Rebecca pressed the injector to Fuse's neck. It released the drug she'd been told to acquire into his veins. If he'd been conscious, the pain would've been excruciating, but in his current state he didn't react at all. She dropped back into the seat and stared at him, his hand still in Lin's lap. Nobody could say for certain if she pulled it over or if he'd moved it himself, but the small teen clearly reacted to it, clasping her hands around it and holding it there.
"Feels kind of silly, but I'm a little jealous of him right now." Clint's voice said in her ear.
She looked up at him. "Why?"
He shook his head dismissively. "It's stupid, but I was just thinking that... Well, they've spent more time apart or injured than they have together. I mean, the mission that kicked this whole thing off was in November and it's only January, right? But look at them. How do you compete with that?"
"He's braindead, she's practically a vegetable and you're jealous? You're pretty fucked in the head, man." Yolanda's voice crackled in.
"Yeah, I know. It's pretty fucked. But I can't help where my mind goes." He replied.
Rebecca shook her head in disappointment, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back in the seat. She knew it'd be easy to see it from his perspective and feel the same, but she couldn't let those thoughts in right now. She and Clint needed to be partners, not lovesick puppies to be able to remain objective for whatever came next. But Eve's voice shattered her resolve.
"He kept her safe." She said. "From what I understand, all she knew before being taken were walls and loneliness. After that it was more walls and cruelty. Her body's covered in scars from the treatment she received. But Fuse changed all that for her. He cared for her, protected her, stayed by her side when the world wanted her dead. How could you not be attached to someone who gave you what you were denied your entire life?"
"Never expected those words, in that order to come out of your mouth." Yolanda quipped.
Eve rolled her eye. "How's that ten feet of repression and defense mechanisms working out for you?"
"Pretty good. Otherwise I'd be in a fugue state too. How's the eye?"
Clint opened his mouth to try and get them to stop, but Eve laughed, followed by Yolanda. Instead, he looked at Rebecca, who looked like she was trying her best not to explode in frustration at the soldier's banter.
"Part of me is glad, though. That she's like this." Yolanda said after a few minutes. "I know how I'd feel and my life hasn't been nearly as hard as hers."
"And we're really only making inferences." Clint added. "The truth of it is likely much worse than we'll ever know. She was only able to use her voice to speak recently. Can you imagine being trapped like that, as well? Unable to express to anyone what you're going through?"
"Kurokawa understood, though. Probably more than he let on or even realized. Remember the restaurant?" Rebecca asked, her voice had a strained edge to it.
"Oh yeah." He said, smiling at the memory. "It was like they were having an entire conversation without uttering a single word."
"Fuse always had a sense about people." Eve said. "He was already in the Vanguard when I was recruited. But he figured me out right away. Knew how to move with me during missions."
"Same." Yolanda sighed. "I was sent to the front for my first mission. Didn't even really know how to use my armor yet. I was a clumsy mess. It only took him an hour to figure it out and gave me advice on how to compensate until I adjusted."
"He didn't get along with people at all, though." Eve said, grinning. "I think Ray and Tristan were the closest he had to friends. But I overheard Ray saying that he just tolerated them more than others because he didn't have to babysit them."
"Real full of himself, wasn't he?" Yolanda laughed.
"With good reason. He really was just better than us. But he always looked after us, too. Whenever we'd be paired up. Had our backs, even if it cost him his."
"You're talking like he's dead." Rebecca said, sitting up. "But he's sitting right there!"
"They're just reminiscing, Bex." Clint murmured.
The two soldiers gave her a sympathetic look. "He's our brother too." Yolanda said. "So why don't you tell us a story? About baby Fuse. We only really know the soldier and the reputation."
Rebecca bit her lip and stared down, suddenly ashamed of her outburst. "I don't really... We only had him for just over a year and my mother primarily..." She shook her head.
"He cuts his burgers in half." Clint said, saving her. "Said he got it from this one. Who saw her mom do it once. Not a childhood story, but it's a peek behind the curtain, right?"
They nodded, smirking at one another. Rebecca rested her head against Clint's arm as he began telling them about how the shower incident. She didn't want to think about Fuse anymore. Or Lin. Or anything. But her mind wouldn't shut down as she saw flashes of her mother sobbing violently after he'd been taken by HQ.
She remembered crying too, despite not having as deep a bond with the small, thin boy as Veronica had. For eighteen months, she'd had a brother. Someone to help her escape from the familial drama going on between her parents. But then he was gone. Then her mother was gone. And everything after that had been hell.
~
"Rise and shine." Clint said, giving Rebecca a gentle shake. "We're here."
A gurney was rolling toward them with a team of nurses and a doctor that had Rebecca reaching for her weapon. "PHOENICKS!"
"I see my brother's reputation has only soured further since I last heard from him." He said dully.
Clint held Rebecca's arm, preventing her from drawing her gun. "Brother?"
"Unfortunately." The man sighed. "May I proceed with my patient or would you rather wait for him to finish dying strapped into a transport?"
Erik patted her arm. "Please go ahead, Sebastian. I'll explain things in more depth."
"Thank you." He said, gesturing and the team hurriedly unclipped Fuse from the harness and carried him to the gurney.
As it disappeared into an elevator, Eve helped Lin into a wheelchair that had been left behind while Yolanda stared up at the reflective skyscraper. "Home again."
"Don't sound too excited about it." Clint said, hopping off the step and stretching.
She gave him a withering look, but didn't respond as Rebecca pushed past them toward the entrance with Erik following right behind her.
"Guess we're going in." Clint said, gesturing to them and half jogging to catch up.
"You good?" Eve asked, walking past the other woman.
She shook her head. "Not really."
~
"Tell me about them. The others kids." The woman said, dropping a log onto the small fire and pulling her coat tighter.
"There's just the four of them. Caspar, Avery, Porter, and Lulu."
"'Lulu'?"
Tim grinned. "I think her name's Lucy, but Porter called her Lu one day, Lu became Lulu, and there ya go."
"There were twelve of you. I know about Fuse. You and those four make six in total. That still leaves six." She said, moving closer to the fire.
"Halo's on standby. Hell, she's probably awake by now since I'm gone. The others were too destroyed to be brought back, I guess."
"'Halo'? Is her name Angel or something?"
Tim shook his head. "No, we call her Halo because we thought she'd wind up dead. At first because she was too passive, like Fuse was. Then, because she was too unstable. Heard she killed herself first day in Keystone, so I guess it was apt. Never knew her real name. Fuse and Avery did. Halo and Avery had a one-sided rivalry thing." He shrugged. "Avery always hated being number three, but Halo and Caspar were just better than everyone else."
"Avery didn't hate Caspar?"
"I think it was more like... If she was going to be number two to anyone, better Caspar than Halo."
The woman nodded. "You're aware of the Vanguard and how they each have a specialty. Was that a carryover?"
Tim nodded. "Kind of. We were all subjected to the exact same training, but allowed to develop our own personalities, which led to different strengths. I preferred strategy and planning, Avery copied Caspar, who favored close combat, Buck was a sniper, and so on. Lulu was a bit of a standout. She picked up this sword that was nearly as big as she was and never put it down." He laughed lightly at the woman's raised eyebrows. "Yeah, Lulu's incredibly strong. Porter has knives of all things. I think Fuse turned into an all-rounder once he got back from wherever they took him. Heard rumors about him doing all sorts of things, but most of us just kind of liked swinging sharp things around."
"That explains a few things, but what about individual strengths or talents?"
He shrugged. "I can't really say. There wasn't much call to show off in training and in the field it was just kill, kill, kill however you could. Caspar was probably the fastest one of the bunch, though. We had the ranking system, but there's no telling how accurate it was. It was mostly just a motivational tool. I can tell you that when Fuse came back, they likely kept him on the bottom on purpose."
"Why do you think that?"
"He was a completely different person. Without getting into the details of how we were trained, it would be accurate to say that it was a miracle he survived as long as he did. He was always the most beat up after PT and in the class, he couldn't understand most of the basics they taught us."
"Like strategy and such?"
"Like the alphabet." Tim said with a smirk. "Not for lack of trying. He really put in the effort, we all could see it. But he was a target. Even Halo, gentle as she was in the beginning, used him as a training dummy."
"But when he came back, he was different?"
Tim's smirk faded. "I don't know what they did to him, but it was more effective than what they did to Halo. Halo was unstable and violent but Fuse felt... dangerous. I guess the wound up being the case since he killed our top ranker and was the only one to survive that forest."
She bit her thumbnail and thought in silence. "What about the others? Since they were brought back, I have to assume they've been taking things more seriously."
"Couldn't say. I didn't stick around long enough to get a lay of the land."
"That's maddeningly unhelpful."
"Sorry to disappoint. You regret hiring me yet?" He smirked.
"Not on your life. You're still a super soldier and I still need protection."
"I don't even know who you are. 'Veronica Chase' doesn't exactly tell me anything."
She nodded. "And we'll keep it that way. For now."
"And, other than probing me for intel on my former squad, what reason do I have to stick with you?"
"Right now? Curiosity." She said. "If you need more, how about the fact that the world is about to be at war and our side can't afford to lose either of us to ego or stupidity?"
"Which one of us is which?" He asked.
The older woman smirked. "I'd say we're a good split of both, wouldn't you?"
~
"How is he?" Rebecca asked the second the door to the surgical theater opened.
There was something unsettling about looking in the face of the man responsible for the current state of things, but it not being that person. The scowl seemed permanently etched on his face as he regarded her, but he didn't snap at her as she expected him to. Instead he brushed past her to a scrubbing station and began stripping off his surgical attire.
"Fitzsimmons' assessment was accurate. His physical recovery is astounding given his overall condition and the circumstances at Mercy. We've got that back on track, so he's no longer at risk of death." He said, picking up a bar of soap and turning on the water. "Ordinarily, I'd say that it's unlikely he'll regain consciousness, but with his unique constitution, I'd advise that you not expect the same person when he does come back."
"Because of the damage to his brain?"
Sebastian nodded. "It'll take time, even for him, to rebuild those neural pathways. Memory loss is guaranteed, but he'll have to relearn practically everything from scratch." The water cut off and he pulled down paper towels to dry his hands. "Without knowing the full extent of Armand's work, I can't say if he'll ever fully recover."
"But he'll be alive. I'll take that and the chance over not having him at all." Rebecca said firmly.
Sebastian nodded, his expression softening. "That's a good perspective given his apparent utility to your group."
"When can we see him?"
"Soon. They're cleaning him up and preparing him for recovery. After that I'll allow one visitor at a time. He's still quite fragile at the moment." He said, pushing one of the doors open and gesturing for her to leave. "Bring the girl first."
She nodded and left the room, doing her best to remember the way back to the elevator that would take her to the apartments they were given by Erik. After rounding a corner, she stopped when she saw the stocky woman leaning on a wall.
"Yolanda?" She asked.
She jerked and scowled. "You seemed distracted during the tour. Thought I'd show you the way back."
"Um, thanks." She replied nervously, following the larger woman down the hall. "You're from the Spire, right?"
"Yeah." She said, stopping and pressing a button. "Left for a reason."
"And joined the GA?"
"How's Fuse?"
The tension in her voice made Rebecca realize that she was dangerously close to touching raw nerves. "Doctor says that he'll recover physically, but probably won't be the same Fuse."
"The brain damage, right?"
"Yeah." She said as the elevator door opened. "He'll probably have to relearn how to do everything."
"When can we see him?"
"Soon. I was thinking about taking Lin, but if you wanted-"
Yolanda stepped onto the elevator. "No, she should see him first."
Following after her, the soldier pressed a button and pinned herself in the corner. Rebecca resisted the urge to sigh. She understood that the Vanguard were a brotherhood and the more action soldiers saw, the more they valued the connections they had to the person fighting by their side. But Yolanda and Eve had both taken part in trying to kill him.
The door opened and she exited without hesitation, checking each side before advancing down the hall while Rebecca followed her to the familiar looking door. Eve pulled it open, sticking her head into the hall before backing in and letting them into the apartment.
"Well?" Clint asked, opening a soda can.
"It's good, but not great." Rebecca said, sitting down on one of the chairs.
Yolanda took the soda from Clint's hand and disappeared into a room, leaving him staring after her before grabbing another can. "I'll take good over bad right now."
"He'll be fine physically. But the rest is a bit of a crapshoot. Doc thinks he might recover, but for the time being memory loss and he'll probably have to learn how to do everything all over again."
"Everything meaning what?"
"Everything."
Clint frowned. "Including-"
"Yes, Roberts, probably going to the bathroom." She sighed.
"Fuck."
"Yeah." She muttered, then looked at Eve. "I'm taking Lin to go see him. Is that okay?"
"Why're you asking me? I don't care what you do with her. She's your responsibility to begin with."
Rebecca couldn't stop the smile on her face. "Come on, Eve."
Eve's cheeks started turning pink, but she scowled and got up from the couch, storming into the same room Yolanda entered. "Do what you want."
"Soldiers." Clint muttered, taking a drink from his can. "You want company?"
She shook her head. "No, somebody needs to be up here to keep the peace when those two start fighting ten minutes from now."
"Fair enough."
"And something's eating at Yolanda. More than just Fuse. Maybe you could find out what it is?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Sure, I'll just ask the two hundred pounds of solid muscle and fighting experience to spill her darkest secrets."
"Just work your charm on her." She said, winking and got out of the chair to kneel in front of Lin and took the girl's hands. "Hey, we're going to see Kurokawa."
Almost imperceptibly, Lin's hands twitched. Rebecca helped her stand and guided her to the door. Pulling it open, she checked the hallway before stepping out, pulling Lin with her.
"Wheelchair might be easier." Clint called.
"We'll be alright." She smiled, pulling the door shut. "Won't we?"
~
"What's your damage?" Yolanda spat.
"What's yours?" She snapped. "From what I remember, you're from here. Got some fancy mansion somewhere on this fantasy island."
"Shut up."
"Why? I'm not the one who ran away from being rich to join the military of a rival nation. Did mommy not love you enough? Did daddy love you too much?" Yolanda glared, but didn't say anything. Eve scoffed. "That's what I thought. Got a response for everything until it starts hitting close to home."
"You don't know the first thing about me." She said, but there was a waver in her voice that made Eve feel guilty.
There was a tense silence in the room for several minutes. Yolanda glared at nothing while Eve paced until sitting down with a sigh. "You're right. I don't know anything about you. And you don't know anything about me."
"That's right. And you don't hear me taking shots at you about your family or past, do you?"
"No. You just tear me down in front of others." She shot back. Yolanda's expression softened, but didn't reply immediately.
"I don't mean to." She said quietly after a few more minutes of silence. "Doesn't make it any better, though."
Eve sighed. "I like exchanging barbs with you. I just don't like the fights that result from them."
"Ray said I was too defensive about everything. I try not to be, but..."
"Being back has you more on edge than usual." Eve finished, looking over at her. "I get it. This isn't a place you wanted to come back to."
"I really don't want to talk about it."
"I'm not asking you to. Just making an observation." She said, moving to the bed. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I'll leave it alone, okay?"
Yolanda nodded. "And I'm sorry for always being a bitch to you. I'll try to do better."
"Being a bitch is part of your charm. Let's both try to keep the claws put away as much as possible, deal?" She said, holding her hand out.
Yolanda looked at it for a few seconds before taking it. "You got it, cyclops."
They smirked at one another and Eve got up to leave the room. "Eve, what had you so upset?"
"Rebecca asked me if it was okay if she took Lin to see Fuse." She said, reaching for the doorknob.
Yolanda scoffed. "Yeah, well, you're like her big sister now, so... makes sense to me."
"That's what I'm afraid of." She said, pulling the door open and stepping out.