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 Nineteen:
"Oh, oh! This is my favorite party of the whole story!" Caboose exclaimed happily from his spot next to the cot, "Do you want to know what happens next, Church?"
Leonard Church had just about enough of this shit.
First of all, he was holed up in bed due to yet another fucking headache caused by those annoying as-all-fuck power outages. Secondly, Caboose was trying to read to him so he'd "feel better." Caboose's attempts at reading often got hopelessly sidetracked by constant questions and narrative comments, making the damn thing go on forever.
Light was still causing a sharp pain in his forehead and Church groaned, using his hand to shield his blue eyes from the offending sight.
"Can't you go and bug someone else for a while, Caboose?" Church demanded, his tone one of pained exasperation.
Caboose's overly cheerful expression fell the second the question left his lips, and Church regretted it immediately.
"Everyone else is too busy." A downcast blond informed Church, "Red Sargent took Sheila, Lopez, and Freckles away for tests after their last game of playing dead."
Ah, so that explained why he hadn't seen the two robots around recently…and why Caboose's trusty gun companion was nowhere to be found.
He felt like a grade-A jackass when Caboose stated quietly, "…I hate that game now."
Church sighed, not really in the mood to correct Caboose's comment since it wouldn't have worked anyways, "You and me both, buddy."
"I'm not supposed to visit them yet." Caboose continued, bolstered by Church's rare display of sympathy, "I'm worried, Church."
Church felt his headache looming in the forefront of his brain as he admitted "Me too." under his breath.
His glance went over to where Simmons was sitting with a nervous-looking Junior nearby at the opposite side of Doctor Grey's clinic, the crazy lady having gone off to run some errands a while ago.
The dark-haired man had nearly forgotten that today was Simmons' day to watch Junior while Tucker ran some errands with, not surprisingly in the slightest, Washington. The poor kid was probably just as worried about the effects of the power outages as Caboose was.
…No doubt the other cyborg was just as nervous about them as Church tried to pretend not to be.
"Hey, this is utter bullshit, isn't it?" He called out to Simmons just then, feeling oddly comradely for a change given their current situation.
Simmons blinked, apparently taken aback that Church had even spoken to him before the nerd gave a tired, sort-of pained smile and nodded his red-haired head in agreement.
"Yeah, it totally sucks." The kiss-ass said, his green human eye and red cybernetic one focusing on the book that was still in Caboose's hand and smiling slightly, "Say, Caboose, I bet Junior would love to hear a story." Simmons started, glancing over at the boy sitting beside him, "Wouldn't you, Junior?"
Junior's expression immediately lifted, and the small boy smiled brightly as he nodded his head.
"Oh, boy!" Caboose exclaimed happily at the prospect, "We're at my favorite part too!"
The large blue-wearing blond moved his chair over to the side of the clinic where Junior and Simmons were, excitedly pointing to something in the pages of the book he was holding.
The words of the story and Caboose's excited commentary turned into indecipherable jargon and background noise in Church's ears. But, both Caboose and Junior seemed happy enough with the arrangement, even momentarily forgetting their worries.
Church smiled inwardly, somewhat glad even if that sense of ease wasn't something he'd normally ever feel. He caught Simmons' contemplative frown and knew that he was probably thinking similar thoughts, though the redhead couldn't help but smile slightly all the same when he saw how into Caboose's story Junior was getting.
Dexter Grif had to admit that it was always a bit surprising to see his little sister in her chosen field of medicine. Even when she had to train with the other lieutenants, Kai remained adamant on her stance that "guns were gross" and refused to wield one.
Kai as a medic was a reminder that maybe, just maybe he hadn't done such a bad job in raising her despite their rocky past.
Or rather, it would be, if he hadn't currently stepped into the doctor's office to find his little sister trying to create a pyramid out of brightly colored packages of condoms.
"Goddamn it, Kai!" Grif couldn't help but swear when he saw the neon colored design resting on the medical room's examining table.
Kai took her big brother's exasperation in stride, grinning up mischievously from her chair, "What are you now, a cop?"
The chubby man sighed, figuring it was best to just ignore her remark. Instead, he glanced around the space for a familiar suit of tan armor with purple stripes, "Where's Bones?"
Kai shrugged, furrowing her dark brows in thought, "I think she's at lunch or something. I finished organizing all the supplies, so now…"
Grif glanced over at the condom pyramid when his sister trailed off, "You got bored." He surmised.
The tan-skinned young woman nodded, regarding him suspiciously, "So what?" Kai asked, "You have a medical emergency? Got your penis stuck in something it shouldn't be?"
There was a slight note of concern mixed in with her curiosity, and Grif couldn't help but feel somewhat touched by it even if her second question was annoying as fuck. He frowned all the same as he pondered over her first question at least, sitting down in the chair opposite her.
Did not being able to get off with anyone else's touch but Simmons' count as a medical emergency or was he just overreacting? The genetically engineered man really couldn't say either way, and that was frustrating the fuck out of him.
That frustration must have been visible in his expression just then, because Kai had an uncharacteristically serious look on her face as she regarded him, "Dex?"
He blinked, shaking his dark-haired head to dispel his thoughts. He might as well just get this over with. "Actually, it was you that I wanted to talk to, Kai." Grif informed her without preamble.
In a way, Bones not being here was a blessing. It was always weird talking about their genetically engineered condition in front of others.
"Me?" Kai blinked in surprise before she fixed him with a suspicious dark-eyed glare, "About what? Because those two guys were already going at it before I jumped in and—!"
Grif shook his head, "No, that's not fucking it." A second later her words caught up with him, "Wait, what? Damn it, Kai!"
Kai visibly relaxed at the notion that her big bro was still in the dark over whatever type of shenanigans she had been involved in, "Oh, sweet! Never mind then!" She quickly changed topics, "What's on your mind?"
The orange-wearing man frowned, mentally reminding himself that later on he no doubt needed to have yet another talk with Kai about not doing anything to embarrass the family, but then quickly said his piece, "Simmons."
Kai snorted and rolled her dark eyes at the same time, "Yeah, yeah. So, what else is new?"
Grif couldn't help but also roll his eyes in response. Kai had long since figured out his feelings for the cyborg, so he supposed she had a point.
"This is different, Kai." He said quietly, looking down at the ugly ass moldy tiles on the floor.
Kai blinked, apparently taken aback by the serious and rather dejected way that Grif was acting, "What's going on?"
Grif clenched his hands into fists, "I know I'm getting close to my time," he knew he didn't have to elaborate any further with Kai since she was in the same boat, "But something's wrong."
Kai's expression looked serious then, and she appeared for all the world like the medic-in-training that she was. Despite what he was feeling at the moment, he couldn't help but be proud of her. Fucking Big Brother Mode was hard to get rid of.
"What do you mean?" Kai finally asked when it became apparent her brother wasn't going to elaborate.
"I'm not reacting to just anyone's touch anymore." Which was in and of itself completely abnormal at this stage of needing release, "Only…only Simmons'. Also, it's a lot more…" Grif trailed off then, suddenly realizing just how awkward it was having this conversation with his little sister of all people.
"A lot more intense than usual?" Kai finished for him, frowning in thought as she swiveled her chair around once.
Grif sighed and nodded.
"So, you came to your little sister for relationship advice." Now, a smug-looking Kai seemed rather amused by the situation.
Grif sighed again and stood up, figuring that he'd made a big mistake. It was Kai's sudden grip on his larger arm that stopped him.
Looking down, he saw the yellow-wearing girl back in "Serious Mode" once again, "I've sort of researched people like us a lot in my free time." Kai admitted, surprisingly sheepishly, "I guess…I guess I was just curious about where we came from or some shit."
Grif sat back down. In a way, he could understand her curiosity. Kai had been a lot younger than him when they had been kicked out of their batch for being too "imperfect." He had been older and had known exactly what they had been designed for, so the curiosity had never been there for him.
"Well, have you heard of strange-as-fuck situations like this one?" The tan-skinned man finally asked her apathetically.
Kai nodded, "It's actually pretty common."
That caught Grif's attention, "It is?"
First time he'd ever fucking heard of it.
"You've been in love with the gray nerd for how many years now?" Kai started to explain, "Your body's simply adjusted to accommodate the strength of those feelings given the physical effect they've had on you."
Un-fucking-believable. Grif stared at her blankly.
"That's why genetically engineered people like us are exposed to so many different people if raised normally." Kai muttered, glancing down at the ground, "It's a known side effect that the manufacturers tried to avoid."
Grif hated how genetically engineered people had been chalked up to basically mere merchandise during the war, and he felt bad that Kai had researched this on her own given everything. Still, he had to focus on her words now.
"So you're telling me…" He began, swallowing down the lump that had formed in his throat, "That my body now only wants Simmons?"
It wasn't exactly a shocker given that it had been that way emotionally for years now, but this sudden biological adaptation or whatever it was definitely complicated matters.
Kai nodded, almost looking wistful herself, "It's sort of romantic, if you think about it." She tried consoling him, dark eyes warm in a way he didn't normally see.
The dark-haired man wondered if Kai was thinking about that Volleyball girl that she had become rather close to recently.
Grif shook his head to shake those thoughts away, completely unused to this level of heaviness in conversations with his sister, "And a major pain in the ass too." He stated in response to her statement, "Especially since Simmons doesn't seem interested in me that way."
Kai stared at him like he was the world's biggest idiot, and he sighed as dramatically as he could for effect before standing up once more to leave.
"Well, dumbass, you're going to have to figure things out soon." Kai called after him, "That level of attachment to only one person only intensifies things."
Grif paused at the door, unsure of how to respond.
"Majorly sucks to be you, bro." Kai added a moment later, both sympathetically and jokingly at the same time.
"Fuck it all." He could only groan out in response before leaving the medical room entirely.
"You're being completely unreasonable, Miss Kimball—!"
"Only by your standards." The dark-haired woman shouted back before turning away, "Just make sure it doesn't happen again!"
With that, Vanessa Kimball was gone. Left behind in the Chorus leader's wake was a dumbfounded Donald Doyle, who now stood alone in the streets of the Armonia District.
Doyle blinked, trying to recall exactly what had happened this time to lead to such a fantastic shouting match between the two co-leaders. Honestly? His mind was drawing a huge blank.
He was fairly certain that their conversation had started out cordially enough with talk about the weather and other things but, when the topic changed to the continued power outages around Chorus and what they should do about them, suddenly Doyle was "overstepping his bounds" or some such utter nonsense.
His heart was still racing. Truthfully, he'd never had the pleasure of meeting someone half as infuriatingly stubborn as Vanessa Kimball before. He frowned in his contemplation, recalling that something had appeared to be troubling the woman throughout their conversation even before the actual fight had occurred.
Doyle wondered if he could perhaps help her with whatever the issue was, if only to make for a more amicable work environment. Surely not because he thought a smile suited her best or…
"She seems to feel threatened by the sword choosing you at the temple," a calm, deep voice interrupted his trailing off thoughts, "Especially since it gives you such a stronger connection to a powerful and ancient Artificial Intelligence."
Doyle started, surprised to find Locus standing there. His face turned red in embarrassment at the notion that their most recent altercation had been seen by someone. Embarrassment abating, Locus' words started making their way into his brain and the Chorus leader couldn't help but frown.
Locus took the brown-haired man's silence then as an apparent cue to continue, "One should be wary of someone who is so desperate for power." He advised.
Doyle's immediate reaction was to deny the charges. He knew his co-leader.
True, they might have extreme differences on pretty much most topics, but he knew that Kimball was not power-hungry. No, the woman loved Chorus more than anyone else he'd ever met, himself included. It was one of the many things that he admired about her.
He opened his mouth to do just that, but his still current frustration left no words to come forth. Doyle was left to gape awkwardly, like a fish out of water. He just wasn't good at these kinds of situations!
Locus regarded the older man carefully for a few seconds before speaking up again, "I would merely advise you to keep an eye on things." The steel-with-green armored mercenary stated before walking away.
Doyle stood there a long while, recent events playing again and again in his head as a heavy feeling of gloom suddenly settled over his shoulders like a wet blanket.
Richard "Dick" Simmons was trying his hardest to recover from the latest "blackout" episode, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself as he retreated to the warehouse alone.
It had been some time since Sheila and Lopez had returned from the tests that Sarge had wanted to run on them. The two Virtual Intelligences had headed directly to the clinic along with Freckles to check on Caboose and Junior, who were still reading together.
When they had walked in, Simmons glanced at the clock. It was only an hour or so until both Tucker and Washington would come to collect Junior. No doubt the three of them would go home together, as they so often did.
The redhead had taken the opportunity to go to the kitchen area of the warehouse and indulge in some much-needed coffee, hoping that the caffeine would help get rid of the remaining sluggishness in his body.
Currently, the results were less than promising. Simmons sighed into his coffee mug, thinking back to the others in the same general boat as he was.
Church had left the clinic a little earlier than Simmons had, already in his "everything's fucking fine!" mode. No doubt the cobalt-wearing man was getting prepared for when he ran into his sister later. Church would have a hard time convincing Carolina not to worry. Simmons didn't envy him.
Simmons really, really wished that he could do the same and have his own "everything's fucking fine!" mode. But, with the frequency of the power outages and the effect they were having on him and the others, he couldn't help but feel more and more worried.
Deep down, he knew that Church was feeling the same. That they all were. The maroon-wearing nerd had just always been horrible at keeping his anxieties at bay.
The redhead sighed again, wondering just what he could do today to get his mind off of things when heavy footfalls suddenly entered the kitchen from behind him.
Simmons turned around, his face warming up slightly at the sight of Grif standing there, regarding him intently.
The chubby man was panting and slightly out of breath, which meant that he had uncharacteristically run there from somewhere else. Given the timeframe from when they had last spoken, it couldn't have been a long distance.
"Just how out of shape are you, fat-ass?" Simmons asked, wanting to break the tension that had suddenly entered the room with their usual banter. It apparently worked a little bit.
"Shut up. That was a lot of fucking running, kiss-ass!" Pulling himself away from the door frame with effort, Grif stepped forward and looked Simmons up and down as if checking him over for any injuries, "I heard about the power outage." He stated without preamble, "How are you doing?"
Simmons felt the blush coating his features deepen at the obvious concern being sent his way from the normally apathetic Grif of all people and he smiled weakly, "Better now." He answered honestly, but winced when he realized how that might sound, "I—I mean…!"
The redhead trailed off when he noticed the momentary flicker of relief at the confirmation that he was currently okay be replaced by an intensely serious look as Grif continued to regard him.
"W—what's wrong?" Simmons finally managed to squeak out, hating having so much scrutiny directed his way.
Grif blinked, a surprisingly determined expression crossing over his tan features a moment later as he motioned with his arm for Simmons to follow him out the door.
"We need to talk." He told him.
"…And that's when I left." Cass finished explaining quietly, before shooting Andersmith a weak smile, "My family never did understand me. It was hard at first, but in the end I'm glad I made the choice."
Andersmith shook his dark head of hair, "That's an incredible story."
The brunette looked at the lieutenant thoughtfully, "Really? I can't say it's very different from too many others."
"In a way, perhaps. But," Andersmith chose his words carefully, "You were so young. I didn't leave my home until just a few years ago."
"You had a family. That's incredible in and of itself." Cass informed him gently, hand clenching onto the wedding ring on a chain that still hung around her neck, "Believe me, I know."
"Indeed." Andersmith reached to the ring around his own neck at his remark and he couldn't help but wonder just how much in common they had with each other.
The two smiled peacefully at one another from across the bar, a knowing look in their eyes. It seemed that perhaps they were both thinking the same thing.
It was Cass who broke away first, her smile deepening, "Would you…would you like some coffee?" She asked, "I have just enough left in the pot for two cups."
"That would be wonderful." Andersmith smiled back at her, noticing that they both had blushes on their faces.
Just as Cass was turning around to grab for the coffee pot, the door to her restaurant opened.
She didn't glance up at first, and didn't notice Andersmith stiffening where he sat on the barstool as she said to the new arrival: "Sorry, we're closed right now."
"Shame, and here I thought that this was the right time for chatting." A surprisingly familiar voice for both Cass and Andersmith remarked, though the reasons as to why they both knew that particular voice couldn't have been more different from each other.
Cass in particular stiffened at the sound of Terrence's voice, turning around to see the now burned man smirking at her with shark motif helmet in his hands. Andersmith moved slightly while still sitting at the bar in an awkward attempt to shield Cass from view while Terrence watched the action, clearly amused.
Cass swallowed, "W—what are you doing here, Terrence?" She demanded in a shaking voice.
This was not the same Terrence that had been like a big brother figure to her, Grif, and Kai while they were growing up. Nor was he the same one that C.T. had often joked about Cass having a crush on.
No, there was definitely a dangerous aura surrounding him now. …This Terrance who was now known as Sharkface.
"Is it a crime to want to catch up with another old friend?" The scarred brown-haired man asked snidely, "I've already seen Grif."
He glanced around at the bar before focusing back on Cass, his eyes lingering on the ring around her neck before taking in Andersmith watching him with a wary look.
Terrance smirked, "I'd heard you got a pretty good life for yourself here, Cass." He noted, almost fondly, "I'm glad for you."
Cass and Andersmith both exchanged nervous glances then, unsure of where this was going.
Terrence's expression hardened a second later, "But you might want to leave sooner rather than later. Take this handsome guy here and go. This is your only warning."
Andersmith stood up from the barstool he had been sitting on, "What do you—?!"
The rookie was cut off by a loud explosion outside, close to where the security gate for Chorus was. A mere second later, the power in the city suddenly went out completely.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I figured that was a good stopping point for the chapter before it got way too long.
Next up, a whole LOT of things get set into motion as Chorus becomes a battleground. I can't really say much more on that currently since there are a lot of things that occur and I still want to keep them a surprise, but hopefully the next few chapters will not disappoint as things start to heat up!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter! :D