Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
Chapter Two:
Even with the surprise announcement of the addition of two strangers to their ranks, the scavenging and salvage mission they were going to do was a fairly routine one.
Still, despite Carolina's hesitancy and distrust of the newcomers, Dexter Grif would say having them around was most likely a good thing since it provided more people as support and protection. Not to mention it lightened the overall work load for everyone else, which sat well with his admittedly lazy mindset.
During the time frame of trying to get the settlement up and running they had, understandably, been focused more on hitting larger facilities due to the likelihood of there being more valuable items in abundance there still. The kind of items no one residing in Chorus would have wanted others to pick clean before it could be determined if they had any possible benefits for the city.
According to Doyle, an area close to Chorus had yet to be fully scoured for parts since it contained smaller buildings, so it would be an excellent time to check out that area now. Particularly since it wasn't too far away. Plus, it could help to provide a better idea to some of the residents the kinds of jobs that the mercenaries might want to actively participate in later on if they showed interest in it.
Given that line of thinking and since they were apparently the leaders of their group, Felix and Locus had apparently wanted to be the first of the mercenaries to see what salvage mission runs for Chorus were all about.
So, that was pretty much the gist of the meeting. Afterwards came Doyle's own departure to check on another matter he felt was urgent for Chorus to run smoothly which, from what Grif had gathered, there was always something on either his or Kimball's to do list in that regard. He didn't really envy them the workload for running this place. That was for sure.
Following the mission briefing and introductions, it was back out onto the streets and pathways of Armonia for the orange-armored fighter and Tucker.
Not at all surprising given how she had been present when Doyle had debriefed them earlier, Carolina was also tagging along this time.
The two former Freelancers in the midst of their little tight-knit group didn't always come on scavenging missions with them, unless they felt there was a very strong possibility that something could go amiss. They tended to be fairly routine assignments by this point through and through, so it said a lot about the redhead's unease over the mercenaries accompanying them that she was coming along too.
Particularly since this mission in general seemed to be even more of a cake walk than usual. Grif's stomach rumbled slightly at that particular word choice, and he tried not to think about how awesome it would be to instead be devouring an entire cake all by himself right about now.
Fortunately for them, both Tucker and Grif were well-accustomed to Carolina's mindset and wisely didn't comment on the change in routine. If she wanted Felix and Locus to think her inclusion was par the course, then it was best from a personal health stance for the two men to just go along with it.
"We've done a bit of reclaiming work before." Felix explained as they made their way out of the medical and military district proper and towards the outer wall and shielding of Chorus, "But never exactly for a region, and never probably by the most legal of definitions of reclaiming."
Carolina's stance became even more rigid, if such a thing were possible. But, she kept her mouth closed on whatever thoughts had come to mind at the mercenary's choice of words just then. Grif and Tucker were a bit more open to being understanding of the situation.
"It's been tough for everyone." Tucker noted, not exactly sympathetic but with a tone of voice that was pretty nonjudgmental towards the admission.
"True." The orange-armored mercenary replied, nodding slightly as if in appreciation of Tucker's comment, "Though, can't say it won't be nice to finally get the chance to make something of a living without always having to do questionable things to survive."
Felix glanced around the area they were in, taking in the sight of the rebuilding projects going on and the buzz of activity as residents, both in non-military roles and otherwise, went about their business before speaking again, "The situation here in Chorus is definitely an ideal one in a lot of respects."
Locus continued to remain just as quiet as he had been throughout their meeting, his helmet pointed straight ahead and never deviating as they walked, though Grif had the general sense that he was observing things with probably an even more critical eye than Felix was as they continued their trek.
Both the steel-and-green armored mercenary and Carolina seemed to have that whole silent intimidation thing down pat.
Grif tried to ignore the tenseness, instead choosing to see how the once war-torn Chorus area seemed to be improving all the time around them. There was an odd twinge of inner-pride for his own part in the rebuilding, though he would never admit it to anyone.
However, as they walked through the still somewhat debris-strewn streets that were extending farther towards the outer limits of the city, Grif also noticed for the first time several people in steel-colored armor milling about.
Some of them were working with others in the more familiar looking tan and white shades of armor that had sort of become the unofficial common colors to signify Chorus military personnel in helping to clear away some of the remaining rubble pieces, doing repairs and maintenance, or other assorted tasks. Other mercenaries simply seemed to be resting and taking their new surroundings in with a cautious, excited air.
Whenever one of these newcomers caught sight of Felix and Locus nearing their positions, they would stiffen slightly and nod to them, a gesture that the two men returned as some kind of indication amongst their group that things were going smoothly.
Tucker whistled after one such exchange, "Man, you guys sure have a lot of people working for you!"
There was a definite smirk in Felix's voice when he responded, "Well, lots of people were left without anywhere to really go after the war." He reminded the teal-armored man, "So long as they could continue holding their weight, they were welcome with us."
Grif supposed that made sense. If their ragtag group hadn't become as close as they were now during all of the shitty situations and fighting they'd been tossed together through, who knew what would have happened to all of them following the ceasefire?
Without the goal of getting to Chorus safely together, they could have easily become mercenaries themselves. Or, even worse yet, indiscriminate raiders that preyed upon those who were trying to make new lives for themselves out of the ashes of the old.
It was something Grif would rather not dwell on all that much, especially for some of the group in particular. People like the childlike Caboose, Tucker with his actual very young son in tow, kind-hearted and altogether far too perky Donut…
Not to mention any of the new recruits here at Chorus that were around his sister's age. There were a lot of them: younger people who had barely even adjusted to the war suddenly finding themselves adrift before hearing about this place.
Thinking along those lines, what would have become of his little sister if anything had happened to him? Or what would have happened to Simmons? Grif shuddered, thinking about Kai and the cyborg in particular just then.
It was a fucking miracle that they'd all survived long enough to meet up in the first place. Even more of one that they had managed to survive all the shit thrown their way following that.
He'd definitely prefer not to dwell on any depressing, or terrifying, what-if scenarios if he could avoid it.
By the time they'd reached the exit out of the energy shielding they would be going through, Michael J. Caboose was already waiting for them. The blond was happily talking the ears off of the bored guards at the gate post, fully armored in blue and with his trusted friend Freckles at his side.
Caboose often went with them on these missions as he had come from a batch genetically engineered for freakish strength. Not to mention that Freckles happened to be a hell of a better shot than most of them combined when the Virtual Intelligence was let loose, so the added security there was a nice advantage.
The blue-armored fighter was good to have around even for cases like this where a transport would most likely not be necessary, largely because they still couldn't rule out the possibility of heavy items completely.
Though, if that turned out to not be accurate, they had marking trackers to activate so they could know the exact location to bring one to later if it ended up being too much even for genetically engineered super strength.
Despite Caboose's perplexing ability to somehow inexplicably cause most machinery he touched to burst into flames, something he would often blame Tucker for or just random other people if the other man was not present, even as a soldier he had proven himself to be surprisingly adept at finding often very valuable caches of weaponry, tech, and other important items. Whether through sheer luck or what, no one was ever sure.
The members of the Red and Blue teams often surmised, given his usual colorful retellings of events from his past before meeting up with all of them, that was probably the main reason Caboose had managed to survive in the world after he had been cast out of his batch for the "defective" traits of being too innocent and too problematic.
That was when Caboose had found Freckles in his original mech body, before the Blue team member ended up somehow "befriending" Church. Grif couldn't even imagine that even those assholes who had it out for genetically engineered people would have attempted to tussle with either Caboose's friend or his "dog".
Even following the destruction of his killer robot body and transfer into the assault rifle Caboose now carried everywhere with him, most learned rather quickly to give the V.I. a wide berth. As well as to not do anything even remotely threatening to the blond holding him.
"Oh, hello!" Caboose turned his attention to the small group heading towards him now, and it was easy enough to picture the bright grin that was probably plastered on his still youthful face despite his helmet being on.
He trotted over to them, waving frantically as sighs of exasperation tinged with relief could be heard coming from the guards behind him. They'd been later arriving than expected, so who knows how long their brains had been broken by the younger soldier's enthusiastic and often very colorful and misinformed stories.
"Do we have new friends?" Caboose asked, curiously peering at Locus and Felix.
The mercenaries exchanged a look that ended with Felix turning questioningly to Tucker who just shrugged, his body language pretty clearly saying that it was best to just go with it.
"We sure are, buddy." Felix jumped into the odd conversation very skillfully, "We just so happen to be new to Chorus, and figured going on one of these retrieval missions sounded like fun."
"Oh, they are very fun!" Caboose's beaming smile would have most likely been as blinding as the sun by this point, "If we just find stuff, there's usually a party later! Sometimes there are people out there who like to play tag with bullets, and that's even more fun for Freckles. Right, Freckles?"
"AFFIRMATIVE, CABOOSE." The gun in question spoke up.
"Yeah, he loves getting to play tag." Caboose said fondly, "Everyone is so worn out after getting to play with him that they all end up taking a nap together!"
Felix, however, was ignoring the rambling soldier's excited commentary to stare down at the weapon he held rather curiously, "You guys have a gun that's been modified with a V.I.?"
"It's a long story, trust me." Tucker sighed and nodded at the same time.
"I'm sure it is." Another look passed between the two mercenaries, "I'm curious though. Are there a lot of other V.I.s like your pal Freckles here?"
"Freckles is one of a kind!" Caboose boasted proudly, loving the chance to show off his friend whenever he could.
"CORRECT."
Grif was honestly surprised given the satisfied tone of the gun that a burst of confetti hadn't followed that. The Red Team member and Tucker, however, caught on pretty quickly to what Felix actually meant with his question. As did Carolina, who stiffened considerably just then.
Locus seemed to be gauging their reactions silently, even as Felix continued to be rather nonchalant and patient in his body language as he waited for the answer he wanted.
"Do mean talking guns or V.I.s in general?" Grif asked after a moment, figuring he might as well make sure he'd gotten his interpretation down correctly before answering.
Felix shrugged as if the question didn't really concern him all too much, "V.I.s in general." He elaborated, "They're a bit rare to find these days, is all."
Because most of them had been destroyed in the war. That was the main reason both Lopez and Sheila had decided to stay with their group too, especially considering how they were now more-or-less thought of as "hot commodities" on the black market in the postwar environment for all sorts of different reasons.
"That really isn't any of your business just yet." Carolina cut into the conversation so bitingly quick that it was pretty obvious she was telling the others to not mention anything else on the subject yet. Even though, if the two and their group stuck around for any period of time, they'd run into the other V.I.s residing in Chorus eventually.
Felix backed off quickly, "Okay, okay! I was just curious."
"Somehow I doubt that is all it was." Carolina harrumphed, turning in the direction of the guards with a silent nod to let them know to start powering down the gate.
Felix seemed about to comment on her remark when an excited cry from Caboose cut him off.
Evidently, the blond had been so preoccupied at first with the prospect of meeting new friends and showing off Freckles that he'd forgotten about the Freelancer's rarer presence in their midst until just now.
"Agent Carolina!" He raced up to her, pulling her into a giant bear hug. She tensed for a moment, but allowed it all the same, ultimately relaxing after a few seconds. Caboose was one of the only people she ever tolerated that level of contact from, although that had only come after she had warmed up to him a bit and learned he was fairly harmless, "You're coming too?"
"That's…that's right, Caboose." Despite his hug probably crushing a good amount of air from her lungs, she managed to awkwardly pat the younger man on the back.
At her confirmation, he pulled back and glanced around the area even more excitedly, "So, is Church here too?" Caboose asked, "He is my bestest friend!"
Well, Grif could understand Caboose's question given that, if Carolina usually went with them, the odds were usually pretty high that Church would tag along too.
"PARDON ME?" Freckles' voice held mild indignation at the phrasing.
"My bestest friend who is not a gun." Caboose quickly elaborated, giving the assault rifle a comforting and reassuring pat as he did so, "Or a dog."
"THAT'S BETTER." The gesture evidently was enough to soothe over any hurt feelings that Freckles' might have had.
Which was pretty good for all of them, really. It was always a bit risky to be near the V.I. when he was feeling particularly moody or upset.
"Who's Church?" Felix asked, curiosity again lining his voice, "One of your other friends, I take it?"
"Oh, he is the greatest!" Caboose did not notice Carolina tensing up in response to the mercenary's question next to him, "He is Carolina's brother and he is loud and angry, but that is just how he shows his love."
Tucker couldn't help but scoff at that last part of Caboose's description, "Asshole loves a lot then, given his rant last night."
Felix regarded Carolina's suddenly rigid posture with renewed interest at the revelation, "Huh. Somehow, it's surprising to think you have family here."
The dangerous tilt of her visor just then as she turned to glare at him spoke volumes, causing all three of the people more familiar with her mannerisms, even the normally oblivious Caboose, to step away.
"I really don't see how that's any of your business." She practically seethed, and even Felix at that point got the hint. Or, at least decided to no longer pretend as though he hadn't as he'd been doing before.
Yeah, Grif was definitely protective to an extreme where Kai was concerned, but Carolina's overprotective "big sister"-ness was the stuff of both legends and nightmares.
The orange and steel-armored mercenary held his hands up and took a step back, "Easy now. I was just curious." He stated, trying to defuse the ticking time bomb he had managed to activate, "Just didn't really see you as a family person."
"Again. Not your business." She repeated, voice cold like the edge of a dagger.
He nodded emphatically, "Sorry if I was being too intrusive. Or whatever." He quickly attempted to placate her by jerking his head towards Locus, "It's just that when someone like this guy is your partner, you kind of get starved for conversation."
"Felix." Locus' tone was a warning as well.
Carolina observed him for another tense moment before scoffing and stomping off to see what was taking the guards so long with the gate. There was an uncomfortable silence following her departure, and Caboose quickly ran to follow her in the wake of it.
Tucker put his hand on the back of his teal helmet awkwardly, "So, uh, sorry about that." He told the two men, "She's just a bit wary of strangers."
"Understandable."
Surprisingly, it was Locus who spoke up first.
Felix quickly took point, nodding, "Yeah, given the war and how things are these days, trust is hard to come by." He looked thoughtful, "Hopefully we'll earn it. Eventually."
Tucker was grinning underneath his helmet, "If you keep helping us out on runs like this, you just might!"
"Might not want to hold your breath until then though." Grif couldn't help joking.
"I could tell that already."
With those words from Felix, the two retrieval soldiers excused themselves to go meet up with Carolina and Caboose by the guard post.
Carolina's posture was still unnaturally tense and rigid, her arms crossed over her chest. Caboose's attention had turned to the buttons the guards were currently pressing, an obvious longing to be able to play with them too in his helmeted gaze.
"It's going to be a few more minutes." She said tersely without even turning around to face them, "There's some kind of mechanical malfunction making the controls a bit unresponsive."
"I suppose it's better that it's taking longer for the shielding to go down than if it just stopped working altogether." Grif tried for a bit of levity.
The grunt that Carolina gave in response was far from comforting.
"Was it really that big a deal that Felix asked about Church?" Tucker apparently decided he wasn't going to try beating around the bush.
Carolina whirled around sharply then to face him, "Could you honestly tell me that you would be all right with them suddenly asking about Junior?" She questioned before turning her gaze to Grif, "Or Kaikaina?"
The two men frowned, glancing at one another. Carolina did have a point there. Church wasn't exactly what one would call "normal" even by genetically engineered standards, and Tucker's son definitely wasn't either. Given what both Grif and Kai had been designed for…
"Okay, okay." Tucker sighed in concession, "Fair point."
"It's a little sad this is such a small party." Caboose decided to interject himself into the conversation just then at the mention of more of his friends, "Sarge and the nice doctor lady especially always love going out with us."
"This is a job that doesn't really require a ton of us, Caboose." Tucker informed him.
Besides, whenever Sarge muscled his way onto a salvage run, it was usually just so that he could have more of an excuse to blow things up or shoot off his shotgun. Usually just a few meters from wherever it was that Grif happened to be standing at the time in both cases.
Doctor Grey would lose herself in excitement over any type of tech they happened to find, often while gushing off some really disturbing statistics about what it could potentially do to a human body in the process.
The two of them together out on the field was always a bit much. Add to that Church's grumbling, Donut's frolicking, or Simmons' general kiss-ass and nerdish tendencies? Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
"Besides," Tucker added in a conspiratorial fake whisper that had Grif breaking away from his thoughts pretty quickly, "It would be hella awkward having everyone with us right now for Grif, especially Simmons."
This caused both Carolina and Caboose to glance at the chubby man in question curiously, and Grif was thankful that he had his helmet on to cover up his suddenly rather hot face.
"Knock it off, Tucker." He muttered.
Tucker shrugged his shoulders, the smirk obvious in his voice, "Hey, I'm just saying!" He joked before suddenly regarding Carolina thoughtfully, "Although I am surprised that Wash isn't here too."
He turned his head from side-to-side as if to see if he could see the steel and yellow-armored figure about to pop up and surprise them just then. Carolina and Grif exchanged knowing looks. Tucker was always the first to notice or comment on what he thought to be a general lack of Agent Washington in a given situation.
Not that Grif couldn't understand why that was the case in this situation in particular. Usually if one of the Freelancers felt a salvage mission required their presence for added security, both of them would come along for it just to be on the safe side.
"Wash was assigned training duty with the new recruits today." Carolina informed them, "He had some other matters to attend to following that as well."
Which loosely translated into that the paranoid Freelancer was just as nervous about the sudden arrival of the mercenaries at Chorus as Carolina was. The blond would no doubt be observing the ones that were staying in the settlement while Carolina monitored their two leaders out on the field.
"Sorry for the wait!" One of the guards called out just as the shielding around the gate dissipated and the heavy metal doors opened with a very loud clang, "You're free to go whenever you want."
"Finally." Felix let out a sigh of relief as he and Locus approached the small group, "Let's see what this is all about, shall we?" He seemed rather excited to finally be able to start, "Lead the way, guys."
"All right then. Stay close." Carolina's comment was definitely directed more towards her three comrades as they stepped through the gates, the energy shielding flaring up behind them in a matter of moments.
She was doing her best to pointedly ignore the two mercenaries in their midst, though that was probably better in some ways than her directing her suspicions at them constantly. Grif supposed it was a small improvement.
With Carolina, you had to take what you could get. They all knew this by now given how long it had taken her to warm up to their small group when she had joined them along with her brother and Caboose.
She started off from the settlement at a brisk pace, not wanting to linger too long out in the open. It was more than understandable, and a pretty basic survival strategy when traversing the "wasteland" areas in-between more secure locations.
Staying on the move and being alert while out in the open, until you had some amount of cover from foliage or debris, kept you alive and uninjured more often than not both during the war and now when there was "peace."
They generally didn't have too much to worry about so close to Chorus, due largely in part to how efficiently Kimball casted her security net around the city. As well as due to the natural landscape providing a pretty open view without too many spots for more than one or two people to hide in for quite some distance until you hit a hillier, tree-strewn area later on. But, regardless, it was best to maintain the old habits.
He had seen firsthand in the past in other regions how surprisingly easy it had been for attackers and raiders to set up ambushes astoundingly close to settlements and other habitats without being detected.
Besides, the sense of security from Chorus did fade a bit the closer you got out of range of the settlement proper. After all, it was all too easy for raiders and the like to perhaps be sniffing around in the forested parts of the area. They'd dealt with that occasion from time to time, though thankfully with each repelled instance it seemed as if the incidents were becoming farther and farther in-between.
The "dead zone" that surrounded Chorus was the beginning of the expanse of land referred to as the "wasteland." Basically, it was the terrain in-between settlements. It was termed thus because it was pretty much just scorched, dead earth.
There were some rocks, burnt out husks of destroyed buildings, twisted up vehicles here and there. It was pretty much flat, empty terrain for quite a bit of ways. The result of a particularly brutal attack at some point during the war, before Chorus had even been officially founded. A painful, sad reminder of what had been lost.
But, it also worked itself rather ingeniously into the defensive designs of Chorus too, showcasing how someone could try to breathe even some purpose and new life into a space that others might just call ruined and desolate without a second thought.
Grif supposed there was probably some sort of symbolic message hidden in that sentiment or something, though he didn't care to dwell too deeply on it.
...Maybe if Simmons was the only one with him, he might. He was the only person that Grif had ever felt comfortable mulling his philosophical thoughts over with for some reason.
He sighed as they walked farther away from Chorus and towards the more forested part of the "wastelands": a burnt out, mocking shell of what had probably once been a beautiful and ancient forest, though new plant life was just now beginning to poke out from and thrive on the dead remnants of the old.
It was not a good time to be dwelling on his favorite resident cybernetic kiss-ass and nerd. Especially not when they were walking, which he doubly hated.
He knew the coordinates they were exploring weren't that far away from Chorus this time. That it was good from a resource management perspective, one of the few things both Kimball and Doyle seemed to mostly agree on, to not use a transport if they could avoid doing so.
But, Dexter Grif was lazy. Walking was one of his least favorite activities. Second on his list of "least favorite ways to use his legs" behind running. Seriously. Fuck running.
He felt like he had done more than enough walking and running to last fifteen or more lifetimes already, first with just keeping Kai safe and then in the army. When they'd reached Chorus, he had kind of hoped he'd get the chance to just stand or lay around more. Do nothing but talk with Simmons constantly and some of the others too from time to time.
But, he supposed it was irony or something that wasn't the case. Maybe. Now that he thought about it, none of them had ever been able to settle on what actually counted as "ironic".
Walking was a further pain the ass because, while they were a few steps behind Caboose who was keeping up rather well with the "nice angry lady," Tucker was evidently able to pick up who his mind had just drifted to from his sigh, stepping into line right next to Grif.
"Seriously, dude." His friend started, his voice lowered so the others wouldn't overhear him, "You two just need to get your shit together."
When Grif didn't comment (well, he rolled his eyes but it wasn't like Tucker could see that), the dark-skinned man continued, "It would do you and the nerd a world of good after all this time to just stop beating around the bush and finally make it fucking official."
Up ahead of them, over Caboose excitedly chatting to her and Freckles, Grif swore he saw Carolina's head tilting back to regard the two of them curiously for a moment. As though she'd overheard at least a bit of what Tucker had said.
He so didn't need her adding her input on this topic either.
Grif frowned underneath his helmet at Tucker's commentary, knowing that what he was saying was more or less impossible at this point, despite how easy Tucker and the others always made it sound in their teasing "advice". Especially given how it seemed like Simmons was going out of his way a lot of the time now to not talk about anything more personal with Grif like they used to do.
Which still hurt a bit more than the orange-armored soldier cared to admit, but he was secretly terrified of doing anything else unknowingly that might push the redhead even further away from him.
Grif made a mental note to himself all the same that, regardless of said fear, he still needed to at least make an effort to apologize privately all the same for the whole having-sex-in-the-other-man's-bed thing.
Again, decisively not wanting to dwell on why he had done so in the first place (it smelled like Simmons, so he could almost imagine he was with Simmons) since that also hurt and brought up more annoyingly sigh-inducing longing than he'd ever care to admit to anyone.
Knowing the nerd like he did, Simmons would probably be his usual overachieving self and would be working late on something again. So, it would be easy enough for Grif to drop by and maybe get Simmons to eat something since the kiss-ass was often too preoccupied to eat if he had gotten particularly invested in whatever it was he was working on at a given time.
Besides, food apologies were some of the best kinds of apologies. Anyone who knew Grif knew that he was sincere about anything if he sealed the gesture with food.
Realizing though that Tucker was waiting for some kind of remark to what he'd said, Grif rolled his eyes again and responded with his customary smart-ass intellect: "That's a great idea, Tucker." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, "I'll get right on that once you and Wash make things official."
That did the trick, as Tucker coughed awkwardly and nearly tripped over his own feet, "P—please! He's just a friend!" He spluttered, "He adores Junior, is all."
True, Washington had bonded closely with Junior on account of their shared genetic engineered heritage. But, he'd invested a lot of energy in rescuing the boy's "mother" too, and had decided to remain with the group upon getting them back despite having no obligation or reason to do so.
Plus, he often sought out Tucker's company in his free time and vice versa even when Junior wasn't directly involved. It was probably past time for the two of them to start admitting that they cared about one another a bit more than as just friends too.
Not that Grif would mention it too much beyond snarky teasing and comebacks. Washington wasn't the best when it came to understanding or expressing his own feelings, and Tucker was equally oblivious to his own for different reasons. Both Doctor Grey and Doc both said it had to do with his "emotional maturity" or something.
"Uh-huh." Grif didn't sound convinced at all.
Tucker walked a bit away then, muttering something about "stubborn dumbasses" under his breath. Grif had a feeling it was directed at him, Simmons, and Washington all at once.
Not that he really cared, mind you. It was only fair he could tease Tucker back for all of the "old married couple" remarks his friend threw his and Simmons' way constantly. Besides, his finally dropping the subject for the moment at least made the intolerable injustice of further walking slightly more bearable.
Just barely though.
The small group finally approached the ruins that Doyle had pointed them in the direction of, and Lavernius Tucker couldn't help but grin slightly in relief. He maybe didn't complain nearly as much about it as Grif did, but he wasn't a huge fan of walking a ton either.
Any type of movement resulted in him having horrible flashbacks to the "leg day" training that Wash used to put him through. He felt a small amount of both pity and relief for the lieutenants that the Freelancer was currently tasked with training since he didn't have to do that anymore himself.
Besides, with Caboose's misplaced enthusiasm and Carolina looking about ready to rip Locus and Felix apart if they so much as sneezed funny, the sooner they got this assignment over with, the better it would probably be for all of them in the long run. He was definitely eager to get back to see his kid as soon as possible, even if Junior was in good hands with the others currently.
The patches of vegetation that were beginning to grow over the distorted and burned land, as well as the people-made structures that had fallen to disuse over the decades as everyone fled to what safety and security settlements could offer, made for a bit of an odd sight.
The spot had been razed for most of the war and was just now back on the path to becoming a healthy forest again. It would take a shitload of time for that to fully happen, though.
Doc was convinced that the positive energies coming from everyone trying to rebuild and live in peace in Chorus would help, though the only person he'd really gotten to listen to his whole spiel on that was Donut. Maybe Lopez and Sheila too, but they could have just turned off their hearing and never told anyone.
Well, Junior seemed to like the sentiment too. He often caught his son trying to look wistfully past the shielding at the area outside of Chorus. His smile always lit up at Doc's optimism when he talked about the subject, almost as much as Donut's did. Tucker had tried his hardest not to roll his eyes for his son's benefit.
The building they had come for sat in a circle of ruins, amidst debris that had probably at some point been buildings themselves.
This one stood out from those in two very obvious ways: it was still very much standing, and it had been made with a metallic material that had an odd sheen to it when it caught any fragments of light filtering in from the pitifully tiny leaves or the naked, burnt branches of trees.
After all, "people-made" didn't necessarily always mean humans were the builders.
"Huh." Felix approached the structure first, absent-mindedly running a hand over the sealed door's surface. Locus took point with Caboose wordlessly, "Looks like someone's already tried getting into this one."
He was indicating the scorch marks and pathetic scratches carved into the unyielding metal of the door.
"Numerous times, most likely." Locus' gravelly voice spoke up just then.
Grif scoffed, "Well, yeah. That's because these alien caches can be fucking goldmines."
No arguments there. Alien tech was pretty highly sought after, and had evidently helped with the advancement of human development upon its discovery even if the aliens themselves were no longer around.
Rumor had it that a lot of that tech was one of the initial causes of the war too, but who knew if that was true or not anymore? It certainly had been used in it to help kill people, that was for sure.
"They did a piss poor job of it though." Felix remarked, a frown in his voice, "Everyone knows you need a shitload of firepower to force one of these suckers open." He scoffed, "Must have been some amateur raiders."
Heavy firepower was an understatement, all things considered. A lot of weaponry was wasted prying open ruins exactly like this one the world over. Fuck, this entire area had been burned countless times during the war, and these structures still stood relatively untouched when everything else around them had been decimated.
Tucker couldn't help but grin mischievously at the mercenary's comment, figuring that the two newcomers were probably wondering just how they were going to attempt this when they hadn't brought the usual tools of the trade along with them.
Pretty much everyone in Chorus knew about Tucker's trump card now. It was rare that he had the chance to show it off anymore. He was so going to fucking own this moment and make it look good.
"Yeah, but they didn't have this!"
Tucker pulled the hilt of his sword from his side, the blade coming to brilliant life the second he did so. His grin widened at the surprised reactions that elicited from the mercenaries, "Oh, yeah, I so fucking own this!"
"An…an alien energy sword?" Felix sounded shocked, "Do you know how rare those are?" He took a step closer to it, as if mesmerized "If I could sell that!"
Tucker held up his free hand to stop him, "Hate to burst your bubble, but this is one-of-a-kind." He informed Felix, "It only works for me."
The sword was the second best thing to happen to him following Junior. Who knew getting kidnapped would end up being a weird-as-fuck blessing in disguise? It certainly helped him look all the more badass like he knew he was.
"Tucker's toy is nice, but it can't play catch like Freckles." Caboose remarked from behind helpfully.
"CATCH IS SUPERIOR TO ALL ELSE."
Caboose nodded in agreement, "Except tag."
"EXCEPT TAG." Freckles agreed, "WHICH I CAN ALSO DO AND THE SWORD CAN'T."
"You're the best, Freckles!"
Tucker sighed, his teammate completely lost in gushing over his talking gun again.
Felix and Locus stared at one another before Felix whistled appreciatively and shook his head in mild disbelief, "I bet you guys have a lot of interesting stories to tell."
He scoffed, "Dude, you have no fucking clue."
Without waiting for further conversation, Tucker moved past Felix and held the energy blade up to the door. He could tell Carolina was getting impatient even without looking over at her, that she didn't like the focus on the sword or on their group in general from the mercenaries. She was practically drilling holes into Tucker's back with her "quite showing off and just get it over with" vibe.
A strange symbol suddenly flared to life on the metallic surface, the sealed door disappearing as if it had never been there in the first place, revealing a small room behind.
"It acts as a key?" Locus asked, his filtered voice still something that Tucker wasn't quite used to yet.
He nodded, "Yeah, it can open pretty much any of these ruins without any problem."
"Fascinating."
This was probably the most interested Locus had ever been in conversing with them.
"Freaked me the hell out the first time it happened." Tucker let out a nostalgic laugh, awkwardly rubbing the back of his helmet, "But, it's definitely come in handy since."
"I'll bet." If he hadn't had his helmet on, Tucker would swear that Felix was probably drooling at the sword he was still gripping tightly.
"Let's move." Carolina pushed past him just then, Grif following after with the storage bag they'd brought, "You can show off more later, Tucker."
He sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. Particularly from any health stance one could think of. He holstered the sword, the energy vanishing the moment he removed his fingertips from the hilt.
The room that had been hidden from prying eyes for who knows how long seemed positively underwhelming given the effort it had taken to open it. The only thing of note that they found were eight canisters of what they now knew contained some kind of stored energy, each the size of Tucker's forearm.
The rest of the space was completely bare save a few pieces of scrap that maybe could be used for repairs, or components for larger projects or something else along those lines back home.
As Tucker and Grif put the canisters into the bag, Felix commented: "Seems like a whole lot of trouble for so little payback."
For the first time since they'd met, Carolina's response to him wasn't a biting one, "We already figured that this would be the case given how small it was and our experiences with similar ruins in the area."
"Yeah," Grif added, as both he and Tucker were pretty knowledgeable on the subject by now, "There's usually a shitload of more high-functioning tech left only in larger sites."
"Which are always more remote and a whole fucking lot further away." Tucker chimed in.
He called Caboose over as Grif peered at the canisters once more before zipping the bag back up.
"The energy units are still good finds though." The tan man stated, noting that the light had still been blinking on the containers.
"So, I take it this is some of the stuff that is used to power all of the tech advancements in Chorus?" Felix asked, watching as the older men helped to get the backpack onto Caboose's armored back while the blond didn't even seem to notice the extra weight as he happily hoisted both himself and their finds up, "Which is why you guys make these types of runs fairly regularly?"
"Well, partially." Tucker couldn't help but boast again when given the chance to do so, "It's a combination of that and some pretty fucking awesome ingenuity—!"
He cut himself off at the warning look that Carolina suddenly shot him, a clear indication that he needed to remain silent on that subject for the moment. The gesture was not lost on the mercenaries, though they didn't bring it up.
Felix clapped his hands together instead, "Well, I guess that's our cue to leave then?"
At the sudden renewed distrust from Carolina and the uneasy tenseness that added to the room, Tucker couldn't agree more to the suggestion. Besides, he couldn't wait to get back to Junior, and probably brag to Wash about how fucking badass he got to be too if he could find him. Hopefully he wouldn't be quite as on edge as Carolina was currently, but knowing the other man as well as he did by now Tucker wouldn't doubt it.
They finished up gathering the few pieces of scrap lying around that seemed like it could be usable in one form or another, adding it to Caboose's backpack before getting ready to leave.
"It's fortunate that Chorus has so many of these sites close by." Felix commented as they stepped out of the ruins, "Given how rare these alien relics tend to be."
Tucker didn't even need to look at Carolina this time to know not to respond to that. After all, he wanted to get back home in one piece still if he could.
They went a different route on their way back to Chorus than they had gone getting to the coordinates. It was standard procedure to always do so, just on the off-chance that someone unsavory had been trailing you.
Grif didn't mind so much, though this trek back meant they were walking more through the forest, which was decidedly more effort than walking through the dead zone would be. He could practically hear Simmons in his mind scoff and call him a lazy fat-ass for that.
That, oddly enough, had him wanting to walk a bit faster than usual. He still needed to apologize to the nerd, to make things right on that account at least.
He was so preoccupied with his desire to see Simmons again and get his apology over with, and make sure the damn kiss-ass actually ate and rested for once, that he nearly ran into Carolina when she stopped suddenly ahead of him.
"Wait." Her cyan-armored hand was held out to halt the group, her other already removing one of her guns from its holster as she motioned to what was ahead of them.
They had happened upon the remains of a derelict building, a larger one gutted by flames. Given how it was still partially standing, it was probably one of the last ones that had been built in the area before people gave up living here entirely.
"Caboose, stay here." She ordered in a voice that would broker no arguments, signaling to the rest of them to continue moving forward.
Since Caboose had the supplies, it was best to keep him out of harm's way. Enough of the structure was still intact that someone could very well hide in there. Besides, since the younger soldier had Freckles with him, it was actually smarter to have him be farther out from a potential guard stance as well.
The blond would be well-protected no matter what might happen in the next few seconds, and could hopefully help provide cover for them too if they had to make a hasty retreat back to where he was depending on what they found.
The other five moved forward to investigate, weapons now at the ready with all of them. At a silent gesture from Carolina, Felix and Locus took up spots by the sides of the building, leaving the other three to go inside.
The sight inside wasn't any prettier than it had been from the outside. Especially when, from the sight of the crumbling remains of furniture and decoration that could be barely made out still, the realization sank in that this had been someone's home at some point.
Fortunately, they couldn't tell due to the damage and time that had passed since then if there were any bodies there buried beneath the rubble.
A shovel caught Tucker's eyes in one pile, "Looks like they were farmers who got caught up in one of the blasts here." He noted, his voice serious.
"Probably just a few years before the ceasefire, from the looks of things here." Carolina remarked quietly.
Grif said nothing, having to choke back a bit of bile at the thought.
They inspected the remains of the house carefully, finding a few salvageable items that could probably help with horticulture projects in the city. But, there wasn't a ton of usable things left there, and no one understandably wanted to stay too long.
As they carefully moved back to the exit where Felix and Locus were still standing guard, something caught the corner of Grif's eye. A black and white dog plush toy was poking up from a pile of rubble by the doorway.
It had somehow survived the blast with only moderate damage, stuffing poking through open tears in its body, the entire thing covered with dirt and soot. A familiar, odd urge took over then that Grif really didn't want to contemplate too much. He bent down and snatched the toy up on the sudden impulse.
Tucker looks over his shoulder at the plush after seeing him do so, "It's sad that kids were out here." He stated in a dry voice, and Grif had no doubt that his friend was thinking of Junior just then.
Grif thought of Kai and could only nod his head in response to Tucker's commentary, his voice completely caught in his throat. He was unable to keep himself from pocketing the toy in one of the storage areas of his armor. Tucker said nothing to that, though it was obvious he saw Grif doing so since he was standing right next to him, clapping the orange-armored soldier on the shoulder sympathetically.
For once, the dark-skinned man didn't tease him for doing a bizarre action and he didn't ask any prying questions given the somber mood settling over everything just then. Carolina nodded at them both in quiet understanding as they left the house to rejoin Caboose.
The blond seemed to have picked up on the undercurrent of sadness that was piercing the moment, and he remained pensively quiet as they moved past the decimated farmland, clutching Freckles even more tightly to his chest than usual. It was always harder for Caboose to deal with the direct knowledge of people being hurt or dying when he came face-to-face with it.
"You guarded point rather well." Carolina remarked to both Locus and Felix once they were quite a bit farther away from the house, "You both helped us get things done more quickly on this assignment."
It was still pretty obvious that she didn't like them being around all the same, but that was at least a starting gesture from the Freelancer.
Felix nodded gratefully at the comment, "You see?" He told her, attempting to help alleviate a bit of the heavy mood that was still wrapped around them from before, "This could yet be the start of a great, mutually beneficial relationship for all of us."
Whatever else was said around him following that as they made their way back to Chorus was lost to Grif's ears. His mind kept going back to the burnt out farmhouse, the puppy plush both seeming to burn a hole through his armor and weigh a thousand tons all at once.
He wanted, no, he needed desperately just then to be home that very moment.
He needed Simmons.
Author's Notes: …Something tells me Carolina is probably going to be having a big huge "I told you so!" moment at some point later on in this story. XD
This chapter helped me get a bit back into this fic following putting it on the backburner to finish up Above Ground. I had a ton of fun introducing Caboose and Freckles finally into the story properly, as well as world and backstory-building more for characters. Yep, some of the past references I made in this one, as was the case for a few in the first chapter, might just show up as prequel shorts later on down the road! :D
I tried to keep parts of the chapter light, but it definitely goes in a bit of a more emotional direction later on. I hope I handled that well.
Next chapter will have some appearances from more familiar faces, along with quite a few relationship moments too! Hopefully I will do them all justice. :)
Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I hope you liked the second chapter! :D