pissed, mainly (Heheh) because Lopez had managed to kick boiling hot gravel onto Maine's bare arms, Maine took off after the hound, intent on making it pay for abandoning him without even a hint of hesitation, as well as burning him. However, as Maine spun the corner, he came face to face with what he could only describe in short, jumbled growls that more or less expressed that the Mob looked like a blacksmith had tried to make iron rods, but it had been on a summoning circle, and had instead made a hot metallic-like creature. The Blaze watched Maine, studying the humongous miner. Behind the Blaze, Lopez had found Sarge, running circles excitedly around his owner while Sarge was held bridal-style in Wyoming's arms, both shaking like leaves still stuck to the trees in fall.

"Hello." The Blaze finally greeted, surprisingly calm. It looked around, eyes focused on the ground, before re-meeting Maine's eyes, black and dotted, like a Dalmatian's fur coat. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Sigma. And who mi-"

Maine interrupted Sigma (Wow. Fucking rude.) and screamed in a garbled mess, running away at full speed, pure terror in his eyes, because who the fuck made it so Mobs could talk? Church was understandable, but this thing!? Maine was done. He was done, because what the fuck. Thoughtfully, Sigma floated after Maine, not acting nearly as aggressive towards him as he had Sarge and Wyoming. Said old men watched the Blaze leave, Sarge holding even tighter to Wyoming, too shocked and afraid to let go. Lopez, finally tired out by all his barking, running, and searching, curled into a ball at Wyoming's feet, pleased that he'd finally sought out and returned to his possibly mentally ill owner. He fell asleep within a few seconds.

"... Wyomin'?" Sarge began, voice unsteady as he tried to calm down, but found it rather difficult to do so. "Did... did that there Mob jus' start talkin'?"

"... Afraid so, mate." Wyoming admitted, just as scared and shocked as Sarge was. They stood there for a long time, neither moving. The Nether indeed was a strange, strange place.

Meanwhile, in Blood Gulch...

"Tucker, have you seen my yellow T-shirt?" Washington asked, a towel tightly wrapped around his waist as he exited the lake, looking to Tucker for an answer. It was terribly cold outside, but Wash had desperately needed a bath. "I could've sworn I brought it out here with me..."

Tucker, who was sun bathing (How the fuck do you sunbathe in winter?) on the shore of the pitiful lake behind Red Base, gave Wash an unimpressed look. "Which one? The one with the cat on it?" Upon earning a nod, Tucker winced. "Uh... yeah, funny thing... Junior peed on it."

Wash was, surprisingly, very calm. "Then where is it? I'm already in here, I may as well wash it." He decided, internally congratulating himself for reacting so calmly. He was trying to get better at that, especially with the baby around.

Tucker, again, looked extremely nervous upon hearing Wash's reply. "Heheh... other funny thing about that... ya see, I ran outta clean clothe diapers and they're all soaking in the lake, so I figured since it's already pissed on... yeah, you'll never want that back, like, ever."

"Why!?" Wash screeched. 'Try' is a loose word around Blood Gulch.

"Like I said, he's outta diapers." Tucker reminded the blond, who was red with rage, freckles standing out on his blushing skin. "Did anybody ever tell you that your freckles are really prominent when you blush? 'Cus they are."

"Why would you give him my T-SHIRT!?" Wash repeated. Again, 'try' is a very, very loose term. Can't count on it. "There are plenty of OTHER clothe items you could've used! Why not use one of those!?"

"It was already pissed on!" Tucker repeated, not nearly as distressed by the situation as his partner. "God, you sound like an old man. Next you're gonna be asking where your prune juice is. Ya need me to find your wheelchair, gramps?"

It was, at that point, non-negotiable to talk Washington out of chasing after Tucker, who honestly deserved it at this point. Nonetheless, Tucker groaned as he took off, Junior playing in the sand as he ran from the wet, angered Freelancer. He wondered if the others were dealing with nearly as much bullshit...

"Is she gonna be okay or not, fuck-face!?" South demanded to know, glaring daggers at the zombie she'd come to know as 'Asshole' or 'Church'.

"Hey, calm your ass down, highlights!" Church ordered, giving South a cross look. Not too far away, behind a blue curtain, Simmons was treating Tex's burns. "I'll know when you know! Why don't you fuck around with Caboose while you wait?"

South huffed angrily, tempted to punch Church right in the mouth for calling her 'highlights', but thought better of it, considering Church was Simmons's nurse and was still needed. Defeated and enraged, South stomped outside of the cobblestone house Church and Simmons had made, taking a seat on the netherrack outside with disdain written into her like ink on paper. Caboose was flying close by on Freckles, seemingly content with all that was going on around him. Noticing that South had left the house, Caboose floated down to the island the house was located on, using a lead to tie Freckles down to a netherrack post he'd made. With Freckles handled, Caboose practically skipped over to South, taking a seat in front of the upset woman, who had her knees drawn up with her arms wrapped around them like a barrier.

Caboose smiled, but even his happy-go-lucky attitude was failing to lift South's spirits. Concerned about his friend, Caboose tilted his head, pouting at the older woman. South glared at him, making Caboose falter, as he was unused to South's rage/anger being focused on him. Now convinced that she needed his assistance, Caboose tried a new angle. He made a grab for South's cheeks, but the blonde recognized what he was trying to do, and shuffled away, refusing to look him in the eyes, as she knew she would be defeated if she did. This made Caboose laugh, the blue miner standing up and walking around to face South again, this time successful as he grabbed her cheeks somewhat gently, making cute noises as he squished her cheeks affectionately.

Finally, South couldn't help herself, and laughed outright at Caboose's antics. "Goddammit, Caboose! You ruined my bad mood! Can't ya let me brood in peace?" She tried to sound angry, but such a task was now impossible.

Caboose grinned, laughing much more loudly than South. "I am sorry, Miss East!" He apologized, though he hardly sounded sorry. "I do not like it when you are sad and angry, so I made you happy again!"

South chuckled, wiping away a tear from her eye that she was certain had been from her laughter. "Well, for what it's worth... thanks. It's a lot better than being told that I'm being fucking stupid being pissed off."

"Everybody gets grumpy, Miss East." Caboose pointed out, helping South to her feet, only to surprise her with a big, warm hug. "Even I get a little grumpy sometimes, but not as much as Church. He gets SUPER grumpy!"

"The grumpiest." South agreed, shivering once Caboose finally let go. She liked it when he hugged her, it made her feel warm and happy inside instead of angry and stressed out. It was just another thing to add to the list of reasons why South liked Caboose.

"Hey, assholes!" Church called, standing in the doorway of the cobblestone house. "Simmons just finished patching Tex up! She's starting to come to!"

With that said, both South and Caboose hightailed it for the house, entering in a rush. South was behind the curtain first, eyes wide as she stared down at Tex. Tex had her eyes barely open, and her breathing sounded labored, but otherwise, she seemed okay. Her waist and chest were wrapped up securely, her breasts being allowed a bit more lee-way to breathe properly. The blonde brightened once South entered the room, a wiry smirk lifting South's spirits. She'd made it, and it looked like she'd be okay. South slowly walked to her bedside, ignoring Church's arguing outside as he and Simmons attempted to make Caboose stay put in order to give South and Tex some time alone to talk.

Even as South stared at Tex, she could tell that the blonde wasn't doing nearly as well as either woman hoped. Still though, Tex smirked as South came inside, making the lump in South's throat dissipate almost immediately. "How you doing, Tex?" South asked hesitantly, watching the other woman for any signs of pain or discomfort.

"How am I doing? How the fuck are YOU doing, kid?" Tex asked back, making South sigh with relief. At least Tex was still going strong. "I swear to Steve, you scared the shit outta me back there!"

South chuckled awkwardly, scratching behind her head as she waved Tex's question off. "Dude, I'm fucking fine as Hell. You scared the fuck outta me getting yourself damn near blown like a dick!"

Tex laughed outright at this, but winced as the bandages squeezed at her gut. "Ow." She muttered, rubbing her belly through the bandages. "Fucking Ghast… if I ever find out which one did it, I'm blowing it's ass to Kingdom Kong!"

South paled, swallowing with a nervous laugh. "Uh… funny thing, turns out the Ghast is Caboose's… new best friend?" she had no idea how to break it to Tex, considering that she was well aware of how angry Tex would be at Caboose once she was all better. "But it ain't Caboose's fault! He even saved your life!"

Tex growled something intangible under her breath, but nodded nonetheless, accepting South's answer, even if it wasn't to her liking. "Guess you're right, the kid ain't like that… think I can still get away with setting it on fire when he isn't looking?"

South laughed again, brought into a better mood, thanks to Tex. "I fucking doubt it, Miss I'm-gonna-try-and-be-Jesus-and-sacrifice-myself."

"I think I can, Miss I-have-a-soft-spot-for-trains!" Tex sassed back, her own face lighting up as South's face turned cherry red. It was really quite comedic how red South could get when embarrassed or agitated.

"Shut up, it's the doctor's orders." South ordered, taking a seat in an empty chair by Tex's bed. As much as she wanted to continue running around the Nether, she knew full well that Tex desperately needed to rest and recover before they could go.

"I don't think Simmons has the guts to tell me to shut up." Tex pointed out, but nonetheless lied down on her bed to get some sleep. She wanted nothing more than to get out of bed and fight something, preferably a Ghast, but she supposed kicking it with South wasn't so bad.

"Whatever, just shut up and sleep." South suggested, letting out a loud, long yawn that could challenge the scream of an Endermen. "Night, Miss Sacrifice."

"Night, Soft-Spot." Tex countered, letting out a yawn of her own before rolling over onto her side, curling tenderly into a ball before falling asleep.

Careful as to not wake Tex, South quietly tucked a black wool blanket over the sleeping blonde, giving the unconscious miner a soft smile. With Tex taken care of, South sat back in her chair, watching Tex in-case anything went wrong. She'd never remember how or when she fell asleep, but she knew that she woke up holding Tex's hand, acting as her protector.

A/N: Finally fucking done, but hey, Part 13 is already being written, so do not fret my weary travelers. I have a feeling that this next chapter is really gonna please ya, too! Please review/reblog/whatever! (PS, how many of you are okay with me adding SouthTex to this party?)

~Supercasey.