Who: Cal Banner & Sandy Jameson What: Hotshot and Rocket unite When: Monday 13th Feb, mid afternoon Where: Outside the clinic Rating: PG-13
In retrospect, it probably would have been easier to fly from Texas to DC, but the people who had been dealing with Sandy since her capture and subsequent incarceration within the Wraith Regiment had been at a bit of a loss as to how to handle her from day one. She'd been alright for the first two or three days, snappy and snarlish and kicking off whenever anyone came too close to her but after that, it was like her powers malfunctioned completely. Her limiter had been activated half a dozen times in the first week and because she wasn't sleeping, her powers had become even more erratic until they'd had no option to sedate her.
And that was the state that she'd ended up staying in for most of her time in the West Texas facility. Unable to help her, they'd just drugged her until she was barely cognizant. They'd made the difficult decision to try and reunite her with some of her terrorist colleagues because no matter what people thought they weren't actually monsters. They weren't cruel and they didn't get a kick out of making people suffer. Without being able to help her, the decision had been made to transfer her but they'd had to drive because it was easier to have her sleeping in the back of the truck and less suspicious than carting a semi-conscious girl through an airport.
Put straight into medical upon her arrival at Limbo for the medication to drain out of her system, it took two days for her to be able to sit up on her own and for her to get her faculties back. She opened her eyes to the sound of minds around her buzzing like a busy waiting room. It was noisy, that hum that she had always feared would drive her insane.
Her first instinct was to flee, to run and get out, but there was someone there who had her hands held up and had approached her like a friend, explained where she was and what had happened. Avery, she'd called herself, and had welcomed her to Limbo. She told Sandy that she was in medical and they'd been monitoring her closely to make sure that all the drugs were out of her system, and if she wanted to get dressed, she could be discharged.
Sandy had barged her way into Avery's mind and found out that she was telling the truth, the glassy-eyed vacant stare that crossed her face while she was doing it had Avery waving and clicking her fingers, half prepared to call the doctor because she didn't realise what was happening. Satisfied with what she'd seen, Sandy blinked back to herself and took hold of the bag that contained her stuff that Avery had produced out of apparently nowhere.
She snatched it and, with a low whistle and a grumble Avery left her to it. Inside the bag was a map of the facility and her belongings. What few they'd let her keep, anyway. She dug through it, finding the doll she'd had since she was a baby at the bottom still in good condition, a little dirty but still there.
Stripping out of the medical robes she'd been put in - and she resisted the urge to scan to see who it was that had fucking stripped her - and putting her own clothes on, she was immediately distracted by a mind that she knew, shining like a beacon, a buoy in the ocean, a lighthouse calling her home.
She froze, reaching out with her mind, feeling it touch the edges of a familiar one. While most of the drugs were out of her system, the effort was still a little much. But she pushed herself and made a connection, bridging the gap as if no time at all had passed since she last connected.
[Rocket?] Her mental voice was breathless, filled with broken hope and disbelief, tentative that maybe she had finally lost it.
Ever since the warehouse had been raided and Cal had been pretty powerless to stop the authorities as they’d grabbed his friends - no, not his friends - his family he’d been replaying the event over and over in his head trying to figure out what he could have done differently which had meant that they could have evaded the grip of the law. If he’d been thinking more clearly he would have been able to grasp the fact that there really wasn’t anything that could be done. They’d been ready, prepared and highly skilled, all things that the Outsiders were not. The main emotion he’d been nursing since had been anger but that had very quickly turned to a colder calculating emotion that looked upon the opportunity of joining the Regiment as a chance to reunite with the others.
He didn’t know where he’d been held before transferring to Limbo but whatever it wasn’t like he had much of a choice and he totally hadn’t explored the facility in the hopes of spotting a familiar face. The Outsiders had really become a family and their absence was like a hole Cal couldn’t fill and he really fucking hated that. So far? Not so great and he totally wasn’t trying to deal with his disappointment by glowering at anybody who even looked at him.
Cal had eventually settled his weight atop a table in the cafeteria area with his knees drawn up and his elbows resting atop them, chin braced against his clasped hands as his eyes just looked and sought through the faces with a fine-toothed comb. It was as he was doing this that he felt something, it was something he hadn’t felt in a long time, too long if you asked him. There was a touch in his mind, one he hadn’t welcomed at one time but now clung to like a lifeline, and he resisted the urge to bite out a laugh at the familiar codename.
And there was honestly no mistaking that voice.
[Hotshot, that you?]
As she was alone in the small room that she’d been in for the past two days, Sandy did actually laugh, the rush of relief and delight that ran through her causing her to feel weak in the knees. She closed her eyes and latched onto Cal’s mind, feeling home for the first time in weeks. In an instant, the world around her seemed to calm down and quieten.
[Who else would it be?] she asked, glad that her mental voice wasn’t shaking. She could feel her throat tightening, a stinging in her eyes that told her that her body was trying to cry. She tugged her sleeves down over her hands and dashed them over her eyes, doing up her hoodie a moment later and slinging her backpack over her shoulder with the map almost forgotten on the bed.
It wasn’t until she started walking out of the room that she realised she’d forgotten it, so she reached back and snagged it, staring intently at it.
When she glanced up, Avery was pointing towards the door with a small smile on her face. Sandy didn’t bother responding, she just headed to the exit, pushed the door open and was hit with a rush of fresh air. She leaned against the building and closed her eyes, breathing in slow and deep.
[You letting just anyone walk into your head nowadays?] she teased because she didn’t want to go getting mushy right now.
Cal felt his lips tugging into a smile which was completely uncontrolled and even went so far as to bare teeth. He was certain people were looking at him funny but he didn't care, he'd just found Hotshot and that was all that mattered.
[Please] he shot back with a clear teasing tone that mentally illustrated the smirk that his smile had now turned into. He rubbed his hands together and pushed himself to his feet. [Where are you?]
It was important now to see her face to face.
Opening her eyes at the question, Sandy looked around. [I've just got out of the clinic?] she replied. [I don't know my way around... should I just wait for you to come to me?]
She took in her surroundings and wished vehemently, not for the first time that she could send images rather than just see them.
She chewed on her lower lip and fidgeted on the spot, wringing her hands together.
[Do you know where it is?]
Wait, what? Clinic? Why was she at the clinic? Almost immediately Cal was concerned, would have been for any of the Outsiders, but Sandy was like a sister to her and the thought of her hurt made his blood boil.
[Why were you in the clinic?] He asked, trying to keep the worry and panic from their mental exchange. It probably wasn’t as successful as he wanted it to be as he wasn’t exactly the type to hide his emotions from people he cared about.
As luck would have it he did know where the clinic was and made a beeline for it.
[I'm okay now,] Sandy replied quickly, trying to assuage the sudden panic she heard in Cal's response. [I'll tell you what's going on when you arrive. You just gotta promise you'll keep your cool.]
In hindsight, probably not the best thing to say. Using her connection to Cal's mind, she gently nudged a little further in to track his progress, not that it meant anything to her because she hadn't seen any of the other parts of the compound save the room that she was in.
She withdrew from his mind, sliding down the wall and hugging the backpack to her chest. She just breathed, trying to shut out the sounds that were tugging at her. Trying to block out the clawing panic that she might have actually hallucinated Cal's voice and his presence.
The fact she was "okay now" didn't do anything to ease Cal's concerns because he still hadn't seen her for himself. And why exactly would need to keep his cool? So many questions.
Thankfully the helpful nudged did allow him to find his way to where she had curled up into herself. It was a very familiar position, one he had seen very early on in their relationship and he didn't hesitate in crouching down and drawing her out of that panic.
"Hey, hey," he said. "Sandy, look at me. I'm right here."
Sandy glanced up when she heard Cal's voice in her ears, rather than her mind. Unfurling a little when she sensed him in front of her, she dropped her bag and surged forward, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hiding her face in his neck. The calming sensation that had run through her when she felt her mind touch his was exacerbated when his arms came around her and held her firmly.
She felt stable for the first time since they were separated.
"I was worried I'd made you up," she confessed, the words a mumbled rush against his neck, fingers clutching at his shirt. She thought she would have ended up going insane. "I- I-"
“It’s alright,” Cal reassured her as his grip tightened around Sandy as she unfurled into his arms and he knew better than anyone how physical contact could draw Sandy out of her head and everybody else’s head. “I’m right here, definitely not a figment.”
If Sandy was here, were the others?
Sandy nodded, mumbling something unintelligible against his neck before she leaned back and froze, glassy-eyed the same way she did when she was intensely listening for something in particular.
“Dom’s here,” she said after a moment, blinking back to herself and clutching at Cal, “And Sas, and Wings. They’re- We have to find them.”
Cal’s brow knitted together when Sandy’s eyes did that blank glazing over when she was reaching out and then she came back with what she said and Cal breathed out a relieved laugh. The Outsiders were like family to him and the thought of losing any of them was painful and he had not been very happy since they’d been separated.
“We will,” he said with a certainty in his voice. “I promise.”