(A mix of X and X, trying to worm my way in here, lol.)
Gabriel was used to making grand entrances, it had somewhat become part of the persona when Cerberus changed him from a regular soldier to a monster. Kick the door in, lasso whatever was on the other side close and go to town.
Babysitting a MAU was… not as dramatic.
Downright boring if Gabriel was to be honest with himself. He took the job seriously, anything as much as looking at the cargo wrong would be dealt with accordingly, but they didn't even hit turbulence on the way over to the Berlin.
He kept Jarvis up to speed, providing ETA's when he could and before Gabriel punched something out of boredom, they reached their target. The shuttled homed in towards its target, connecting to the ship and as men filled the shuttle to handle the cargo, Gabriel's job was finished. At least the boring part.
"Where's Major Rose, fucker owes me a drink."
"The drink will have to wait, sir. Captain Cerrillo is waiting for you."
"Great. Brass. Let's get it over with," Gabriel grumbled as he followed the soldier, just giving him a quick look-over so he would remember him. Gabriel wasn't Alliance anymore after all, there were no need for salutes or introductions. Still, he took his time to tap out a quick message to Archer to let him know that he was there and, after a moment of hesitation, sent one to Maddox too. The guy had been balls-deep in him after all so he supposed he owed him a little notification.
Thankfully it seemed like the Captain, Cerrillo, wasn't very interested in keeping up with the formalities either so when they met, Gabriel merely nodded at him. Information was given, quickly and efficiently before Gabriel smirked as Cerrillo seemed stumped at the lack of a callcard. "Never got one given, Captain," he mused. "Guess I wasn't cool enough to join that club or nobody decided to inform me. Do I get to pick my own or?"
He crossed his arms over his chest, kept his eyes on Cerrillo as he shifted from one foot to the other. "Dunno what your theme is, with Axaj, Huntsman, Hurricane and whatever other names I've heard, can barely keep them apart as it is. Sounds like personality-traits or fighting-styles to me so… Dragon. I fly in, I breathe fire and I destroy. Good enough?"
Listen. I apologize for the sheer amount of fluff that is about to come out of me for the extended future. 😅
Mara Cerrillo didn’t need to see the face behind the opaque visor to recognize her son. She had been there the day he’d graduated ICT. The Alliance had paid for a week’s long vacation to Brazil for two members of every graduate’s family. The Cerrillo family had been small for a long time, so Mara made sure that she cheered louder than anyone when it was Isaac’s turn to walk across the stage.
The paladin armor was far more weathered than it had been even since the last time she'd seen him without the aid of a dozen comm bouys. She watched him take off his helmet and marveled at the grey taking over his dark hair. She noted the deep lines on his face and the obvious weight on his shoulders and wondered if he had been letting anyone in.
Mara stood next to Major Rose, woven between a gaggle of dazed, terrified, horrified and straight up angry civilians. She watched Isaac file out of the shuttle and tried not to think of a clown car with the sheer number of noticably more-than-humans that piled out in rainbow colored hues. Her breathless chuckle was humorless as a million emotions swirled inside her.
“Go on, Cute Thing.” She swatted at the Slayer playfully, pushing him forward to greet his team. "Hey Major? Thank you."
Archer ground out a small, knowing chuckle. “Recon, then.” He flashed a fanged grin and Mara made a delighted little thrill. "It's been my pleasure, ma'am." He disappeared on a flash of blue only a heartbeat later.
-
Mara had never had the connection to the land that Isaac and his father shared. For the first time in a very long time, she noticed as she watched Isaac peel off a black glove and kneel down, Mara felt that genuine, flowers after a rain storm type of hope.
Isaac knelt to scoop a handful of fertile, dark earth before carefully rubbing it between his fingers. The act coated his wide palms in a thin layer of dirt and he shamelessly brought the hand to his face to smell it.
His bisabuelo always said it was the best way to "be where your feet are" and while he was normally far more inconspicuous about it, the sheer relief of being back, of know that they had a workable game plan and, for now, everyone was safe, had him helpless to sentimental ritual.
A small, bare hand with painted red nails trailed his armored shoulder, running down the N7 stripe to lace her manicured fingers in front of his face with his dirty, calloused hand.
Isaac's eyes squeezed shut and he pressed a kiss to the underside of the blonde woman's exposed wrist - a fury if Mara's memory hadn't failed her. For the first time in a decade, at least, a new hope began to bud again.
“You’re not about to walk around in a blue-skied, sunlit field of grass in a heavy, dark coat like Death walking around in heaven.”
“That would be a pretty sexy image, you have to admit Ems.” Maddox ignored the glare and made a show of being very interested in his surroundings. The three were learning when to involve themselves with the other’s issues and he knew with this one, Archer was on his own.
“I’m not asking you to throw it away.” Marie rose to her tip toes, trying to get as close to the shell of Archer’s ear as she could. “I’m asking you to remove it. So you can feel the sun. And the wind. You know,” Her hands slid over his shoulders under the coat, slowly pushing it backwards over his arms. “Life. This is what we are fighting for, after all.” Archer let her drape his own coat over his arm. Marie smiled and kissed his defeated sigh from his lips. “Thankyou.”
“I mean, I’m fighting for more opportunities to fuck you both, but to each his own.” Maddox’s smile betrayed his grumble.
Marie’s palm slapped against the adept’s bicep. “If this doesn’t exist,” she waved her hands around at the rolling green hills around them, “neither do we, and neither does my pussy or his dick.”
“Okay. Point taken.”
Marie pointed to the top of the hill. “Let’s go see the view from up there. And maybe we can find out just how comfortable the grass is, if you catch my drift.”
Maddox began to bend his large frame with out a word but Marie stopped him. “No piggyback this time. I need the exercise after all that stress.” She lifted her closed eyes towards the sun, relishing the warmth that seeped into her tanned skin. “God I miss the outdoors. My dad would always take us camping and fishing almost every weekend in the summer. Those were my happiest times. I wish he could have met you both. He would have loved you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Archer replied. “Death among the clouds and all that.”
“Yes. Because he loved anything that made me happy.” Marie slid her hands into both of theirs and began to pull them up the hill.
this is so self-indulgent I want to crawl out of my own skin with second hand embarassment rn (happy father’s day, mase)
+++
It’s only by virtue of his phoenix reflexes that Mason manages to snatch the potato flying at his head out of the air a split second before it connects with this face.
He stares down at it in his hand in the middle of the Morrisini villa’s sprawling kitchen. “What the hell do you want me to do with this, Zeus?”
Nico shoves a small contraption at him, as well as a large bowl and a bulging hessian bag. “Peel it.”
“Peel…? What?”
“Peel it,” Nico repeats. He gestures to the bag. “And all those too.”
“Uh, no. These hands were not made for manual labour.”
“Mase,” Marie huffs, her hands on hips on the other side of the sprawling island bench. “I expect that from Sinclair, but not from you.”
“He’s become too accustomed to the good life. Too pampered,” Maddox says from his perch on a stool nearby. He pops something into his mouth and crunches loudly as he smirks in Mason’s direction.
Mason snorts. “Like you can talk, Ajax.”
Outside, the sun shines across the villa’s grounds and the wind carries in the excited squeals of the children as they race over the lawn and splash in the villa’s pool. It was another one of Nico’s family gatherings, one of the many he insisted on each year and that everyone knew better than to argue about. One year, before they had the twins, Mason and Ethan had been off world and the earful they’d copped had them immediately hightailing it back to Earth from Citadel space to make it in the nick of time.
They all know better than to argue when Nico puts the call out now.
Mason peers through the large windows overlooking the vineyards. It was beautiful here, he couldn’t deny it, and the twins loved catching up with the Morrisini brood but being put to work by Nico in the kitchen was more than what Mason was prepared to take.
“Actually, you know what, I’m just going to go see if Ethan needs any help with the ki-“
“Sit your ass down and start peeling, Huntsman.”
“Better do as he says,” Archer says. He rests on a stool, one leg out in front of him and a lethal looking blade in one hand. There are slabs of red meat on the chopping board in front of him. “Or you might end up having to do something worse.”
“Is that what you’re doing?”
“Just putting some long dormant skills to good use.”
“Well, we didn’t all marry celebrity chefs in our youth, Rose,” Mason chuckles just as Luca comes tumbling through the doorway.
“Nic! Marie! I need potassium hydroxide and ethanoic acid and um, like a really big stick.”
Marie frowns. “Well, I can give you two out of those things but what do you need them for?”
“No time to explain, have you got it- never mind, this will do!” he’s gone again in a flurry of wild curls.
Silence drags around the room and there’s a distant squeal and a pop that has them all tensing suddenly. Mason waits with bated breath for inevitable wail of tears that will send them all rushing outside but it doesn’t eventuate.
“What is he doing out there?”
Marie takes a calming breath and pinches her nose. “I… I don’t want to know.”
Nico slides his arm around her and kisses her temple, whispering something into her ear Mason can’t (and probably doesn’t want) to hear. She seems more tired than usual and it’s not lost on Mason that her glass is only sparkling water and not wine. He wonders if baby number five might be on their way for them.
Five. Mason shudders inwardly at the thought. The twins were a handful on their own and that was with help. There had been a long, long period there that Mason wondered if his and Ethan’s sex life would ever recover.
“You’re still not peeling, Huntsman,” Nico warns, turning his attention back to him.
“Make Rose do it,” Mason grumbles, only for Archer to swirl that lethal looking knife over the chopping board in front of him.
“He’s already put me to work, as you can see.”
“Seriously, Mase,” Marie huffs as she busies herself with slicing up the fresh bread. The spread of food was insane, much of it grown on the villa grounds, more of it transported from Cerillo’s farm on Nova Terra. “Who does the cooking in your household if you won’t even peel a potato then?”
“The... Ah… Help…”
Marie’s knife pauses as she looks up at him suspiciously. Maddox goes to swipe an olive from the tray but she swats him away without taking her eyes off him. “How many do you have now?”
Mason doesn’t like where this is going. “Three?”
“Three?!” Marie splutters but he’s pretty sure that might be jealousy in her eyes. He shrugs, nonchalant. “Oh my god, well, aren’t you living the good life.”
“What do you expect? Pampered wardog over here,” Maddox comments, pilfering another olive. Nico snatches his wrist.
“Next time you go for another one, I’m gonna stab you.”
Maddox growls. “Fine. Hurry up already then. I’m going to go check on Mini in the nursery then check on the kids. Who knows what Sinclair has got them up to.”
He exchanges a filthy kiss with Archer before he leaves that has Mason rolling his eyes.
“It’s not Ethan you should be worried about,” he mutters as Archer snorts.
“Huntsman!” Nico barks. “Potatoes!”
--
The evening is balmy with summer and it’s well into the twilight by the time they all come to eat at the long trestle table piled high with food under the trees of the Morrisni villa. Fairy lights drape overhead, shedding a sparkle over glasses and kids squeal and thread among the adults as they enjoy the meal.
Mason does his best to balance Max on his knee they eat and the entire affair is noisy and chaotic, full of laughter and warmth and old friendships forged in blood and fire. Nico reigns supreme at the head of the table like some kind of benevolent god and he might as well be. It’s Nico that has been the one to draw them all together, year after year, no matter how far they spread across the galaxy. Familiar faces they’ve fought alongside of, faces they love now gone their separate ways now that the war was over. Their time on the Berlin felt like another life, a long ago memory that might have happened to someone else.
Mason never thought he’d miss it, but it’s long been regulated to a portion of his past alongside his early childhood in Sydney and Phoenix One.
He juggles his wine glass over Max’s head and listens in to the conversation around him. He presses his leg against Ethan’s under the table, needing the contact suddenly. Ethan catches his eye and wordless smile graces his lips as he leans in to brush a kiss to Mason’s cheek and lightly ruffles Max’s hair.
“Want me to take him for a bit?”
“No, he’s fine, as long as he stops squirm-“ Mason rescues his wine glass just before it goes flying. Max was almost getting too big for this, but Mason didn’t like to think about that. “Whoa, easy there.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
“You’re okay, mate. Where’s your sister anyway?”
Max shrugs, leaning back against Mason and chewing on a piece of bread but Ethan motions with his head to look down the table. He spies Ben at the other end with Lexi’s arms tight around his neck and she’s giggling as Luca attempts to juggle spoons beside them. Mason smiles then stabs the gnocchi on his plate and lifts it up to show his husband proudly.
“Hey so while you were outside with the kids, I made these.”
Marie pauses her conversation with Isaac and Archer on the other side of the table to laugh. “Mase, you peeled one potato.”
He waves his fork dismissively. “Still counts.”
They all chuckle, Archer’s more muted on account of the small bundle on his chest. It doesn’t feel that long ago that Lexi and Max were that tiny and Mason is about to mention as much to Archer before their conversation is interrupted by Ciara crashing into her mother’s side. Her gold eyes wide as she gushes excitedly about fireflies.
Mason glances back at his own daughter. She’s on Ben’s lap now, trying to feel him with all the grace of a five year old’s giggling and over exuberant enthusiasm. “Does Lex need anything?” he says to his husband.
Ethan smirks as they watch on. Ben has a smear of sauce down one side of his mouth and across his chin. “It looks like Uncle Scoots has it covered.”
Max scrambles off Mason’s lap and latches himself straight to Ciara’s side. Mason protests softly. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Ci says she knows where the fireflies are!”
“Oh, no you don’t. Finish eating first. Then fireflies.”
“Aw, dad!” Max’s whine is joined by Marcello and Enzo’s as they materialize out of the dark and they all groan dramatically. “But fireflies!”
“You’re not allowed to go running around in the dark by yourselves. Someone might get hurt.”
There are more protests before Eva climbs to her feet. “I can take them, if you like?”
Mason looks up at the Fury. If they’re safe with anyone, they’ll be safe with her but he slides a questioning glance at Ethan anyway. “Are you sure?”
Eva shrugs, a small smile on her lips. “Sure. Luca and Ben will want to come too.”
“We’ll all go,” Marie announces. She stands up and motions for everyone else to as well. “It’s about time for the bonfire anyway.”
“Bonfire?!” The kids squeal and take off running into the darkness.
“Wait, kids-“
There’s a wink of blue in the distance when Eva appears in front of them, sending the kids all shrieking in excitement. Mason downs the rest of his wine for fortitude then pulls his husband in for a kiss in case he can’t steal any later.
“Come on, Sabre, let’s go.”
--
If they find fireflies, Mason doesn’t see them.
The excitement of time spent with their adoptive family and the bonfire have both kids melting down from too much over stimulation and it’s touch and go for a while until they both crash in his arms. Mason watches the flames dance and listens to Luca’s voice as he strums his guitar, Lexi’s head tucked under his chin while Ethan sits beside him with Max asleep against his chest.
They should probably get the kids back to the villa, tuck them into their beds, but he’s reluctant to move and spoil the moment.
Luca sings, his voice carrying clearly over the crackle of the fire, first upbeat songs with words half substituted thanks to the buzz of Nico’s homemade grappa he insisted they all sample. Ciara twirls barefoot, hair streaming out behind her as Maddox takes her on a makeshift waltz around the bonfire and Nico hands out mugs of mulled wine as Isaac and Eva sit with heads bent together roasting marshmallows in the flames. On their other side, Marie is flanked by each one of her sons, both slumped against her, not quite asleep but dangerously close. And Archer, cane discarded by his chair and a baby on his chest, sits quietly beside Ben, staring thoughtfully into the fire.
“You know, if anyone had told me on P1 this is how our life would end up, I’m pretty sure I would have laughed myself out an airlock,” Mason says to Ethan. “Sometimes I can’t believe it.”
“We’re the lucky ones,” Ethan agrees quietly. The firelight catches the line of his jaw and sends his hair shining gold. He’s still the most beautiful man Mason has ever met and he’s all Mason’s.
After ten years, it still hasn’t got old.
“Any regrets?”
Ethan turns to him and leans in. Mason meets him halfway, pressing a kiss to his mouth, mindful of the dual weights on their chests and careful not to wake them. Then Ethan draws back. “Not a single one.”
“Me neither,” Mason murmurs but then the moment is interrupted when Nico shows up.
“Here,” he grunts, handing them each a metallic mug. Something spicy Mason doesn’t recognize wafts up.
Mason takes the mug hesitantly and looks up at Nico with a silent lift of his eyebrow. “Am I going to have to peel anymore potatoes if I take this?”
“No,” Nico rumbles. “Tomorrow we’re going to slaughter a pig and make sausages.”
“We’re gonna what?”
“You heard me. And you can do the honors. Time to earn your keep, Huntsman.”
Nico moves away and Mason stares into his mug. “This is payback, isn’t it?” he says miserably to Ethan. “For giving him all those shitty ops back in the day?”
Ethan’s lips twitch. Mason thinks he might be laughing. “It might be, babe.”
“Well, Fu… Fudge.. me,” he slumps against Ethan’s shoulder as Luca plays his songs and the stars continue to wheel overhead.
“So, while I was gone to find food, I heard that Major Archer Rose is on board.”
Isaac glanced up at her under his lashes where she leaned against the back of the couch, arms crossed.
“Yes. You heard correctly.”
“And…you didn’t tell me this because…”
He pulled his attention away from his work to look at her fully, discerning whether her narrowed eyes were in jest, or if he was about to be in real trouble. “Is this a bad time to say he told me to tell you that Commander Grimcastle says hi?”
“Hecate, holy shit.” She laughed, and Isaac couldn’t tell if it was good or bad.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now. It’s been a day.”
Eva rolled her eyes and sighed as she made her way towards him. “What’s the point of going through the trouble of dating a Captain if I don’t get the inside scoop?”
“Wow.” He flattened a palm against his chest. “And here I was thinking you were with me just because of my dashing good looks.”
“Nah. It’s the money. I heard future Admirals get paid really well.”
She laughed with him as she slid onto the edge of his desk and his hand moved to curl around her calf, trying to concentrate on her actual words instead of every inch of bare skin revealed by her tiny shorts and sports bra.
“If I had that much fun sparring with Hurricane…then…” She tapped her chin, lost in thought. “I hope he brought his sword.”
“Well. Insider information, since that’s the only reason you have a Captain for a boyfriend.” Isaac tapped at his screen. “He is currently on deck 2, observation room.” He froze when he glanced up at her and the open-mouthed half smile on her wide eyed face.
“What? Are you that surprised that I gave you his loc-.”
“Boyfriend.” Eva slid off the desk to stretch one long leg over his lap before lowering herself to straddle him. Her half smile bloomed into a full blown beam of sunshine and Isaac’s hands moved to grip her hips. “Boyfriend.”
“I dislike that term you know. I’m not a boy. Should be manfriend.”
“Isaac.” She nudged his nose with hers, full lips lingering a breath away. “Shut up and kiss me.”
Luca was hunched over his bowl of Blast-oh’s trying to chew in a way that wouldn’t make his face hurt when Zeus showed up.
The giant vanguard took one look at him and raised his eyebrows. “What happened to you?”
Luca grumbled, trying to ignore the tenderness of one cheek and the ache in his shoulder. “A hurricane happened to me, that’s what.”
“Then you got off easy.”
Luca shoved more cereal in, regretting he didn’t take his bowl and eat in his room in peace. “No shit.”
“Word of warning, kid. Stop trying to dry hump him every time you spar and maybe he won’t go so hard on you.”
“Oh yeah? Are you speaking from experience?” Luca shot back. He was sore and tired and more than three quarters mortified. He glanced up at the phoenix mid chew, wondering if Zeus was going to put him in his place too.
Zeus glowers silently for a moment then seemed to reconsider. “If you want to learn to disarm a phoenix, I can help you.”
Luca’s jaw dropped open. “Wait. What? What did you just say? Because I’m pretty sure you just offered to… No, I’m hearing things. I should get my aids checked-“ Luca slapped at the sides of his head and pulled a face, making Zeus roll his eyes.
“I won’t offer a second time, jackass.”
“Fine,” Luca huffed and shot Zeus a glance from under his hair. “Um. Thanks. Guess I should take you up on that sometime.”
“Later. First I have a job for you.”
“Great, now what? I do have a duty shift in twenty minutes.”
“Marie won’t mind.” Zeus slid a tray across the counter. “Take this to our new arrival on board. He will no doubt have worked up an appetite by now.”
--
Luca whacked the door with his elbow, trying to juggle the tray in his hands and not spill whatever was in the steaming bowls. Weird that Zeus had sent him up to the phoenix troop deck, weirder still that he was standing outside Ajax’s quarters. Maybe the new guy and Ajax were old friends or something… whatever, Luca didn’t care as long as Ajax didn’t hold a grudge for the whole zappy zappy thing and try to snap him in half as soon as the door opened.
“Hello?”
Luca waited as the silence ticked over. He gave it one more moment before attempting to knock again, only the door slid open just as he tried and he almost tumbled into the room. Ajax gripped the tray before it had a chance to go flying.
“Oh,” he said flatly. “It’s you.”
“Um. Zeus sent me for, um. To bring this up? Said our new arrival would be here?” Luca tried to peer behind Ajax’s wide frame curiously but his ridiculous chest blocked most of his sight. “So, is he?”
Okay, at the moment I'm calling this "The Precursor Freedom Fighters"! I have another post explaining this au a bit more, but basically Archer and Sunni are Amy's parents and Ice is Cream's dad! I wanna create more characters (not necessarily related to he present cast) so expect more soon!
[ARGUS/MAU1qeclink/ time since landfall connection 49:35:15. FWD by Switchboard]
Yo, hoss, final recon assessment attached to this. Jarvis should have enough to update the maps of Scott City. I got in as far as I could. Inner 5k of the city’s completely destroyed. Reaper control extends about 25k out from borders, but it’s sparse.
I would have sent this sooner but found some civilians. Hotwired an abandoned truck and brought them west to coordinates
There’s someone at location who claims to be your mom but she’s way too young and good looking for that. But here she is. (Aside) Ma’am, right here.
“Your friend is pretty cute. I’m thinking of keeping him, miho. ...... we have a lot to catch up on, so I hope....
Be careful, Isaac. Please.”
Isaac made some sort of sharp inhale and closed his eyes, squeezing them shut against the sudden sting and leaning his chair back from the main console as if he’d been pushed.
Eva was on him a flash of blue later. He pulled her into his lap with his eyes still closed and buried his face into her chest as she twisted to comb her fingers through his hair.
“Isaac.” She did well to hide the fear in her voice, but he knew her better than that. “What happened?”
The captain could only shake his head, still trying to reign in the wave of desperate emotion that threatened to swallow him whole. He focused his breathing, savoring the scent of her to keep his feet metaphorically planted as he gestured to the small screen.
Eva squinted, trying to make sense of it. “From Argus? I just see the attachment. What was the message?
Isaac took a shaky breath and composed himself enough to manipulate the volume controls, replaying the message loud enough for the small group gathered in their anxious pre-battle vigil in the CIC, everyone eagerly awaiting further reporting from the Major.
His reddened eyes watched Eva’s face as Archer’s gravel voice played.
“Marie, I might literally kiss your boyfriend.” His heavy hand squeezed Eva’s thigh with the first genuinely hopeful smile he’d had in weeks. “Looks like we have a safe place to land. Pack up.” He barked louder, tapping a few keystrokes to send a ship-wide ready-alert. “Shuttle’s hot in 15. Be there or we’ll see you after. Luca. You’re up.”
