Aug 2, 2019
Finally drew the boi.
Radar (from @saau-official / @ask-secretagentsquad ) belongs to @atarimarque
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Finally drew the boi.
Radar (from @saau-official / @ask-secretagentsquad ) belongs to @atarimarque
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?
Secret Agents AU but it’s a shitpost
So I wanna do something like this so let’s-a-go.
CIA Agency
Jesse
Chaotic Good Dumbass
Smol and feral
Engaged with gay blonde partner
Lukas
Gay blondie
Engaged with smol and feral partner
Has a possible bad luck streak
Axel
Big boy
Pretty much a big boy who’s working for the CIA
Olivia
Pretty nerdy woman
She’s trying her best y’all
Dealing with hackers is hard af
Petra
Raging Diaaster Lesbian™
Pretty much ships two of her friends
Tough bitch
Ivor
The only straight man
Brought most of the CIA agents in like some sort of adoption??
Radar
Baby ™
Needs to be protected
Good boy
Yellow/James
Sassy bastard
Is gay with his partner
Nerdy and British yet sassy at the same time
Riot/Kelly
Gay with British sassy bastard
Also a dumbass
Almost died after getting his ass kicked
Witherstorm
Orion
Tall as fuck, Sexy, and full of spite
The one character that 90% of SAAU fans thirst for
Pretty Man with pretty eyes
He won’t hesitate bitch
Not the villain, just angry
Sexuality is spite
Ranger
Dumbass Bastard
Child who memes during high school
Pretty much hides his internal conflicts by meming
Toes and Yeet-haw
Swears more that a sailor
Trevor
Dangerous baby™
He’s trying his best and his brothers are proud of him
Just a sweetheart who would kick your ass
Bi-baby boy
Green/R!Lukas(belongs to @zonerz )
Bi/Pan badass
Friends with the guy who’s angry at the world
Literally acts like a cat
Wrecked the dumbass bastard’s motorcycle
Very kind guy
He’s a badass from another dimension
@ask-secretagentsquad belongs to @atarimarque
Twintuition
When Lukas finally came to again, he found himself bound tight by ropes, sitting against the wall. He shifted uncomfortably, almost immediately noticing that he was dressed in a different outfit. The fabric was almost stiff, and was definitely not what he was used to. His arms were pressed against his sides and his ankles were held together tightly by the rough line, all he could do was squirm, but couldn't undo any of the twisted rope.
Lukas looked around quickly at the area, seeing the agents conversing and deciding what to do next, and soon catching sight of his actual clothes, folded and set beside his bag which had obviously been gone through. A sudden thought struck him. His necklace. The necklace. He couldn't move his hands to feel for the necklace, he couldn't feel it around his neck. There was a new fear that he hadn't felt before. What had they done with it?
Lukas didn't get much more time to think before a voice spoke up beside him.
"Morning, buddy.”
He jumped at the voice of Jesse, who’d been waiting by his side for him to wake. Lukas for a moment didn’t know what to do. He was so used to his quick escapes, and even captured, he’d never had his opposer be Jesse himself. He reminded himself that this wasn’t his Jesse. No scar, that’s not his Jesse.
“H- Hello there,” he managed to contain a light stutter, however still unable to hide a break in his voice. He cleared his throat quickly and tugged against his binds. He tried to put up his act again, but he questioned his ability to keep it up for long.
“Would you mind?” he held out his hands and gave Jesse his best puppy eyes, “The uh— cuffs aren’t necessary, are they?”
Jesse scoffed and stood up.
“They are absolutely necessary.”
Lukas dropped his hands and sighed.
“You’d keep me tied up, Jesse? Me? Lukas?” he said in an almost pouty voice to get his attention. However, he dropped the expression with a groan as his counterpart stepped up beside Jesse, placing a hand around his waist.
“Unfortunately for you, he’s already got one of us.”
Lukas sighed at the appearance and shifted uncomfortably. It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror glaring, looking down on him.
"Hm. Guess I'm too late for the act, huh?" he grumbled.
"Mhm," Jesse nodded, earning another tired sigh from Lukas. His counterpart turned and stepped away, Jesse following afterwards. Lukas went to speak again, however the lightest sound of his voice was quickly cut off by an angry Jesse once again.
"Don't say anything, you're an imposter. A fake. Just keep your mouth shut and let us focus on other things."
Lukas squinted slightly and leaned back against the wall. He glanced around the room, searching for anything to help his escape. Orion would be waiting for him, and he didn't want to have to make him come back yet again for another rescue. Seems like their joke was becoming a reality.
Examining the room, he found exactly where the rope had been looped into the wall. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that secure. He could probably tug and undo the knots if he tried hard enough. An easy escape, he caught immediately what was happening.
He glanced back up to the other Lukas, who was standing over by the table surrounded by other agents. They seemed to be planning something, but he couldn’t tell what. That would have to remain a mystery, however he quickly pieced together the situation. He looked exactly like the other Lukas now, possibly with slightly different variations in features, however NEARLY exactly the same. A quick escape from the ropes, out an easy to follow back door.
The old twin trick. Now, he’d never had the luxury of being part of one of these before, but knew what was going to happen. A switch on Orion was the plan, that was obvious, but how to avoid it was the question. Maybe he could slip out unnoticed.
No, that was way too obvious, they’d expect him to try that without even knowing about the idea. They were watching him.
After a bit of thought, he decided he’d play their game. He just had to hope Orion would make the right choice. He trusted him to do so— but Lukas always wearing his mask could mean that he doesn’t know his face well enough to tell them apart. He could use sign? No, his hands were bound still, that would be a bit too difficult to undo.
Guess he’d just have to play and pray that he’s persuasive enough for Orion.
~~~~
“You have sights on him?” Jesse spoke into his earpiece, straying from the current topic of his plan B to check on Gil, who’d been placed as a gunner at the ready.
“Mhm. Sure do. He’s by the docks, just— waiting. He’s in my scope, this is a ridiculously easy shot. I can’t take it now because—?”
“Because if you take out the Leader the rest of them will just continue the plan, it’s like every other organization. We need to figure out how to actually stop them— to do that we need more than just these random journal pages.”
“True,” Gil sighed into the earpiece, “Its so easy though. So so easy..”
“I know, resist the urge, Gil,” Jesse chuckled and tapped his foot almost restlessly, “We’ve got a better plan on hand, and you know what to do if Plan A fails, which hopefully it will not.”
“Yeah yeah I got it, the whole Plan B thing.”
“And your part in Plan A.”
“Of course. This isn’t my area of expertise but— I’ll try not to let you down.”
“You won’t, Gil— Just do your best. If anything goes wrong, this is why we have backup plans.”
“Fair. Alright, well— see you on the flip side, I guess. Wish me luck!”
~~~~
Orion was standing just on the edge of the pier. The hatch of the Ender Dragon could be seen in the distance, out in the harbor. Orion stayed waiting for Lukas, knowing that he may take longer to get around than he did. However, it’d been over thirty minutes. Orion was in the right mind to be worried.
A voice spoke up over his own earpiece.
“Leader?” it was Trevor, dragging out the er at the end of the word in a bit of a concerned whine, “Are you alright up there? It’s been a long time, they’re gonna pick us up on the radar soon if they haven’t yet...”
Orion reached up to the headset and felt for the small button on the side. He pressed in in small beeps and dashes, Morse code.
“— • • — — — — • —
• — — — — — • — • • — • — • — —“
There was a bit of a pause before Trevor replied.
“... Alright, if you insist— At least you replied. Just be safe ok? And alert us when you need pickup.” Trevor sounded unsure, clearly doubting that everything was fine. He always was. Trevor was the brother to worry. It was his way of constantly saying “I love you,” and it was just a little bit of Trevor’s sweetness that Orion really loved.
However he couldn’t focus on it for too long. A glint from a nearby building caught his attention, and quickly took his mind off of anything lighthearted. He was standing out in the open, of course anyone would have a free shot at him, and of course he figured that’s what that exact glint was from. A sniper.
~~~~
"I need the ropes, too?" Lukas grumbled and shifted his wrists against the tight ropes that now binded them.
"Yes, you do," Petra replied with a faint amusement in her voice, "If one Lukas has them, the other Lukas has them."
"God... This is going to be ridiculous. Are you sure this is a good idea, Jesse? I mean-- what if something goes wrong?" Lukas turned to Jesse, who was sat at the table and hunched over a journal of his own.
"Don't worry, Lukas-- Even if something goes wrong, your buddy's got you covered. How's Gil with a sniper?" Jesse replied without looking up. Lukas thought back a bit to his times in the army. HE was the sniper, however Gil was never bad. What did this have to do with--
"Jesse, is he up there?" Lukas asked quickly.
"Maybe~"
"Did you at least test his aim-?"
"I did, not to worry. He's a very good shot, you don't have anything to worry about.." Jesse closed his journal, leaving his opened pen set between the pages before getting up. He stopped in front of Lukas and took both of his hands, them being bound together. "If Plan A fails, then we always have Plan B to fall back on. There's nothing to worry about.."
Lukas sighed and calmed down at Jesse's touch.
"Right... I trust you--.."
"And if Plan B fails?" Riot asked from the opposite end of the table. He had an ice pack on his jaw and was leaning over the table, still clearly a bit disoriented.
"Plan C!"
"And then?"
"Do you really think that I'm that awful at this?"
There was a light snicker in Green's direction, and Jesse huffed in annoyance.
"I'm willing to bet on it."
"Plan,, D, then!"
"Plan D? Might as well throw in a plan F to pay respects and accept the fat fucking L we get served on this mission if Plan C doesn't even fuckin work," Yellow piped up from the ground, his voice a bit raspy bit still getting the point along. There was a sharp laugh from Green that he quickly covered up as Petra looked over.
"Yellow!" There was a chorus of different moods, vaguely apart, when Yellow's voice was heard. Some were laughter, relief, and Jesse was clearly heard with the one dramatically offended tone. Riot was the first to drop down and nearly fall on Yellow in a hug, throwing his ice pack off to the side.
“Good to see you’re awake, man,” Petra shot him a quick grin.
“Glad to be awake.” Yellow felt around his neck after Riot had let go, feeling his throat wrapped in bandages with a couple ice packs pressed against his neck.
“The Leader got you pretty bad— try not to speak too much. Gil told us you were pretty swollen," Lukas said, still uncomfortably shifting in his rope cuffs.
"Mhm. Got that.." Yellow wouldn't admit audibly that every word put him in pain, but that was the truth.
"Rest for a while-- the next whole ordeal won't need us, I'll stay with you." Yellow felt Riot take his hand and give it a light squeeze. He smiled faintly and gave everyone a warning squint before leaning into Riot, who put his arms around him in a gentle hug. Petra grinned at the two, shoving her hands into her pockets.
A sudden clatter came from behind, and Jesse turned quickly to see Green hanging halfway out of the window.
"Oh Jesus, Axel!"
Axel's head shot up from where he was dozing off nearby. Jesse gestured to Green, who slipped out quite noticed.
"Oh uh- He's escaping!! Oh no!!" Axel's cry was half-hearted at most and playful if anything, making Jesse roll his eyes with a smile.
"Alright Lukas, go get him! I'll slow him down, you take the shortcut to the docks," Jesse finished his sentence by giving Lukas a quick kiss and running out the unlocked back door. Lukas couldn't help but smile, even going into this situation. He ran after Jesse, having to shove open the door with his shoulder while his hands were still tied.
The chase didn't last very long, and was a bit uneventful compared to the rest of the last hour. Jesse managed to catch up to Green, slowing him down just enough to where he and Lukas made it to the docks at the same time. The Witherstorm Leader was waiting there, and honestly didn't look too surprised. His arms were crossed and his expression was almost numb. Tired. As though he'd expected this very thing to happen.
~~~~
Lukas made eye contact with Orion quite quickly, and could tell immediately that Orion expected this. Orion's eyes moved between the two men in front of him, and his expression didn't change. Lukas wanted to yell out for him, but outing the Witherstorm Leader's name wouldn't be too smart. He knew there was someone watching them, he wouldn't take that chance.
He still, however, called out for him.
"Leader! Come on, you know the obvious choice, right?" he gestured to himself, not being able to hide his worry. However the other Lukas called out as well, in the exact same tone.
"No, Leader! Look at me! You can tell it's me, right?"
Both of them shot each other a simultaneous glare. Lukas had to admit, his counterpart's acting was on point. He really did look exactly like him, sound exactly like him. It was scary, if anything. Lukas called out again, so did his twin. Orion didn't move at first, just listening to their pleadings turn into arguments. He was less than amused, however soon enough stepped forward and approached them both.
He stepped down off the wooden pier, and each Lukas went quiet. Both had their arms bound, they couldn't use sign. The outfits were the same, both hairdos were messy and difficult to tell apart. The voices and expressions were the same. Determined and pleading.
He stopped in front of the first. He looked him over, watching him take a light step back, before stepping over to the other. He only needed a second before putting a hand on the second's shoulder. Immediately, the other's expression was riddled with what appeared to be heartbreak.
But of course, Orion wasn't done. He knew he had the wrong Lukas, the agent Lukas, the double agent trying to worm his way into the mission. He pulled a dart from his palm, wasting no time before he yanked this Lukas forward and jabbed him in the back of the neck with the needle. He then moved his hand away and kicked the agent back, onto the concrete.
Orion held out his hand to the other Lukas, Green, HIS Lukas. He knew it was him, and the relieved look that lit up across Lukas's face sealed the deal. However, as his Lukas took his hand, a gunshot went off in the distance, and a bullet went clean through Orion's shoulder. Lukas stumbled aside, and Orion only let out a quick grunt before whipping his own pistol from his belt and firing back almost without stopping to aim. A loud cry came from the building the sniper bullet was shot from, and the Lukas on the ground immediately reacted.
His face shifted to pure horror, as he cried the name "Gil" and stumbled to his feet before running off in the direction of the tall building.
Orion watched him go, placing a hand on his already soaked shoulder. He wiped his hand on his pant leg before heading over to Lukas and cutting his hands free from the rope.
"Orion-- you-"
Orion held up a hand to silence him.
"I know, don't worry. It's a clean shot. Easily fixed."
He motioned for Lukas to follow, who nodded and complied. They walked across the long dock together without mentioning much of anything, but as they were waiting, Orion stopped and signed to Lukas.
"You wait here, get on the sub. I will actually be right back this time."
"Dammit Orion, you aren't going back are you-?"
"Your materials and normal clothes are important to you, I presume? Wait here with the sub, I will alert you when I've returned."
Lukas felt a hand over his chest, his heart sinking for moment when he couldn't feel the gemstone necklace around his neck where it should be. He nodded to Orion, watching him turn and leave.
"You be careful! Don't get captured," Lukas called to him, and he waved it off nonchalantly with an assuring grin.
~~~~
Lukas was the first one to burst his way into the empty building. He used a piece of nearby broken glass to cut his own ropes before running up the stairs two at a time. It took nearly ten minutes to get up all of the flights of stairs, but when he finally did, he still was kicking. He showed no exhaustion, and crashed into the room where Gil had made his perch.
Gil was collapsed on his back, already lying in a pool of his own blood. The sniper was thrown to the side, and Gil had his hands clasped tightly around his neck. Lukas ran to him immediately, dropping down beside him and scooping him up.
"Let me see, let me see--" Lukas moved Gil's hands carefully, revealing the deep gash in the right side of Gil's neck. The Leader had managed to hit him, from that distance, with a pistol. Luckily it wasn't a shot, only a deep scrape, but it still wasn't good.
"This can be fixed, don't worry--" Lukas assured him, tugging off his jacket and tearing the sniper neckstrap off to use as a bandage, "You're gonna be fine-- you're fine.."
Lukas pressed the jacket over the wound and used the neckstrap to tighten and hold it against his neck, trying to make it just tight enough that it wasn't choking him. He picked him up, carrying him bridal style with his head against his chest to keep his neck in a comfortable position, and began heading down the stairs this time. He left the sniper rifle itself behind, lying on its side on the concrete ground.
~~~~
Orion's trip didn't take long. It was a simple expedition. The agents were too busy worrying about Gil's arrival to realize that the Witherstorm Leader had snuck back into the warehouse after trying for so long to escape. He simply snatched the neatly folded clothes and left without an issue.
The Ender Dragon was waiting for him by the docks, the hatch open and Ranger waiting at the top of it.
"About time!" he yelled over to his big brother, who rolled his eyes and handed him Lukas's outfit the minute he was close enough. Ranger huffed lightly and climbed down into the sub, followed by Orion.
Ranger handed off the outfit to Lukas, who was pacing worriedly across the sub. When he saw Orion, he gave him a mixture of a concerned yet thankful look.
"You-- went back just for this?" Lukas felt through the clothes until he found the pretty blue necklace, and immediately put it around his neck. He felt much better with it on, yet was hit with a sudden feeling of dread. Orion nodded to him.
"It's important, yeah?"
"Yes.."
"Then we don't leave it behind."
Lukas smiled at the comment, and Orion opened the door to another room, most likely to take care of his own wound.
"Wait, Orion--" Lukas stopped him before he left. Orion halted and turned lightly to look at him.
"How did you know I was the right one?"
At the question, Orion only gave him an almost gentle smile before replying.
"I knew those eyes, L."
We Don't Want a Crash Now, Do We?
It was clear as day on the radar. The Witherstorm U-boat had appeared out of hiding, speeding towards landfall. It was now or never.
All of the team had gathered by now, a group of Romeo's Collosuses setting a sub up for departure. As everyone left the Vault and went back up to the surface, and waiting by the large docks for them they could all see the open hatch of Romeo’s own Hunter-Killer. He called it the Terminal.
Everyone made their way to the docks, and Jesse was the first one to step down into the sub. The inside of the Terminal was all a high tech aqua blue, with red buttons strewn around in the mix. It was significantly larger in comparison to the Ender Dragon, and stretched out way past the end of the docks. The team didn't take much time to admire, however. Maybe another time. For now, there were more important things to attend to.
The Ender Dragon had become a recognizable blip on the radar, heading due north and not stopping. It was moving much faster than it did before, reaching unprecedented speeds that seemed difficult to keep track of. It must've been going for a while, it was already heading alongside Virginia only 20 minutes after being discovered outside of the Bermuda triangle. Inside the radar blip, Aiden's tracker had also come back online. He was with them.
The agents didn't hesitate at all to leave. Once everyone was on board, they launched from the docks and began heading back near the coast. Jesse and Lukas talked over an actual plan while on the way. Obviously, they couldn’t just attack the Ender Dragon in the water with the single sub. From what the Witherstorm did to the three Hunter-killers, all with readily trained crews and the element of surprise, they already knew they wouldn’t have much of a chance.
Water was the Witherstorm’s element, it’s where they were most comfortable. Lukas decided to have the team park and wait, on land. Where they were most comfortable.
They came in to the New York docks and everyone got out one by one. It was dawn, and the sun was only just beginning to peak over the horizon. The docks were still empty, and hopefully the particular dock where the Terminal was stopped would stay that way for at least a few hours.
Now they just had to wait.
Olivia stayed watching the radar, using Romeo’s equipment to catch visuals from traffic cameras, phone cameras, anything with a camera. The second a camera caught a visual of the Witherstorm, the agents would be on the move.
It didn’t take too long, maybe a couple hours, before there was a quick flashing from the monitor. It caught everyone’s attention.
“Is that them?” Jesse asked first.
“It’s confirming,” Olivia replied, waiting a few moments before continuing, “Yup, it’s a match. Those are our guys, boys."
"Did it really need confirmation? Look at their outfits," Yellow pointed to the black and purple forms on the monitor with a wave of the hand.
"Oh shut up, Yellow," Petra cut in with a laugh.
"You never know, those could be some of those maniac criminals who snatch looks of terrorists for fear factor," Olivia suggested.
"Oh, yeah, you're right, I forgot those people existed for a moment."
"Well, since those are in fact our guys, let's hurry up and go get em."
“Alright! Load up! , we’re heading in. Romeo, did you grab what we needed?”
Lukas turned to address Romeo, who only smiled.
~~~~
Ranger was piloting the Ender Dragon this time, and both Ranger and Trevor were dressed in black leather outfits. Trevor was watching over Ranger's shoulder, while Lukas was near the back with Aiden. Aiden was the same, eyes a strange color and seemingly empty. Robotic. It still made Lukas uneasy, so he tried to not pay attention to it. Orion was in another room, not to be seen, for around a half an hour before emerging.
The door creaked open, and there was Orion, standing there in a new black and purple leather uniform. There was a purple W hidden in the pattern on his chest. His hair was pulled back and his bangs were pushed back from his eyes. He held a black helmet under his right arm, and no longer wore a mask.
Trevor shot him a thumbs up, and Orion nodded to him. He motioned to Lukas for him to follow. Obviously Lukas didn't argue, but was still a bit taken back by Orion's new look. He got up, following Orion into the other room. There were four motorbikes, all in a single file line. One was a bit scratched up- Ranger's- and another had new neon green lighting in the wheels and handlebars. This refurbished one Lukas recognized as the old rundown motorbike in the hangar before.
Orion set his helmet down on a nearby shelf before signing.
"I already know what you've done with Ranger's bike. It seems you've never come across a motorbike before. Obviously, he wasn't too happy." Orion ran a hand over the scratches on Ranger's motorbike's windshield, and Lukas gulped down a light bit of fear. Orion only smiled. "If you're going to join us on this mission, you're at least going to need to learn the basics of the motorcycle."
Lukas gave Orion a questioning, lightly surprised glance, and Orion gestured to him with his hand.
"Come. I will teach you."
After a few hours had passed of Lukas's attempted training, Ranger called back to the rest of the Witherstorm.
"We're here! Pulling up now. Let's get ready to head out, Trevor, we've got to make this super fast."
"Right! Because the governments onto us now, right?"
"Right. Alright, Aiden, let's start moving!"
With that, Aiden snapped to attention and got up. Orion came back into the room, followed by Lukas, and let Aiden pass to get to the motorbikes.
"We're in the harbor," Ranger said to Orion, "We should take the pod, right?"
Orion nodded to him, and Ranger got up to go ready the pod.
"This is just a fast mission for supplies. This shouldn't take very long, and it shouldn't be too difficult if we move quickly," Orion signed to Lukas, "There's no need to worry."
Maybe it was just Lukas's newness to the world, but for some reason his gut told him this wasn't true. He worried anyway.
As Aiden, Ranger, and Trevor were loading the pod with the small amount of things they needed, Orion signed with Lukas on the side.
"You don't need to know much for this. Just stay close to the twins, don't leave their side, and don't try any crazy stunts. Leave the stunts to me. We don't want any crashes, do we?"
Lukas grinned under the mask.
"Of course not."
"Orion!" Trevor called from over by the control monitors, "There's another sub!"
Orion turned quickly, heading over to him. Trevor pointed to the monitor.
"Another sub, a hunter-killer. It's... Not moving. Lodged at the docks. Should we... Keep course? Or-"
"Adjust. Lightly to the left. Different docks, closer, be quick. We steer clear of any enemies," Orion signed to him. He understood and started plotting a new destination into the pods autopilot.
Once the pod was loaded, everyone gathered on besides Aiden, who remained behind to pilot the Ender Dragon in case of emergency. The pod launched off of the Ender Dragon towards the new docks, away from the other sub. It didn't take very long for it to come up on the empty docks. It got close enough, and Ranger brought its top half up out of the water.
A hatch opened and swung on its hinges, landing on the pier and making a bridge. With that, two black motorcycles, Trevor and Ranger each on their respective bikes, launched out and down the road. Lukas followed, with Orion behind. Lukas was wobbly, the unexpected speed catching him off guard. Orion stayed close behind and tapped his own front tire against the back of Lukas's bike to keep him steadied when he seemed to lose balance.
They sped off, Trevor and Ranger leading, straight to the destination: an old warehouse just on the outskirts of the big city.
Inside the abandoned, eerie building was a mountain of crates, big and small, all carrying different materials seemingly perfect for the occasion. It didn't take very long for the group to get there, and they quickly began working, hoping that they didn't attract much attention in the always bustling city. For a while it all went smoothly.
Trevor and Ranger opened crates and dug around for specific items that Orion needed. Orion kept a watch, knowing the twins knew what to do. Lukas stayed with Orion, never leaving the seat of his bike. He was surprised he'd made it this far without skidding or crashing. However it was only a matter of time before Orion caught glance of a new group of cycles swerving through traffic towards the warehouse alley. Orion turned to Lukas quickly and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Tell them to hurry. Hurry back to the pod. Go quickly, wait for me there. The agents have found us, but don't worry. I'll distract them while you all go. The supplies are most important," Orion paused for a moment and continued when Lukas didn't respond, "Do you understand? Those are orders. Continue on without me, wait for me at the docks."
Lukas quickly nodded and ran off to the twins. Orion wasted no time before mounting his cycle and blasting out of the warehouse and down the road.
~~~~
Jesse was the first to notice the Leader's black and purple motorbike speeding through traffic. Mounted upon his own, swerving through cars alongside Lukas, he motioned to the enemy cycle.
"Lukas! There! I see him!"
"Copy, Jesse, I've got him too! Don't let him get away!"
Olivia shot through on the comms.
"Jesse, Lukas, there are others in the warehouse!"
"Forget them, Olivia! Focus on the Leader! That's the one we need to take down!" Jesse quickly responded through, revving the motorbike and speeding up. He swerved past cars and trucks, going as fast as his bike could take him, desperate to catch up. The Leader had other plans. He climbed up on top of the cars rooves, his motorbike gliding over each one with ease as he sped ahead.
"Alright, Jesse. Clearly, we need a shortcut! Olivia, Radar, see anything?" Lukas yelled into the comms over the honking of the annoyed drivers.
"There's an alley to the left. It'll let you cut across and get in front of the Witherstorm Leader. Cut him off and try and wipe him out," Radar was the one to reply this time.
"Copy that. You get that, Jess?"
"Got it! Turn now!"
Jesse lurched his bike to the side, dipping out of traffic and into a thin alleyway. Lukas quickly followed.
~~~~
Orion already knew what was happening, but he also knew what he was doing. A cycle chase? Not exactly his first rodeo. He climbed over cars and trucks as he made his way to a small bit of clearing in the traffic. He dipped down, coming off the cars and ignoring the furious honks of angry New Yorkers. They weren't his problem.
He didn't wait for an alleyway. He drifted right and smashed straight through a large window, and the loud-mouthed motorcycle peeled through a small clothing store, to the back, before smashing out the other end. He came out in front of the agents, leaving them in light shock before speeding up and shooting away again. The agents took a moment to grasp what happened before chasing after, following Orion out of the alleyway and right into oncoming traffic. Orion swerved between coming cars, and he caught view of a semi heading his way. He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it, so he dropped the bike to the side, skidding on metal, right underneath the carrier of the semi. He cleared it to the other end without issue.
He revved the motorcycle again, starting up the wheels and hitting max speed, and used his arm to push up slightly. The wheels caught the ground, and he did a sudden 360 before coming back upright and blasting down yet another alley.
The agents went around the semi, not wanting to risk it, but followed him quickly. Orion couldn't seem to lose them. But then again, that was good. He knew then that the twins and Lukas could easily get away with the more important cargo. He'd make his leave soon enough.
In the alley, there was a split, and one end was blocked off by dumpsters and heaps of junk. Orion knew that wasn't there to begin with, but it was too high for him to climb over. However he still didn't turn, not yet.
Instead, he slowed just enough, and touched his front wheel against the largest dumpster. He revved the cycle, and in a split two seconds, he climbed up the side of the dumbster, kicked off the top, and came down on both wheels just behind the two agents. Once again, they were left in shock, but quickly turned down the other alley to avoid crashing. Orion followed, behind them this time.
He whipped his pistol from his belt and fired twice, hitting both agents' tires and causing them both to slow immediately and spin out. Orion sped past, making a straight shot for the exit of the alley.
However a sound he hadn't picked up on before suddenly sounded the loudest once the opposing cycles were gone. He turned his head just in time to see the bright headlights of a silver car, coming at him at full speed from the right. He didn't have enough time to avoid it, so instead, he threw himself off of the cycle as the car smashed into both it and then the wall. Shrapnel flew in all directions, glass and metal, and Orion crashed into the ground and skid to a slow stop.
The driver of the car must've also thrown himself out, but from the back. He seemed fine, and was already heading in Orion's direction. One of Orion's arms was busted out of place, bent the other way, but he didn't let that stop him either. He snapped it back into place and got up, ignoring the pain and making way to another exit.
~~~~
"Don't let him get away!" Yellow, who was driving the stolen car that was now smashed into the wall, yelled to the rest of the group. Riot came up beside him, handing him a taser gun.
"Jesus, James! We don't want to kill him!" Jesse yelled back, running up with Lukas behind both of the others.
"Speak for yourself!"
"We're not killing him either way! We have questions and he's got the answers," Lukas ran ahead, dipping around the corner to see the Leader, almost halfway to the street, seeming to be limping. He fired his taser, hitting him square in the back. The Leader froze up only for a moment before ripping the nib from his back and continuing on.
"Jesus--"
Jesse fired this time, running up closer, and Yellow and Riot did the same. The Leader looked as though to keep going even still, but eventually, he fell, dropping hard to one knee, no longer able to get back up and yet still struggling to appear strong. The agents knew otherwise.
"Thank God... We got him," Jesse sighed and went over to him, "He's down!"
"Knock him out, Jess. We'll take him back to the others."
~~~~
When Orion awoke again, he came face to face with Romeo. Immediately, there was an anger that he hadn't felt before. He jerked forwards, as if to lunge into an attack, but found himself bound by chains. He was snatched back as he fell into the metal chair that seemed to have been welded to the floor. Romeo still recoiled quickly, for a moment blatent fear written on his face, but when he realized Orion was unable to move, a sneer replaced that quite quickly.
"Oh... Not used to the switch in power, hm?" Romeo taunted him, and Orion growled lightly in response, attempting to keep his cool. His helmet was off now, and his face was exposed. His stitches were open to all, and to be frank, he hated it. However he didn't move, he didn't fight. He went through Romeo's taunts and questions with not a single reaction.
He knew Romeo was going to betray him either way, it didn't matter.
Orion kept reminding himself of the twins. They needed all the time they could get, and if Orion had to be stuck in the agent's captivity for them to get that time then so be it. He leaned back in his chair and awaited yet further questioning, until someone besides Romeo spoke up.
"Romeo, the man can't answer us, look at him. Give it a rest, will you? Come look at this page we found, it could be important."
~~~~
Lukas beckoned to Romeo, who came over to the table where everyone had seemed to have gathered.
"It seems they've switched up the alphabet on us... Interesting how quickly a new code is made," Ivor studied the single page of the Leader's notebook. An entire new code was being used now, and the page was wrinkled and bloodied from the crash the Leader took. It was difficult to make out some letters, much less decipher whole words. Even Yellow was having difficulty.
"Well, we have the Leader now. It's not like we're running low on time. As long as the Leader is here, the Witherstorm is probably at a standstill," Lukas said, moving away from the table, "Let's not rush ourselves too much."
Olivia took his place at the table to look over the page, while Lukas went over to Gil to chat. Gil was at a bit of a loss for words at that moment. There was too much confusion and anxiety to do much. All those years fighting in wars and surviving grenade after napalm, and he'd never had any issues with PTSD. He was one of the lucky ones, he'd considered, however now, after the Witherstorm, every little thing had started to trigger him. Even seeing the Witherstorm Leader fuzzy in the monitors sent chills down his spine.
Lukas sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder to snap him from his trance.
"Hey, Gil.." his voice was as soft as possible as to not disturb him, "How're you holding up?"
"Ah... Just anxious is all, I'm alright. It's just-- him. Being here, right now..." Gil gestured to where the Witherstorm Leader was trapped in the chair, his head dipped and not a sound coming from him.
"Yeah... It's weird, I'm sure. But don't worry-- once we get in contact with... Someone-- we'll have him out of here and the whole problem will be solved. We captured the head of a serious terrorist group. I'm sure we can take down the others too if necessary, and if anything, Isa has ways of making people talk. Or well. Sign, if you're in this Leader's shoes."
"Oh Isa. She never liked me. Specifically. For some reason. The one time we took a visit to the white house, after the Faux War? Oh no, never liked me. I feel like if I made one wrong move in her presence she'd have Reginald shoot me dead," Gil laughed.
"Oh Reggie would never! I'm sure Isa gives off that vibe but really she's very sweet. Just gotta get past the business side of her, is all," Lukas talked of both the President and her secret service as if they were old friends, which he considered them to be.
"Reggie? Did he really let you call him that?"
"Hah, not to the face." Lukas threw Gil a smirk and leaned back in his seat.
"You're extremely relaxed, huh," Gil gave him a light look.
"Well, I'm trying to be. See, I took a bullet here," Lukas tapped over his chest, "And since then, it seems like whenever I get... Stressed or- really startled-- I, well- can't breathe. And it hurts. So... I'm trying to stay as calm as possible. As stress free as I can possibly be, yknow?"
"Ah, makes sense, yeah. Wait, you were shot?"
"Yeah, occupational hazard."
"Hah, I feel you. You're doing alright though?"
"Yeah yeah, getting better as days go on. It doesn't hurt so bad now. If I was still back at the agency my stitches would be out too. For now though, I've just gotta deal for a little bit longer."
"Yknow, I could help you with that. After you left the army, I started work in medical. I- I could help that way, right?"
"Really-? Wow, Gil- yeah! We could use a real medic. Hopefully we won't need that much medical attention, right?" Lukas laughed, "But, seriously.. Why didn't you mention before, man? That's really helpful--"
"Ah I'm still a little nervous about the whole thing.."
"I'm sure you're perfect for the job, Gil. If I can trust any medic, it'd be you," Lukas paused for a moment before continuing, "I know we haven't been able to talk much lately, with everything going on, but it really is great to see an old friend.. It's great to have you back, man. Glad to see you're doing alright.. And... I'm really sorry that you got roped into this somehow.."
Gil smiled and shook his head as a way to say it was alright.
"It's fine, really... Sure it's a toll but... I'm in the army. I was bound to deal with some crazy shit someday."
"I suppose you're right.. I'm glad you managed to get away. You won't need to worry about Maya and Magnus and good ol commander Gabriel. We're gonna free them all.. And now we can, see-" Lukas gestured to the Witherstorm Leader, "Him right there is their ticket to freedom."
"Hm.." Gil paused, "What are we gonna do with him, exactly. A couple lines of chain isn't gonna hold him back forever."
"Well... I was going to suggest we let Romeo have his fun, and then we bring him in for Isa's judgment. We just need to find a way of contact with the rest of the agency. CIA, FBI, anybody. Anyone that can help us."
The two sat for a moment in silence before either said anything else.
"Yknow, I heard Olivia suggest chopper transport-" Gil was cut off by Lukas before he could finish.
"Nah, we can't have that Leader on any unsecured vehicle. He could take us out or take the chopper down and tons of things could go wrong-- we just need to get him off our hands without giving him any opportunity of escape."
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!"
The Fastest Gun in the West
~~~2~~~
Lukas stood for a few minutes as Romeo let him make his choice. Reluctantly, he sighed, and couldn't bring himself to do harm to Jesse. He lowered his gun, kneeling down slowly and setting it on the ground.
"Alright, alright. I'm surrendering.. Let Jesse go," he spoke with a tenseness in his tone.
"Lukas no- he's not-" Jesse began to say, but Romeo cut him off.
"Good good! Then this will be no problem at all. Colossus, continue then."
However at Romeo's command, the man, 'Colossus', didn't release Jesse. Instead he held his grip tighter, and set his finger on the trigger. Lukas suddenly knew what was going on, and Jesse watched as Romeo pulled a small pistol from his suit pocket. In retaliation, Jesse began to flail. He jumped up, kicking Colossus hard between the legs and just barely avoiding a bullet to the head as the gun went off.
Lukas saw this as a chance. Knowing Jesse could take care of this Colossus easy, he grabbed his gun and whipped around to deal with Romeo again. However, Romeo was quick to the punch and drew his own weapon at the same time.
A gunshot went off, just as Jesse whacked Colossus over the head with the handle of his weapon and knocked him out cold, and Jesse quickly turned to see Romeo stumble backwards into the window, hitting it hard enough to shatter it as he fell through. Jesse quickly ran to the window, past Lukas, in an attempt to somehow rescue him. However to his morbid surprise, a chopper had been waiting just below, and turned to catch Romeo before flying off with both him and the briefcase he'd been carrying.
Jesse balled his hands up into fists and groaned as he slapped his hands over his eyes.
"We lost him! Again! Ugh.. And we were so close!!" Jesse yelled, pushing away from the broken window.
"J... Jesse..?" Lukas almost squeaked from behind him.
He turned at the sound, only to see Lukas looking as though he'd just seen a ghost. He had a hand over his chest, and he dropped his gun as he stumbled slightly.
"Lukas-? Lukas- what's wrong?" Jesse quickly went over to him, taking hold of him and putting a hand over his. He drew his hand back quickly and stared down at it in shock, for coating his entire hand just from the light touch was a shining coat of fresh blood.
"I-I wasn't.. Fast enough..." Lukas's voice was already weak, and his expression was strained and afraid. Before Jesse could say anything else, his partner collapsed to the ground, already nearly unconscious.
"Lukas!" Jesse cried as he immediately dropped down beside his partners already limp body, putting both hands over the wound to try and slow the bleeding. He quickly yelled into the comms.
"Olivia! We need an evac right now!! Lukas was hit, bad!"
"What about Romeo? Or the buyer?" Olivia responded back.
"Romeo's gone! The buyer's immobilized in the meeting room. I don't care! I'm worried about Lukas! He's dying!!"
"Don't worry, we're sending someone right now- he's gonna be ok, Jesse. It's Lukas, he's tough.. He's gonna be just fine.."
With that, Jesse signed off the comms. He focused back on Lukas, who was still surprisingly conscious.
"Stay with me, Lukas. Helps coming.. Stay awake the best you can... Don't shut your eyes.." Jesse spoke in as much of a comforting tone he could muster as he tugged off his suit jacket to try and use it to block the bleeding.
Lukas wasn't out just yet, and gripped onto Jesse's arm lightly. He was visibly afraid, and was struggling to stay awake, and was simply looking for some bits of comfort and company. It took all of Jesse's strength to take Lukas's hand, as if these were final goodbyes.
"You're gonna be okay, you hear me?.." Jesse gripped Lukas's hand, holding it tightly to let him know that he was there, "You're gonna be fine... You're gonna recover and be back to normal in no time..."
"B-but- Jesse.. There's the possibility... I- might not... So listen to me, right now...." Lukas mustered his strength to take Jesse's hand with both of his, and it hurt Jesse's heart to feel how much he was shaking already.
"Don't say that- you're going to make it- you're going to be fine..." Jesse felt tears stinging at his eyes, and he fought them back, trying to be strong. He could already see how Lukas had gotten paler, shakier, visibly weaker, and he didn't want to admit it but feared the worst as blood puddled underneath him from the wound.
"Listen to me.. Either way... Goodbyes or.. Not... I-I still get to say I love you... And I'm sorry.. I should've been faster... I s-should've gone to check on you.." Lukas was beginning to stutter, trying desperately to get the words out.
"F-... Forget vows... Forget ceremony..." Lukas coughed in the middle of his sentence, a small amount of blood dripping down his chin, "Marry me now, Jesse.. Here and n-now... Before I may never get the chance to..."
This caught Jesse off guard, and at this point he could control his tears no longer.
"Lukas- no- I-.." Jesse glanced down at the engagement ring on his finger and whined, "We.. We're still going to have a ceremony. Because you're going to be absolutely okay.. And you're going to be there for it.. I'm not letting you die.."
Jesse didn't argue, especially against Lukas's happy yet awfully pained expression, and bent over into a kiss. Jesse gripped Lukas's hands as he felt his hold still growing weaker. It was a morbid feeling, almost incomplete, and made Jesse feel as though he was about to lose the one thing closest to him. But Lukas was happy. Lukas was letting his own tears flow freely, and gave Jesse an almost fulfilled smile.
"Th.. There's one more thing I need you to do for me, Jess..." he said, running his thumb gently over Jesse's hand.
"What's that..?"
"Shut your eyes.... Count to three with me..."
"What? Why?-"
"Just do it.. Count with me.. Please?..."
"O.. Okay.."
Jesse listened and shut his eyes, dipping his head slightly lower. Lukas spoke first.
"One."
"One..."
"Two.." Lukas's voice got weaker, almost a whisper.
"Two..."
...
"Three..."
On three, Jesse was the only one to speak. When he opened his eyes again, Lukas was limp beside him, eyes shut and a soft smile across his otherwise pained expression. Jesse's eyes widened as he let go of Lukas's hand and watched it drop limp onto the ground.
"Lukas?..." Jesse shook him lightly, and there was no response.
"Lukas!!.."
Jesse pressed his head against Lukas's chest, listening for anything. He couldn't hear a pulse. He pressed two fingers to Lukas's neck instead, praying for anything. There was barely a single beat. Jesse could barely feel it, but it was there, ridiculously slow and barely noticeable.
Jesse truly feared for his now husband's life and couldn't help but break into light sobs.
Soon enough, a chopper pulled close to the shattered window, and a bridge was smacked down between the windowsill and the deck of the heli. Jesse looked up quickly, the faintest bit of hope in his eyes, and picked Lukas up immediately. He wasted no time before running across the bridge into the heli. Petra and Radar were there, Olivia was flying. Petra helped Jesse lay Lukas's body gently across the seats, and both Radar and Petra worked on taking care of the wound while trying to stabilize him.
They soon made it to their HQ, where Olivia quickly rushed Lukas off to the emergency room, getting immediate help. Jesse stayed with Petra, worried sick to his stomach and fiddling with his ring anxiously.
~~Tech Time~~
Yellow Journalism
Jesse, excited by his possible discovery, jumped off the roof of the van and ran to Olivia, while Petra tried to get her phone operational. Olivia looked up from her laptop and was surprised to see Jesse's face so urgent.
"There's a tracker on Aiden. Can you use the laptop to find him?" Jesse asked without hesitation.
"Oh yeah, easy. A government tracker is easy to pinpoint," Olivia began typing into the laptop, green letters filling the screen and a map popup appearing, "Alright. Let's see.."
Jesse watched Olivia as she worked quickly, searching the tracker numbers for Aiden's name and waiting as the map scanned over. Soon enough, a faded blip popped up on the screen.
"Oh! We've got him! He did escape!" Olivia cried triumphantly at the sight of their target.
"Well we've gotta hurry and catch him--" Jesse went to run off to Lukas, but Olivia grabbed him by the arm and held him back.
"No! We've gotta watch him- he'll lead us to where we need to go. In the meantime, we need to focus on getting Radar to somebody that can help him," she said.
"And good news!" Petra chimed in, "We've got someone waiting!"
"We do? You managed to contact your friend?" Jesse asked.
"I did. And we just got lucky enough that he's already got backup over."
This sparked a bit of hope in everyone, and the group wasted no time packing up the van and getting everyone back in. Radar was lying close to a van wall, using Olivia's coat as a blanket and a backpack as a pillow. He had a small icepack over his head, and his expression was still twisted slightly in pain, but he was visibly better than he was before.
Olivia stayed with him, Axel and Petra in the back, while Jesse and Lukas sat in the front and drove back into the city. Petra backseat drove on the way there, giving them directions and occasionally yelling at Jesse to slow down.
Soon enough, Petra had them stop in front of a slim section of the apartments. Jesse and Lukas got out of the car, Lukas trying to contain a light stumble as he accidentally twisted a bit too much. He'd been trying to shove down the pain he still felt in his chest. Trying to forget about it or ignore it. However his painkillers were wearing off and all he could do was hope that whoever Petra's mysterious friend is has some medication.
Petra opened the doors to the back of the van and Axel stepped out first, carrying a bundled up Radar easily in his arms. Olivia followed, with her laptop in hand. She was still watching the screen, occasionally trying to type things in with one hand. The group all went into the small apartment building, waiting sometimes for Petra to punch in a few passwords. For a small building, it seemed to be quite guarded.
Petra stopped by a door and knocked lightly three times. The door opened a moment later just a crack, and a glassed over eye peeked through.
"Petra?" a light voice said from the other side.
"Yeah, it's me.. Is something going on?"
The door was quickly pulled open and Petra was immediately pulled inside. The man standing by the door rapidly motioned to the others and they all ran inside. The door shut behind them and locked. Another man was laid across the counter in the small apartment kitchen on his stomach, a half stitched gash across his lower back still bleeding.
"Something definitely was going on, just a few minutes ago, actually. Someone broke in. They stole my main journal and both of our laptops," the man by the door was obviously distressed, as he went back over to the kitchen to finish working on his partner, "Sometimes you can barely go two minutes without a potential story, but it always ends badly."
"So, who's this--?" Lukas asked Petra quietly.
"Right, introductions. Everyone, this is James, my journalist slash detective ally," Petra introduced, motioning to the panicking man.
"Call me Yellow!" he added from behind the counter.
"What happened to Riot?" Petra turned attention back to Yellow.
"This dumb fuck thought he could take on what looked like a couple ninjas alone. I told him to just hide and he didn't listen and now he's bleeding out on my kitchen counter," Yellow jabbed a dull needle into the other man's, Riot's, shoulder, gaining a light flinch and an exasperated groan from him.
"Seems Riot enough."
"Wait, couple 'ninjas'?" Jesse piped up.
"Well.. Dressed in mostly black and in purple goggles. They could really fight, so of course I'm just assuming," Yellow replied with a shrug. He soon finished stitching Riot up and helped him get off the counter.
"Go lay down in my bed, cover up, and rest some. You and your dumbass brain need sleep. I'll wake you if anything bad happens," Yellow gestured Riot lightly down the hall, seeing how he was starting to get drowsier. Riot nodded and listened, not wanting to argue.
"Ah.. Formal introductions," Yellow turned to face the group, "I'm Detective James Yellow Cooper. My friend there, his name was Kelly Riot Patel. He's a cop, who's supposed to be undercover. He's a reckless idiot, but.. He's my reckless idiot, and I need to make sure he doesn't kill himself in all his chaos."
"Understandable," Lukas chimed up under his breath.
"Hey, Yellow? We may need a bit of urgent care here- we don't know what's wrong with him," Axel spoke up above the rest of the conversation before showing the unconscious Radar that was still a ball in his arms.
"Oh, right, yes of course, my apologies. I can see what I can do for him.. I'm not a certified doctor but I can definitely see what I can do."
~~Tech Time continues~~
(Yellow is now available for asks)