Return to the Vault
"It's time to go. We need to hurry if we want to move on to Jesse's plan.. Which one were we on?"
Petra took the still unconscious Jesse from Lukas's lap, picking him up and making sure to be careful of every movement.
"Plan B or C, I can't remember," Yellow replied nonchalantly as Riot helped him to his feet.
"It doesn't matter-- let's just get everyone back to the sub. Once Jesse wakes back up we can ask him about his master plan."
Lukas got up next, gathering himself a bit before he went over to assist Gil. He hoped dearly for some relaxation time back in the Vault. A little bit of time to recover. Hell, maybe even something as simple as a shower. A walk along the island, perhaps. Something calm, away from the seemingly neverending waves of chaos.
Lukas picked Gil up carefully, adjusting him so that his head was resting against his shoulder securely in order to avoid hurting him further. Gil was asleep, and only groaned lightly from the new movement, however he eventually sunk into the hold and relaxed.
Axel picked up Romeo's body from the ground. He knew Jesse wouldn't want to leave him behind. Taking him back to the Vault so the Collosuses can give him a proper send off was the best option.
Olivia and Radar helped back up the tech, helping each other carry it out to the van. The dock wasn't too far, but the crowded van ride was obviously going to be an issue with keeping the wounded comfortable. Olivia tried to pack everything into the back of the van as secluded as possible, meanwhile Radar tried to stuff everything small enough under the seats.
Ivor collected the notes and books that had been thrown across the makeshift table and packed them all together, tying them with a loose string he'd found laying over one of the crates in the warehouse. Once they were tightly bound and secure, he took them out to the van where Olviia and Radar were still struggling with their gadgets and slipped the stack of papers and books into the glove box.
Soon everyone piled in, and somehow everyone managed to fit. Petra drove, and she made sure to take back roads, faster shortcuts to stay out of the way of regular traffic. The ride to the docks only took around ten minutes, and when they finally arrived, Petra parked around the back of a stack of crates, making sure the van was hidden decently for the time being.
“Alright, the Terminal should still be waiting for us beside the dock. Not too far away,” Petra put the van in park and opened the door, stepping out, “Let’s hurry, we don’t wanna get caught.”
The back doors of the van opened, and everyone took their turns getting out. Yellow, who’d been pressed up against Axel for the ride, sighed in relief and stretched.
“Thank God, I was close to losing my mind,” he mumbled.
“It was a ten-minute ride, Yellow.”
“Yeah, ten minutes in Axel’s armpit, Petra.”
“Fair.”
Most helped unpack the van, whilst Lukas and Axel carried Gil and Jesse to the Terminal’s hatch. Axel set Jesse lightly down on the pier before twisting open the hatch and helping Lukas down. Eventually once Lukas had made it down with Gil, Axel picked Jesse back up and followed him down into the massive sub.
Lukas laid Gil down gently on his back, trying to make sure he was comfortable. Gil shifted against the metal ground, moving a hand subconsciously closer to his neck. Clearly, he wasn’t.
Lukas got up and opened one of the nearby cabinets. He searched through walls of them, until finally one of them held a few towels, sheets, and worn-down pillows. Clearly Romeo had never used the Terminal for any long trips. Lukas grabbed a couple pillows and a cotton sheet and shut the cabinet. Though, as he was carrying the sheet back to Gil, he heard a light thump on the floor.
He moved the pillows from his view and saw by his feet a small knitted doll. Curious, he knelt down and picked up the doll with whatever available space he had in his hand. He went back over to Gil, kneeling beside him and lifting his head carefully to slide the two pillows under his upper back and head to support his injured neck. Then he draped the sheet over him carefully and made sure he was in the best supported position. Gil sank into the pillows and relaxed, and Lukas blew out a quiet sigh of relief.
He glanced down at the doll still in his hand. It was small, made for the hands of a child, and had woven dark brown hair and chestnut colored skin, with small blue gemstones that made the eyes. It had a name written in permanent marker on its satin blue shirt. ‘Esmerelda.’
Lukas didn’t know exactly who this doll belonged to, but he decided to keep it with him anyway and ask about it in the Vault.
Lukas’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by Jesse, who’d been laid up against a wall by Axel, beginning to stir in his sleep.
“Jesse?” he kept his voice quiet, scooting over to him quickly.
Jesse mumbled something incoherent, that sounded mostly like sleep-talk.
“… What was that?” Lukas spoke mostly to himself with a small grin on his face, just taking amusement in the presumed sleep talking.
“Where’d my pants go?” Jesse mumbled, a little louder this time, opening his eyes slightly and catching Lukas lightly off guard. Lukas chuckled and put a hand to Jesse's cheek.
"They were a little ruined, but we're going to get you new ones from the Vault. How are you feeling?"
"Tired.. But I don't think I'm gonna be able to get back to sleep." Jesse leaned into Lukas's touch and blew a light sigh through his nose.
"At least that's improvement. Still, rest.. You lost a lot of blood. And I mean a lot," Lukas gave him a small grin, "And know that once you're recovered you will be getting a good scolding, dummy."
"Ah, deserved.." Jesse returned the small smile, but grumbled and put his hands over his stomach.
"Something wrong?" Lukas asked with a tint of concern in his tone.
"I've just.. Got a weird feeling.. It doesn't hurt or anything I just feel... Odd," Jesse replied with a light grimace.
"Huh.. Really? What's it like?" Lukas sounded more curious this time.
"Like.. Kind of a lurching feeling.. Like you know when you go down a drop on a rollercoaster? That's specific but-- it's like that.."
"Hm. Interesting.. I got a similar feeling a while ago.. Maybe it's just stress, or something from blood loss.. Just rest for now, we'll figure it out later.."
----
Soon everyone was on the sub, and they launched from the docks. The Terminal's trip only took around a half an hour before the island Vault came into sight. Then again, the Terminal moved quite slowly at the time, as to offer a bit of smooth rest and recovery to both Jesse and Gil.
Once the sub arrived at the Vault, the bay door opened and the Terminal drifted into the large hangar as water filled it. Once the sub finally came to a stop, the room drained of all of the sea water slowly, bringing the Terminal down gently onto its props. The door hissed, popping open and lowering to the metal ground. At the bottom of the ramp, a Collosus was already waiting for the agents arrival. He must've ran out once the water had cleared.
Lukas was the first to make his way down, Gil leaning against him for support. He greeted the Collosus first, holding out his one free hand for a handshake.
The Collosus shook his hand, giving him a greeting nod before introducing himself.
"Welcome back from your journey. I see things may have been a bit shaky," he glanced to Gil, who was barely awake enough to respond, "I am Wally, Romeo's chief Collosus. I apologize for not being available before. There were things I was taking care of. However, now I am available, if you need anything."
"Ah, Wally. Jesse will need to speak with you once he's recovered.. Until then, can we get a medbay for the wounded?" Lukas replied, mostly concerned with the condition of his friends rather than formal introductions.
"Of course, I'll send alert. And I'll make sure to assist the others in any way I can."
Wally turned to leave, and Lukas quickly caught his attention.
"Oh, commander Wally, before you go--" Lukas pulled the small doll from his pocket and held it out to the man, "I found this aboard the Terminal.. I don't know who's it is or if it belongs to anyone here, but I was hoping you might know."
Wally took the doll from Lukas's hand gently, studying it for a moment before grazing a finger over the doll's woven hair. He read over the cursive name in the shirt and for a moment, his expression softened.
"I.. Believe I can help."
----
After a good hour, everyone had settled in. Wally walked alone in the hallway, relaxing in the calm again. Though even though the setting was calm, his mind wasn't. In fact, his mind was nothing but a blur.
He spoke privately with Jesse minutes earlier. He'd heard the news of Romeo, he'd been given the lapel of his leader. And for the moment, the wave of emotion hadn't yet hit him. For now, he was stuck in an emotional limbo. He held the lapel in one hand, tightly, and he could feel the dried blood on the polished gems. In the other hand, he held the doll by its small woven hand. He went to deal with other things before worrying about anything else.
He stopped at the end of the hallway, knocking lightly on one of the smaller doors. There was fiddling with the handle, before it popped open and swung outwards messily. A small boy was on the other side, just barely tall enough to reach the handle.
"Hi Daddy, you were gone for a while, 's everything OK?" the little boy asked in a squeaky, clearly sleepy voice.
"Everything is.. Fine, Conner. Here, someone gave me something today I think you'll recognize," Wally knelt down on one knee so he was at the boy's level, "Do you remember Esmerelda?"
"My doll!! Granny made me it before we left!" Conner replied excitedly, a smile growing on his face. Wally smiled at his son's sudden excitement, and held out the small doll to him.
"Well, someone found old little Esmerelda on the Terminal. Looks like someone lost her while sneaking around."
"I wasn't sneaking!!" Conner quickly took the doll with a bright smile and hugged it to his chest, "Uncle Romeo used to let me come on with him. As long as-"
"As long as you were wearing your safety gloves," Wally chuckled at the little memory, however quickly remembered the news of Romeo's departure. He'd have to say something to his son about the loss of someone who he considered family, and he dreaded it. Conner was too young. A six year old shouldn't have to deal with such a tremendous loss. But he couldn't hide it from him, it would just be more cruel to do so.
"Hey buddy, we've got to have a little talk.." Wally started carefully, the sudden change in tone catching Conner's attention.
"Is it about Uncle Romeo? I promise he always made sure I was-"
"Uncle Romeo's.. Probably gonna be gone for a while, kiddo.."
Conner tilted his head, confused.
"Gone? Like he's busy? Cause he's busy a lot!!" He didn't let the drop in his father's tone change his mood, lost in his little kid bliss.
"Gone as in.. Most likely won't be coming back."
"What? Why would he leave?"
"He didn't have a choice, bud.. Someone made him.. And he can't come back now.."
"Oh... Well that's OK!! We can still talk to him, right?"
At this point, Wally struggled to say anything else. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes, and he scooped Conner up in a hug.
"I'm sorry, Conner, we can't.. We can try and say goodbye, but he won't be able to reply.. He'll be able to hear us though. We can make little recordings for him, if you want to.. And we can try and.. Send them to him."
----
Gil's awakening was harsh, as he woke up in his hospital bed from a nightmare. He shot up off the pillow, immediately regretting doing so as a sharp pain shot through his neck. He fell back down, sinking back into the soft pillow and trying to recover. He was drenched in sweat and shaking, and he could barely remember his nightmare. He had no clue what he was so worked up about.
Jesse was in the bed to his right, and other than that, the room was empty. Jesse appeared to still be asleep, an arm and leg hanging off the side of the bed while his head was stuck under his pillow. The medbay was almost completely silent besides Jesse's light snoring and Gil's own breathing.
Gil tried to remember his nightmare, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. What had him that worked up? He tried his best to remember back, but couldn't seem to make out any sort of image besides blurred green. Eventually, after around ten minutes of desperately trying, he gave up and just shut his eyes.
Suddenly, as he cleared his mind, it all came flooding back, until his eyes shot open again and he slapped his hands to his forehead. He was overrun quite quickly with a massive migraine, and static sounds in his ears. The buzzing took a while to go away, and soon he was once again left in silence.
He kept his eyes open this time. He feared if he shut them again, the images would come back. He felt haunted.
He decided it was only the effects of the blood loss. What else could it possibly be?
