Yang strolled up to the door of the gang's house, fully intent on talking to Vic this time around without becoming flustered like some pre-teen schoolgirl who just saw a hot guy on TV. They'd known the group for a whole-ass while now, honestly, and they were good friends. Even though the Misfits really liked to keep to themselves outside patrols. She knocked on the door to the madhouse, only to hear a mass amount of what she assumed to be swearing from inside, followed by Sammy's voice, loud, sharp and angry, "FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HASS!"
"Not sorry!" The boy of Asian descent replied rather happily. A few people let out short laughs, while their Lieutenant seemingly scoffed, stomping up to the door. She propped it open, revealing herself to be clad in just her non-combat fatigues, including a green tank-top with Chinese characters in the center and a pair of cargo pants. She was also in her socks. The black-haired girl glared at Yang, before noticing it was Yang.
"Oop... Hey, Yang," Sammy hummed, then looked back at the mess. It seemed as though Hassan had done a dumb with one of their stun grenade, seeing as Paul was currently cleaning his ears and blinking. Dumbfound, the blonde stared at the small scorch mark on the floor and at a 'grenade', a flashbang, she recalled, with its pull pinned. Sammy sighed, shoulders sagging.
"Wh... What happened?" Yang asked, worried.
Sam replied annoyedly, "Hassan dropped one of his Flashbangs on the floor. We're still not sure if the idiot did it intentionally, or not, but it was without a pin, so..." and she glared at the embodiment of the Military-Industrial Complex that was Hassan Avery. He hummed and stared back at the two of them with a blank face, biting down on a piece of toast with some cheese and ham on top.
"Riiiight..." Yang murmured and chuckled, "Heya, Paul! Ya good, man?"
"My fuckin' Tinnitus is kicking in!" Paul replied. Dushman laughed from the couch, the man having kicked his feet up while watching TV. He greeted Yang with a grin and a wave, to which the Blonde replied in kind. So, that was who she heard laughing, eh? Heh, yeah, they all seemed a little crazy. She watched Jim coming out of his and Hass's room next. He greeted Yang with a wave.
"Yo, Jimmy," Yang smirked. The boy nodded, then looked to Hassan.
"Man, I heard that Flashbang from our room. Scared the everloving shit outta me," He spoke as he walked up to grab a coffee. Hassan hummed and shrugged, to which Jim shook his head and stated, "I'm surprised ya ain't more angry at yourself, mister MIC. That's a waste of resources, my guy..." all while Yang was let in by Sammy. She had to admit, the dynamics of the group were a little out there.
Funny out there, she meant. She watched Saila come out of her and Sammy's room with a grin on her face and a spring to her step. Most of the team was already out and about, so that was a good enough sign that things were going decently well. Most, save for the one she was looking for for their daily 'patrol outing'. Sammy had set up the patrol schedule and it was Early Morning, so it was Vic's run. And she usually chose to hang out with him during that time. Tell puns and the like. Sammy hummed and remembered, seemingly, then pointed at Vic's dorm door and said, "He's in his room, still..."
"I'll help you get him out," Paul stated with half-a-mouth. He shook his head to clear of the 'concussion' from the flashbang's blast. He kicked the empty banger away and toward Hass, before showing her to follow. Yang jovially tagged along with Blake's prospective boyfriend, giggling at the thought of her trying to date the local French Foreign Legion man. The team had yet to explain a lot about their world to them, but oh, well.
Walking to the door, Paul surprised Yang by going to open it immediately. She was about to protest, maybe at the idea of seeing Vic partially naked or something... No, not that, invading his privacy more-like. The redness in her face evaporated for a moment, though, in synchronicity with her heart suddenly sinking when she heard the laugh of a girl from inside. She blanked, looking in with Paul, to see Vic, sitting on the floor and leaned against his bed.
He had his GoPro in his hand and was watching something on the screen. Paul's eyes allowed him to faintly make out the blonde hair of a certain someone. She laughed in the video, calling out, "C'mooon, Viiiiic~! It's not that funnyyyy!" and still giggling. Longingly, the real Victor watched the images play, a half-smile on his face. She had poked the camera, trying to get him to stop.
"You're a very hilarious drunk, actually. Quite cute, too," Vic seemed to reply, laughing heartily at the young woman's antics. She whined, then giggled again and seemed to nearly fall, leaning onto him. He asked her, "You okay?!" fairly concerned upon seeing her trip and nearly drop, all while she lay in his arms now. She still giggled and Vic let out an audible sigh of relief. She looked up at him, smiling.
"Yeah..." She replied next, her face flushed. She stared up at him, below the camera, then smiled simply. Vic paused the video and stared at that soft, happy smile, still not noticing the pair that was waiting at the door. Yang and Paul, meanwhile, looked to one-another, then back at Vic. The young man had a melancholic smile as he looked at the girl he thought lost for good. Even with the hope given by his comrades dropping in, her and her friends being missing didn't inspire much else in the way of confidence.
Vic narrowed his lips, wearing a melancholic smile as he ran a gloved finger on the screen of the camera. He simply looked at those deep blue eyes, at the girl herself, with the type of look Yang herself had only seen in Weiss's stupid young adult romance movies. Perhaps they weren't so stupid, considering she was witnessing the guy she had a crush on with that same look. He whispered, inaudible to either her or Paul, two words that meant the world to him, even if they were in Russian. Something he wanted to say to her if he was to ever see her again... He spoke it with such a fondness, such longing, it hurt when Paul finally realized it.
Victor whispered to Vesna, even though she was not here, a kind-hearted "Moya lubimaya..."
Paul pulled Yang back gently and slowly shut the door, before looking to a surprised Yang. She narrowed her lips to the point they were but a razor-thin line and frowned. She looked to Paul and asked in a quiet whisper, "He really did love her, didn't he...?" to which Paul nodded solemnly. Yang sighed deeply. She still wanted to help him, but at this point, she wasn't sure how she could. That wasn't some puppy or teenager love thing going with him. It was genuine. Even she easily saw it.
"Those two were as close as any boy and girl could ever get," Paul spoke quietly, "It was like I was staring at a pair from some American movie. Literal love at first sight. I don't think I've ever seen Victor as depressed as when we were departing from KFOR. Same as Vesna..." And he chuckled softly. Yang frowned and looked at the door, a motion Paul noticed. He sighed and spoke, "You want to help him."
"If I can?" She noted, "I hope it's not a bit of a selfish peeve of mine, not just... Y'know..."
"I get it. A crush is all sweet and everything, Yang," Paul noted, causing the girl to glow red, "But we're not even sure if Vesna's around or not. I mean, feel free to try by my point of view. Might get him out of his rut, but be ready just in case she... Y'know... He needs a break which I hope God, or whoever dropped us here will give him and us..." He then offered and let out a sigh, "We've all gone through hell, after all..." and Yang noted the tiredness in the voice of one of Vic's best friends, the same man who Blake had gotten a crush on.
She gave another quick glance at the room, noting that, despite the smiles and laughs of the gang, they were all fairly tired, aged individuals. Indeed, nothing like the footage she and her team had seen when looking through the window. They weren't jokers, they were a tired family who'd lost a lot along the way and hoped that they could recover here, if only a little bit.
She was about to say something, to somehow reply to Paul, but the door popped open, scaring her and surprising Paul. They saw Victor had opened it. He had donned his full equipment set, alongside the confused look on his face. He hummed, "Okay, one, what were you two doing in front of my door and two, am I late?" to which Yang quickly shook her head. She noted the faint frown the guy was trying to conceal.
"She was just coming to call ya out to the patrol, Vic," Paul noted. He looked to Yang and hummed, then gave her a nod, "I'll go clean my kit so I can take over in a couple hours..." and he stepped on inside in place of Vic. The Romanian narrowed his eyes, a hint confused at Paul, before he looked to Yang and shrugged. She rubbed the back of her head, cheeks a tinge red.
"Well," He cleared his throat, then asked, "Shall we go?"
"Yeah... Sure..." Yang nodded. The two walked out of the house, Sammy watching them as they moved. She let out a deep sigh and shook her head, then looked back at Paul and the others as the Hungarian in French Foreign Legion uniform stepped out. He sighed and shrugged, then walked up to the table, passing by Dushman, who'd fallen asleep on the couch.
"What do we do?" Sammy asked, looking to Jim and Hass.
"Not a lot we can do for Vic, I think..." Hassan replied with a hint of annoyance. Jim nodded in agreement, fiddling with something on the stove while Paul started playing on his phone. Sam sighed deeply, then leaned against the island-top counter and looked at the door. She hated seeing Vic like that, honestly. She knew the guy dearly loved Vesna, but god dammit, she liked him, too. And she wasn't about to let some blonde bimbo from an alternate universe and with Chinese name steal him.
She blinked. Wow, that was a woefully more aggressive thought process than she usually had. She looked over to Jim, who had finished fiddling with the oven and stove and gave a nod. The young man himself seemed a bit... Shy... Today. Weirdly enough. Eh, she'd do better to ignore it, lest Lita have her head on a pike. She liked Jim as a friend, but she wasn't sure of him as more than that. Plus, Vic was still hurting.
Paul, meanwhile, prayed continuously that Vesna and her team appeared soon. For fuck's sake... He paused as his Scroll/Phone pinged and pulled it out. A message came from Vic. The message said, 'By the way, dude, check this out. Saw it while rewinding through more old footage' and, attached, was an image. A young, blonde-haired woman with cyan eyes and a grin stood at attention, a white-red horizontal stripe flag lay on her shoulder, alongside the weird 'P' of the Polish Special Forces on her chest.
"Katja, huh?" Paul hummed, then smiled. His old childhood friend...
Meanwhile, with Vesna and Co.
Ayesha was helping Vera cook breakfast for once in her life, forced by Vesna's cousin at 'gunpoint'. She hummed along to an old tune from the good ol' anti-Ruski days of her homeland, all while she cooked eggs and bacon. She got hooked on pork ever since she ditched that stupid-ass old religion, with Bacon being a specific favorite of hers. She flipped the bacon with tongs, then looked over to Vera as she was making the salad.
Lita, meanwhile, sat and watched TV, with Anja casually asleep next to her on the sofa, a magazine covering her face. Vera yelped and Ayesha looked toward her as a knife clattered onto the counter-top. The girl was looking at a cut on her finger, hand trembling, before Ayesha asked, "You good, Vera?" and got a nod from the girl. She pulled the first-aid kit out of one of the kitchen drawers, pulled out a band-aid and wrapped it around her finger.
"Gee, thanks," The girl said half-sarcastically, "Like I'm a baby..."
"Ya kinda are," Snorted Ayesha. Vera glared at her and she raised her hands defensively. The Chechen then shrugged and stated, "Listen, all I'm sayin' is, you're related to our dear Team Lead, so of course you're kinda like a baby..." Only to pause and remember as Lita gave her a look that Vesna had, in fact, lost the ability to be called a baby. She sighed deeply, then walked up to the door to one of the bedrooms and listened in. Muffled, but audible, a mix of sounds echoed from within. Quiet whispers, a soft whimper and clearly crying.
"She's looking at old photos of the gang," Lita stated as she walked out of the bathroom, wiping her hair clean. Once she got a couple of looks of confusion from Anja and Ayesha, she clarified, "I had some left-over photographs from back in the day with us." She explained, then sighed and whispered, "Reminders of a time we were all still happy, at least," before walking over to the stove and finishing up their meal. She stated, "We got a new message just now, by the way. Job."
"Oh, joy, what is it this time and how much it paying?" Vera inquired, already eyeing her shotgun.
"Guard duty for a Dust store, fifteen thousand Lien. Looks like people fear getting robbed," The young shortie replied as she set the food on the plates, all while deep in her own thoughts for now. She put them on the table and said, "Someone go get Ves... Much as I'd like to let the girl remember, we need her for dinner and to see if we're taking this contract..."
"I'll go," Vera replied. She hummed and marched up to the door, then propped it open, to find Vesna sat on her bed. To her left was a pack of photographs that she'd clearly put back into their transparent container just now. Vera frowned, then sighed and approached Vesna. Looming over her shoulder now, she could see what had Vesna so mopey. The girl with traces of tears on her cheeks and eyes a bloodshot red gazed at a picture of her and Vic laughing together at some silly joke. The other Misfits were in the background, laughing, too, but the focus seemed to be on the two of them.
The young woman who had been as close to Vesna as a sister sat next to her cousin and sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in. Vesna sighed and leaned against Vera's shoulder, with Vera stating, "It's a little heartwarming, seeing how you two seemed to love each-other so much," to which Vesna hummed affirmatively. Vera chuckled and looked at the pictures, one of which had a full view of the team, all of them sitting together with smiles on their faces. She took said picture and looked at it, then pointed at the two of them being sat next to each-other, both awkward, and stating, "I see you aren't the sole awkward one around, dear cousin."
Vesna blushed, then replied quietly, "It's why we never got beyond friendship..."
"Heh," Vera chuckled, then sighed and patted her on the shoulder, "We'll find him soon, I hope. Along with the rest of your friends."
Vesna looked at her cousin with that faint hope still behind her eyes. She sighed and nodded, before Vera stated, "That's the spirit, Ves. C'mon. Eggs and bacon are ready and we need you to choose if we're going on a job or not." And she helped Vesna stand up, then wiped the tears out of her eyes. The two nodded to each-other and Vera flashed a half-hearted grin at the girl, before they walked out, Vera lagging a bit behind as a frown formed on her face.
She wondered if she'd ever have someone like that...
Walking out to the scent of delicious, freshly-cooked food, Vesna smiled at her team-mates, all of whom smiled back at her. Lita handed her the scroll, giving her approval, before Vesna read the data. 15k Lien for a guard duty job. Not a lot, but then again, not a lot else to do. She approved it as well, sending a message to their employer, before shifting and going to eat.
Some hours later, the gang was already present on-site and chatting with Police while the store owner watched with a bit of muted awe. Five women wearing balaclavas, sat calmly at his door in the night, guarding the place like it was their own. Vera and Lita watched Vesna talking with two police-men that were wearing clothes resembling ye-olde 1920s detectives, honestly. Meanwhile, Ayesha was looking around the place and Anja was ready to offer medical assistance.
"... What do you think they're talking about?" Vera inquired, a cigarette between her lips.
Lita shrugged, focused on scanning the roadways as the last of the light of day vanished and the streetlamps turned on. She shifted her strange grenade launcher over her shoulder, making sure she could easily reach it. Vera asked, "How the hell did you get a GM-94? Ain't that usually reserved for us Spetsnaz?" and that actually got the cigar-smoking Captain Price LARPer to grin. Vera shook her head and chuckled, "Duly noted. Not gonna ask again."
Vesna, meanwhile, stated, "... I understand the issues the Police Force is facing, but we're not here to cause trouble. The man in charge of this place and his daughter have asked us to keep it secure, considering the string of recent robberies," and she hummed, then looked back and asked Ayesha, "Did you find anything?" and got a shake of the head. Nothing so far.
"You Mercs are real lucky to be asked specifically after this kinda stuff," One of the cops stated.
"Before you accuse us of anything," Vesna hummed, "We saw the security footage from other places that got hit and we've more than done our fair share of wiping out White Fang troops, not to mention the other bastards around... There was this one suited weirdo-" she paused as Ayesha actually whistled her way and walked up to them, grinning. Vesna raised a brow and saw as the girl showed them a cigar.
The cop blinked and looked at it, lifting it as Ayesha asked, "Know any crooks who smoke this crap? Lita never liked this specific brand." and she looked back to the green-haired kid. She gave a thumbs up, then took a puff from her cigar and flicked some ash to the side. It was clearly a longer, thicker cigar than the one they had in their hands right now.
"... Looks like one of Torchwick's," quipped the other Cop.
"It is," The first Cop replied, garnering a grin out of Ayesha as he plucked it up.
Vesna hummed, "Guess we'll know who to look out for. That's that really fruity-looking criminal on the wanted posters," and Ayesha laughed. The two girls high-fived over the quip, before the lead cop hummed and sighed. They walked back to their vintage-looking combustion engine car and drove away as the girls gathered up to form a perimeter. Vesna nodded to their resident redhead Chechen and said, "Nice find. Guess we know who to keep our eye on."
"Torchwick, right?" Lita asked as they approached.
"Yeah," Ayesha nodded proudly, "So he's probably working with the Fang."
"Seems like an easy enough target, honestly," Vera quipped, "I've seen photos of him. He's definitely not gonna live through a 43mm Thermobaric grenade, considering the shit Lita steals," and she looked over to the girl. Lita hummed, pulled her grenade launcher off her back and pumped it, feeding a shell into the barrel for the guard duty. Vesna nodded approvingly.
"That's who we're grabbing, then," She said sharply, "If we meet the bastard anywhere nearby, we'll take him in for interrogation."
"Oh, this should be fun," Vera grinned, spinning her combat knife on her finger with a terrifying look. The rest of the team had welcomed Vera quite openly when she'd dropped in with them, what with being Vesna's 'sister' in a way, the two cousins having grown up together. When she proved to be just as good a member of this little platoon of female Misfits, they'd made her feel as if she'd been part of the group since the start.
She was happy about it, honestly. Vesna's friends immediately accepting her, she meant. It certainly beat her old squad by a country mile, sans that one man. She paused, however, as she realized she must've fallen back down a short spiral again. She looked to see Vesna looking at her with a hint of concern that she immediately waved off, before walking back toward her position next to the sto-.
"KURWA-" roared a female voice, only to be cut off as she slammed into the floor. All five girls blanked for a moment as they saw the figure push herself to a seated position and let out a colorful string of curses in a familiar Slavic language. The white-over, red-under flag that lay on her right shoulder told the girls exactly who this was, not to mention the odd 'P' symbol on the plate carrier patch.
She grit her teeth and rubbed the back of her neck as she gripped her HK416, then whispered, "My fucking eyes hurt, god fucking damned Tundra-fucked Omskite shit-eating Neo-Fascistic pieces of fuck..." as she stood to her feet and looked down the road. With a blink of confusion, she whispered to herself, "What the fuck is it this time...? This isn't Krakow..."
"... Katja?" Vesna started, surprised.
The Polak turned around, eyes wider than an owl's. She blinked twice, pulling her mask down and looking at the girls. The smile she now wore told the girls all they needed to know as they rushed up to her. The girl laughed as she got tackled to the floor by Vesna and Ayesha, before stating, "Okay, so I'm probably not in Hell! Good to know! Hahaha!" before noticing the Spetsnaz. She hummed and chuckled, "Well, I sure as shit didn't expect your cousin to be here, too, Vesna. And Lita, still larping as Price, I see..." before noticing a faint smile form on the petite Li's face.