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 Twenty-One:
Frank "Doc" DuFresne was staunchly against all forms of violence, but even the pacifist had to admit that the fight between Felix and Washington was something to behold. It was almost akin to a dance as, more often than not, both men weaved in and out of the other's way. Even Felix's other mercenary cohorts were holding back to watch how things progressed.
Felix moved with a carefree gait, expending energy only when absolutely necessary by deflecting Washington. The steel-and-orange freelancer's overall posture and energy reminded Doc far too much of a cat playing with its prey.
Washington, on the other hand, was attacking with the ferocity of a wild, wounded animal. It was as if seeing Felix stab Tucker had caused him to snap, to lose all sense of self in a berserk rage. Doc had the impression that if Washington ever managed to get his hands on Felix, the genetically engineered man would tear him limb from limb with his bare hands.
Tucker! Thinking of the teal-armored soldier, Doc chastised himself for forgetting that he had a patient who urgently needed his attention.
The medic looked towards the wounded man. Lavernius Tucker's face was ashen, and he had lost consciousness not too long ago. The blood that still gushed from his injury an obvious issue that needed to be dealt with.
"We have to stop the bleeding," Doc heard himself say to a very shaken up Franklin Delano Donut, somewhat surprised at how calm he sounded, "And I didn't even think to bring any aloe vera today!"
Donut blinked, looking down at Tucker's prone form with impossibly wide, brown eyes. His entire body shook as he bent down to help Doc apply pressure to the wound. The dirty blond gulped, and the purple-wearing medic could see the telltale signs of tears begin to well up in the younger man's eyes.
"Donut." Doc spoke both gently and earnestly, desperate on the inside for the pink-armored man to hear him, "Everyone is going to be fine."
A sniffle escaped Donut, but he stared at Doc's reassuring smile as if seeing the other man truly for the first time then and there. He gave a brief nod of confirmation then, returning Doc's gesture with a shaky smile of his own.
Doc glanced around their surroundings, brown eyes lighting up at the sight of a building that he knew was still abandoned thanks to the Chorus rebuilding effort. If they could get Tucker away from the fighting, it would be easier to treat him…
Donut picked up quite readily on Doc's glance towards the nearby building. Fortunately, the mercenaries were too wrapped up in watching the fight between Washington and Felix to pay them any mind.
As it were, Doc and Donut made their way over to the building rather easily with Tucker hanging limply in-between them. The door opened without any fuss, and the space inside was relatively empty save for a few shelves off to the sides. Doc couldn't help but notice it was filthy. Truly, the amount of dust inside was hardly hygienic and he wanted nothing more than to Swiffer the hell out of it, but in situations like this beggars really couldn't be choosers.
The two placed Tucker on the ground, Doc for once in his life grateful for an absence of windows even though he inwardly missed the natural light. Still, without windows the brown-haired man could focus his attention on Tucker without worry of being easily spotted. Hopefully, their getting to a hiding spot would help Washington focus more.
Doc went to work quickly, Donut hovering over him nervously. After a few tense minutes, he wiped a blood-stained hand over his sweaty brow, "He's stabilized. For now. I don't have any orange juice to give him though."
Donut let out a sigh of relief, "Good."
Doc took a few deep breaths in and stood up on shaky feet, somewhat surprised to see Donut standing in front of the now opened door.
"Donut?" The medic finally questioned, frowning as a sudden apprehensiveness shot through his core.
Donut didn't even look over his shoulder, "You stay here with Tucker, Doc." He told him quietly, "I'm going to go back and help Washington."
"But that's…!" Doc stepped forward, reaching out for Donut's shoulder.
The dirty blond turned around then, a fond smile crossing over his features as he regarded the medic, "You're the one who said we'd all be okay, remember?" He reminded the purple-wearing man gently. Doc tried to protest, but Donut silenced him with an emphatic shake of his head, "Right now, I want to protect everyone. You too."
Donut slipped through the open doorway just as Doc raced towards it, the heavy metal door closing shut in his face. Doc pounded on it as he heard the lock clicking into place from the outside, followed by the sound of Donut's footsteps as they retreated away.
Despite Felix's initial ease during the beginning of the battle, David Washington's dogged determination and outright ferocity were steadily gaining him the upper hand. The blond felt like he had to keep pressing his advantage, had to keep moving forward.
Otherwise, his mind would too quickly delve into the raw panic and pain that he experienced whenever he let his guard down. His thoughts would then lead back to Tucker bleeding on the ground and…
And he wanted to kill Felix.
One of Washington's punches collided with a satisfying crunch to the side of Felix's face, and he saw the mercenary spin backwards in an attempt to keep his balance.
Felix growled in aggravation, "Enough of this fucking bullshit!"
From within the compartments of his armor, the brown-haired Freelancer produced the all-too familiar sight of a flash grenade. Washington barely covered his eyes with his arm as the thing went off in the air.
Unfortunately, the action left the blond open enough for Felix's kick to connect. Washington crashed to the ground rather painfully.
"Heh." Felix spat out blood onto the ground as he smugly observed Washington, "Be glad that my employer wants you alive."
Washington grimaced as he thought of Tucker, of Junior, of the others, and…
"Fire in the hole!"
Donut's exclamation came not a second before a round object was thrown at Felix's feet.
"What the—?!" The mercenary exclaimed, barely having time to dodge before the grenade went off.
Donut was surprisingly quick. The pink-armored man was already by Washington's side and helping him get back up on his feet.
"Hey, Felix!" He called out cheerfully, "You're not the only one who's good at tossing!"
"Never utter those words again. Please." Washington managed to mumble under his breath to the younger soldier.
"That was unexpected." Felix said as he lowered his hands. There was definitely anger radiating off of his body at Donut's unaccounted for intrusion into his and Washington's fight, "But, as much as I'd love to end you both here, I'm afraid we just don't have the time."
Felix, along with his compatriots, moved then to reveal even more mercenaries behind them. The major difference was that these mercenaries had the haggard-looking lieutenants minus Andersmith in tow and at gunpoint. The younger soldiers were all handcuffed and very much looked the worse for wear.
"Captain Washington! Captain Donut!" Katie Jensen exclaimed, a gash above her right eyebrow.
"We're—we're sorry, sirs." Her brother Matthews stated a second later, the other rookies looking just as sullen and downcast.
"I'd give up now if I were you." Felix sneered, "Unless you want more than just Tucker's blood on the ground."
Washington could have killed the mercenary for that comment, but instead he shared a look with Donut. The two soldiers gave a slight nod to one another right before Donut dropped the grenade he'd been holding without pulling its pin.
They couldn't risk the safety of the lieutenants.
"That's better." Felix mocked, walking over to them, "But here's a little something from me to you."
With that, the mercenary punched Donut as hard as he could. The pink-wearing man went crashing to the ground with a sick-sounding thud. Washington turned to react right when Felix did the same to him.
Everything went black.
"This way, Church," Doctor Emily Grey's voice was gentle but insistent, "Watch your step."
Leonard Church couldn't help but groan through the incessant, sharp pain battering his skull as they made their way through an escape tunnel that definitely had not been on any of the warehouse blueprints that he had ever seen.
…Which meant it was another of Sarge's oh-so-helpful "modifications" that the red-armored man neglected to tell the others about until a surprise like the power going out right before the warehouse was stormed by heavily armed Insurrection assholes and mercenaries occurred.
Church supposed it was something of a miracle that Doctor Grey and Sarge had found him in the hallway when they had, and that they had pulled him into this secret tunnel just as the first of the enemy combatants reared their ugly, helmeted heads.
There had been far too many for them to take on all at once, and Church knew that even if he had been in any condition to fight, it wasn't as if his aim would be super-helpful to them.
Personally, the dark-haired man was impressed that the trigger-happy Sarge hadn't decided that he'd go out in a blaze of glory. Church tried not to think of the others in Chorus who were probably less fortunate.
"It still feels off to not even fire a warning shot from my shotgun at those no-good infiltrators!" Sarge said from Church's other side as the two crazy people supported the cobalt-wearing man between them.
"Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, dear." Grey reminded the older man gently.
"True enough," Sarge admitted after what appeared to be careful consideration, "Especially when we can regroup later to take glorious revenge on our enemies!"
Well, that was one way to spot a silver lining in this shit-fest they had tumbled into.
"That's the spirit!" Doctor Grey stated far too enthusiastically for Church's comfort.
There was silence for a good long while after that. Church's vision was a blurry mess every time he opened his eyes, but he had not doubt that the two were shooting each other a fond look over his head. His urge to vomit suddenly increased tenfold.
"Still, who would have guessed that you had an escape tunnel all the way out of Chorus?" Grey said conversationally a few minutes later, a tone of awe in her voice.
Sarge's smirk was apparent when he spoke next, "It's always wise to be prepared, darlin'."
Church groaned as they continued on their way, "Really? Here I thought it was just your delusional paranoia."
"Son, there's hardly a difference in this day and age." Sarge told him matter-of-factly.
…For once, Church really couldn't think of an argument.
Carolina had been busy keeping the pirates, for that was what she no doubt knew them to truly be now, at bay. Although now it seemed that most of them, along with Aiden Price, had decided their best course of action was to simply let Locus deal with her as they held back. No doubt they were largely inspired to do so thanks to the five-or-so unconscious compatriots of theirs who had attempted before to overwhelm her with their numbers.
Carolina felt a small trill of satisfaction at that outcome, though she was hardly in a position to really dwell on it. After all, Locus was a more than capable opponent.
She needed to focus on him as well as figure out how to deal with the others if any of them had a chance at surviving.
Santa had wisely disappeared the second that the pirates had shown up, which meant one less thing for her to worry about at the moment. Meanwhile, Vanessa Kimball had managed to get to Donald Doyle.
The dark-skinned woman had even dragged the bleeding man behind her desk where she could hopefully help address his wound better. The desk also provided cover should the pirates decide to open fire, though they seemed hesitant to do so currently.
…Which probably meant that they wanted to take them alive. For what purpose exactly, Carolina couldn't say. She wasn't exactly in the mood to find out either.
The blows the cyan-armored woman traded with Locus were fairly even. While the mercenary had more power to his strikes due to his stature, she had the advantage of speed. So, everything seemed to balance out.
She could hear York murmuring "You're damned if you do, damned if you don't." in the back of her mind and she had to remind herself to focus on the here-and-now.
Truthfully, she seemed to have the upper hand in their fight as she pushed Locus closer towards his cohorts on the other side of the office with every precisely made strike. That was, until a gleam of bloodied metal came into play.
Carolina cursed at herself for having forgotten about Locus' weapon just as the blade found its way into a weak point on the armor of her left leg. The redhead let out an exclamation of pain as the burning sensation intensified when Locus pulled the knife out, dropping to her knees on the floor.
"Carolina!" Kimball shouted as she stood up behind the desk, gun aimed at Locus' helmeted head.
A dozen or so guns were suddenly trained on the co-leader of Chorus. Carolina once again cursed at the turn of events as she felt blood flow down her leg, dripping on the office floor. She'd never reach Kimball in time with this injury.
"Give up." Locus stated plainly as Carolina glared up at him with gritted teeth.
Price stepped forward from behind the armed mercenaries and Insurrectionists just then, "Please, there is no need for this violence to continue."
"It's a little too late for that, don't you think? Counselor?" A booming voice stated from what sounded like some sort of intercom, though that should have been impossible given the current state of Chorus.
The statement was followed a moment later by the roar of what sounded distinctly like the engines of an air transport filling the air. Carolina, despite the pain lancing through her leg, barely had time to jump back closer to the desk for cover as said transport actually crashed through the office wall nearby with a whine of tearing metal and a loud, ringing sound.
Naturally, the whole thing caused the pirates to make a hasty retreat to avoid being crushed to death.
Kimball stared both in awe and shock at the carnage that was her office moments before, "Wh—what is going on now?" She finally demanded.
Carolina, however, had her green gaze focused on the rather familiar-looking transport.
"There's only one pilot I know who would attempt a crazy stunt like that…" She muttered as her thoughts trailed off.
"Aw, I'm glad that you remember me, Carolina." Four Seven Niner's voice stated cheerfully enough, though after regarding the cyan-armored woman's condition, the frown on her helmeted face looming from the transport's window became apparent when next she spoke, "Though greetings can wait until the bleeding's stopped."
There were heavy footsteps racing from the transport's ramp, and another all-too familiar person in black armor was suddenly heading over the debris towards the redhead.
"Carolina!" The woman called out, holding out her hand, "You all right?"
Carolina ignored the pain in her leg to stare up at the newcomer in staunch disbelief, "Tex?!"
The smirk was evident in the other redhead's voice when she spoke: "Long time no see, huh?"
The walk to the warehouse was fairly uneventful, despite the sounds of fighting that could be distinctly heard in other areas of the settlement. Honestly, Dexter Grif was rather grateful for that, especially since Richard "Dick" Simmons' condition hadn't improved any as they traversed through Chorus.
…Not to mention, the chubby man wasn't sure how he would be able to handle a firefight with both an unconscious Simmons and a noncombatant like Malcolm Hargrove to consider.
The warehouse building itself was fairly quiet when they came upon it. There were the all-too-familiar telltale signs of some assholes having ransacked the place given the footprints and discarded pieces of equipment and tech covering the ground, but it seemed like all of the action had moved to other places.
Holding Simmons tighter to himself, Grif continued on cautiously through the building to the clinic area that Doctor Grey had set up. Hopefully, the others had regrouped here after whoever had run through the place left.
Sarge and Doctor Grey could have a good look at Simmons. The two might be insane, but they knew what they were fucking doing when it came to cybernetics. At least the orange-armored soldier hoped so.
But, when the genetically engineered man and Hargrove managed to pry open the clinic doors, he realized that he wasn't going to be meeting Sarge and Doctor Grey here. Grif's heart dropped to his stomach at the realization.
The only individuals to be found in the clinic were the slumped over, inactive forms of Sheila and Lopez. Not to mention an unconscious tall blond in blue armor, his gun Freckles knocked to the ground at his side.
"Caboose-!" Grif started, heading towards the genetically engineered man to make sure that he was all right, Simmons still slung over his shoulders.
…It was at the very second when he took a step toward Caboose that a blinding, electrical pain suddenly flared to life in his side.
Grif's legs gave out from under him. He crashed to the ground, the redheaded cyborg tumbling on top of him.
Through tear-filled eyes, Grif looked up at Hargrove. The Charon Chairman stood over the tan-skinned man with a rather dispassionate look on his weathered face.
In Hargrove's hand was a taser of some kind. Fucking bastard.
"I suppose I should thank you for cooperating to get to where the transport is located, more or less." The old man stated without preamble, "You see, I have rather large plans for everyone from Chorus."
As Hargrove talked, the clinic filled with mercenaries and Insurrection assholes. Grif realized that they must have been hiding in the area the entire time.
He had been so worried about getting help for Simmons that the possibility of an ambush hadn't even crossed his mind.
Hargrove turned his back on Grif as he headed towards the door, "Be sure to take extra care with the merchandise," he told the pirates as he left, "Especially Simmons."
Grif couldn't help but feel his fingers tighten a fraction around the aforementioned redhead, even as a second later, he fell unconscious.
Author's Notes: Lots of things happened in this chapter, and the aftermath of those events will start to be shown in the next part of the story. More intensity from here to come! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter. If you did, I hope you enjoyed it! :D