Unfinished Highway, Cascadia

Prospero changed everything.

Robin "President" Kuo could see it in everyone's eyes. The Independence Force Grunts, formerly jovial and gung-ho, were now bitter, angry, and depressed. The mechanics under her command were jumpy and afraid, a far cry from the confidence that they'd previously displayed.

It was worse for the people who had been present. Diplomat had been unusually quiet, he snapped at people for even the slightest reason, and his eyes were always bloodshot. Comic had mentioned he wasn't sleeping well, but the only reason she was sleeping any better was because she'd been drinking far more heavily than before.

But it was Monarch that took it the worst.

The quiet, shy, but ultimately friendly pilot that Prez had fallen for was gone. In his place was a clinical and dispassionate man. He'd gone from being a quiet person to being downright silent unless he absolutely needed to speak. Like Dip, he barely slept, he barely ate, and although she hadn't caught him drinking, he smelled faintly of liquor.

He got even worse in private, when he was alone with her and had no obligation to keep appearances up. They'd had a habit of cuddling in the brief time that they'd been in a relationship before Prospero, but now he cried whenever she held him. He'd say "I'm sorry" over and over again, but she wasn't sure who he was talking to.

It was as hard for her as it was unbelievable. Sicario's strongest Pilot, the Independence Force's ace-in-the-hole… was a shattered wreck. Of course, she'd never really bought into his reputation, to her he was just Monarch, but that made it even harder to see him in such a state. A legend couldn't be broken, but Monarch could.

At the moment, he was passed out next to her on their makeshift bed, and she was in no hurry to wake him up. She wasn't quite sure when he'd drifted off to sleep, but she knew he needed all of the rest he could get.

"Is he still sleeping?"

Prez looked up to see Comic, looking down at them with a look of concern. A month ago, she would have made some teasing comment about catching Prez in bed with Monarch, but Comic's jokes had died in the fire along with the people of Prospero.

"Yeah… don't wake him, please." Prez answered. She wasn't afraid of their conversation waking Monarch, since when he did sleep he slept like a rock, but that didn't mean he couldn't be awoken.

Comic nodded, and sat down on the asphalt floor of their tunnel on the old highway. "I won't, don't worry. Dip's sleeping too, thank the Dust…"

I didn't know she was religious. Prez thought. Then again, I guess we've all been changing lately.

"That's good, I'm worried about him too." Prez said as she took a deep breath. "Actually, I'm worried about just about everyone…"

Comic looked her in the eyes. "And what about you Prez? No offense but… well, you look like shit. Are you holding up okay?"

No. Was what she wanted to say. How could she be? How could she be okay having witnessed the murder of millions of innocent people, having failed to stop it from happen? "I'm doing better than I could be, I guess. I wish I could get word out to my family, let them know that I'm still alive, but, well-"

Comic nodded in understanding as she trailed off, communications were down pretty much across the continent even between military units on both sides. The prospects of Prez getting even one message from rural Cascadia to the Deep Federation were practically nonexistent.

"I'm sorry." Comic told her, looking and sounding like she meant it. "I'm sure they're thinking about you."

"I just hope they're okay. The geothermal storms back home were bad before all of this but now…" Prez trailed off again, shaking her head in disbelief. "I just don't get how the Feds could've done this. How could they justify this? How did they think what they were doing was a good idea?!"

Comic shook her head. "I dunno Prez, but to me, it doesn't really matter. I'm gonna kill em' all, I don't care what they've got to say anymore."

Prez nodded fervently, she'd never been fond of killing before, but now? Any bastard who still fought for the Federation knew exactly which side they were on, knew what their people had done. "Save some for me. When we get airborne again, I'm sure Monarch's gonna want to settle the score a little, and I'll be right there with him."

Comic grew a small, vindictive smile as she looked down at Monarch, who was still sleeping peacefully. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

Author's Notes: Tone is a funny thing, don't you think? I remember being pretty shaken up by playing through Propero on my first run through, and Project Wingman is just a video game.

I was thinking about what it must've been like for the characters in the aftermath once the adrenaline had run off, what they must've felt. That's when I knew that I wanted to write this. I also wanted to write some of Comic talking to Prez, since they seem to get along pretty well and honestly I just love them both and wanted to write more of them.

Characterizing Monarch has also been tricky, but one thing I wanted to avoid was having him be invincible. He's only Human, and he can't help but feel responsible for Prospero, even if he knows deep down that it was the Federation who consigned all of those people to burn.

Got an idea for at least one more chapter, stay tuned.