Apache Failure
It had calmed down a lot in the Vault. Jesse was sitting with Lukas, leaning against him and half asleep. Lukas was running his fingers through Jesse’s hair and keeping it out of his face, helping his always exhausted husband fall asleep. Olivia was still at the monitors, watching the radar and the cameras for anything. Radar was beside her, doing the same and double checking everything. Romeo had shown Gil and Axel to the gym, where they’ve spent the last hour together challenging each other to different competitions and seeing who could do the most heavy lifting. Yellow and Riot hadn’t been seen for a while now, as they’d been outside wandering and exploring the island forests together without a care in the world. They remained with each other and wanted to stay in this newfound bliss for as long as they could. Ivor was with Petra, stuck in a friendly argument per usual over their own beliefs.
Romeo was on his own, back off in the hangar and letting everyone tend to their own business. He was working on the chopper again, his prized piece. He’d fixed a few of the rotors, piecing together all of the wires and shutting up the panels. He’d set them aside, starting to work on the chopper itself now.
Half of the chopper was propped up, tilting it slightly diagonal. It didn’t have any landing gear on one side, and was being propped up so Romeo could crawl underneath and work on one of the fuel lines.
He worked for around another hour just under the chopper, blocking sparks from the wires every so often. He'd occasionally let out low mumbles to himself as he wiped at the grease smeared all over his face. He enjoyed working on the chopper, he was just so easily annoyed by light inconveniences. As he rubbed at his face, he smeared grease up and across his eyes. It didn’t register as quickly as he would’ve hoped, and soon enough he’d been lightly blinded by the sudden blurriness and burning.
Of course, he tried to blink it off, ignoring the stinging and continuing to work. It was only a matter of time before he slipped up. As he trusted his instinct, he didn’t register that that probably wouldn’t work. He twisted the wrong two wires together, receiving a strong shock and a puff of smoke from the inside of the heli. It coughed and shuddered before suddenly, the engine coughed to life. The rotors started to spin for a moment, rocking the tilted heli, and giving Romeo a heart attack. He tried to get out from under the chopper before it rocked again, but only kicked out the prop holding it up from falling. It dropped, its rotors chopping into the ground and snapping.
Romeo ducked and covered from the rotors, blocking his eyes and face from debris, only for the rest of the chopper to collapse down onto his lower half. A rotor had impaled itself through the metal ground right in front of his head, and the crushing pain from the choppers weight was such a sudden surprise that Romeo didn’t even register it at first. When he did, however, the cry to come from him echoed down the halls and caught the attention of everyone nearby.
Even Jesse, who was mostly asleep against Lukas, in bliss, noticed and jumped to his feet immediately. He startled Lukas, who nearly fell from the seat. Jesse said nothing before running off down the hallway, leaving everyone else in confusion before Lukas stumbled to his feet and ran after.
Romeo didn’t expect anyone to come, and if it was anyone it would be a Collosus. He tried to fight past the pain and crawl out, but he’d been caught by the open panels, and he only made it worse. He’d gotten dizzy, he’d gone numb, he was left under there for around ten minutes and he thought no one had heard him. However, soon enough, the crushing weight was lifted from his legs.
Romeo expected to see a Collosus, but instead to his surprise, it was the concerned face of Jesse that he saw. It was Jesse that held up the chopper and pulled Romeo out. Out of all of the agents, Romeo least expected Jesse to help him. It was Jesse’s voice he heard first besides his own.
“Romeo! Romeo can you hear me?” Jesse tapped at Romeo’s face to try and wake him up a bit, and Romeo groaned in response.
“I can I can... Don’t worry,” he replied with only a light shudder in his voice. His vision began to focus again, and he caught an orange glow coming from the chopper. He didn’t even wait for a logical answer: He already knew. Before Jesse could say anything else, he grabbed him by the arms and forced himself to his feet, trying to ignore the immense pain in his entire lower half.
“Fire, Jesse! Fire! Move!!”
Jesse didn’t even turn to look back. He didn't need to. He grabbed onto Romeo the same way, and they both ran off to cover, Romeo dropping to the ground nearly the second they reached a light barrier. Lukas came into the room at the wrong time, and Jesse waved his arms to get his attention. Lukas didn’t understand, until the chopper let out a terrible snapping sound, seeming to combust, and exploded into an inferno of fire and smoke. The shockwave blasted all three of them back, Jesse landing on top of Romeo and Lukas smacking into the wall behind him and falling to the floor. Bits and pieces of shrapnel from the obliterated chopper landed all around them, and Jesse had to drag Romeo out of the way of falling debris. Eventually they were safe enough away, and Jesse started looking over Romeo again, checking for any more damage. There wasn't any, he seemed alright, to Jesse's relief.
They couldn’t hear anything from the explosion, however Jesse was recovering much faster. And above it all, muffled but surely, he could point out Lukas, his nearby coughing and what sounded like strangled hacking. Jesse leaned Romeo up against a nearby wall and ran to search for him, stepping through debris thrown about and looking through the smoke in the room for his husband. Eventually, Jesse found him. He was slouched over the ground and looked to be convulsing, struggling to even stay on his hands and knees. Jesse slid beside him and immediately took him up in his arms. He didn't look physically hurt, and Jesse knew he was only having another attack. However, this one felt worse than the others.
Lukas couldn't seem to function. He stayed gasping and choking, curled in on himself as he instinctively gripped onto any part of Jesse he could. He went from grasping Jesse's shirt and sleeves to clutching his own chest, no sound coming out of him as he trembled and continuously convulsed. Jesse held him tightly, knowing he could do nothing besides try to help him calm down. He ran his fingers through Lukas's hair, combing over his head in the gentlest way he could. He held him tight, close, but gently, in a soft hug. He whispered reassuringly, telling him it would be okay, that he was safe. For a while, it didn't seem to work, and it grew more difficult for Jesse to hide his worry.
Eventually, however, the attack did subside. Lukas slowly but surely began to relax, still shaking quite violently but able to get in a few desperate gasps. His hands fell from his chest as he went limp in Jesse's arms, shuddering and twitching every few seconds. Jesse still held him close, he didn't let him go. He ran his thumb over Lukas's cheek, still whispering light assurances as he set his forehead against his husband's. Soon enough, Lukas regained full control and his gasps turned to sighs, relieved sighs as he was able to take full breaths again.
The attack went on for about 7 minutes, and Romeo had gotten up in that time, finding that surprisingly, he could still walk. Nothing was broken. Tremendously sore, no question, but not broken to his relief. He waved away smoke from his face and looked over to where Jesse was still cradling Lukas. The smoke was beginning to fill most of the room, but luckily the fire couldn't spread across the metal floors. Romeo went to every wire connected or nearby and put them all out. Every fuel pipe close was shut down and drained at the first detection of smoke. All he needed to do was seal off the room and get himself and the agents out of there.
He moved himself over to them, putting a hand on Jesse's shoulder to get his attention. Jesse almost looked surprised to see Romeo standing on his own.
"We need to go-- The room will be closed off and taken care of- but we don't want to get locked in here as it drains itself of all oxygen, do we?"
Jesse nodded and stood, Lukas still in his arms. Romeo led him out of the room and slammed his hand over the large red button just outside the door. The door slid shut with a snap and the entire hangar was filled with a chorus of locks and shutters clanging shut. Then the hangar went dark, besides the orange glow of the fire, and a light hissing came from inside.
Romeo left the hangar alone, and Jesse took him and Lukas back to the main central control. Lukas was once again tired out from the attack, and had fallen asleep against Jesse's chest. Nobody said anything during the walk. Romeo didn't mention it, but Jesse could tell he was stuck in his own bit of mourning. That helicopter meant a lot to him, even if it was stolen and he'd only had it for about a week.
Once Jesse had laid Lukas down to rest for a while in control, he stepped aside to talk with Romeo alone. He didn't answer any questions asked from the other agents before speaking with Romeo alone first. He found him sitting by the hangar door, the room inside still dark, but the fire gone. Jesse sat beside him.
There was an awkward silence between the two before either decided to speak. Jesse spoke up first.
"So... Are you alright?"
"Yes... No severe injuries, and-"
"I meant, emotionally, are you alright?" Jesse interrupted him.
Romeo went quiet for a moment before responding.
"I know it seems odd but-- not necessarily. It may seem a bit weird to mourn over a machine, a vehicle, but..."
"No, don't worry, you're allowed.."
"Hm. Doesn't seem as dire as-- well- the danger both you and Lukas were put in. It feels dumb to feel upset over something... Replaceable. Human lives are not replaceable..."
Jesse was caught off guard for a moment. He wasn't expecting Romeo to worry this much.
"No man--" he tried to play it off, "You're entirely allowed, it's fine.. We came to your rescue, it wasn't your fault--"
"No no, I was being a fool. I sparked the wrong wires- I kicked out the prop.. I got myself into that situation."
"Romeo, stop it. It was an accident. Accidents happen. I'm just glad you're alright, man. Lukas is just fine, too. We all got out alright, and the chopper-?..." Jesse hesitated before cracking a lighthearted grin, "Well, I'm sure we can get you another sometime."
Just then, an echo of a new voice cut through the halls. Olivia, calling for Jesse, clearly distressed. Jesse got to his feet quickly.
"That sounds important, Romeo--"
Romeo was already getting up before Jesse had spoken. He started dashing down the hall, a light limp in his step Jesse noticed, and called back to him.
"Hurry then! The Witherstorm may have just been found!"
Jesse chased after him, no questions asked. Only excitement in his step and a smile on his face that probably shouldn't have been there.
"We've got our chance!"