BLU STREAK

@blu-streak

I'm Shannon Pulaski, BLU Scout. You never even saw me coming. Currently tearing up 5Gorge base.

632 posts

Geoff smiled at the caress, lifting his own arm to wind it around Shannon and blinking in an attempt to keep her face in clear focus at nose distance. “Yeah, it was. Your letter helped a lot on my end, though. Wish I’d had something to send back.”

Whatever his opinion of Philippe’s enforced civility to the RED team, he had to admit the Spy had taken a very real risk to get a morale boost to the autobalanced BLUs. He took care of his team.

"Sounds like you think we should — and I’m sure as hell not making you go out there alone." He sat back, nodding resolutely. "So yeah, we go. And we go with our heads held high, too. No RED’s gonna show us up.”

The chair screeched on the cement floor as he pushed back from the table and stood, holding a hand out for her. “We supposed to bring anything? Coupla guns and a medkit, maybe?”

Shannon rolled back up to a sitting position, huffing tumbled hair out of her face and reached for Geoff's hand. "At least. Especially since it seems like they're all taking dinner out with them."

She slid off the table, stepping forward to wind her arms around his waist, and let her head drop onto his shoulder for a moment. "I'm glad you're here with me." She nuzzled Geoff's ear, holding him tight. "I hope one day we're somewhere else and you're still with me."

"Yeah, well, Philippe’s a Spy, who knows what he’s got up his sleeve?" While he didn’t like the Spy’s orders, Geoff still held out hope that they were all part of some larger plan. Wheels within wheels. "And how are you supposed to be pals with someone and then bash their brains in? I tried — you know, when they shifted me over last year. Couple months getting to know everybody, getting to like everybody, and then bang, had to fight them.” He stared down at her somberly. “Almost had to fight you.”

With a sigh that was an unconscious echo of Shannon’s, he let his elbows slide out until his hands were flat to the table with his chin resting atop them, nose-to-nose with his fellow Scout. “I can’t do both. I can’t. So you’re not alone.”

Shannon reached out to drape an arm over the back of Geoff's neck. "I don't ever want to fight you. That was the worst time ever..." Her fingers trailed behind his ear, echoes of that lonely time far too eager to surface.

"I'm glad you get it. Sometimes it feels like nobody does." She bumped the other Scout's nose with her own. "So...do we go or do we stay here? I guess we don't have to actually talk to any of them."

"Sports." Geoff shook his head, incomprehension plain on his features. "How the hell can either of them — I mean, she’s a PYRO, for chrissake." Of the myriad of possible deaths on the battlefield, burning was the worst. He recalled his first encounter with an enemy Pyro — he’d respawned still screaming.

Death by Sniper bullet wasn’t so great either — contrary to the sharpshooter’s opinion of himself, his kills weren’t always perfect. Not surprising with a fast-moving target like a Scout, but it made for some serious misery when the damage wasn’t quite enough to trigger the Respawn system right away. And then there were Terminal battles, although a crippling shot made more sense during those and the bastard might just have done it on purpose.

And now he had Shannon second-guessing herself. “Hey. No. No.” Reaching out with one hand, he shook her knee gently. “Not your fault. He was baiting you before you guys even walked out the door. And as far as paying attention, wasn’t he supposed to be some hotshot recon guy? C’mon.”

"He said he was a soldier," she mumbled. "A real one, like an army one or something. It's not like I want anybody to die out there! I...I just don't know if he's okay...and that's so stupid, because I hate him! And he's a dirty creep and a RED and I shouldn't even care if he fell on his stupid head and broke it in two!"

Shannon gave a mournful sigh, keeling over sideways on the table until her head landed in the general vicinity of where Geoff's dinner plate should have been, if they were all eating together like civilized people and not out fraternizing with the enemy.

"I don't want anybody to get hurt. But that's different than being friends...how come people act like I'm being a crybaby because I don't want to be pals? I mean, even Philippe says we have to cooperate with them."

"Wait a minute." Geoff frowned, confused. "He was giving you a hard time and Bug took his side?” The idea inspired a rush of conflicting emotions. The idea of the Sniper harassing Shannon would normally make him wish any number of dire things on the man, but the incident was already past and there had been serious consequences. He’d almost lost his life. Permanently.

RED or not, Geoff found no satisfaction in the thought.

And Bug had been badly injured as well, so he couldn’t really be mad at her, either. Which was frustrating.

But still. “I don’t get it either. We murder these people for a living. And they give it right back. And it’s not always quick, and it’s not always clean, and I know for a fact that some of them anyway genuinely enjoy the work.” His mouth twisted in distaste, and he shook his head. “I know we’re all on cease-fire off the clock, but this buddy-buddy stuff just rubs me wrong.”

"That's just it, though. They're friends. It's like...it's all just sports to them or something!" She looked over at the other Scout with a miserable expression. The self consciousness had been gnawing at her for weeks, remaining even as the aches in her wrist and back faded.

"I don't know, and then Leo over there...I don't know, sometimes I feel like everybody just wants me to suck it up and shake hands, but I can't! It just feels...creepy! I can't forget how bad it used to be."

She grew quiet again. "That Sniper almost died, though. And Bug got hurt. I don't know, maybe if we hadn't been screaming so much, paying better attention..."

"We don’t have to…” Shannon climbed onto the edge of the table, planting her feet in a chair and her elbows on her knees. “I mean, It’s not like I want to, but…”

She studied the jagged edge of a broken nail, then proceeded to chew the corner with several methodical cracks. “Geoff, do you think I’m childish?”

"Childish?" Her fellow Scout snorted audibly and opened his mouth to elaborate on that opinion, then hazarded a glance at her expression and thought better of it. Far from indignant at the label, she looked genuinely troubled.

"No." He straightened in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table next to her and tilting his head a little to meet her eyes. "No, I don’t. Who said you were?"

"Nobody. I mean...no one said I was childish, but..." She shook her head a little, then folded her arms. "Every time we've gotta cooperate on stuff, it seems like everybody wants to take a piece of out me for not being okay with it...like there's some memo I missed."

Shannon hunched over to lean her chin on her arms. "Bug was pretty p.o'd at me down in the tunnel cause I wasn't keen on taking any of that Sniper's trash talk...we were all arguing when the tunnel fell."

"Guess people are getting together tonight. I don’t know. At Ben’s observatory. Everybody.” She fiddles with the unraveling threads at the cuff of one slumping sock.

"…I’m thinking maybe I should go." But something in her voice suggests that she isn’t so sure about that.

“Ben’s…?" Geoff stared at her for a long moment, then slid down in the mess hall chair and let his head drop to the back with an audible thunk. "For cryin’ out — it isn’t enough we have to play nice up at the bunker, now we gotta socialize with them too?” He stared at the ceiling, righteously aggrieved. Not that he objected to the party part, something a little more festive than just sitting in the common room to watch the ball drop might be fun, but — ”This is RED we’re talking about, right? The people who try to kill us on a weekly basis?”

"We don't have to..." Shannon climbed onto the edge of the table, planting her feet in a chair and her elbows on her knees. "I mean, It's not like I want to, but..."

She studied the jagged edge of a broken nail, then proceeded to chew the corner with several methodical cracks. "Geoff, do you think I'm childish?"

#retroactive #geoff

/fidgets in the vicinity/ Guess there's whispers about a party. Someplace 'neutral'. You hear any talking?

"Nnn…?" /frowns, considering/ Huh uh. What have you heard?

"Guess people are getting together tonight. I don't know. At Ben's observatory. Everybody." She fiddles with the unraveling threads at the cuff of one slumping sock.

"...I'm thinking maybe I should go." But something in her voice suggests that she isn't so sure about that.

What Lies Beneath

Reality was slowly seeping in through the throbbing pain in Hotaru’s head, and her vision was clear enough now to assess their condition. She was hurt. Shannon was hurt. Jonah was hurt. Jonah was very hurt. There was something very wrong in the way he looked, the words he said, and how he said them. She sat close by him, hunched over protectively like a wounded animal, not that her condition realistically allowed her to do anything about it. It was hard enough just to speak. But if her proximity offered him any comfort or warmth, that would have to suffice.

"It’s gonna be fine…" she muttered half to herself. "Engie’s gonna fix it…" Dell and almost everyone good was up there. They’d fix everything. She wanted to see them. She wanted to see Lenny. She wanted to sleep.

Her head dipped forward as she tried to get started on that last one, but it bounced painfully back up when Philippe called down her name. She listened and watched in puzzlement as what looked like an oddly designed swing was lowered. They wanted her to go up first? But she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to leave Jonah and Shannon by themselves, and she stiffened in protest as the seat neared. But even as she hunched over further, she knew she’d move when it was ready. There was nothing she could do for her friends but get out of their way.

Looking at Jonah, the Pyro gave him a tired smile and kissed his forehead. “See you later…” she murmured. Because goodbye was unlucky.

Standing up was difficult, and she fell back the first time, but with Shannon’s help they managed to wobble over to the seat. It was very much like a swing and swayed side-to-side as she sat in it, making her head swim and upper body start to pitch backwards. Gripping the rope in both hands, she hauled herself forward with a groan and pressed her forehead against it. She could hold on. It wasn’t that far up. And then she could see Lenny and go to sleep. It wasn’t that far.

"Okay… I wanna go home now…"

Shannon watched anxiously as the rescue chair was lifted, Hotaru clinging to it, and prayed the Pyro's balance didn't shift before she reached safe ground. "There's no way you're going up on that..." she muttered aloud.

"You're next."

"What? No, you're--" She blinked down at Jonah, a curl of dread raising her nerves. Moving closer to the spot Hotaru had vacated, she reached for the Sniper's jacket, pulling the collar aside, moving the neck of his shirt. Every inch of skin Shannon could see beneath it was blackened with bruising, a sharp point tenting the skin where his collarbone tried to meet his shoulder. "Oh god..."

Jonah shook his head faintly. "Don't tell him..." He coughed a little, face creasing, a dark spatter at his lips. "Go on. Ride's here."

The chair had descended once again. Shannon wedged herself into the seat with some difficulty, jarring her wrist a few times in the process. "--o-okay...pull me up..."

What Lies Beneath

"Oui, ‘e is ‘ere. Wiz myself, Leo, and Monsieur Clark. Dell is still in ze bunker, waiting to see if we need ‘im, which…we might." Philippe didn’t think Shannon could see his face with the flashlight shining so close to her own, but he tried to look reassuring, regardless. "Do not worry. Try to stay calm, mmm? We will get you out of zere."

[...]

[...]

"I’m here…" The Pyro’s voice, coarse and vague, drifted up from two floors below then paused. "…We fell."

"Yeah… I can see that… Jus’ sit tight, sugar, we’ll get ya out."

"Okay…"

Dell reeled back from the edge again, dragging Philippe along with him. Other hand pressed over his eyes, he shook his head, trying to think clearly. ”Okay… Okay. Shit.” He glanced over to where Leo and Geoff appeared to be testing the integrity of a makeshift chair, nodding shortly before rubbing his eyes again. “Alright… First we get th’ girls up. That thing there should do jus’ fine. Bug might have t’ be strapped int’ it if she’s not all there. She won’ like it, but she prob’ly ain’ in any shape t’ fight.”

He spoke rapidly, breath quick and harsh between sentences. “Teleporter’d be th’ quickest way t’ get th’ Sniper out. I’ve got ev’rythin’ we need for that in my toolbox. But…” Biting his lip, he glanced over at Leo again. “We ain’ too far out a’ Respawn range. I ought t’ see about boostin’ th’ signal. Jus’ in case…”

"What are they saying?" Shannon chewed her lip anxiously. "I just hear muttering -- I JUST HEAR MUTTERING!" Her voice echoed up the column, but there was no reply yet.

"Hey..."

The sniper's voice was a hoarse breath, and Shannon glanced over dubiously. Her eyes had grown accustomed to the dimness by now, and she could see the clear contrast between the dark smudge of his eyes and lips compared with the shock-white of his skin. This was bad. There was something he wasn't telling--

"Can you move your wrist?"

"What?"

"Try to...move your fingers."

She did so, gingerly, letting out a faint whimper as pain lanced up her arm, but she was able to curl them to her palm. Barely.

"Probably just a sprain. It's gonna be okay."

"Please don't tell me it's going to be okay. This wasn't supposed to happen! More of this -- this bullshit is not supposed to happen!"

"Settle down..."

"I don't want--"

"That's an order, Scout..."

Shannon sniffled. "You're not a Soldier. Just because you're -- doing whatever with Leo doesn't mean you're a Soldier!"

"Sure, I'm a soldier...Marine Corps Sergeant, Scout Sniper division..."

"That makes you a Scout too, then I guess."

"I guess. Leo told me about you."

"Shut up."

"Told me about your parents." The Sniper pulled in a thick, wet-sounding breath. "I'm sorry I took him away. He's important to me..."

"Yeah, well, he was important to me first!"

"You're...important to him."

Shannon stared at her knees, a grotesque gnawing in her chest that had nothing to do with the pain and chill.

"You would've been safe with me."

Shannon shook her head tightly. She knew he was right. But she also knew she couldn't allow herself to believe him. Otherwise everything she'd learned about trust and loyalty was up for grabs again. Nobody understood that. "...I know..."

Jonah smiled a little, but fear or something else was in his expression. "Whatever happens...tell him we talked..."

Shannon looked at him hard. This wasn't right at all. "Guys, you got a plan?" She shouted back up to their rescuers. "We really, really need to get out of here!"

What Lies Beneath

Geoff had been listening in, half expecting no response from Dell and ready to respond — although if the robot had detonated in that small, enclosed space, there wouldn’t be much to do except pray that Ben had been mistaken about Respawn’s effective range.

The BLU Engineer had to be more sensible than that.

When his voice sounded over the walkie, Geoff felt a surge of relief followed quickly by puzzlement, and then concern — if the noise hadn’t come from above…

Hot on the heels of that thought, Shannon’s frantic voice crackled out of the speaker. Without pause for thought, the Scout snatched the device from Philippe’s hand.

"BLU copy, what’s your status — DAMMIT, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHO’S HURT? ARE YOU OKAY?”

"I'm--I'm cut up but I'm all right!" Her hand suddenly shaking, Shannon fought to keep hold of the radio, tears all at once burning her eyes. "Bug hit her head! She can count to F, but she's all spacey! Jonah--"

She paused, looking down expectantly. The Sniper had closed his eyes, mouth pressed thinly, but he raised one hand in a silent thumbs-up.

"He's got a busted leg -- he can't help us! It's dark down here, and...Geoff, the floor fell! Right out from underneath! There's just a giant hole here -- I don't know where we are, and my wrist is hurt and I can't climb! You have to come get us!"

What Lies Beneath

"Stop asking so many questions…" Hotaru squinted at the Scout, vaguely recalling seeing her just a little while ago. Her and Jonah. And then they were running…

No. Thinking hurt. Lowering her eyes with an irritable groan, she started croaking out letters. “A, B, C… D… E… F… F… Ff… Fffuuuuck, fuck…” She dropped her head back into her hands, pressing her palms against her eyes. “My head hurts… Did we fall…?”

"We fell," Shannon replied bluntly, squinting at the tiny channel dial. "Hello? Hello -- anybody, respond! Shit!" She glanced anxiously over at Hotaru. "You got to 'F' okay...I guess that's enough. You hit your head. Jonah broke...something. I don't know yet, it's too damn dark!"

The sniper shifted a little, nudging Hotaru with his near hand. "Keep your eyes open...she's getting help..."

She twisted the dial to a new number. "We're down below...maybe two levels. The floor melted out from under us, and --" She depressed the call button again. "Is anybody on this channel? Repeat, emergency! Men down! RED, BLU, anybody respond!"

What Lies Beneath

"I’m fine… Ow… I’m fine…" Moving with the tug at her back, Hotaru shoved herself somewhat upright, moaning and letting her head and hands fall forward onto her knees. "I only landed on my head… Who’s winning…?"

Something must have gone wrong. None of the words penetrating the fog of pain sounded very battle-like. And the voices sounded more and more liked Shannon and Jonah. And they weren’t yelling at each other. Something must have gone very wrong. She forced her head up and eyes open, blinking heavily as the approaching Scout blurred into vision and she tried to process the request.

"Wha…? Pyro… Aah… Which one…?"

"Both of them!" Shannon slumped onto one hip, carefully trying to fold her scuffed-up legs beneath her without leaning on her throbbing wrist, and began prodding the Pyro's limbs for injuries. "Do you remember where we are?"

"D'you...have th...the radio?" The Sniper winced between words, eyes shut as he tried to roll further onto his back.

"Gotta have something to tell them--" But she reached for her belt, awkwardly attempting to feel beneath the jacket she'd knotted around her waist. "-- Bug, come on! Say the alphabet!"

They needed light. It was too hard to tell if Hotaru was bleeding, if she was in shock or if her pupils were blown. They needed help. She pried the radio loose from her belt, tumbling it into her lap and thumbing the call button. "Hello? Anybody -- are you reading me? We need urgent assistance!"

There was only a hiss of static. "BLU do you read?! We have men down! Shit, I think the dial turned...come on, Bug, make with the ABCs!"

What Lies Beneath

Hotaru wordlessly took the flashlight and slouched past Jonah, the creak and groan of the walkway very loud in the wake of the shouting. Maybe she should have picked Ben. Maybe she should have just wiped the bug crap off her hand and not said anything. Her shoes scattered gravel and dust as she scuttled after the Scout, more falling from the ceiling above them, illuminated by the jittering beam of the flashlight.

She didn’t doubt that Shannon’s hostility towards REDs was justified. The vague and ominous mutterings she’d picked up here and there hinted at something very drastic in her and Arthur’s past. But actively baiting confrontation in a situation like this was beyond unproductive. It could even be-

There was a dusty, cracking sound below. The Pyro’s eyes fell along with the flashlight beam, peering down through the grid to the fissure breaking its way through the dirt and stone support.

-dangerous.

Her feet drug to a stop, and she stared down dumbly, the sudden halt of all footsteps, indeed all other sound in the corridor letting her know the others had seen or sensed it, too. She couldn’t look up to make sure, head bowed by the weight of her long-forgotten mortality as the cracks grew bigger. “Jonah…”

"Go! Go!" The Sniper’s voice snapped the rest of reality into high speed, both girls racing to the other end of the tunnel before he could finish. "Get to the far door!"

And they were close, so close, not ten yards away when they started, but no sooner did she hear Jonah’s footsteps gaining with them when the ground beneath the scaffolding gave away all at once, her feet sliding as the walkway suddenly tilted. She shouted something, she didn’t know what, and threw herself at the other side of the walkway, dropping the flashlight in favor of grabbing and clinging to the edge, the crack and clatter as it fell quickly drowned out by the sound of twisting, snapping metal.

That moment the floor tried to swallow them whole seemed to stretch out eternally. In moments, where they had walked was a yawning gash in the rock, terrifyingly dark beyond the reach of the lamps.

The last few feet of solid ground were listing downwards, a twisted section of walkway drooping down into the blackness with one small Pyro clinging to it for life. "Bug -- can you climb?" Shannon dropped to her belly at the edge of the crevasse. "Just a little, and I can get you!" She wasn't far. It was just two feet, maybe three, and their hands could reach.

"Scout! I need a hand over here --"

The swirling dust made her eyes stream with tears, and she could barely make out the Sniper clinging to the edge at her right. "Pull yourself up! I have to get Bug!"

"Shannon, I can't get -- you gotta pull me up!" Jonah's fingertips dug into the floor as he strained to lift himself. "Then I can get her!"

Could he? There was a chance the Sniper was strong enough to pull up the metal planking, or even hold Shannon by the ankles for her to retrieve her teammate. Then again, who knew if the rest of the floor would even wait for them to engineer a rescue. She turned back down to Hotaru. "Bug, come on! You're so close!"

The metal shifted with an ominous groan. "SCOUT! GET ME UP!"

"BUG! CLIMB!"

Somewhere beneath, another chunk of substrate dropped into nothingness, and the floor under them all began to liquify.

What Lies Beneath

[...]

Shannon drew up beside Hotaru, still frowning. “I don’t know why you talk to him,” she muttered. “You know he took Leo from us, don’t you?” It was hard to keep the testiness from her voice…and maybe part of it was some small amount of jealousy that Hotaru was able to put aside her mistrust so easily.

"Oh, will you give it a rest?!" Jonah threw up his hands, turning back to the girls at the door. "Will you please just get rid of the tinfoil hat and call off your dogs for one goddamn day? I swear, if Leo didn’t like you so much…"

Shannon gasped, pointing a quivering finger. “Ah hah! Here it comes! If Leo didn’t like me so much, then what? What?”

"I’d send you back to the goddamn bunker where you can piss off somebody else! Now are you two coming in or not?" Jonah waved them through, expression thoroughly exasperated. "Just watch your heads…I think this ceiling is loose."

"He’s my friend…" Hotaru shifted uncomfortably, glancing up at Shannon from behind her hair. She’d known Jonah just about as long as she’d know the Scout, and she’d hit it off with him much faster. Though that was hardly Shannon’s fault, and they had a much warmer relationship now. Or at least they had up until this moment. "And the old men took Leo from us. …Jonah just makes him happy."

The Pyro slid away and around the door after Jonah. “I’m coming.”

Shannon let her hands drop with a heavy sigh, then raised them again to press them to her forehead, counting slowly to ten. Obviously she'd forgotten. Everybody on these teams played nice, even at the expense of common sense. Of course, now Philippe would scold her for being childish. He and Arthur would probably argue again. Unless the ceiling came down on them first and ended all discussions...they were supposedly outside of Respawn, after all, or near to it.

Jonah, meanwhile, had paused to examine one of the H-frames bracketing the tunnel, muttering about how he was no engineer. Well, that's for sure...

She sidled wordlessly past the Sniper and Pyro, just enough light to guide her down the walkway -- until an unbolted panel gave way abruptly beneath her feet, slipping loose and dropping to the floor some ten inches below with a metallic rattle. She staggered, startled, a small rain of pebbles cascading down the wall nearby.

Jonah looked up sharply. "Hey, you want to trade some of that blonde for brains and stay put a second? Something's wrong here..."

Shannon didn't turn around, but stomped a heel a few times into the gridded scaffold. There was a muted, but somehow thunderous staccato echo through the rock around them. "Nope, just trying to sprain an ankle to make your day!" And she took off toward the far door again.

"Oh yeah, you always have something to say, huh! Perky little sandlot skirt act wears off with everybody real fast, you know..." The Sniper pounded the wall with the side of his fist, listening to the odd tone of the echo, then glanced at Hotaru, taking a breath -- then let it out with a faint shake of his head. "Here, take her the flashlight."

What Lies Beneath

aimlessprofessional

Jonah blinked. “Unlocked?” Odd. He turned the flashlight over in his hands, then reached past Hotaru, carefully waving her back. “Stand back…let me take point on this.”

His hand replaced hers on the door, carefully pushing it open. It groaned, hanging up on gravel and debris that seemed to have drifted on the other side of the threshold. On a higher note, as Jonah could tell as he managed to wedge the door open about eighteen inches, caged bulbs were tacked to the walls inside, giving off a weak yellow light every fifteen feet or so.

They illuminated a corridor approximately eighteen, twenty yards long, branching at a 90-degree angle from the cement-floored and walled hallway they’d come down. A metal catwalk with scaffolding floor lay atop pressure-pounded rock, braces anchoring into the earth on either side.

"Okay, this is different." Jonah threw his weight into the door, trying to get it to budge another six inches or so. "I think there’s another door at the other end…"

Hotaru shoved herself against the door to help, frowning as she peered down the corridor behind it. “Do we wanna go down that far…?” She’d assumed they’d only find another room, and Philippe probably wasn’t expecting them to go very far. But they did have the walkie-talkie.

"Let's...just sit tight a second." Sidestepping through the door the rest of the way, he shone his flashlight down, squinting at the crumbling texture of the walls, the yellow-gray rubble piled to either side of the narrow walkway.

Shannon drew up beside Hotaru, still frowning. "I don't know why you talk to him," she muttered. "You know he took Leo from us, don't you?" It was hard to keep the testiness from her voice...and maybe part of it was some small amount of jealousy that Hotaru was able to put aside her mistrust so easily.

"Oh, will you give it a rest?!" Jonah threw up his hands, turning back to the girls at the door. "Will you please just get rid of the tinfoil hat and call off your dogs for one goddamn day? I swear, if Leo didn't like you so much..."

Shannon gasped, pointing a quivering finger. "Ah hah! Here it comes! If Leo didn't like me so much, then what? What?"

"I'd send you back to the goddamn bunker where you can piss off somebody else! Now are you two coming in or not?" Jonah waved them through, expression thoroughly exasperated. "Just watch your heads...I think this ceiling is loose."

What Lies Beneath

"I’m an a- …Okay."

Philippe was being absolutely no fun today, so Hotaru flicked her gaze critically among the three REDs. Eeny, meeny, miney- “…Jonah. Wanna go see what’s down the other hall?”

"Wh— no! Hey!" Shannon stared at Hotaru and Jonah, then at Philippe, then at Geoff — then Leo, then back to Geoff again, then back to the Spy. "Are you trying to separate us again?” She gestured to her fellow Scout. “This has got to be illegal somehow!”

She folded her arms tartly, tapping her foot. “Well, I don’t want him.” She tossed her chin at the Sniper. “I want him.” She tilted her head toward Geoff.

"Just because ‘e is a legal adult does not mean ‘e qualifies as a choice…you two cannot focus togezher."

"Well, then we’re taking—"

"And you cannot take ze strongest person ‘ere out exploring when we are ‘ere moving cargo. Take ze Sniper and go."

Shannon gaped, a wordless sputter all she could muster.

Jonah sniffed, then stretched. “Okay, let’s go.”

“WH— ” He’d barely gotten the beginning of a syllable out before Philippe’s head swiveled and the Spy pinned him with a glare so withering that he counted managing not to flinch in the face of it a win. Being backed down so hard in front of Shannon — AND in front of an audience of REDs — was not something he would soon forget, but he could readily tell that she was the only one in the room who shared his opinion on the matter. He wasn’t going to win this one.

Which didn’t help him take it gracefully. The BLU Spy received a pointed stiffening to obedient attention, but it was completely at odds with the Scout’s angry expression. Geoff’s gaze flicked briefly to Shannon, and then settled on the RED Sniper in silent, murderous promise. He glanced back to his fellow Scout and tapped his headset pointedly. Maybe they’d be separated for now, but he would be listening — and the RED would be in for a world of hurt if he tried anything.

Shannon huffed out her disappointment, squirming a little before swallowing down her pout. There was just no point. Stupid crates. Stupid HALLWAYS. Stupid Philippe all-work-no-play jerk. Stupid cans of fruit cocktail. Stupid everything.

She grabbed Geoff's arm, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "Try to make Leo break up with him --" she hissed, before bouncing back onto her heels and slouching back toward the entrance of this room. "Fine. Let's go."

But her feet stayed planted.

"I'm not letting that guy get behind me. Snipers first."

Jonah gave her a slow blink then shrugged, picked up one of the flashlights they'd set down, and ambled out the door. "Rest of you boys behave..."

What Lies Beneath

Philippe pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, breathing one deep, calming breath. Maybe he should’ve stayed in the bunker with Dell and that…robot Engineer.

No, this was probably better. Who knows what kind of trouble they’d get into without someone keeping them all together?

"It would against my better judgement for us to split up when we ‘ave not mapped out zis level completely. ‘owever…" Philippe opened his eyes to find the RED Engineer ogling him and smirked. "Zat door is nearby. But you may not go alone. Take a walkie-talkie and Shannon wiz you. And an adult. Your choice.”

"I’m an a- …Okay."

Philippe was being absolutely no fun today, so Hotaru flicked her gaze critically among the three REDs. Eeny, meeny, miney- “…Jonah. Wanna go see what’s down the other hall?”

"Wh-- no! Hey!" Shannon stared at Hotaru and Jonah, then at Philippe, then at Geoff -- then Leo, then back to Geoff again, then back to the Spy. "Are you trying to separate us again?" She gestured to her fellow Scout. "This has got to be illegal somehow!"

She folded her arms tartly, tapping her foot. "Well, I don't want him." She tossed her chin at the Sniper. "I want him." She tilted her head toward Geoff.

"Just because 'e is a legal adult does not mean 'e qualifies as a choice...you two cannot focus togezher."

"Well, then we're taking--"

"And you cannot take ze strongest person 'ere out exploring when we are 'ere moving cargo. Take ze Sniper and go."

Shannon gaped, a wordless sputter all she could muster.

Jonah sniffed, then stretched. "Okay, let's go."

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