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vampsquerade · 3 years ago

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Can I get a Kapkan x reader where the team is practicing with paintball and he gets really competitive over it and sets paintball EDDs?

of course you can! sorry i’m just now getting to this one, i got a bit burnt out and just let the requests pile up haha…but this is something fun! thank you for requesting it! this is the first time we’re seeing kapkan solo on my account too! i mixed it up juuusg a bit, so hope you enjoy, and thank you once again for requesting!

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Kapkan x Reader: Competitive Spirit

Trigger Warnings: Mild arguments, teasing fun, playful punching, suggestive themes mentions of: predator/prey play and domination

Tensions were seemingly rising after the most recent Six Invitational, after a bunch of operators decided they would leave to join NIGHTHAVEN, and there was only one real way Harry could have helped ease these tensions was by creating a more friendly version of it. He decided to hold a mock one that held no prize, and had you all split off into teams. All attackers were paired with attackers, and the same was done for defenders. The way the bracket would work, however, was a bit complicated. Only certain loadouts were allowed, with some of your tech being banned and others not, despite advantages they held. Attackers would go against attackers, and the same would also be done for defenders. Once an attacking or defending team won against their opponent, the attacking team would then fight the opposing defending team before moving on to the finals. Sure, it could have been a bit confusing to one, but to another? It was seen as a whole new advantage.

Classified as an attacker in your training scenarios, you were obviously placed in your own team, and you were the first team to go up against another attacker team. Your boyfriend, Maxim Basuda, would be the defender team you would probably see later down the line if you kept winning. And to be frankly honest, you felt extremely intimidated. Your set team consisted of yourself, Olivier, Erik, Shuhrat, and Craig. A bit of an odd match up, but since you were able to line Shuhrat’s cluster charges with the paintballs you were instructed to use, you saw your team moving up the ranks much easier than anyone else has. However, you couldn’t help but feel a slight tension between you and Maxim.

The two of you were super competitive whenever pitted against each other, doing whatever you both could to win or gain an advantage over one another. And in this instance, despite no prize pool in the friendlier Invitational, the two of you were more than determined and ready to win. Maxim was prepared for once your team had to go against his, having prepared custom E.D.Ds filled with paint just for the occasion. As you were waiting for your teammates who had previously been hit with paintballs in the prior match before you managed to clutch up, Maxim approached you. “Ready to get absolutely annihilated once it’s our turn?” Maxim asked, sitting down next to you. “Ha! As if we’ll be absolutely annihilated. Though I can’t use my Override MK-1, I can still find a way to get you covered up in paint and make you lose.” you sneer, crossing your arms around yourself, keeping your paintball guns right in the seat right next to you.

Giving you a wolfish grin, Maxim then pat your knee out of excitement. “I’d love to see you try, коше��ка. You and I are surprisingly very evenly matched, so going up against my team would be a nice 50/50 for both of us.” he said. “I know…how about the two of us have a nice little bet we could wager on, yeah?” you suggest, taking off your balaclava and C50 mask. Maxim’s eyes sparked interest, staring at yours intently, “And what would that be?” he asked. “If I win, I can finally dominate you. If you win, we can try out that predator/prey fantasy you have.” you say. Raising his eyebrows, that interest in his eyes became a dark haze, and Maxim raised his mask over his nose, “Wagering sex with me…I see now. Well then, you know what comes with that kind of a bet.” he said, standing you up as he saw your teammates approaching. “And what would that be?” you say, slipping your balaclava and C50 mask back on.

Maxim pulled you close and whispered in your ear, “I will do everything in my power to make sure you lose. And I mean, everything.” he said. He then gave your ass a nice squeeze before letting go of you, “Good luck out there, you’re definitely going to need it now.” Maxim said as he walked away from all of you, giving you a wink. A bit confused, Craig looked at you and crossed his arms, “That was suspicious. What’d the two of you talk about?” he asked. “Oh, just friendly banter! Now come on, let’s go set up! You guys take forever.” you say, giving your team a thumbs up before running onto the field. Shrugging, Craig then had the others rush onto the field after you, and you all positioned at the area in which he planned to have you guys breach from.

You guys would then come to win this round, and all others that came after you, until it was just your and Maxim’s teams left. You two were now up against each other, and from the look in your eye while you were taking your necessary break, you were prepared to win. “Something’s got you excited. Drop the bread, little birdie, and tell us what’s going on.” Erik said, drinking from his bottle of water. “I don’t know about you, but we’ve been on a pretty good fucking win streak. This next one is our last one, and I want to win.” you say, turning to look at your teammates. Despite the strange set up, you guys were doing exceptionally well. You’d also never really trained alongside Craig, so this was your first time seeing the man in action. “You sure there’s no underlying thing?” Jordan asked. “Oh there is, but you guys don’t need to worry about all that.” you say.

Olivier then raised a brow, “I think now we can worry. Go on and tell us, if it’s not something to worry about.” he said. “Fine, fine. I feel like you guys have been bitching to each other about it all day,” you say, leaning back into your chair. “Maxim, who you guys obviously know is my boyfriend, and I made a bet. And of course, it’s a bet in regards to sexual favors and fantasies.” you say. “Heh…Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.” Erik simply replied, chuckling softly. “So, that mean that we’re only really winning because you’re motivated to fuck your overly competitive boyfriend?” Jordan asked bluntly. “Yep! But in a totally unconventional way that would most likely freak you guys out.” you say, closing your eyes and sighing softly. “Like?” Craig asked, poking the bear. You simply remain quiet, smiling as you take sips of your water. “Come on, don’t leave us in the dark!” Jordan exclaimed, getting up and shaking you.

You laugh before standing up, leaving your water bottle on your seat before getting your masks back on. The four men were unsatisfied with the slight look into your and Maxim’s relationship, as they simultaneously begged and continued to bother you about it playfully. Tensions felt like they were going away between you all, and you couldn’t help but smile. Eventually, your team was all ready and set up, and Maxim’s finished up and got inside the building and got themselves ready. You guys breached, you and Craig taking the top floors with the others breaching through the bottom. You made sure to look out for any of Maxim’s E.D.D’s, stopping Craig just before he triggered one, as you heard one go off below. “Three attackers remaining!” was announced to everyone, and you sucked your teeth. “Check the corners and your feet, I won’t always be looking out for you.” you say, before separating yourself from Craig.

You eventually find yourself pinned between a wall and César, prompting you to locate where he might have left a canister filled with his own team’s paint. “Come on out, ratón! I already saw you!” César said. “Well, perhaps you should look behind you.” you say, as you saw Erik was sneaking up on him. “Huh? Oh, vete a la puro ver-” César said, before a gunshot came from his side of the room. “Thanks.” you say, giving Erik a thumbs up before you two move around together. It was here where you then remembered Aleksandr was on Maxim’s team, and he opened fire on you two the moment he saw you. Erik was hit enough to be rendered Down and Out, and you dragged him away as you tossed a stun grenade right at Aleksandr.

Hearing him curse, you then round the corner and shoot at him, rendering him Down and Out. “Don’t worry Erik, I’ll try and win for us.” you say to his unconscious body. Evenly matched, with 3 left on both teams, you then carefully scout for Maxim, keeping your eyes on the windows and doorways before entering. “A real hunter always watches where he steps.” echoed in your mind, and you scowled your yourself, finding one of Maxim’s E.D.Ds screwed into a doorway right in front of you. You kick it off carefully enough to not trigger it before proceeding, only to hear an explosion come from another side of the building. “One attacker remains!” was announced.

“Huh.” you say into your now quiet comms, being the only one on the air, before fire is opened on you from down the hallway. “I’m pushing them now! Masaru, come cover fire!” is called out. You rush into the room you were about to enter, only finding this to be a fatal error, as you triggered what seemed to be a last minute E.D.D placement. “Team Maxim wins!” was announced, causing Maxim and everyone else to cheer in their favor. “Fuck!” you exclaim, full on throwing your weapon to the floor before quickly exiting the building. “Кошечка, where are you going!?” Maxim called out in between his own and his team’s cheers. You could hear the bite in his voice, and it only riled you up further. Who would’ve thought that pitting the pair of competitive lovers against each other would drive the other up the wall if they lost?

“Hey! What the hell happened out there?!” you ask, going and playfully punching all four of your teammates. “Last minute E.D.D from Maxim. We were watching him prepare the same thing from you. That bastard’s a sneaky little hunter, now isn’t he?” Erik said, giving you a laugh. Though he was normally a bit quiet around you, you were happy to see Erik opening up to you a bit. But that happiness was quickly stripped away from you, as you were suddenly lifted and slung over someone’s shoulder. “Wha-?!” you exclaim, struggling against them. “Relax, кошечка. It’s just me.” Maxim purred, holding onto you tight. “Guys! Make him let me go!” you demand, still struggling as you were now getting carried away by your boyfriend. “Nah! You’ve got that bet to settle, right?! Go focus on that!” Jordan teased. You looked up at him and flipped him off, “You suck, surprising no one!” you say, causing Jordan to erupt in laughter as you got further and further away from him.

“Come on now, Y/N. You know better than to speak to other men in front of me. I’m your boyfriend, focus on me.” Maxim said, moving his hand from your back to your ass as he carried you. “D-Don’t grab my ass, we’re still in front of everyone.” you say, hitting the back of his knee. Maxim almost fell forward with you, and he couldn’t help but growl. “I do as I please. You’re my prey, and I’m not about to let you go. I won, fair and square, and you lost. Accept your defeat so I can fully claim you as mine.” he said. “And if I don’t?” you tease. Maxim groped your ass tenderly, causing you to squeak, “Then punishment will surely come your way.” he said, continuing to walk until he got to a darkened room with you. You knew this wasn’t going to end well for you, but you just had to accept your fate, as well as such a hard loss.

#r6s #rainbow six siege #r6s x reader #rainbow six siege x reader #r6s kapkan #maxim basuda #kapkan x reader #fluff #suggestive themes #fluff fic #betting on matches #r6s Spetsnaz

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yandere-plague · 2 years ago

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[Yandere! Agent Jones - Fortnite]

(Headcannons + oneshot)

// mentions of suicide , stalking , kidnapping

I never thought I'll be writing for Fortnite. But hell yeah the lore is fucking dark as shit. I thought I knew it pretty well but obviously not when I looked at the fortnite wiki lol. Some things may be wrong / will be wrong in the future so keep that in mind.

Yandere is not a healthy thing so please back off kids.

He had a wife, kids and grandchildren.

He couldn't see them, but as long as he works for the IO they'd be safe from the dangerous planet he lived on.

Though, after IO found out that he's immortal. His plans to retire was denied, and if he quit they would stop protecting what remained of his family.

So he kept on working, slaving himself away to protect an descendant he's never met, or going, to meet.

He soon realises that he's never going to see real family again, and what point is it to work for the company that leeches from him?

He still wears his wedding ring, the least he can do is honor her memory on him.

If you are another IO employee

He looks at you, and instantly he crushes, hard.

He does everything he can to hide from you.

He doesn't want to love anymore.

I mean, whats the point if you are going to die?

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of employees, so you might not even know he exists. For better or for worse.

But obviously something happens and you are both forced to strike up conversation.

He's a nervous wreck, he wants to get away but his heart and everything else wants to stay.

He finds your schedule, looking it over and over to find any crossovers you both share.

If you don't have any, don't worry! He'll be sure to persuade some people to give you a raise to his level of work.

He's gone too far not to be attached to you. But all his thoughts are on you.

He has, no NEEDS to make you his. Even if you disagree.

When the Zero Point is exposed

Everythings going to shit, the IO is in shambles trying to stop loopers from trying to escape.

Due to your, shockingly recent promotion, its up to you and Jones to stop it.

"We should have done this from the start! We're going to the Seven!"

"hang on, what do you mean 'we?' Jones?"

If you are trapped in the loop

24 hours , 7 days a week you are forced to fight to the death.

An endless loop, if you will.

You win, you get to go home.

If not well, your memory gets wiped and you start all over again.

All methods of communication are stripped except from non verbal forms.

It doesn't matter if you are superhuman, invincible or not even human at all. You are not impervious to bullets.

He goes onto the island and watches you, seeing you fight after fight after fight, in your mind to be the last one standing.

Obviously he can't just watch you, even he gets bored of that. That's what he tells himself, in reality he just doesn't want you to leave.

He finds your records and looks at everything about you, your name, homeplanet / universe ect, and your favourite loadout by statistiction.

He starts nudging your favourite weapons to more frequently show up in the chests and loop YOU find. Not anyone else.

The slight smile, the slightest emotion that your numb body can give fuels him.

When the Zero Point is exposed

No no no no!

He can't have you leaving the loop! Not now!

This is his breaking point, he's joining the Seven.

He sees you, running and jumping for your life towards it, as if it was calling for you.

"No!"

You fingers grazed it, a huge smile appearing on your face. Freedom, at last.

Sand instantly filled your mouth.

Wait sand?

You coughed it out, suddenly realising you got shoved out of the way of it.

A Jonesy you had never seen before, wearing clothes you never saw before towered beside you.

"I can't let you leave the loop, I am so sorry (Y/n)."

(Y/n)? That sounds so familiar...

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

You opened a chest, grabbing the loot and searching the rest of the building. The slight mummer of creaking keeping you on edge.

You turned the corner, your gun pushed into the chest of a Jonesy wearing a suit and tie.

He held his arms up defensively, while you stared down at him and tighted your grip on your weapon.

"H-hey." He spoke.

You know the words, what it means.

A greeting.

You had forgotten how speaking felt like, sounded like. You moved your tongue behind your closed lips, wanting to sort of recreate that feeling.

His lips curled slightly at your reaction.

"You don't realise you miss the little things until they're gone."

You nodded lightly, lowering your gun a smidge, he didn't seem like a threat.

He reached behind his back, he was going to grab something.

In a blink of an eye you raised your gun back at him. A feeling of betrayal and anger clear on you.

"Easy, I'm just going to-"

You fell towards him, your head felt like it would have been split apart.

He didn't get to finish his sentence, or if he did the words wouldn't have reached you.

A stranger went inside the same building, and shotguned you in the head.

You would have collided with him if your body didn't turn into a hologram seconds after, a machine collecting you almost like data waiting for the match to be over to be wiped and reused.

You opened a chest, grabbing the loot and searching the rest of the building. The slight mummer of creaking keeping you on edge.

No wait, this has happened before.

The gun you held felt different, it didn't feel the same, as last time?

You swung around, and yet again face to face with him.

"Hello again... Okay well, not for you. Its your first time seeing me right?"

Familiar but not quite at the same time. He definitely sounds familiar though.

"...or do you recognise me? Honestly the loop is so wierd- I wasn't supposed to say that- I-."

He sighed, putting his hand to his face.

He has a ring, he's married. But to who?

"Anyway..." he went to go grab... something in his coat.

Instinctively you held up your weapon at him.

"Okay, this is getting nowhere."

He ripped the gun out of your hands before you could react, quickly pulling out a device and putting it on you.

You fell to the floor almost instantly, uour vision became blurry, liquid running down your face.

Where you crying?

"Hey, its going to be okay."

His sudden soft demeanor was terrifying.

"Im taking you home."

"... Home?" You whispered.

With wide eyes. You grabbed the gun, ripped of the thing he out on you, turned the gun towards you.

And pulled the trigger.

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So... How's this? Should i do more?

#yandere #yandere hcs #yandere imagines #yandere x you #tw yandere #tw kidnapping #yandere fortnite #yandere agent jones #fortnite x reader

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dwightfairfields · 7 years ago

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@notthebasement ansjdhfh YOU'RE RIGHT, but as a surv main who keeps losing my damn medkits i have this thing against Franklin's Demise omfg, plus that's just a mean inconvenience to people without self care, with sabo dailys etc. murdering her when she least expected it was MUCH more fun

#the others were having a blast in the post game chat fndhdhfhrncbth they saw her loadout and were like yeah. i get it now.#replies #tricky chats

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bloodfromthethorn · 4 years ago

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Misunderstandings

Their partnership might have gotten off to a bad start, but Mac has a good feeling about Jack Dalton - right up until he messes it all up, that is.

Or, the time Jack learns about Mac's fear of heights and it's still not the most important realisation he has that day.

Also on AO3

Mac had never really been sure quite what he expected from Afghanistan and now, six months in, he still wasn’t particularly confident on exactly what it was he had found. It certainly hadn’t been easy, and he’d already managed to experience the most profound loss he’d felt since the death of his grandpa, but there was still something undeniably… compelling about it all. The way he could fall into an uncomfortable bed at the end of the day exhausted but with the bone-deep knowledge that the work he had done was important, had made a difference. That there were people walking around out there, living their lives, because of the things that he had done.

It wasn’t good, precisely, but it wasn’t all bad either.

Jack was a wrench in the works. They couldn’t have gotten off to a poorer start and for a hairy moment there, Mac had been convinced that the next two months of his life were really going to be hell on earth. Jack was loud-mouthed, crass, opinionated, and had some of the worst taste in both music and film known to man. He had little to no regard for anyone else’s opinion of him and he was more than ready to settle a fight with his fists if he thought the situation called for it.

He was also probably the best soldier Mac had ever met.

It might have taken them some time to get traction but after the first few rocky missions, they’d both managed to settle down just enough to actually get a good look at one another. What Mac had found was nothing like what he’d expected.

For one, Jack was very, very good at his job. A crack shot, backed up with a keenly tactical mind that went far beyond anything Mac had been taught at basic. He’d never asked to see Jack’s file – and given that he was almost certain the man had been an Alphabet at some point, he’d probably get denied even if he tried – but he had a feeling that the record would be long, expansive, and impressive. He knew far too much about soldiering to not have been doing it most of his life and he handled a vast range of weaponry with too much familiarity to have always been saddled with Overwatch duties.

No, somewhere in his past, Jack had been crafted into an immense force to be reckoned with. He might tell jokes, laugh loudly, and act the fool, but buried underneath it all was something dangerous just waiting to be unleashed. It should have been scary – and in a distant, sort-of-intrigued kind of way, it was – but mostly Mac was just impressed. Whatever else he might have done, Jack had decided to use his extensive training to serve the purpose of protecting EOD technicians in a place where there were enemies at every corner.

More than anything, Jack made him feel safe . Safe in a way he hadn’t truly felt since watching Peña die barely twenty feet from him. After so long in the Sandbox, constantly having to watch his back as his hands took apart contraptions designed to kill him, he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be out from under that constant cloud of dread. Jack gave him that freedom and Mac couldn’t help but be hopelessly thankful for it.

Of course, increasing familiarity aside, it wasn’t perfect. Two men trapped in very close quarters in a high stress environment were occasionally going to butt heads no matter what, and Mac wasn’t naive enough to think they’d be an exception.

Jack had been waylaid by a messenger as soon as the pair of them arrived back on base, both already worn out from a long, overly hot day in the sun. In an act of mercy, he’d waved Mac off to go on ahead in an attempt to spare him whatever bureaucratic nonsense was likely about to come his way – an assumption that was almost immediately proved accurate when three minutes later Mac saw him stalking off in the direction of the command centre.

He didn’t think much of it; Jack was perpetually being pulled in by the brass for reasons he was never particularly keen to explain. When directly asked, he’d always brushed it off with some sarcastic comment about how people just couldn’t get enough of his charm, but the hardness in his eyes had stopped Mac from trying to press further. If anything, it only added to his growing surety that Jack was a far more important person than he wanted to appear. Nothing Mac was doing was of particular note to anyone beyond what command already learned through his reports, but if someone with extensive training in observation and tactics was given free rein to roam the area under the radar for the sole purpose of watching what was going on – like, say, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Overwatch – then that opened up a whole new avenue of surveillance.

If he’d had to bet, Mac would have said that according to the letter of Jack’s job description, keeping him safe was a secondary consideration at best. Fortunate, then, that the man himself didn’t seem like the type of person to do anything halfway.

Today, though, something was different. On the way back to base, Jack had been relaxed and easy, content as always to fill in Mac’s silence with a running commentary of his own about what he was most looking forward to when he got back to Texas, but clearly whatever had happened in the command tent had thrown that off. When he finally stomped into the dorm over an hour later, his brow was shadowed and tense, and he didn’t even acknowledge Mac’s presence as he grabbed a clean set of fatigues and headed for the showers.

Sitting cross legged on his bunk with his gear spread out before him, Mac watched him go with troubled eyes. Jack, as anyone in their situation did, occasionally had off days when he was less talkative and clearly wanted to be left alone, but Mac had never seen him turn on a dime quite so quickly.

Truthfully, Mac hadn’t thought him the type. But, he reminded himself forcefully, he still barely knew the man and regardless, it almost certainly wasn’t any of his business. Far better to just keep going through his kit, cataloguing anything he needed to replace or repair, and let Jack work through whatever his problem was on his own; if he wanted to talk to Mac about it, he knew where to find him.

Despite his preoccupation, Mac did end up immersed in his task. Kit checks were dull but important, and he was fastidious enough to make sure he did the job right every single time. As an EOD tech, he was lucky – everyone else had to do mandatory checks before and after any excursions outside of the FOB, no matter how frequent they may be. Officially EOD specialists were supposed to do the same but in deference to their unpredictable schedule and unique loadouts, command typically waived the usual report requirements and let them do their own thing. He was still liable to be disciplined should he get spot checked and fail, but he had a lot more freedom than most people on the base.

He was about halfway through when Jack made his reappearance, freshly washed but looking no happier for it. He dropped his dirty laundry in a heap next to his trunk and flopped down onto his bunk without a word, reaching out a few moments later to fiddle with the ancient radio beside him. He’d told Mac some time ago that he’d inherited it from his dad and it was clear from the reverence with which he spoke about it that it was deeply important to him. Important enough, apparently, that no one else sharing their tent complained when he had it blasting out whatever station he could pick up, even with the god awful crackle that all but drowned out any actual words that might try to come through.

The crackle that was evidently getting worse, going off the horrendous screech the radio let out the moment it was turned on. Mac flinched sharply at the sudden noise, but didn’t protest. Jack, if anything, looked more pissed off at the continued buzzing no matter how he adjusted the dials, rasping and hissing in turns but never letting any clear audio through. After listening to Jack cursing under his breath for a minute or two, Mac figured it was about time he offered a hand.

“That’s not sounding too good,” he pointed out unnecessarily, keeping his voice light. “Want me to take a look?”

“It’s fine,” was the short response, bitten out and frustrated.

Mac rolled his eyes, not catching the warning edge of Jack’s tone. “Look, I know I promised I wouldn’t touch any of your stuff again, but if you let me have a look, I can probably fix it.”

It was an honest offer – the radio was hardly a complicated bit of kit and Mac was pretty sure he already knew exactly what the issue was. If he was right, he could have it fixed inside of five minutes and he wouldn’t even need to cannibalise parts from anything else to do it. Sure the rule might have been that Mac couldn’t touch Jack’s gear again, but they’d been forced to relax that within a week of working together and recently it had felt more like an in-joke than anything.

Apparently, Jack didn’t feel the same.

“Or you’d just break it down for parts like you do with everything else,” he shot back acidly and for the first time, Mac realised the heaviness in Jack’s gaze wasn’t simple fatigue or irritation; he looked pissed . “Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Keep away from my stuff.”

Mac blinked. The words themselves were surprising, but it was the tone that really cut at him; sarcastic and unfriendly and mean . Mocking in a way that Jack often pretended to be when he was trying to lighten the mood, only this time neither of them was laughing. He looked dead serious.

“I-uh,” Mac said haltingly, forcing himself to suddenly adjust his entire perspective on the conversation. He really had just been trying to help. “Right,” he said after an awkward pause. “Sorry.”

He ducked his head and turned back to the gear spread out across his bunk, wishing fiercely he hadn’t bothered to open his mouth in the first place. Cleaning and sorting his kit had suddenly become a much less enthralling task – and it hadn’t exactly been the highlight of his day to begin with – but he kept his eyes down and vehemently forbade his attention from wandering back to his partner.

Less than a minute later, Jack let out a sharp sigh that might have included a curse, and stomped out of the tent. Mac refused to look up.

They didn’t talk about it. The next morning the pair of them loaded into their transport for the day – for once they’d been gifted an MRAP that in any other situation Jack would probably be crowing about – in stony silence that persisted straight through until evening. The only time Jack deigned to talk to him was for mission-critical comms, almost all of which was delivered via radio in a blank monotone that made it abundantly clear how little he actually wanted to be speaking with him. Mac surprised himself by how fiercely he found he missed the usual inane commentary in his ear.

None of it made sense.

Evidently he’d messed up somehow, done something that crossed a line he hadn’t seen, although he had no idea what it could possibly have been. Okay, yes, the radio was obviously important to Jack on some personal level Mac wasn’t allowed access to and maybe he really didn’t want Mac touching it. That was completely fair – Mac wouldn’t have argued against him at all if the man had just said ‘no’ and left it there. Instead his response had been- Well. There were a lot of words Mac could use to describe it and he didn’t really want to confront any of them.

It wouldn’t change the result either way. Mac had a sneaking suspicion that whatever it was he had broken had been something irreparable, especially if Jack wasn’t even going to let him talk it out.

The closest they came to it that day was during their last call-out for the evening, a surprisingly tricky little device some asshole had planted outside of a shop known to serve US soldiers. A bit of petty revenge most likely, but packing enough explosives to level the building and take out anyone unlucky enough to be standing within a twenty metre radius.

“Everyone within half a block of you is gettin’ out of dodge,” Jack reported about half an hour after their arrival. “No sign of whoever put that thing there.”

Mac digested that, doing a quick mental calculation to decide if the evacuation zone was large enough and ultimately deciding that it was. “Good. You set up somewhere?”

“Behind you, thirty metres back.”

There was a tell-tale tickle on the back of his neck that Mac had come to associate with Jack’s scope passing over him. At the start of their partnership it had made him uncomfortable; now, it was distantly reassuring. A part of him wanted to turn around to make sure of Jack’s position himself, but he knew that was sure to piss Jack off even more – he always got jumpy about Mac indicating his position whenever they were out in the field.

“I’m going to be a while,” he said instead of cracking a joke. “This thing’s complicated.”

“Fast as you can.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

There was a telling silence where a sarcastic retort would normally sit, and Mac had to pause for a second to remind himself that the IED in front of him needed his attention far more than his own unimportant tribulations. It wasn’t until another ten minutes had passed that he spoke again. “Okay, I’ve figured out what I’ve got to do, but I’m going to need some of your gum.”

He said it mostly without thinking, too used to being able to just state what he needed and for Jack to freely offer up whatever it was, albeit with some bellyaching about having to give up his stuff. The words were already out of his mouth before he remembered how vehemently Jack had been against Mac being anywhere near his personal possessions just yesterday.

Fortunately, Jack seemed to understand the urgency of the situation, because he simply sighed before saying, “Copy that. On my way to you.”

He didn’t offer any further protest when he appeared at Mac’s back either, handing over the stick of gum without a word, then hunkering down in the alleyway to keep watch with his rifle balanced on his knee. It was strangely normal for all that had come before, except for the silence that still hung over them like a cloud.

Exhausted, and with bigger things to focus on, Mac just went about his job and didn’t say another word.

Jack’s mood continued over the next few days, with little sign of abating. It would have been much easier to bear if Mac had any clue what exactly had triggered it beyond the vague sense that this was all somehow his fault, but it wasn’t like he could just walk up to the man and ask. Any time he’d even thought about striking up conversation or doing anything to try to make peace, Jack’s responses had been sharp and to the point. He didn’t want to talk, that much was clear, and Mac was nothing if not a quick learner.

After the first day of strained silence, he figured it was better to just keep his mouth shut and stay out of Jack’s way.

One thing he hadn’t really counted on was how strange it would feel now to be wandering around base on his own. Since being paired up with Jack, he’d hardly had a minute to himself – the man took his Overwatch duties very seriously even in the relative safety of the FOB – but now he was apparently free to roam as he pleased. Almost as soon as they returned to base each day, Jack took himself off to places unknown with a determined sort of look on his face and usually didn’t reappear again until he fell into bed beside Mac’s at night. Mac very firmly did not think about what that said about Jack’s newly-discovered ambivalence towards his safety. Now, after only a month of that partnership, it felt almost unnatural to be alone again.

At the very least it meant that he was free to go and eat whenever he felt like it, rather than having to bend around Jack’s schedule. It was that line of reasoning that had him heading towards the mess that evening, late enough to miss the main crowd who piled in at 7 but too early to run into the late shift teams who had a second run at things once the night had drawn in. The approach meant that he could count on getting a good table with minimal interference, but it did mean sacrificing any chance of getting decently hot food. The ‘buffet’, such as it was, would be topped up with fresh food at about 10, but for now Mac was stuck with the dried out, cooling remains that no one else had wanted earlier.

He nodded at the woman KP duty, earning an apologetic smile at the state of the food in return, then glanced around the marquee to find somewhere to sit.

A group of camp runners were huddled together in the corner, loudly engaging in a round of ‘I have it worse than you’, but otherwise the place was pretty deserted. With his pick of the tables, Mac settled himself down as far from the runners as he could get, hoping for a little bit of peace, but with no other nearby noise to drown them out, their voices washed over him all the same. They’d taken no notice of his presence beyond a quick check to make sure he wasn’t wearing officer’s stripes and in the absence of any authority, they seemed quite content to air their grievances to anyone close enough to listen.

For the most part he studiously ignored them – he had exactly zero interest in the minutiae of memos being passed around the base – and went about the business of choking down the cold food in front of him quickly enough to avoid its bland flavour.

It wasn’t until he heard a familiar name that he automatically tuned back into the conversation across from him.

“ Please ,” One of the runners was scoffing with an imperial hand wave, “As if Carter is anything to worry about. I’m the one who had to tell Dalton his reassignment request was denied. Thought he was going to take my head off when I said I didn’t know why.”

Mac froze in place, the rest of the discussion fading completely into the background as all the pieces of the puzzle he had been building snapped into place with painful efficiency. So that was why Jack had been so grouchy over the last week, why he’d been so sharp whenever Mac had tried to make conversation: he’d put in a transfer request to get away from him and been shot down. Jack wanted to leave and couldn’t. Of course.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Mac knew how he could come across, had seen how people reacted to all the weird quirks of his personality, and Jack would hardly be the first person in the world to take one look at him and start heading for the hills – hell, he’d barely crack the top hundred. And yet, despite all of that, all of his previous experience warning him that anyone could leave at any time for any reason, Mac still found himself caught wholly off guard.

He'd thought they’d been getting better. Sure, it wasn’t like they were close and half the time they could still barely stand each other, but more and more that had felt like an act they were putting on to avoid revealing they didn’t actually mind each other all that much after all. Clearly he’d been wildly wrong in that assumption. What he’d thought was increasing camaraderie was- what? Nothing but his imagination? Or maybe an attempt on Jack’s part to show the brass that he really had given their partnership an honest shot before trying to bail?

Worse than the simple rejection was how deeply unnecessary it felt. As Mac had so often been reminded, Jack only had twenty-eight days left of his tour before he was headed home for good and none of this would even matter anymore. Was he truly so unhappy with Mac’s partnership that he was going to go through the arduous process of reassignment for the sake of four weeks? He’d just had to stick it out for one more month and he would have been free and clear, and yet somehow that was still too much.

It might have been insulting if it hadn’t been so fucking painful.

But this wasn’t the place for that. None of these were revelations he should be having in the mess hall, in full view of anyone who cared to look in his direction. He shook himself forcefully, surprised to realise that his entire body had gone rigid while his mind raced in all directions, and made himself climb to his feet. There was still some food left on his plate but if it had been unappetising before, now it was positively nausea-inducing. Mac knew he wasn’t getting any of it down his throat without it making a reappearance sooner or later, so he quietly chucked the scraps in the bin, returned his tray, and retreated to the barracks as quickly as he possibly could without drawing attention.

Two of the guys were there, both camped out on their own bunks as they occupied themselves with whatever they got up to in their downtime, but neither did more than nod in acknowledgement as he made his way past them to his own bed. Truthfully, he was glad of the pseudo-privacy. He wasn’t entirely sure what he would have done if Jack had been there – most likely he would have said something regrettable – but in his absence, Mac was free to mull over this new information without interference.

A large, loud part of him demanded that he go and find Dalton right now so they could hash this out, get it all out in the open so that at the very least Mac wouldn’t have to feel so fucking stupid for ever thinking they might have been friends. He’d seen that Jack cultivated a very deliberate amiability with the other guys sharing their bunk, even if they weren’t all on the best terms, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought for even a second that his Overwatch might be turning the same trick on him. He’d been so goddamn stupid .

Another, much quieter and injured part of him kept insisting that he must have gotten something twisted, connected the wrong wires to the wrong ports, and really this was all some big misunderstanding because he couldn’t bear the alternative.

He ignored them both. As much as he might want not want it to be true, he knew what he’d heard and all the pieces fit together too perfectly for him to have somehow misconstrued their meaning. His own feelings did not affect the facts, and he’d do well to remember that. And fighting with Jack wasn’t going to solve anything, it was just going to upset what little balance they managed to actually maintain. Despite his best efforts, Dalton’s transfer request had been denied so he wasn’t going anywhere for another month – Mac could grin and bear the discomfort until then, even if it meant having to sit next to a man he’d thought a friend for every single one of those twenty-eight days.

The humiliation of it all was almost unbearable, and he knew just how easy it would be to let it become rage instead – but he wouldn’t do that. If Jack wanted to leave then he wouldn’t be the first, which meant the fault almost certainly lay with Mac and there was no point trying to punish the wrong man for it. Sure, Jack pretending they were getting along was kind of a low blow, but it was understandable; they were stuck together in extremely close quarters, might as well act like they were comfortable there, right?

Maybe Jack had had the right idea all along. Mac was the one who hadn’t gotten with the programme already.

Besides, he reminded himself firmly as he bit down on the emotions threatening to get away from him, he hadn’t signed up to be sent into an active warzone to defuse explosives to feel safe . It didn’t matter one jot that Jack had managed to give him that for a time – that wasn’t his job and Mac didn’t have any right to mourn its loss. He needed to grow the fuck up and stop looking to others to protect him – he was a soldier in the US army and it was high fucking time he started acting like it.

With a tight sigh, Mac forced his stressed body to relax and flattened himself against his bunk, glaring a hole in the canvas above him.

Just twenty-eight days, and he could be done with this mess. Four weeks. He could do that.

Despite the bedlam going on inside his head, the heat and the shade must have got the best of him because he was jolted out of a doze an hour or so later by Jack Dalton himself smacking at his foot. He twitched the limb out of range with a muffled grunt of disapproval before his brain caught up with him and he remembered everything that had transpired before he fell asleep. The faux-irritated expression he’d pulled on crumbled instantly into blankness.

Jack blinked down at him, a bemused smirk on his face. Cuttingly, it was the friendliest he had looked in days. “What happened to you?”

Mac frowned, tried to do a quick mental assessment of what he probably looked like. “What?”

“You look like someone kicked your puppy. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Did you wake me up for a reason?”

His Overwatch’s smirk faded somewhat, his eyes taking on that calculating look he normally got a few seconds before he said something much smarter and more observant than Mac would ever have credited him with when they first met. It was almost a relief – focused was a much easier expression to react to than a smile. “Seriously. What’s happened?”

“ Nothing ,” Mac stressed, trying and failing to keep a thread of annoyance out of his tone. “Do you need me for something or can I go back to sleep?”

It wasn’t the right answer, evidently. Jack’s face darkened and he thinned his lips against what was very visibly going to be an annoyed outburst, but in the end all he said was, “On your feet. We’re heading out.”

That was- unusual. He cast a quick glance at the clock. “Now? It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”

“Yeah well, tell that to the T-men. C’mon, get up. I wanna roll out in five.” With that he retreated to his own bunk to retrieve his equipment and resolutely ignored Mac.

Still confused and really wishing that he could just roll over and go back to sleep if only to avoid what was obviously going to be another uncomfortable Humvee ride, Mac obligingly scrambled to his feet and started pulling out his own gear. For all the little bits and pieces of equipment they had to keep track of, both of them kept their packs ready to go at a moment’s notice, so it was really only a matter of slipping on his jacket and vest, then stopping by the mess to refill his water bottle and grab a few energy bars before Mac found himself sliding into the passenger seat of the Humvee. Apparently more prepared than he had been, Jack was already waiting for him.

“Got a bit of a situation a few klicks out,” He announced once Mac was settled. “Looks like someone’s trying to sabotage our communications – a scout team thinks they’ve found an IED on one of our radio towers. Shouldn’t be anything too complicated for you, but there’s a lot of visibility and no cover so we need to get this done ASAP, understand? The scouts are patrolling the area and I’ll have your back, but someone might try to get lucky with a sniper, so keep your head down .”

There was a lot there to work through – most importantly just what Jack meant by on the radio tower – but he didn’t bother voicing any of those questions. He’d see the situation soon enough and his priority needed to be elsewhere. “Did the scout team say what type of device we’re dealing with?”

“Negative. Couldn’t get a good look without approaching and they figured that probably wasn’t a good idea.”

They had likely been correct in that assumption, but it didn’t make Mac’s job any easier. Approaching an unidentified device was nothing new to him, but it wasn’t something that gelled well with the speed at which Jack was evidently hoping this was going to go. If he rushed anything for fear of being shot, he ran a much higher risk of blowing the pair of them up and doing the terrorists’ job for them.

As promised, it wasn’t a long trip and within ten minutes they came to a stop in the gathering gloom, about a hundred metres away from the tower in question. The 150-metre-tall tower. God, this was not going to go well.

“When you said the device was on the tower,” He started slowly, his eyes darting around the ground supports he could see and coming up blank, “You actually meant on , huh?”

Jack snickered, either not noticing or not caring about the thread of uncertainty Mac could feel in his voice. “Hope you’re ready for some climbing.” He paused, then relented slightly by adding, “We don’t have to go the whole way. Report said it was about half way up. There’s a platform for maintenance work.”

If he had noticed the apprehension, evidently he was assuming that Mac just didn’t feel like climbing up there with all his gear dragging him down. Technically he wasn’t wrong about that – he’d just missed the why. Mac wilfully held in a shudder.

“Now, normally I’d say you should wait down here while I go up and see what I can see, but given how open this is, neither of us can risk being up there that long,” Jack said, catching him with one of his no nonsense looks. Dalton might act the fool, but he was still a highly trained army sergeant and despite everything, when he gave orders, Mac would listen. “So we’re going to go up together, okay? You’re going to keep your head down and you’re going to get that device handled as quickly as you can. We’ve not got much daylight left to work with and torches are going to be a dead giveaway of our position, so unless you desperately need more light, you keep it off. Understand?”

“Got it.”

This would really be the time to tell Jack that the very thought of going up that tower was enough to make Mac feel physically nauseous – the man was his Overwatch, he needed to know when Mac couldn’t do his job – but he bit his tongue. There was a bomb somewhere up there and he was the only person in a ten klick radius who had any chance of defusing it. His personal discomfort was nothing against the lives that could be lost should their communications chain fail.

With that in mind, he slipped out of the Humvee and shadowed Jack as he strode towards the tower, not letting himself pause to think before putting his foot on the first rung of the ladder and hoisting himself up.

Here goes nothing .

Something was off with Mac. Jack couldn’t quite put his finger on it, exactly, but he was good at reading people and he’d been watching every single move his bomb nerd made for a solid month now so he had a pretty good idea when something wasn’t right. Right now, hunched over a bomb 250 feet in the air, something was very definitely not okay .

The kid had been quiet for days, wrapped up in his own head about something or other judging by the deeply thoughtful face he’d been wearing, but it had meshed well enough with Jack’s own pisspoor mood that he hadn’t bothered to question it. Mac hadn’t seemed anything more than a little subdued, something any soldier downwind was bound to encounter now and again. Their work was hard and the constant threat of danger could weigh anyone down given enough time. Now though? Now it seemed like more.

Admittedly, the whole bomb-250-feet-in-the-air situation might have been a contributing factor, but Mac had faced down hundreds of IEDs in their time together and he’d never once flinched. Whether he was the bravest man Jack had ever met or he just genuinely had no regard for his own wellbeing was something Jack was still trying to figure out, but the point was, he shouldn’t be acting like this. The situation was far from perfect and every second they spent on that tower had Jack’s anxiety levels ratcheting up, but Mac had always kept a level head.

“How’s it coming over there?”

Mac let out a low grumble of sound, his usual stand-in for when he had too many things going on in his head to worry about actual words.

“That well, huh? Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re running out of daylight so if you wanna-”

“Rushing me isn’t helping,” Mac interrupted before Jack had a chance to finish, carefully pulling a now-disconnected wire from the bundle he had been examining.

“Ain’t trying to rush you, just letting you know-”

“Yeah, well, it’s not helping.”

Jack had worked with plenty of EOD techs who would have given him that response and it would have been the most normal thing in the world. With Mac, it was a glaring red flag. Well, that, as well as the fact that Mac hadn’t even bothered to correct Jack’s repeated assertions that they were perched on a radio mast, when he knew good and well it was actually a telecommunications tower. Momentarily lifting his head away from his rifle scope, trusting that the scouts could hold the fort for the next minute or two, Jack turned to stare at his partner. “What’s going on man?”

“I’m concentrating .”

“I’ve seen you concentrating plenty. That’s not what this is. C’mon, you’ve been weird since this afternoon – is this about the other day? ‘Cause I didn’t mean to snap at you and I’m sorry about that, but right now I need to know that you’re good to do this job.”

Mac huffed a sharp breath out of his nose in frustration, his eyes not leaving the place where he was carefully prying apart the panels of the device’s container. It wasn’t until then that Jack finally noticed the way the kid’s shoulders were up around his ears, his whole body rigid where he was hunched over. His hands didn’t shake in the slightest – a necessity in his line of work – but the rest of him was shuddering with fine tremors.

“Mac-” Jack started, alarms blaring to life in his head. He’d known something was wrong , but clearly he had deeply misjudged just how wrong until he’d actually taken the time to look. Goddamn, he was supposed to the kid’s fucking Overwatch! “I need you to talk to me man.”

There was no response so Jack put his eye back to his scope for another quick scan of the surrounding landscape – still as barren and unoccupied as before – before sliding the rifle strap back over his shoulder and turning fully to face his partner. He was far too well versed in working with EOD to ever touch Mac when he had his hands on an IED, but he only had to wait a few seconds before Mac backed up to fiddle with the tools on his knife and he was free to snatch him by the shoulder and forcibly turn him around.

“Jack, what-”

“Something’s going on with you and we are in way too dangerous a position right now for me to not know what it is so start fucking talking to me Mac.” The shoulder under his hand was rock solid with stress and the kid’s face looked bone pale in the fading light. What really grabbed his attention though was the way Mac had shot out his free hand to snatch blindly at the handrail beside him, anchoring himself where Jack had pulled him off balance. Coupling that with the sudden dart of Mac’s eyes to the yawning chasm of the drop beside them, it wasn’t exactly complicated math. “You’re afraid of heights,” he murmured with sudden realisation, his grip on Mac faltering in the face of his own surprise.

Mac’s expression twisted with some combination of resignation and guilt. “I’m doing fine. Just let me get this thing defused and we can all go home, yeah?”

“You’re afraid of heights and you didn’t think this was important information for me to know before now?” If he hadn’t still been sitting half an inch from an active explosive device, Jack would have shaken him.

“ Jack ,” Mac said, apparently also running to the end of his patience, “I’m fine. I’ve almost got this done and I really, really want to get down from here, so can you please just let me do my job while you worry about yours?”

“Looking out for you is my job, dumbass,” Jack snapped back, but he did at least let go of him and return to his post. As much as he might hate everything about this, the fact was that Mac was already here and there was an IED in desperate need of attention right in front of him. Getting that fixed and getting Mac back on the ground pronto had just become priority uno. “Work fast.”

With the dusk drawing in, it made sense to switch out his scope for the thermal one he’d thoughtfully decided to bring with him, though it did mean he’d have to zero the thing before it would be of much use to him. Then again, any shots ran the risk of drawing attention and from so high up, the sound could travel for miles without hitting anything. He held up the loose thermal scope to his eye while he mulled over the problem, making note of the scouts’ positions and checking any obvious spots for potential shooters. Still nothing.

“I’m not rushing you,” he said lowly, “But do you know what kind of timeframe we’re looking at here?”

Mac hummed absently. “Couple more minutes I think. Starting to need light though.”

Which really only meant they needed to get this over with as soon as possible, for Mac’s sake if nothing else. Jack slid the thermal scope back into its slot on his vest and tugged free the square of tarp attached to his pack. Its official use was to give him something to lie on should he need it when settling into a sniper nest, but right now it was of far more use to both of them as a light break.

“This thing isn’t going to go off if I tuck this around you both, is it?” He asked, holding the tarp where Mac could see it.

Even scared out of his mind and all but shaking with it, Mac caught onto the idea in a heartbeat. “No, we’re good. Just make sure you don’t jostle it.”

Jack did as he was bid, carefully constructing a makeshift tent around Mac and the device so he could use a torch without broadcasting his exact location to anyone in a five-mile radius. It wasn’t perfect, certainly, and from the way Mac’s breathing hitched ever so slightly the confinement was doing nothing for his nerves, but it would have to do for now. That taken care of and trusting that Mac could get on with things without further assistance, Jack returned to his rifle and performed another sweeping check of the area.

Still deserted. A quick check-in with the scouts reaffirmed his conclusion.

It was strange that someone had felt the need to climb up here to plant an IED and then hadn’t even bothered to hang around to see the fruit of their labours, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. It would hardly be the first time a would-be bomber had seen the US army rolling in and got the hell out of dodge. Regardless, Jack couldn’t help but count the seconds until he was free to get his infuriating EOD technician back into actual, honest-to-god cover.

“How’s that vertigo treating you?” He asked, more to distract his own mind from the sudden, crippling mental image of Mac being taken out by a sniper bullet Jack had no chance of stopping than out of any genuine curiosity. Mac wasn’t going to be happy until he had his feet back on terra firma, that much was clear.

“If you’re trying to help, stop. It’s not working,” was the irate reply.

Despite the gravity of their situation – literally – Jack snickered. “You’re mean as a snake when you’re uncomfortable, aren’t you?”

Mac didn’t bother responding to the dig at all. It could be down to his discomfort at their current predicament, but Jack’s instincts were warning him that there was something more going on here and he’d long since learned to trust his gut when it was trying to tell him something. Another anxious look over his shoulder revealed nothing more than that his tarp tent was mostly doing its job of stopping light spilling out into the growing darkness.

His normal go-to technique for prompting Mac to open up was teasing, but evidently that wasn’t going to get him anywhere this time. Certainly not when they were still so high in the air. Perhaps this was a conversation better saved for when the device was defused and they were back safe in the Humvee on the way back to base; at the very least, Mac couldn’t escape him that way.

Right on cue, the faint glow of Mac’s torch snapped off and his blonde head poked up out of his mini tent. “We’re good.”

“Defused?”

“Yeah. Explosives are still a risk though – we can’t leave them up here.”

Jack eyed the bulky shape still hiding beneath the tarp. “Getting that thing down isn’t going to be easy, kid.”

Mac might have scowled at that, but in the dwindling light it was hard to be sure. “I know that, but no clean-up crew is going to be getting out here until tomorrow morning and a well-placed incendiary round could still set this thing off. I can’t leave it.”

“Okay, okay, I getcha,” Jack soothed. “How’re we doing this then?”

“I can take it apart. Split the weight and the bulk between us. Nothing’s motion or impact sensitive any more so we don’t need to be that careful.”

Jack obligingly slipped off his pack and pushed it in Mac’s direction, trusting him to have a better idea of how they could get everything down safely and instead using the time to dismantle the makeshift rest he’d constructed. Attuned to each other as they were, it was the work of mere moments.

In the interests of getting Mac out of the line of fire – and back on the ground – as fast as possible, Jack ushered him down the ladder ahead of him while he radioed the scouts to fill them in. They returned a chorus of relieved gratitude and promised to maintain their position until Mac and Jack were well on their way out of there, making sure that whoever had set the device in the first place didn’t come back to try again. Already feeling exhausted and knowing he had a debrief waiting for him back on base, aside from whatever the hell was going on with his bomb tech, Jack wrestled down a sigh, and started making his way down the ladder.

He was pleasantly surprised to find Mac waiting for him at the bottom. Jack had long ago implemented a rule that Mac was to stick to his side like glue whenever they were moving in potentially hostile territory, but with whatever was going on with the kid, he hadn’t entirely expected it to hold. That it had was encouraging.

“Alright, let’s- get out of here,” Jack announced on reaching the ground, only just managing to cut himself off from saying ‘blow this joint’ . Mac might normally appreciate the gallows humour, but now was almost certainly not the time.

As if to demonstrate that point, Mac just nodded silently and fell into step just behind his Overwatch without a word.

One of the scouts had been keeping watch over their ride to make sure no one left them any nasty surprises while they were otherwise occupied, though he melted into the shadows of the night as soon as they reappeared. Comforted in the knowledge that he didn’t have to waste any more of his evening waiting for Mac to do a trap check, Jack gratefully folded himself back behind the driving seat and heaved a great sigh of relief. Mac twitched at the sound, but said nothing.

In deference to their shared fatigue, Jack let the silence reign for a solid minute before he broached the subject. “So,” he started slowly, “I get the feeling you and I need to talk.”

Mac’s eyes flicked to him too quickly to be casual, but still he stayed silent. Well, if that was the game he wanted to play, he was damn well going to have to listen, wasn’t he?

“Let’s start by saying that you not telling me about the heights thing was reckless as all hell man, and I mean really, really stupid.” He did what he could to keep the anger out of his voice, but did nothing to soften the seriousness of his tone. For their partnership to work then they needed to be able to trust each other with their flaws and weaknesses; without that, they wouldn’t stand a chance. “You gotta tell me when there’s something going on that’s going to affect your ability to do your thing, no matter what it is. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s something small or unimportant, you have to fill me in. I’m not going to judge you for it if that’s what you’re worried about, but the only way I can do my job is if you’re honest with me. You get what I’m saying to you?”

The blonde was back to his usual sullen trick of staring straight out of the windshield, seemingly seeing nothing, but he did at least incline his head. Even when they’d first been starting out, he hadn’t been this difficult.

“Right. Well. If that’s out of the way, you planning on telling me what’s going on in that head of yours? Something’s been bothering you since this afternoon and clearly it’s important. Fill me in?”

Mac’s forcefully blank expression momentarily fractured into a frown before he got it back under control. “I’m fine Jack. Just tired. I wasn’t expecting to get called out again tonight.”

That was a reasonable excuse, except for the fact he was clearly lying. “Yeah, I’m not buying that. Didn’t I just get done telling you that you needed to let me know when something was going on with you? Whatever this is, I’m pretty sure it qualifies.”

The frown reappeared and didn’t immediately melt away again. Annoyance wasn’t exactly what Jack was aiming for, but at least he was getting a response. “I think I just proved that I’m perfectly capable of doing my job.”

Jack couldn’t help the sharp sigh that escaped him as frustration started to seep into his bones. Clearly he’d miscalculated just how far from alright Mac really was in that moment. Maybe he should have been paying better attention over the last few days after all; well, lesson learned, at least. “I know you are man,” he tried as gently as he was able. “That’s not what I’m getting at. But something’s clearly thrown you off your game and I want to help if I can, okay? This job’s rough enough at the best of times; you don’t need t’be adding to the pile.”

If Mac recognised that for the olive branch it was, he made no sign of it. His only outward reaction was to return his eyes firmly to the windshield and clench his hands together to keep himself from fiddling with a piece of wire he’d been worrying at since they started driving. There was a long, strained pause; Jack desperately wanted to press the matter, but he knew Mac well enough to know that trying would only shut him down further. If Mac didn’t want to share whatever was going on in his head, then he wouldn’t – it was as simple as that.

Fortunately for Jack though, Mac had never seemed all that comfortable with expectant silences. “It’s nothing. I’m just working through something in my head. Don’t worry about it.”

“Mac… Is this about the other day? ‘Cause I meant what I said up there; I’m sorry I lost my temper. It wasn’t ‘cause of anything you did-”

“Look,” Mac said with sudden force, dispensing of his heretofore unconvincing meekness and turning to put Jack directly into his sightline. “I get it. It’s fine. I’m sorry your request got denied but it’s- We’re both stuck here, okay? We’ve got four weeks left and then you can get back home and put all of this behind you. We’ve just gotta get through one more month.”

For the first time in a very, very long time, Jack was stunned into utter silence. Mac apparently took his frozen expression for one of acceptance and turned back to stare straight ahead with a sharp nod, as though they’d come to some sort of arrangement. Jack, for his part, did his best not to crash the Humvee into a ditch as the bottom of his stomach dropped away.

Then he rethought quickly; to have this conversation he definitely needed to be able to keep his eyes on his partner and driving wasn’t exactly conducive to that. He hit the brakes and pulled over. Mac chirped in surprise.

“Okay, woah, hold on,” Jack started, turning bodily to face the man beside him. “Let’s slow it down real quick because I think I’ve missed something here. What are you talking about man?”

Mac blinked at him like he was the one acting weird. “What?”

“What what?”

The blonde scowled faintly, but it wasn’t entirely clear if it was actually directed at Jack. Regardless, he relented with a sigh. “I heard about your transfer request getting shot down. I’m guessing that’s why you were so pissed off? Well, I’m sorry about it. You shouldn’t be stuck with me if you don’t want to be.”

A lot of things suddenly made a lot of sense. Jack could have kicked himself – he would certainly have deserved it. “That’s not- You’ve not heard the whole truth there, man. Shit I’m sorry, it’s-” He bit down hard on his tongue and forced himself to get the words in order. Mac seemed willing to take his stumbling apology as an embarrassed confirmation of the story he’d so readily believed and to be honest, Jack could hardly blame him.

“It isn’t what it sounds like, I promise you,” he said carefully. “I didn’t tell you about the request and that was stupid, but I swear I wasn’t trying to get away from you.”

Mac snorted very softly, a grim smile playing at the corner of his mouth for a moment before he choked it down. In all their time together, Jack had never seen him look so bitter.

“I mean it. I don’t know what you heard, but the request was for both of us.” That got Mac’s head snapping up to stare at him in visible confusion. Jack’s chest clenched painfully with emotion he didn’t want to put a name to. “I heard a rumour we’re being shunted to Paktia to shore up the EOD team in Gardez. They’ve taken some heavy hits lately and want more hands on deck.”

Mac’s brow was furrowed, clearly not entirely trusting what he was hearing but at least willing to listen. Given the circumstances, Jack was surprised he was even allowing that much. “And you didn’t want to go?”

“Hell no,” Jack said instantly. “The Gardez boys might need help but I don’t want to put you within a hundred miles of that place. Ghazni ain’t been kind to you, but at least it hasn’t blown your fool head off; worst we’ve had to deal with here is individual cells trying to make things difficult. Paktia’s crawling with T-men.”

“All the more reason we should be there, helping.”

“Yeah, and what happens in a month when I ship out and you’re stuck there without me to watch your back, huh? I don’t know who your new Overwatch is gonna be and if I can’t be sure they’re gonna have your back, I want to at least try to keep you as safe as I can while I’m here. I put in the request to shift us to Wardak instead. It ain’t safe there either, but it would have given you a cleaner run at things.” He huffed, remembering the raging argument he’d had with the Captain when his request had been denied. Looking back, he’d been lucky to walk away without disciplinary action but he didn’t regret it for a second. “’Course, none of that matters now, since we’re heading to Gardez regardless.”

He forced himself to meet Mac’s eyes and tried not to flinch at the calculating look being shot back at him. Evidently his partner needed a moment to work out whether or not Jack was lying to him to try to save face and that-

-That hurt. It was fair, completely fair , given that Jack had given him exactly no heads up about what was happening before going behind his back to try to rearrange his life without permission, but it was still crushing to realise how badly he’d fucked up. Their start together had been rocky, to say the least, but Mac had a kind of honest goodness about him that made him impossible to dislike after about thirty minutes of knowing him. Put together with his dry humour, endless patience, and his literal, honest-to-god genius, and Jack hadn’t stood a chance of not befriending the kid. It was somewhat convenient that it was Jack’s job to watch Mac’s back, because he had the sense he’d want to spend every second he could trying to protect him.

Then again, that’s what the transfer request had been about and look how that had all turned out. God, he was such a fucking idiot.

“I should have told you all of this before I did anything, I know that. I’m really sorry for it, and I’m even more sorry that you ended up finding out the way you did. That was shitty and you didn’t deserve it for a second. But I promise you, none of it had anything to do with me not wanting to be here.”

There was a pause while Mac’s face did something complicated, then he asked quietly, “You weren’t trying to get away from me?”

“Not for a single second, kid. I would never.”

It was the honest truth and yet Jack knew instinctively that it wasn’t going to sink in in the way he wished it would. Mac hadn’t talked about home all that much in their time together, and what he had let slip had some gaping holes where family should have been; Jack was good enough at hearing what people weren’t saying to understand that at some point, someone had let the kid down badly. Now, apparently, he had to add his own name to that list.

This was all such a goddamn mess .

Whether or not he bought Jack’s attempt at reassurance, Mac did at least appear to accept the truth of his account with a small, thoughtful nod. To be honest, even if he hadn’t believed it, this was something Jack could easily prove once they were back at base by digging out the request file, but it was comforting to know that he hadn’t screwed up so badly Mac couldn’t take him at his word.

“Okay,” Mac said softly, still frowning thoughtfully but no longer twisted up with bitterness and hurt. “Okay. I understand. Sorry for leaping to conclusions, I guess.”

“You ain’t got nothing to be sorry for,” Jack replied instantly. This was not the kid’s burden to bear. “I should have told you. You have every right to be pissed as hell about it, even knowing the truth.”

“That’s not- It’s fine,” Mac said haltingly, not meeting Jack’s eyes. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”

Jack watched him for a long minute as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, taking in all the tiny little signs of distress he should have noticed days ago. It was only now that he was really looking that he could see how fucking exhausted he looked. Like the whole world had come crashing down on him and he was still trying to soldier on under its weight like nothing was wrong.

“Man, I really fucked up, huh?” He murmured quietly. Mac’s gaze twitched to him and away. Louder, he said, “I let you down and I’m sorry for that. I promise, no more secrets.”

There was a pause, then Mac seemed to decide something because he turned to look at him properly again. “That mean you’re going to tell me what you’ve been up to the last couple of days?” At Jack’s blink of surprise, he actually managed the shadow of a smile, despite everything that had happened. “What? You think just because I’m not Overwatch I’m not paying attention?”

Jack couldn’t help but grin at the spark of life returning to his partner’s tone. Of course he’d noticed when Jack had made himself scarce around the FOB. “I watch you and you watch me, huh? Should have known.” He shook his head ruefully. “Well, in that case, if you really want to know, I’ve been hitting up my contacts.”

Mac’s eyebrows rose. Jack rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously.

“Yeah, yeah, I know I’m just a grunt but I know some people okay? I figured that if I couldn’t get us reassigned from Gardez, at least I could rope in someone I trust to replace me when I’m gone. No one’s as good as me, o’course, but it would be something at least.”

It took Mac a moment to digest that, as if trying to work out what he should react to first. In the end, he settled on, “I don’t think you’re a grunt.”

That was news to him. “No?”

Mac’s smile was a careful thing, like he wasn’t sure this was something he was allowed. “You play a good game, but you know way too much about- well, everything to not have been through something more than bootcamp.”

Jack should have known that he couldn’t get anything by a kid as smart as Mac obviously was, but he was still struck with a quiet swell of pride at how easily his EOD had figured him out.

“Plus, you know you’re by far the highest ranked Overwatch sniper on base? There can’t be many sergeants electing to watch bomb nerds day in and day out.”

There was an obvious question in there, but Mac was still too unsure of the situation to ask him straight up who he’d managed to piss off to get lumped with babysitting duty. And, honestly, that was a whole can of worms that Jack really didn’t want to dig into right now – or ever, really. Instead, he deflected. “Oh? That almost sounded like a compliment. You been checking out my record?”

“No. But if I did, I’d be surprised if most of it wasn’t redacted. Am I wrong?”

He definitely wasn’t. Jack’s smile was sharp as he started up the Humvee again. “You sound like you have some idea already.”

It was a clear invitation and, with only a slight hesitation, Mac took it. “You’re observant in a way that has to be taught. You seem too well travelled for it to not have been international, so I’m guessing CIA. Then there’s the tactical stuff – command wouldn’t ask for your opinion unless you’d been involved in something important. Putting that with that team of yours you sometimes mention without meaning to, I’m guessing you were special forces of some description. That’d explain the rank too.” He hummed thoughtfully. “Still doesn’t explain why you’re stuck watching me though.”

Jack whistled in surprise. Evidently Mac had been paying much more attention than he’d given him credit for. “I’m not stuck doing anything,” he protested lightly. “I like working Overwatch; it’s more relaxing than most gigs.”

Mac shot him a wry smile. “So I’m right then?”

He chuckled easily, letting the strain of their earlier conversation start to bleed out of his shoulders as they settled back into their usual patter. He hadn’t realised until right then just how much he’d missed it and from the way Mac was leaning back in his seat, he was thinking much the same. “About pretty much everything,” he confirmed. “You’re far too smart for your own good, you know that right?”

There was a pause. “You aren’t going to tell me what branch of the special forces you were in, are you?”

“You’re a smart kid,” he said with a broad smile. “You’ll work it out.”

The scene I didn't write is in a few weeks, after Mac's done some thinking and some very careful asking around and he sidles up to Jack one afternoon and very quietly says 'Delta'. Jack smiles, says 'Hooah', and neither of them mention it again.

#MacGyver #angus macgyver #jack dalton #sandbox fic #sandbox #army days #fanfiction #my fanfic #Everyone's OOO but it's for the angst #let me have my angst #Mac and Jack

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echo-three-one · 4 years ago

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Whatever It Takes

Alex thinks Maxine is with Roach, this means Samantha is nearby. Join us as the Alpha Team and Bravo Team breach the last safehouse in the hopes that Samantha is inside.

But is she though?

Previous Chapter : Roach - Run Through the Jungle

Chapter 4 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

"Déjà vu"

"Alex"

Task Force 141

Germany

Short Blonde Hair. If intel was correct then Maxine was with her. This means he's really close to Samantha and he could feel his excitement burst out as they creeped closer to the house. It was a simple white house with a brown roof with windows on all sides, the door was facing them but it was sealed shut based on his assessment. He turned his gaze toward France, he could see her fingers tremble and he can't help but wonder why in the world did she know Maxine. Maybe she's her…

"This is Kilo One-One. We have detected multiple armed tangos going to your position. It looked like they were restocking supplies and headed your way. Be quick though, it looks like they're already suspicious about this bird." the pilot reported over comms. The team needed to hurry before they lose their chance at saving Samantha.

Let's do this, he said to himself as Alex turned to France, Royce and Meat, his Alpha team, and gestured them to slowly surround the building. He nodded to Price as the Bravo Team consisting of Price, Soap, Rocket and Lazer positioned themselves around the other side.

Alex's heart thumped as he shot the door knob safely and kicked it open. What he saw was an unconscious girl tied on a chair, tears were falling from her eyes. She looked thinner than that of the photo, and her skin was almost pale. They haven't been feeding her because she isn't awake since they got her.

Alex quickly slung his rifle and dashed beside her, checking her vitals and used his knife to cut her away from the chair. The rest of the team entered and checked around for intel. Price stood by Alex and summoned a flight home.

"Ghost, Roach. Proceed to the LZed as planned. Our job here is done." He muttered over the comms. Both soldiers agreed but Roach added that he was kind of lost and will wait for the aircraft to arrive so he could use it as a guide.

"Bravo Six to Kilo One One we're ready for extraction in five. Over."

"No can do. Bravo Six. Our Primary LZed is swarming with hostiles. I may have to retreat to our secondary." he replied.

"Bollocks!" Price cursed and instructed everyone to exit immediately.

"Multiple Tangos by the trees! They're firing at us!" Soap roared after peeking at the broken door. Alex held on to Samantha tight. He couldn't let their mission end like this.

"We don't have air support so we're going to have to push through them." The captain commanded.

"Throw smokes around the house so we can position ourselves." he added and everyone nodded.

"Alex. We'll cover you. The best option for you is to retreat south to Ghost's position with Samantha." Price instructed the former CIA agent. The rest of the team did as ordered and exited the building one by one.

Alex ran and looked back, everyone was still acounted for. The radio chatter was filled with location tags of tangos.

He saw Ghost shine a reflective light by the bushes. He almost couldn't see him through the ghillie suit.

"That's Samantha?" Ghost asked.

"Yeah." Alex replied and set her beside them, grabbed Gary's spotter equipment and began scanning the area.

"Echo Three One to Bravo Six. I'm reunited with Ghost and ready to provide assistance to sniper support. What's your sitrep? Over."

"Bravo Six here. Good to hear you made it. There are RPGs on the North Northeast of the Safehouse and they're putting pressure on our formation." Price replied, sounding a little bit stressed.

"Got it."

"Adjust to 11 degrees." he suggested. Ghost's knob clicked softly and he took a deep breath firing the trigger.

"That's a headshot on RPG number 1. Number 2 is just a few degrees left." Alex commented and Ghost pulled the trigger once again, hitting the grenadier on the chest.

"Good hit Good hit."

"Ghost, Roach, Alex. This is Soap. I'm seeing multiple squads heading to your position to flank." MacTavish reminded them, heavy gunfire filled the background.

"Let's swap weapons. I want these tangos to stay the fuck away from us." Ghost requested and Alex quickly obliged, slinging the sniper and carrying Samantha.

"Let's meet up with Roach. I'm pretty sure he's already met our friends." Ghost said as he lead the way, covering the CIA and the HVI.

Gunshots were fired across the distance, signaling Roach's presence. Alex turned to Ghost and nodded walking to the direction of the fire. Plowing over thick leaves and marching across the muddy tracks, they found themselves in a clearing where Roach hid behind the huge rock with an unconscious Maxine beside him. Alex quickly lifted the sniper and began assisting Roach from behind the tree. Ghost rushed to Roach's aid fending off the hostiles shooting at them. A few moments later they found themselves in a moment of stillness.

"Soap, what's the sitrep over there?" Ghost asked.

"We've retreated back to the house and are taking heavy fire. Looks like these bastards don't know how to give up!" He yelled.

"If you can find time, we really need your gunfire right now!" Price added.

"Bollocks. That's my last grenade!" he muttered before cutting off his line.

"We better get going." Alex commanded and Ghost led the way. He was the only one not carrying any load so he's securing the path for the two of them.

"Holy Shit." Ghost whistled as they saw the situation. The whole squad was hiding behind the house while it was slowly being chipped away by explosives. They only shot those brave enough to encircle them and were smartly conserving their bullets.

"Let's clean this street." Ghost said as he dashed to the house firung with his grenade launcher attachment, it had 10 rounds and he used it at certain clusters of enemies. Hostiles flew as the blast exploded beneath their feet, oddly enough it wasn't one of the recommended loadouts but Ghost forced Roach to bring one in case they needed to chip off a wall for sniper support. It was a great idea. Alex and Roach followed behind him, carrying the hostages on their backs and made their way to the Alpha Team and Bravo Team's Location, placing both hostages in an area protected by the squad.

"This is Kilo One One. If you don't get rid of the SAM Turrets we cannot call a VTOL. And I'm running low on fuel!" he complained over the radio.

"Guess we'll have to plant a c4 on it. Soap, take France with you and run toward the SAM turret. Alex and I will provide support from behind. The rest of you, continue protecting our hostages and hold this position. Once the VTOL is out we're going to be home safely." He ordered and everyone nodded, proceeding to their positions.

"You ready to go lass?" Soap asked France who nodded without looking at him. Alex could tell that something is already bothering her ever since Roach rescued Maxine. But she still looked determined and tried to focus on the mission, but deep inside she was actually worried He knew that feeling as he was feeling the same way about Samantha.

Alex tapped her back. "You better go. You can do this. We're right behind you" he yelled. The duo nodded and readied their rifles.

"Go! Go! Go!" Price yelled and started opening fire against the rows of enemies that were targeting them. Alex sniped the farthest threats who were protecting the SAM Turret, their bodies twitched the moment the bullet hit them as they slowly dropped on the floor.

This gave way for the duo to sprint faster covering each other's backs. They made their way to the turret and Soap placed the charge.

"Charge is good to go." Soap muttered and ran back to them. The events were too quick and Alex was too late to notice it but an RPG flew across them and blasted on their side, the explosion knocked them back away from the group as they both rolled downhill.

"Soaap! Fraance!" Price roared as Alex shot the rocketman square in the head. The allied VTOL immediately assisted the squad, raining grenade shells across enemy forces, forcing some of them to retreat, making way for Kilo One One to safely land. Alex quickly rushed to Soap's side while Price went to France. Ghost and Roach took care of the hostages while the others helped each other to extraction.

"Soap. Soap… come on. Let's go home." Alex pleaded, softly slapping his cheek.

He groaned and reached for his head, rubbing the short hairs growing on the sides of his mohawk. He didn't have any bruises but he reported that he might have broken a bone. Alex turned to France who was already on her way to the bird, Price was assisting her, putting pressure on her grazed forehead. Alex assisted Soap as he limped toward the aircraft as huge gusts of wind blew across them.

The ride home was awfully quiet. Ghost was nodding his head to some tunes. Roach sat beside Alex while making sounds by tapping his metal leg, Price stared outside the open sky. The hostages were at the stretchers being assisted by medics along with Soap and France who were the only ones whi sustained major injuries from the mission. For Alex, it was a success, but it could've gone better. If they were to arrive and begin earlier, they shouldn't be having this kind of results right now. They won this mission but they're sure Nero is going to be one more step ahead.

After mission briefings were the worst. The team had to suck up their mistakes and it brought everyone involved down. It was unfair but as the famous saying goes, All is fair in love and war. And speaking of love… Alex paced quickly to the infirmary, where the four of them lied in adjacent beds, all of them still either asleep and unconscious. He looked at Samantha by the window. He couldn't help but feel pity and sadness at her situation. It wasn't fair, it's as if all her efforts to remove him from her life we're useless. So much that he wished he convinced her to keep her memories and run away with him.

"Ya think they're going to be fine?" Roach asked, startling Alex.

"Yeah. They're a tough bunch. Have faith in them." Alex muttered, he almost felt like he lied to Roach as he was also unsure of their situation, but at times like these, it's always better to have a positive approach.

Next Chapter : Reunited

#codmw #horRAYfic #Alex #alex echo 3 1 #john price #john soap mactavish #gary roach sanderson #simon ghost riley

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guigz1-coldwar · 4 years ago

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'Breakthrough' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Breakthrough"

"The following fight you will do is going to be inside of you, Yirina."

Chapter Summary : As her worst fears became real because of Stitch & Freya, Yirina is forced to relive the same implanted memories she was given by Adler but she need to stay strong to win....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3300

Taglist : @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

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I couldn't resist, I couldn't fight to avoid this to happen again....my worst fear came to life this day and if it wasn't the CIA this time, it was now much worse with Stitch in command of the whole thing. All he needed to do was to put me on that stretcher, forcing Park to watch me suffer on it while everyone around was witnessing the whole thing : Freya...and also Dedov, Zasha's brother. He was certainly brainwashed by him as he wasn't able to recognize me and Stitch stepped in to avoid me to talk more...until he pronounced the phrase....

My body was in an little pain when I opened back my eyes in an slowly way, my head hurting me behind and feeling that I was something that was reversed. When my eyes were fully operational, I could see that I was in an crashed Huey while sounds of fighting all around me was getting heard all over the place. It was just me...only me in that chopper, the pilots were dead and the others did already left the wreck before me. I removed the belt that was attaching me to one of the seat before my body went almost limp as I got away.

"Fuck, my head." I grunted in pain after that little fall from my seat, holding my left hand behind my head as I crawled to the only opened door of the Huey, finding that I was at almost 5 meters from the ground.

"Bell !" An voice came into my head. As I thought first to be Adler, it turns out to be Stitch himself, he was the master of my actions. "You crashed down but you didn't hesitate any second, you jumped out of the wreck." He said as I was watching down and unfortunately, I had to follow his orders.

"Shit." I muttered before I could jump out of the Huey but I was nearly going to fall with my head first on the ground. I managed however to fall on my feets but I was like pinned down. "Damnit !" I almost shouted after I nearly got killed by that fall.

"Bell, take this !" An american soldier arrived near me, holding an M16A1 in his left hand, another in the right one.

"Thanks." I told him, taking the gun in hands.

"Come on, let's show this viet-congs what are capable of." He nodded at me as he was going to walk back into the battlefield but the first thing he saw was an viet-cong soldier charging at him with an bayonet strapped on an AK-47 and bad for him as he was hit by the soldier at the chest but I shot 3 bullets in retaliation against the enemy but it was too late to save the american.

"You took his M16 and you joined your brothers-in-arms to neutralize the ambush the viet-congs did against you." Stitch spoke up, causing me to move without disobeying his orders as I joined up an cover with another american soldier.

"Heartbeats is fine for the moment, sir !"

"Good, let's continue the memory."

"Bell, good to see that you're went out alive." The soldier I was next to me in cover taunted me, looking at him with curiosity inside of me.....what am I doing ?....."Bell, you're here ?" He demanded, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"Yeah, I'm here." I broke away from my thoughts, regaining consciousness of the situation.

"These viet-congs are blocking the way for you to get to that bunker, help us for that and go for your objective." He suggested, putting his hand on my left shoulder.

"And what about any supports ?" I questioned him, getting out of cover to fire some bullets on an few soldiers that attempted to charge us. "I don't have support ?"

"You got this, Bell." The man told me with an suspicious grin as he fired away with his M16.

I don't know how I could feel about all of this, it was so real but also so fake at the same time as I realize that I couldn't let myself get hit by an bullet or trying anything stupid. Like this american soldier said, I had to help those men to eliminate the viet-congs for me and I did. I could have let them like that but I'm not like that. It took us only 2 minutes to get rid of the enemy presence in the sector and everyone was cheering for that victory...not me....

"Come on, your path is free !" The same man told me and I had to comply but to go alone in that dirt path that was going deeply inside the jungle.

"Good, you're following the orders, continue !" Stitch expressed, hearing his voice through my head as I arrived near an crossroads....the same one I was faced....one to the left leading to the jungle and an village, the middle inside an old temple and the right one, leading to the river. "The russian bunker were on your right by the river, you need to take that path." He ordered as I was staying still in the middle of crossroads.

"Go fuck yourself !" I cursed, trying to break the control that he has over me as I decided to disobey and to take the left path, going inside the jungle.

"Her heart is starting to go faster, Stitch, what's happening ?"

"She's disobeying the orders, let's inject her again !"

"Sir, we have to let her finish the scenario or it will have bad consequences."

I walked myself inside the jungle at my left but then, I stopped myself when I saw an white light coming out of the tree and knowing the danger, I fired some bullets in its direction and when I was finished, the light wasn't anymore and the body of an enemy soldier fell of the tree....before someone tried to charge me with their AK-47 but this time, I managed to counter him with my own M16 and to take his gun in my own hands before I could stab him with his own bayonet.

An deep breath and I was back on walking again...until I arrived at that same wooden bridge I could remember this well. The time was like stopped in that part, seeing american soldiers fighting against some viet-congs soldiers that surprised them but then....on the side of the bridge, I could see him....like I did before....Lazar, standing up and looking at me, wearing that same Burger Town shirt.

"Lazar !" I yelled, passing through the frozen soldiers, starting to cross the bridge by running forwards. "Laz', don't go !" I exclaimed loudly as I was seeing him going to the left again, walking very fast. "Lazar." I whispered when I arrived at the other side, looking at my left as I thought to see him again but he was walking too fast.

At my left where Lazar walked, I know that I will have to help another group of soldiers and it was the same thing at my right. I couldn't go back to the bridge, an wooden barrier having literally spawned behind me, making me realize that each step made was meaning that I couldn't make an simple step back behind. I was forced to advance without looking back...I was trapped.

"Let's go....let's go to the left." I chuckled to myself, engaging myself into the path that Lazar took and as I was in the middle of the way, my M16 suddenly disappear from my hands to be replaced by an sniper rifle....an Pellington 703. "What the...." I whispered, discovering the gun in my hands.

"Help ! Over here !" The voice of an man was echoing at the end of the path, urging me to run to its position....to discover an american soldier with an radio near him. "Bell, here !" He said, having seen me arrive....is everyone one knowing me here ?

"What's happening ?" I asked him curious as his men were fighting viet-congs near an house.

"I called an napalm strike, use your rifle and take out all the enemies you can shoot at until our boys arrived." He proposed, making signs towards my rifle, obligating me to use it against the enemies.

I was forced to do but I had no choices but to fire with that sniper rifle against the viet-congs position that was harrasing the soldiers downhill and an few shooting at our position until the fighters arrived at our sector, two F-4 Phantoms dropping their loadouts of napalm on the house, eliminating every presence of these viet-congs in the sector and again, causing the americans soldiers to cheer in triumph.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning !" The man that was using the radio scoffed around before he look back at me. "Go on, Bell, go check that bunker." He ordered, pointing at the distinctive red door behind the flaming ruins of the house.

"On it !" I complied before I start to go down the hill, keeping that red door in visual until...I could see Lazar, in front of the door. "Lazar, wait !" I yelled again, dropping my sniper rifle on the ground and starting to run towards the red door, traversing through the ruins to join the door.

"You arrived at the bunker, open the door, Bell !" Stitch asked me to do and I took an deep breath as I opened the door but instead of finding an hallway, I was like in an black void with only an torture chair, with me.....Park & Adler near it before the two were getting switched between 5 seconds of Stitch & Freya.

"She's trying to struggle, what does that mean ?"

"She has finished the first scenario but she's not in the bunker, Dedov !"

"Let me find the new injection quick, sir !"

"So, they're doing it ?" I turned around to see Lazar standing just behind me, slowly walking towards the torture chair with me. "The CIA and now....Perseus."

"I couldn't resist, Lazar." I breathed, catching back my breath after everything I've done for the moment. "I'm....losing this fight, you see what they're doing."

"I know but it's not the end !" He exclaimed as the switch of the duos stopped, only showing Freya & Stitch near the torture chair. "I know that you're better than this."

"I want to think about that but...I basically lost any hope now." I expressed, feeling this pain in my chest, trying to look away from him in shame. "I've been told that I'm better than this but at moments, I'm feeling that isn't true at all." I added, holding my left arm, the wound I had in real life....taking form here. "I want help but where I can find it ?" I asked him.

"You don't need help if you already have it, Yirina." He replied, sounding very sure of his words as for me, I was looking at him back with narrowed eyes, slowly moving to get to him.

"What...why ?....where's my help ?" I asked again very curious as I was going to touch him...until he got transported at an few meters behind him.

"Here's the injection for the next scenario, our last one for the day !"

"No time to waste, Stitch, inject it now !"

"Yirina...just....take care of her, okay ?" He demanded from me as he pointed towards me, something getting wrapped around my waist before I realized that it was something hooking me to a rope going up.

"No, no, no !" I raised my voice, trying to remove that rope from me before I got myself ejected away from him. "Lazar !" I screamed in pain as my eyes were forcely closed by something or someone.

"Bell !" Stitch's voice spoke up. "You need to stay focus on the mission, you got to go to the bunker in the jungle." He exclaimed as I could feel him near me in the real world. "Bell, we have an job to do !" He repeated, causing me to blackout and feeling to return back into the beginning.

"Fuck, my head !" I muttered again as I found myself back into the crashed Huey, hanging in the trees but this time, already removed from the seat.

"Your helicopter crashed down, you jumped and you go help the americans." Stitch ordered, sounding an bit annoyed as I moved to get to the only opened door of the Huey.

"Not again !" I muttered before I redid the same landing back on the ground, this time fully-controlled and not even having an scratch or any pain on my body.

"Bell, take that gun !" The same man as before arrived with the same M16 he handed to me....in that...other scenario.....

"Thanks." I nodded to him but as I already knew what was going to happen, I shot bullets towards the soldier that was going to charge him with his bayonet, saving the man's life....and this...it was looking to change something....

"Damn, you...you saved my life." The man was looking surprised and shocked by that, thinking that he was going to die, needed to die. "How...how did you know ?" He asked me.

"Just...thanks me later !" I told him before taking his own gun to give it back. "Now, go help your friends." I suggested with an grin.

"Yeah...I will...thanks, Yirina." He expressed, sending chills inside my body...my real memories are looking to interfere with my implanted ones.

"Something's wrong here, there's things that shouldn't be happening !"

"Sir, her heartbeats are fine, they're nothing wrong !"

"She's making good progress, Stitch, continue your orders !"

"Bell, you took that rifle and you go help your 'brothers-in-arms'." He repeated again in an clear voice and no longer annoyed tone and by that, I started to move to the same cover I used before, with the same guy as before but now, also with the man that I saved an few seconds ago with him. The situation were looking more better, Stitch becoming less present in my head each time I was firying my M16 and then, looking at the direction of the dirt path....I could see...

"Park ?" I whispered, seeing her standing from afar at the beginning of the dirt path, like if she was awaiting for me.

"We're progressing good !" The saved man exclaimed, peaking his head towards the paddy fields. "Yirina, did you see Park over there ?" He questioned me, making my eyes go wide....everyone in the implanted memories were starting to know my real me.

"She's at this dirt path, you need to get to her quick before they started all over again." The other man told me as we were both seeing Park slowly leaving the path and the terrain behind me, disappearing.

"If we don't do anything, he's going to inject her, man !" The saved him expressed, looking worried as an little tear came out of my eyes, this was becoming so real to me....

"Let me think..." The other man started to think while the bullets were flying above our cover before he reloaded his M16. "Ok !" He breathed before he looked at everyone on the american side. "Everyone, at our mark, we charge to let Yirina pass to the dirt path, we're doing this for her !"

"Understood !" Some americans soldiers said in unison as the two with me were putting their knifes as bayonets on their respectives M16s as for me, I was getting to run towards the path.

"CHARGE !" The other man yelled, launching the suicidal assault of every americans soldiers towards the viet-congs position and me, receiving an nodding of the man I saved before I started to run to the dirt path.

"Thanks" I saluted the men quickly for their courages as I arrived near the path, an tears on my eyes before I started to run through it. "Park !" I shouted her name as I arrived at the crossroads, seeing Park going to the left.

"Bell, the bunker is in front of you in the temple, enter it now !" Stitch ordered in an strict voice but Park went right down the river and there were no red door in front of me so...fuck his orders !...

"Like I said, go fuck yourself !" I repeated my insults to him as I runned to the right path, going down to the river.

"Her heartbeat is going off the charts but...she's following the orders !"

"I asked her to go in the middle, not the right path !"

"Sir, you have confused the future scenarios for her, she needed to go to the right !"

"No, I was clear and she disobeyed, let's inject her again !"

"I'm not letting you do this, Stitch ! You can kill her because of you !"

"Park !" I continued to yell as I arrive in the level of the river but then, multiples red doors were starting to fall over from the skies.

"Bell, you need to open this door, NOW !" Stitch proclaimed loudly but I couldn't enter any of this doors, I needed to continue to find Park.

He was certainly controlling some parts of the implanted memories like Adler did but he wasn't able to control the real piece of it....me ! I navigated through the river, avoiding the multiple red doors from Stitch until I could see Park entering one red door at the end of the river near an fall, meaning that this one were the right one to take but Stitch was persistent, he was still ordering me to enter one of these fake red doors but I fought...I struggled...I avoided his traps and I managed to reach the real red door and to open it.

When I entered, I was back into that same black void I faced earlier but this time, it was just an vision of Park herself with nothing around her....nothing and just her in front of me. I slowly walked towards her, exhausted and my arm wound reappaering again like if I was making an real discussion with her. I couldn't know what to think right now.

"I know that you were going to do this !" Park started, sounding very positive as I was troubled.

"Did I ?" I asked her, worried.

"Of course, you won, Yiri !" She turned around to look at me with an smile...something I was able to do for the first time inside those implanted memories.

"How...how did I won, Park ?" I demanded, curious, still moving to get to her.

"You didn't see ?" She whispered with an grin. "You managed to control those implanted memories from Adler, judged impossible to do." She explained, joining her hands together. "The people you saw first, they were adressing you as 'Bell' but then, they realized....that you....you were more than just that." She added, also moving to me.

"What does that mean ? I won but my situation....." I stopped myself, falling on my knees, completely exhausted by everything, my both hands on the ground.

"They're thinking that they won you back for the moment." She revealed to me. "They thought that controlling you after having faced MK-Ultra was going to be child play but you proved them wrong." She continued, kneeling in front of me.

"I proved them wrong." I said in an low voice, looking down at the invisible black ground.

"I gave you the means to fight the MK-Ultra, Lazar also did, Bell too." She told me, getting slowly my attention on her face as I slowly realized what 'Bell' in my dreams was trying to do....give me hope...."You won that fight, Yiri." She expressed, putting her right hand on my left cheek, causing me to install comfortably my head in it.

"The scenario is finished, now is time to await for her to wake up !"

"Good ! Wraith, call me back when she's back in our world !"

"Listen, we don't have much time but hope isn't lost." Park make me listen as we both feel that this moment were going to end soon enough. "Our way to leave this hell...will be in the inside, you will get us out of here."

"I will do it, Park, I promise." I promised her, starting to slowly cry before I moved my arms around her to hug her and she quickly reciprocrated the move with me, holding each other as my body were starting to go limp, meaning my passing out was here....

"We will escape this hell together....like we both promised !"

#cod bocw #cod cold war #cod black ops cold war #cod cw #call of duty cold war #cod #call of duty #cod bell #black ops cold war #yirina grigoriev #fem!bell #helen park

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inciexe · 4 years ago

Text

Finally, Spysona drawing!

I saw many people on twitter making their spysonas and I've decided to join the trend! i love my boi, he took me 3 nights to finish. his snek is blind and idk what species she is but she was based on a python so yeah

this entire design is based on my tf2 loadout so yeah enjoy!! <3

#tf2 #spysona #tf2 oc #tf2 spy #tf2 spy oc #valve #team fortress 2 #scout #soldier #pyro #demoman #engineer #medic #sniper #spy #tf2 loadout #spy loadout

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deerskewl · 5 years ago

Note

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, 23, 25, 26, 27?

2. Favourite merc?

Don't make me choose :( but if I absolutely have to, it's Spy or Medic. For obvious reasons, I think.

3. Least favourite merc?

I don't want to say that I have a least favourite merc, because I love all of them, but..... I suppose I don't have as much of an attachment to Soldier? Which sucks because he's really cool I just don't hold him as much as I do the others?

4. Casual or Competitive?

Imagine being good enough at the game to play Competitive, this post was made by the me gang. Yeah no I play Casual on Attack/Defend and Payload exclusively.

5. First map you ever played?

I honestly don't remember, probably Upward? That sounds about right. Or uhhh Dustbowl?

7. How many hours do you have for TF2?

*quickly loads up Steam to check* uhhh that's 234 hours exactly :)

8. When did you start playing TF2?

I. uhhh don't exactly know? I got into it about 2016 but I didn't know how to play it— wait I can check my achievements uhhhh 2017 it seems! Whack.

10. Favourite song from the TF2 soundtrack?

I gotta be honest with you, I actually love More Gun a lot?? Of course all three of Medic's themes and specific Dapper Cadaver I love a lot too but there's something about Engie's theme that just makes me go :)

11. If you had to main any merc for the rest of your life, who would you choose?

Either Pyro or Sniper, actually. While I don't have as many hours on Sniper I think I could play him just as well, and I think both of those are the most versatile for me? Because while I love playing Medic sometimes you just need to go feral and burn shit down but also stand 20 ft away from everyone at all times and I already live in a constant state of anxiety I don't need to play in a constant state of anxiety as Spy.

14. How did you hear about TF2?

I'll be completely honest. I have no fucking idea. I think I just.... somehow saw one of the Meet The Team videos and went HOLY FUCK, combined with my cousin introducing me to the game?

15. Favourite thing about TF2?

Every part about it, it's fun. The game is fun to play, the characters are so interesting and wonderful, the ideas people come up with, the fanart and fanfiction is creative and brilliant. Of course I'm sidestepping around problems like the aimbots and the people with horrifically bad takes, but if you know where to keep yourself, then TF2 is just overall really nice and fun.

19. Loadouts?

OHH BOY OK. I'll go with the ones I have actual loadouts for sjdnjs:

For Pyro I usually have stock Flamethrower (Smalltown Bringdown Mk.II warpaint) or Backburner, Shotgun and The Lollichop for weapons, then Candy Cranium (painted A Deep Commitment To Purple and renamed "no braincells only candy"), Party Hat and The Sub Zero Suit for cosmetics.

For Medic I have the Blutsauger, stock Medi Gun (Night Owl Mk.II warpaint) or Quick-Fix, and Ubersaw (Smissmas Sweater warpaint) for weapons, and some combination of the Dad Maddendoktor, Madmann's Muzzle, Derangement Garment and Pocket-Medes.

For Sniper I have stock Sniper Rifle (Autumn Mk.II warpaint) or the Huntsman, stock SMG and the Shahanshah for weapons, and only Wagga Wagga Wear (painted Mann Co. Orange) for cosmetics :')

For Spy I have the Diamondback, Your Eternal Reward or stock Knife (Seriously Snowed warpaint), either stock Sapper or Red Tape Recorder (I really want the Ap-Sap tho,,) and the Cloak and Dagger for weapons, and........ no cosmetics lmao. I actually put The Spirit Of Giving on him because since I've never given any gifts it shows no heart on it and I just think that's really funny, and I was half tempted to put the Ghostly Gibus that I got while playing Pyro on him just to look like One Of Those Players but I ended up not doing it lmao.

23. Funniest moment while playing TF2?

I don't remember many but I think the best one was playing Medic on 2Fort, sitting in intel with my friend who was playing Engie, and just. somehow managing to mow down like three Scouts with just the Blutsauger because they just kept running at me in a straight line and whatever damage they dealt I healed near instantly. Rip to them but I'm different.

25. Favourite cosmetic? (Any class)

Honestly I love the pocket cosmetics so much. They're so cute!! I would kill for like. Actual pocket plushies in real life. I would like one (1) Pocket Medic please. And a Pocket Pardner. And an Itsy Bitsy Spy-der. Hold them soft and gentle.

26. Favourite voice line? (Any class)

LISTEN I LOVE ALL THE VOICE LINES SO MUCH but NOTHING will compare to like. All of Engie's voice lines. And Medics!! I love both of them. Engie's Bam Pow Bap with the Gunslinger and his I'm wolverine mean you son of a bitch and Medic's GET THEM, RAUS RAUS are such wonderful repeatable statements. Though nothing will be funnier to hear in-game than SPY_PAINCRITICALDEATH03.WAV.

27. Favourite weapons? (Any class)

The Backburner is a really fun weapon to play Pyro with if you're sneaky! Getting around people do deal critical hits 100% of the time is WONDERFUL, but only in certain situations because of the +150% airblast cost :/. I actually wanna try playing with the Thermal Thruster to be able to get behind people easier in open-air maps? And I think Your Eternal Reward is a good knife for Spy if you're like me and can't switch from knife to sapper quick enough to get the Engie and then the Sentry? Plus it works well with the L'Etranger and the Cloak and Dagger (in theory! I don't actually have the gun in-game I only put this together via looking at stats). Also the bows for Sniper are really good too, not just for Medieval Mode. I actually find it easier to use than the actual rifles at times but of course that means you have to get closer to the fight, and therefore closer to death.

#ask box

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kevinbugle · 5 years ago

Text

King of Tin: Chapter 1

Waking up on a pile of plastic, rusty metal, and other spare bits of rotting garbage can never be the ideal way of waking up but unfortunately for me that is how my day started. Speaking of which, who am I? It took me a few minutes. Nix is about as far as I got. Nix. It didn’t sound right like saying a word too many times that it sounded familiar but wrong even though it's still the same word. But it was all I had to go off of so Nix it is. Now onto the next conundrum I faced; where am I? As far as the eye could see where piles upon piles of trash, rotting, bloated, festering trash. How I got here or why I was here completely escaped me. I don’t really know anything to be honest. I got up which was a hard task to complete as everything felt completely numbed until I tried to move my pelvis in under to sit up and then a wave of pain crashed through me. Blood rushed through me.

My predicament changed for better or for worse would be determined when a large figure approached me. It was a person but that could be easily mistaken as a pile of trash that had grown legs and started to move on its own. His hat was nothing more than a lid from a trash can with bits of Styrofoam dangling around the perimeter making it look like the ugliest sombrero ever invented. He wore a giant rain cloak that was covered in a strange greasy, ichor. Underneath the cloak he wore another thick jacket that was equally as musty. Trinkets, baubles, and other random junk strung around his chest and belt. He lumbered my way and I was so perplexed by his appearance I took no thought as to whether I should be afraid or not. But he managed his way over to me. He towered over me as I laid in the filth.

“Hi. My name is Pavel,” the man, Pavel, cheerful said to me. His face to no surprise was caked in grime. He had a prickly black beard and from the looks of it seemed he was bald.

“Nix,” I replied

He hand shot into satchel on the side of his hip. He rummaged and pulled out a little notebook with a pencil tied to it. He opened it up and jotted something down. “N-I-X, I assume?” He asked.

“Yeah,”

He put the notebook away. “It’s my book of names. You're the first Nix I’ve come across,” He smiled at me and waited awkwardly for me to respond.

“Thanks,” It made sense to say.

“So Nix, what brings you here?”

“I have no idea,”

He frowned and put his hands on his hips. “Really? No idea at all?”

“No idea,”

“Well, that’s a bummer. Can you move okay?”

“Let me see,” and I mustered the strength and attempted to stand up. It hurt but I managed.

“Good work,” Pavel smiled at me

“Thank you,”

“You want to hang out at my house?”

“Yeah, sure,” I didn’t really want to but I had nowhere else to be. But now that I thought about it, he’s house was probably just somewhere here in the junk.

He held onto his smile “Right this way then,”

Pavel turned and started walking and I followed. Maybe it was the weight of all his junk but Pavel was slow as shit. He waddled more than walked but lucky for me I was also sort of waddling as my legs didn’t feel quite right so for the moment I was content with the pace. It didn’t help that the floor was made up of uneven junk so it was like stepping on rocks, jagged, rusty, smelly rocks. We walked for what seemed like half an hour before we were stopped. There was a man in front of us. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. He had a metal skull mask on and his eyes were glowing red. He wore thick, red cargo pants and had various cains hanging between his pockets. The most concerning aspect of him was the big wrench he had in his right hand. Pavel and I stopped. I stood behind Pavel. Pavel didn’t seem all that bothered by the man but I couldn’t see his face.

“Greetings traveler,” Pavel said to the skull man

The man groaned and then coughed or maybe it was a laugh that came out wrong. Some kind of liquid squirted out between the teeth of his skull mask. “Hand it over,” the man finally croaked out. He extended out his hand. “Your Paste,”

“I have no Paste,” replied Pavel, more concerned and serious than he had been with me. I could rightly assume that Pavel wasn’t happy to see this guy. Maybe an old rival.

I was very concerned about what this paste stuff was.

“Haha, I know you got some *ugh* Paste there buddy so *snort* hand it over,” the man shot back.

Pavel pulled back his cloak and grabbed something.

“Heehee,” the man snickered loudly and I could see his fingers flex around the handle of the wrench. Oh dear. The man lunged forward but with one quick movement, a blur of silver, Pavel demolished him across the face with a club. The man lurched backwards clutching his skull face.

He howled “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ooooooooooo,”

Pavel was holding a metal rod, nothing really special about it, just wrapped with tape at the handle but it was oddly shiny compared to how dirty everything else he carried was. “You done?” Pavel firmly said.

“RAH,” The man hissed back at Pavel. In another swift motion, Pavel extended out his arm and brandished what I assumed was a gun, I don’t know what else you would point at a man with deadly intent. Pavel pulled the trigger and a large spike shot out from the machine and glided straight through the man’s head. The spike impaled itself and the man’s entire brain onto a pile of trash behind him. The skull faced man obviously went slack and collapsed. I gasped.

“Oh bother,” Pavel plainly said.

“You killed that guy,”

“Yeah,”

“Wh-,”

“He’ll be fine,”

“Fine? You blew his brain out, the whole brain!” I exclaimed.

Pavel turned to look at me “He’ll still be revived, might take a couple of days but he’ll be good as new soon enough,”

“Revived? What are you talking about?”

Pavel looked really confused. “You don’t know?”

“No I don’t. I don’t know anything right now. I don’t know who you are, or who is-was that guy, I don’t know where I am or why I’m even here for that matter. So yeah, I don’t know,”

“Oh… my bad. Um, okay let me explain this,” Pavel meekly said. I may have offended him with my little rant but I couldn’t help myself. “People here don’t die. I don’t know if you noticed that green flash in the sky but it’s a satellite. Everytime it passes by everyone that’s dead gets revived at their bed,”

I stared at Pavel. Shit, I had no reason not to believe him. What am I talking about, of course I shouldn’t believe him.

“Here, we can wait here and watch,”

So we did. Sure enough, faintly up in the sky, a bright flash. Then the body of the man turned completely green, even the brain that was impaled on the spike. He glowed and glowed until it finally melted. And then nothing.

“See,” Pavel looked at me.

I didn’t really know what to say. “So he’s going to be fine?”

“Well,” Pavel itched the back of his head. “It’s not good to die too often. It can cause scarring and if you do it too often in a short amount of time you can go a little mad. I think that's what happened to this fellow. Oh, that’s why he wanted Paste. Paste can help those that have died a lot feel new again. It heals the scars and settles the mind,”

I just stood there and blankly stared at him. Pavel stared back. He got a slight nervous look on his face and slowly started to turn. He began walking and I followed him. Immortality: with some slight downsides. It was a lot to take in. Everything was a lot right now.

We kept walking. We walked for what seemed like hours and the junkyard never seemed to end. But it did. Sort of. The floor stopped being made out of trash and instead turned into what one would assume to be dirt. It was hard and completely white. Other than that, barren. We pressed forward leaving behind this seeming enormous pile of trash that apparently was just laying there in the middle of this desert. Ahead, I saw a cabin. Pavel’s cabin. If one looked at Pavel and then this shack, it would be easy to tell it belonged to him. Trash littered the perimeter. The outside wooden walls had random trinkets and curios hanging off of it. He was a hoarder and damn good at it. Pavel led me inside. I immediately felt claustrophobic as the room we entered was cramped from all the trash. Pavel moved through it with ease like a nimble deer. He disappeared behind some boxes. I looked for a place to sit. I found a beyond dusty little sofa and plopped myself down. It felt nice to sit. I tried to take in all of Pavel’s “collection” but the thought just made me dizzy. So I stared up at the ceiling and waited for Pavel to return. Understandably, it took him about five minutes to remove his whole loadout. He returned to me with a once white flannel turned more ashy gray and a blue beanie. He still wore the same dirty cargo pants. Pavel looked so small now. He looked old too.

Pavel smiled at me, friendly like always. “What do you think? I know its a bit messy, haha, I wasn’t expecting anyone over,”

“It’s nice Pavel,” I kindly said to him.

“Ah, lookie here,” He reached down like a bird finding a worm and pulled out a brown paper bag from underneath the heap of trash. He handed it to me. I opened it. It was filled with rubber ducks.

“It’s the start of a little collection I got going on. I’m a collector as you can see. Names, cans, scrap metal, ohhh, boots. I got big collections, ones that I’m really trying to grow but then I have smaller ones that I keep to the side like those duckies there,”

“You collect names?” I cock my head to the side.

“Why yes of course,” He pulls out his notebook from before. He handed it to me and began to flip through the dusty pages. He must have had fifty pages filled top to bottom with names. I gave it back to him with a weak smile.

“Pavel?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“Where are we?”

“This is my house,”

“No I mean, this planet,”

“Oh, this is Tin,”

I paused for a moment. “And where in Tin are we?”

“Oh I don’t really know. We don’t really have names for things, just towns but other than that everything is just Tin,” He paused and he started to frown. “Are you not from here?”

“No,” I answered. I didn’t know where I was from but I know it wasn’t from here. “How do I get out?”

“You can’t. The King doesn't let anyone,”

“The King? There is a king?”

“Yeah,” He plainly responded. “He runs the place, him and his white knights. He’s rules are very relaxed. I’ve never had a run in with him. His one rule is no one leaves,”

“Where is he?”

“You want to see the King? Why?” He looked absolutely baffled.

“I have to get out of here,”

Pavel paused and seemed lost in thought. “I don’t know for sure where he lives but I know someone in Smalltown could help you, the warden perhaps,”

“Can you take me to Smalltown?”

He smiled weakly. “I can show you the way there but I can’t leave this junkyard. It’s too valuable to me,”

“What do you mean?” I asked

“It may seem like junk to you but sometimes you find stuff too precious to let go. You're not the first person I’ve found in the junkyard. Spaceships that fly too close to Tin are shot down by the King. Sometimes the pilots survive and I’m able to get to them before the white knights do,”

I don’t know how to respond so I just nod my head.

Pavel slaps his knee. “Ah but you can’t go traveling in that, here I’ll let you borrow some stuff,” And with that, he got all giddy again and disappeared into the trash. I slowly got up from the chair. I still had no idea of anything. I don’t know where I came from or how I ended up here on Tin. I don’t know what I did to deserve this. I wasn’t even entirely sure if my name is Nix. But finding the King just felt right to me like it was something I was doing before this happened to me. It was something and is this haze of confusion it was all I could go on.

Pavel came back with his arms filled with a bundle of what looked like clothes. “Alright. I brought you some better clothes. I know it seems warm now but trust me, sometimes the weather will go on the fritz and next thing you know you're in a territorial downpour and you’ll be thankful for this jacket,” He handed me a black leather with a hoodie stitched into it. It was very thick because of this. He also handed me a gray flannel and some worn out jeans. I stripped in front of him. The clothes somehow fit me almost perfectly. I was wearing a plain white t-shirt and greyish white pants with no pockets. When I take my shirt off, Pavel raises his eyebrows.

Pavel smiles weakly again. He hands me a device. It’s a cell phone. “Can’t go without one of these. Here, this one is wiped already so you should boot it up real quick,” and I did as he said. Once I finished the installation, Pavel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Pavel’s phone had a ginormous case and thus looked like a black metal brick. “Here, I’ll give you my number in case you need any help on your little adventure,” I punch in his number. Next he gives me a simple sandy colored backpack. After I put the pack on, Pavel reaches behind his back and pulls out a gun still in the holster. I swallow hard.

“You’ll need this,”

I nod. I take the gun. My palms start to sweat. I hastily clip the gun onto my belt.

“Thank you Pavel, you saved my life,” I calmly told him.

“It’s what I do Nix,”

I don’t need to say anything. We both nod at each other and head outside. Pavel leads me a few miles away from his house and then stops. “It’ll take you about a day or two on foot but Smalltown is just straight that way. It’s hard to miss,”

“Thank you again Pavel,”

He gives me a big smile again. “Good luck Nix. Don’t be a stranger,”

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