York (freelanceryork) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-04-12 20:28:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2018 april, ~25 points, ~~agent carolina (agentcarolina), ~~agent washington (freelancerwash), ~~agent york (freelanceryork) |
WHO Agents York, Wash & Carolina (w/ Church as always)
WHAT Carolina & Wash arrive
WHEN Tonight
WHERE Not too far from the apartments
WARNINGS near death experiences
STATUS Closed | Completed gdoc
After a few days they didn’t even smell the dead bodies anymore. It was something to be grateful for with so many other discomforts to be endured. At least they didn’t smell it any more until they remembered that all the suits of armor standing around them weren’t just suits of armor. When the brains that were fuzzy with exhaustion and dehydration reminded them that those suits of armor still had the bodies of people they’d considered friends in them then they could smell it just as strong as when they’d first walked into the room with Temple.
Carolina always knew when Wash made the mistake of thinking about it because she would hear him gagging in his helmet. It made her feel helpless to hear that from him and that pissed her off. Being pissed off made it easier to resist giving into the despair of knowing that they were alone in a death trap slowly dying, locked in armor that was going to be where they spent years slowly decomposing for Temple’s revenge.
They really couldn’t be sure of what they were seeing and hearing anymore. It wouldn’t be long now until one or the other of them died. And then the other would be alone. They just assumed when the scenery around them changed that it was another hallucination.
***
york…york...YORK WAKE UP! Church had ‘heard’ Wash’s radio come back online but since there was nothing but static coming from it he needed the Freelancer to wake up and take him to him. There was another radio with him but he wasn’t sure he was seeing it right.
He hoped he was. He’d really like to see C right now.
Wash is back online but he’s not responding. I need your legs to get us there.
***
York was really tired of Church. That'd been his warning that Wash had been sent home so he just hoped that his friend would be back sooner rather than later. Of course, the wake up call he got after finally catching some zzz's was not what he had in mind. He sat up immediately as soon as Church had started yelling at him.
"What- I'm up, I'm up." He looked around a little wildly and realized he'd fallen asleep on his couch. Great. York stretched his arms over the top of his head as the words finally filtered through his brain.
"Wait, Wash? Where?" York was already up and it only took a few moments for him to get his shoes on and pull his jacket. Then he just grabbed his keys and walked out the door. "Why aren't you with him?"
***
Because it’s too far to jump, I have to be closer to jump neural implants unless he answers the radio, and he’s not picking up. He was busy triangulating to get a better location on Wash using the local networks to pick up the radio pings so he could direct York in the right direction.
Two blocks over, in that little park area by the coffee shop. York...he’s not alone. It wasn’t often Church sounded unsure but he did right now. He really wanted it to be Carolina but he wasn’t 100% sure yet.
Of course when they got there he knew exactly who it was even if she’d traded out some of her armor pieces and upgraded. But what he didn’t know was why they were standing there like they were expecting an attack but not moving.
Get me closer, let me do a bioscan, something’s wrong.
***
That made sense, so he hustled along as he followed the directions Church was giving him. "What do you mean he's not alone?" York asked as he made his way across the street. He knew exactly what park area the AI was talking about and it only took another few minutes for him to get there.
"Carolina?" He looked around for an attacker because of their positions, but Church told him to get closer so he did, until he was standing right in front of Carolina. York was almost afraid to reach out and touch her. "Church, what's wrong with- them?" His voice hitched because he'd almost just asked about Carolina. Wash was like a brother to him though and he did care about him.
***
Church wouldn’t have thought less of York for only asking about Carolina, he doubted Wash would have either but it was nice of him to catch himself.
They’re in armor lock. Church’s voice was puzzled because why the hell would they be in armor lock?
“Wash, I think I’m hallucinating.” Carolina had seen York at least once before when the hallucinations started. He’d told her to wake up and stay strong, but he’d been in his armor. It was different this time to see him out of the armor. Their radios had been set to general transmission so York could hear her.
Oh god… Church got the bioscan back and swore quietly. York, they’ve been like this for days. They’re dying, we need to get them out of the armor NOW. D, help me override, York you’re going to need to catch them. We’ll start with Carolina. Their life support was failing, they were starved, dehydrated and going downhill fast.
***
"Not hallucinating," York responded. He didn't know what to think, but armor lock? That was bad news especially when the bioscan was done and they had discovered that they'd been locked in there for days. He was panicked but he tried not to let it show. Carolina needed him. Wash needed him. He could freak out later, but right now he needed to help Church.
"Yea, okay. I've got her," he said as he got into position to catch the woman he loved in his arms. Church did what he needed to do to disengage the armor lock and York grunted at the extra weight but carefully lowered her to the ground. "It's alright, I've got you." He had her in his arms again after so long. He didn't know what to feel. He just had to make sure she was alright.
"I've got you," he repeated. "I just- I have to catch Wash, too." York didn't want to let her go though. Not until he knew she was okay.
***
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry York….I should have…” At first seeing him there Carolina was babbling trying to tell him everything she’d tried to say to his memory on the temple island but her armor unlocked and she moved. The pain shocked some more reality into her but it was so overwhelming for a minute all she could do was clutch weakly at the person lowering her to the ground. It couldn’t be York, he was dead.
But it sounded like York. God she wanted it to be York.
Wash let out a soft sigh over the radio and she was immediately trying to push her way up even though she barely had any control over her muscles. “Wash! No, don’t you do that! Wash! Go help him!”
”Hold on Sis, we’ve got him.” they had their armor on so Church was able to project his hologram. He chose to go to Wash’s implants after unlocking Carolina because he’d wanted to assess him. Now he really wanted to get him out of lock so he wouldn’t die on his feet. Carolina didn’t do well with losing people after everything and York would feel like shit if he accidentally let his buddy die. ”Time to catch York. Ready?”
****
He never thought he’d get to hear those words from her but he couldn’t focus on that right now. When she started to go for Wash, he held her tighter. “I’ve got him, Carolina. Just sit, please.” It wasn’t quite begging but it was close to it because if he lost her after all of this he was going to kill something. Possibly that guy that looked like the Director.
He let go of her and moved to catch Wash. “Yea,” he said to Church. “Let him out.” York carefully lowered his friend to the ground and then helped him get his helmet off. The fresh air would help. As soon as Wash’s helmet was off, York moved over to Carolina and got hers off as well. Seeing her face though. It made him feel things he’d been keeping in the back of his mind for a while.
“Never do anything halfway, do you?” he asked fondly.
***
“Sis? Epsilon….Church?” Carolina was completely confused now. Epsilon was gone, so was York, what the hell was going on here? Just sitting there and letting someone else do things wasn’t her favorite way for her for things to happen but she didn’t have a lot of choice. Once Wash was on the ground with his helmet off and the fresh air did wake him up. Seeing his eyes open she was able relax a little and try to focus on trying to figure out what was happening.
”Yeah it’s me C. Just hang tight, finishing up checking out Wash then I’ll give you the once over.”
Wash snorted with a loopy grin, he and Carolina looked terrible, they were gaunt and gray around the lips and their hair was slicked to their heads with sweat in snarls from being confined and trapped. “Stop checking me out Church, I’m not that kind of guy.”
“What the hell is going on?” Carolina gave up trying to figure things out on her own. She was laying against a bench in what looked like a park which made no sense at all.
***
York was glad they were both alive, but they were going to need medical attention in short order. He wasn’t sure what the state of their healing units were, but considering it’d been keeping them alive for days, it was probably shot. For now, he was just sort of looking at Carolina. He was afraid to even blink because he was worried that she would disappear.
What finally got him to pull his attention away was Wash’s not so funny joke. York rolled his eye at his friend and then focused on Carolina. “You’re in Madison Valley, Indiana, United States. It’s April 2018. I know this is going to be a little hard to believe, but Wash and I have been here for a couple of months. I got pulled here while helping Tex out, but Wash was a bit further along than me. Guess he got sent home to live a little before he got brought back.” There’d probably be someone coming along soon to give her the welcome spiel and packet.
“Church, do we have to get them to the clinic?”
***
“Who put the elevator in the middle of the park?” Wash sounded puzzled as he looked around himself. “Oh hey, it’s the past again.”
Church went ahead and projected himself out of the armor again. ”Considering he’s actually serious about the elevator thing I’m going to say yes, they really need to be in the clinic.”
“I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.” Carolina didn’t want to go to the medics, she looked on that as giving in and giving up. “This all sounds insane you realize. Wash was with me or Tucker the whole time, how could he have spent time in the past without me realizing.” Carolina’s fingers itched to reach out to touch York but was forcing herself not to.
***
"Yea, welcome back, bud. I did not need another day with Church." Wash was clearly very out of it and that was a big red flag for York. He was very concerned, so he wasn't going to listen to either of them about whether or not they should get to the clinic. If Church said they had to get to the clinic, that was where they were going to go.
Which meant, of course, that Carolina was against it. "You're way too close to being dead to be able to get away with just taking a minute," York replied firmly. He wasn't going to lose her over her pride. "And yes, I do realize it's insane, but it's also true. Once you've got some fluids in you and you're rested up, you'll see." His expression softened a bit though. "It's good to see you though. Even if this wasn't exactly how I imagined it."
***
Carolina was having a hard time keeping it together. She was exhausted, on the edge of hallucinating and had been angry and terrified in shifts for the last...well she wasn’t sure how many days they’d been trapped and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Right now she wasn’t even sure this wasn’t some dream as she slipped away still locked in her armor. Maybe it was just her brain trying to lull her into giving in.
“I’m sorry York.” She wanted to pull out his lighter and hold onto it in case none of this was real, she wanted to feel closer to him. Of course she was also going to feel like an idiot for showing so much of her emotions later but that was later.
Wash meanwhile had been mumbling somewhat under his breath while Church was watching Carolina and York. He knew how Wash felt about her but he also knew that Wash would be pushing her at York without any hard feelings at all so he wasn’t all that worried about things.
And he turned to look at Wash with his hands on his hips. “Are you singing the goddamn Duck Tales theme song Wash?” Yeah this was bad.
“You know Doctor Gray was right, you are a tiny little ghost man Church.” Wash chuckled at Church shaking his head at him.
“Okay tender moment done, we need to get him to a doctor.” The hologram winked out and Church jumped to Carolina to give her a more thorough assessment. She wasn’t in any better shape than Wash, she was just a hell of a lot more stubborn about it.
***
The longer they sat there, the more risky it was going to be to move them, York felt. Now that they’d caught their breath, he was more confident that they weren’t on the brink of dying. Whatever was going to happen the next time they got sent home was another story, but at least they were safe for now.
“We’ll talk about in later,” York promised quietly. He hadn’t been able to make the choice for her but at least she’d seen the truth in the end. That was what mattered to him.
He inclined his head at Church and pulled out his phone to call the clinic. He wouldn’t be able to move both of them safely so someone was going to have to pick them up and York didn’t trust the local hospital. It was better to stick with the clinic for now.
“Someone’ll be here in a few minutes,” he promised once he hung up the phone. “You guys are gonna have to get out of that armor.” It was more a warning than anything, to get the arguments out of the way.
***
Considering they had been in it for days and life support had pretty much given out Wash wasn’t going to argue that much about taking off the armor. He was really going to want a shower as soon as he was able to function. “But officer I don’t think that warrants a strip search.”
Of course it would be good when he was cognizant and all there too.
“Oh my god.” Carolina groaned for Wash’s mental state. He was a mess so she was hoping that this really was the past and not some delusion of hers. She looked directly at York to make sure he was paying attention but since he really hadn’t ever looked away for long it wasn’t necessary. “No one touches the armor but you once it’s off.”
Of course then she kind of realized she had almost sounded like she’d asked him to take the armor off and if she was in better shape her cheeks might be burning a little. “And if you get any crazy ideas about sponge baths someone is getting punched. I’m not that bad off.”
***
“Buddy, you’re going to thank me for it later,” he promised. It was a little scary to see how out of it Wash was, but York was confident that the medics here would do a good job of bringing them back from the brink of death. It was kind of funny to see Carolina reacting to Wash though. She wasn’t as loopy as he was apparently
“Hey, of course. I’m not going to let anyone mess with your armor,” York was quick to respond. He did grin at the idea of giving her a sponge bath. “What? And make you miss out on an actual bath? No way.” He was definitely teasing her but then again, he did like it when she punched him.
He heard the sounds of a car approaching and figured that was whoever was going to pick them up from the clinic. “Alright come on, the quicker you let them look at you and do what they need to do, the quicker you’ll be back to kicking everyone’s asses.”
York wasn’t worried about Wash playing nice, but Carolina didn’t accept help very easily, and hardly ever at all.
***
Carolina was worried about Wash and the way he was acting. “He sounds like Caboose, I’m hoping he’s just out of it and not brain damaged.” It was good to feel Epsilon in her head again. Sure, she liked it when he took vacations and rode with Tucker but knowing she’d never get him back had been crushing. No one would ever see the message he left for her when he destroyed himself to run the armor against the Chairman.
Don’t worry C, it’ll get better when we get him some medical attention. You too, I don’t care that you’re acting tough you have to feel like shit right now so suck it up and do what York tells you too, huh?
“Give me a few minutes I could kick your asses anyway.” Carolina held her hand out to York with a stubborn scowl. “Help me up.”
***
“Wash will be alright and so will you,” York replied. He’d do whatever needed to be done to make sure they recovered the right way. There was definitely a grin on his face when she said she could kick their asses in a few minutes. He helped her up without hesitation and continued to keep his hands on her to keep her steady. He wasn’t about to let her go if he could help it.
“I’ve got you. Let’s get you out of this thing.” He’d said that to her so many times before but this was the first time he was saying it because she’d been locked inside to die. York really didn’t enjoy these circumstances at all and it made him wonder if maybe he should have forced her into leaving with him. It was a fleeting thing, very brief, and then he was helping her out of her armor with some assistance from Church and Delta.
As soon as she was out of it, York pulled her into his arms for a gentle hug that felt like so much more. Boy did it feel good to have her back. “You can hit me for this later.”
***
It helped her stand up with less help when the armor was off. The power had pretty much cut out along with life support so the full weight of it had been on Carolina dragging at her but now it was like she was light enough in her body suit that she felt a little like she was going to float away. “I will hit you later.” But she wasn’t pulling out of the hug.
She wouldn’t have gone with him. Carolina hadn’t been ready or understood enough and then she’d gone underground when they all thought she was dead.
Taking slightly deeper breaths now that she was out of the armor made her more aware of her current state. “I smell like something from under a dumpster.” She always said such romantic things. “We need to get Wash out of his armor. Epsilon can you get us started?”
”Oh sure, make me do all the work. All right Wash, let’s crack your shell.”
***
"Wouldn't expect anything less." He was smiling though. York didn't know what was going to come of this, but he was looking forward to at least having her back in his life in some capacity. There'd been a lot of time that had passed since they'd last seen each other so he knew better than to think they'd end up right back where they'd started.
"I'm going to choose not to respond to that one," he teased. "You good? Wash is going to need some help." York knew their armor was going to need a good once over at the very least, which was going to mean taking it back to his place for now while they got medical treatment at the clinic. He really wished he could be in two places at once.
York moved to help Wash out of his armor and grinned at his buddy. "Man, I leave you alone for a couple of days and you end up almost dead. We really have to work on that, Wash." Hopefully they wouldn't have to deal with this again, but on the off chance they did, York hoped it would go better than this time around.
One of the nurses hurried over to them and York recognized her from the clinic so he knew it was alright. They were going to get the help and treatment they needed. "Come on, let's go with the nice lady. Then we'll be able to catch up properly."
***
“At least it’s only mostly dead.” Wash couldn’t help grinning back but he definitely wasn’t focusing on York very well. It felt a lot better to be out of the armor but he wasn’t getting up without help. And maybe not without a lot of help.
“I’ll go but I’m not staying long.” She didn’t know any of them and Carolina didn’t like to be out of action. Damn she wished the healing unit wasn’t dead on its feet. “York, help me get him up.” Wash was her partner since Chorus so she felt responsible for him. “He needs the help more than I do right now.”
***
"Yea, you're right about that, pal," York agreed. He was more concerned about Wash at the moment so he didn't even argue with Carolina about how long she needed to stay at the clinic or about her helping with Wash. He just nodded and moved to help so that Wash was in between the two of them.
"Let's just get you guys on the mend and we'll figure out the rest later." He knew better than to argue with her. Plus, so long as she got looked over and some fluids in her, Carolina would be able to sleep it off for the most part and then take it easy staying with one of them. Hopefully him.
Wash was possibly going to need a little bit more time to get back on his feet. York knew Carolina was going to be defensive as all hell and the worst patient ever, but he hoped that his presence would at least help some. Still, he felt compelled to add, "I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you guys." Carolina had trusted him once. He hoped she could trust him with this.
***
Carolina was stubborn enough that she managed to get one of Wash’s arms over her shoulder after York got him to his feet and was ready to help him get wherever he needed. She shouldn’t have been able to do it but that was Carolina for you. The fact that Wash kept giggling randomly did not make her feel any better about his condition.
What York said made her glance at him with the start of a smile before she looked at the ground feeling like guilt was punching her in the chest. “Only reason we’re going York. We know you’ll watch out for us.”
I’ll keep an eye on both of you too C. You and Wash won’t be alone.
“Thanks Epsilon.” She nodded and managed to pull her eyes away from the ground to look ahead. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
***