Witherstorm's Rest
Orion had holed himself up in his own chamber in the base to tend to his wounds and try and get a bit more comfortable. He was sat on the edge of a light blue bunk, his wounded arm resting in his lap. He reached back up around his neck and pulled down his ponytail, running his fingers though his hair messily to undo the tight hairstyle. His hair fell over his face and against his neck as he blew out a soft sigh, even the slightest bit of loosening bringing relief.
He took a moment to breathe before deciding that the biker uniform he was still currently wearing was too tight, most likely stuck to him because of the blood against the slick leather. He unzipped the jacket, pulling it off carefully and wincing as he twisted his arm in an odd direction in order to pull the wet sleeve from his skin. Eventually he peeled the jacket clean from him, leaving all of the visible wounds clearly exposed.
He pushed himself to his feet, cradling his wounded arm in the other as he sauntered messily to the mirror. Catching a good look at the damage, he groaned through a sigh and didn’t even try to conceal a disappointed look. He’d have to postpone the project yet again.
His torso was covered in cuts and scrapes, and he had a few massive bruises around his midsection. Too large and too dark already for a simple bruise. This was mass internal bleeding. Something he wouldn’t be able to fix on his own. Mixed in with the dark bruises was the still fresh blood coming from his bullet wound and many other gashes and scrapes. Then there were the few burned marks into his scarred back from the taser darts, of course. He was visibly a mess, and even he couldn’t deny he was in terrible shape.
He tugged off the rest of the leather suit and folded the stained and glossed clothes neatly as to not make further of a mess. He decided against redressing yet, instead heading to the bathroom and grabbing a towel, wetting it to clean the fresh blood off of his skin. He cleaned over each cut and gash, working extra carefully around the bullet wound in his shoulder, and held the wet towel over the wound to help block more blood from escaping. Luckily the wound was a clean shot, and the bullet had gone right through. There wasn’t much to do for it besides patch it up and hope for the best, but he had no doubt he would be fine. He’d survived much worse, after all. He knew the medbay in the base would be able to help him fine, which is where he was planning to head after he’d gotten somewhat cleaned up.
Though, there were some questions dancing in the back of his mind. He’d noticed something was off with Lukas, and it’d left him a bit uneasy. The more time he got to think, the more little details he could pick out from the past couple weeks that formed even more questions. He was worried for him. What was prying at the poor man’s mind? Orion never thought to ask. Perhaps that was something he should do, check in on him, make sure he was alright. Their mission did take a rattling turn, after all. Perhaps he was simply shaken from recent events. It would be best to ask at least.
Orion moved the now bloodied towel away from his wound, which had expectedly not done too much to halt the bleeding. He set the towel back on the counter and sighed, watching the fresh blood that had seeped into the fabric slowly coat the metal. Whenever Orion was injured, it always brought some sort of realization to him.
He bleeds.
With all of the wounds, the beatings, the burns, the miraculous survival through explosions and mechanical failures; it felt normal to be in pain. He’d grown used to it. It felt so normal that sometimes, he forgot that it made him bleed. He forgot that it was dangerous, that death was real. However, even though it brought such a powerful realization, it also reminded him that he was stronger than that. He’d cheated death, fought it off by hand and will successfully each time. He was stronger than death, and he wouldn’t let it overtake him.
So, he powered through it. He bandaged his shoulder just enough to hold until he got to the medbay, and he slipped into a more comfortable outfit of a black t-shirt and blue sweatpants, something similar to sleepwear. A bit of his bandage still stuck out from under his sleeve, and his lips were still wet with blood from the lightly pulled stitches, but he did all he could to look not so much a mess, even if it was still obvious. He fixed his hair a bit using his good arm before leaving the bathroom slowly as to not hurt his already pained midsection further. He left the room and started making his way down the hallway, trying to keep his commander demeanor through each struggling step.
Eventually, he stopped, just hesitating outside of Lukas’s bunk. He heard nothing inside. Perhaps he wasn’t there.
Orion lifted his hand until it was hovering just a few inches away from the door in a fist. He didn’t want to intrude— yet, he was worried, so he led by his worried brother gut and knocked on the metal door.
~~~
“You excited for you next trip up to PAMA?” Trevor asked Ranger as they both sat in the control room. They’d been silent for too long, and Trevor was getting antsy from the silence. Each of them were sat in their respective chairs, Bullet and Toaster curled by their feet.
“I am, yeah! I love going up to Norway. The trip takes a while, sure, but it’s really calming. Yknow, some time to myself— I pass over a few nice reefs too,” Ranger responded more cheerfully than Trevor expected.
“It must be a nice trip- How’s PAMA been doing?”
“Same old same old really. Some minor glitches in Aiden’s connection though, probably nothing too hard to fix. PAMA’s been reporting a third presence in Aiden’s mind. It’s kinda weird but I’m sure it’s just some sort of interlinked connection, maybe a glitch in the streams. I’ll take care of it when I get there,” Ranger brushed off the situation as simple, but Trevor didn’t find it so minuscule.
“That sounds like an issue, don’t you think-? Who’s that third presence?” he asked, trying to pry a bit more information into the open.
“Can’t tell- could be anyone. It’s probably just another one of the Hacked accidentally mixing streams with Aiden’s. He’s been a bit glitchy since he’s been under for so long. Don’t worry, bro, I’ll fix it when I get there,” Ranger assured him.
“Fine, fine. But be careful anyway. Those CIA, FBI, whatever they are could be out there still,” Trevor sighed and leaned back into his seat.
“If I come across them I’ll gladly shoot them down- I’ll just leave with my weapons actually loaded, no biggy.”
“You seem awfully relaxed-“
“It’s my way of coping. Everything’s fine-! We’ll all be fine. Leader’s pulled through a lot worse, and our subs are crazy fast and really powerful. We do also have the advantage of hidden, familiar turf, radio static, and an entire creature out there somewhere that Leader's trying to weaponize-“
“Oh, Gargantuine?”
“That’s it’s name?”
“Yeah, Gargantuine is what I called it a while back and Leader adopted it. Gargantuine was the thing that destroyed the Witherstorm before us.”
"I think Leader's recorded something about that thing getting even bigger."
Trevor and Ranger shuddered simultaneously at the thought. The creature lurking in the depths was just another horrible problem. All they could do was pray that Orion's improvements to the base could hold it off. And- hope whatever system he's creating to control the beast would be a success, and not a horrific life or death situation.
"He's trying to weaponize the thing either way. Hopefully that'll keep it off our backs--" Ranger finished, subconsciously rubbing Bullet's belly with his foot. Bullet seemed to be in bliss.
"Yeah, hopefully. That should make your leave easier too, huh?" Trevor asked lightly, looking on the bit more positive side.
"It should, yeah, since the thing always manages to get in the way somehow. If Leader has it distracted, then maybe I can slip out unseen. We know it can't follow outside the field, or-- well. It never has. But I don't see any reason why it would change its decisions now- so once I'm out I should be free sailing."
"I sure hope it goes that way. I'll be stuck here though, having to take up your dumb duties on top of mine, as usual-" Trevor scoffed and threw a crumpled slip of paper at his brother's forehead. It bounced off and landed in his lap.
"Oh come on, it's not like my stuffs too hard, just make a couple of the Hacked do it. I'll be doing all of the routine checks from my sub, as per usual," Ranger replied, letting his playful snark slip through his tone. He picked up the paper ball and threw it back.
For a few minutes, the two tossed the ball back and forth to each other, focused on catching the slowly falling ball instead of talking. Until Trevor spoke up again.
"Do you think Leader's gonna be okay?"
Ranger looked lightly shocked by the question.
"Of course! He always pulls through-! He's Leader- he's.. Unstoppable!" Ranger choked out almost half-heartedly.
"He's just been making this a thing lately-- Coming back mortally wounded, and all.. I'm just worrying about him a lot more.. Like what if he brushes off something serious--"
"Trev," Ranger cut him off, "Orion knows what he's doing.. Sure he seemed a bit more open when we got back today, oddly sentimental, but that doesn't mean he's not gonna be okay. He could just be relieved-- he IS almost done with his project- and it's been years. I'm sure he knows when things are too much for him-- and if anything, no worries, he's got ol Green to take care of him."
"Ah, Green. A stubborn one, huh.. I've never seen anyone speak to Leader the way he does.." Trevor answered unsurely to the comment, still not really sure what he thought of Green.
"Personally, I don't trust him. He looks WAY too similar to that Lukas agent guy that we have record of. And the way he is with Leader-- I don't like seeing Leader's guard lowered like that.. It gives me chills." Ranger threw the crumpled ball one last time, throwing it past Trevor and onto the monitor behind him.
"I'm not really partial.. He saved my life, after all- Twice, I think-- I can't exactly be too skeptical of someone like that.. Maybe he's just-.. Special? Who am I to say? If Leader trusts him, there must be a good reason why," Trevor finished strongly, leaning into the armrest of his seat.
"I guess that's true..." Ranger fiddled with his own armrest, clearly restless.
Trevor noticed and snapped to Toaster, causing the black lab's head to shoot up with his ears perked high in response.
"You know, I think we've got some last minute routine checks to do before we're done--" Trevor glanced up to Ranger, who still looked lost in thought, "I'll race ya, first one back here and finished wins. Loser has to wash the dishes for a week."
Ranger's head perked up for a moment, and Trevor grinned, leaping to his feet. He shouted his countdown as he was already heading off down the hall, followed by a stumbling Ranger.
"1 2 3 GO!!"
