Fic: You Forgave, and I Won't Forget (18/20)
Title: You Forgave, and I Won't Forget
Author: cgkm2099z
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Current
Rating: PG-13
Warning Some profanity
Word Count: 7,500
Disclaimer: I do not own Community. Community, and its characters, are the creation of the great Dan Harmon. I think it's still owned by Sony Pictures Television, but after the hack, I'm not so sure. The title is from the song "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons.
A/N: Paintball, part four! This time I actually finished it! Hope you enjoy :-)
As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!
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Jeff shouldered his way through a set of double doors and they rushed into yet another eerie room made to look like some sort of grotesque warning to other robots. This was the third one they’d encountered on this level already. The basement section of the CPU lab was deceptively large, and oddly enough, much larger than the two floors above. They raced across the room and made for a door Jeff thought would lead them back to one of the stairwells up. Their only hope was to find a weapon - any weapon - they could use to fire paint at an assailant. And with the arsenal upstairs taken out of play, that meant getting outside.
They’d just about reached the door when the now familiar sound of the Terminator’s rifle sounded behind them and paint splotches blossomed on the door frame. Jeff cursed and they ran towards another door in a low crouch and went through it. The layout of the basement made absolutely no sense to Jeff; it was as if Borchert himself had designed the level as a kind of robotic funhouse. Random doors were all over the place along with hallways that led nowhere or back where they began.
He didn’t know where they were going, but he was pretty sure their pursuer did. There’d been multiple opportunities for him to have finished them off, but so far all he’d done was use his gun to prevent them from going in certain directions.
The bastard is hunting us. Herding us towards something.
Jeff had played his share of cat and mouse games when he was a lawyer. But he’d always been the cat. He was now finding that he did not enjoy being on the other side of things.
They found themselves in an enormous room filled with row after row of workbenches, each with various equipment on them including circuitry, robotic arms and machine presses. Jeff surveyed the room quickly; there only appeared to be one other exit, which was directly across the room. If the Terminator had driven them in here, then he must have meant for them to go out the other end. But Jeff had had enough of running where his opponent wanted him to. It was time to change things up.
He grabbed a nearby folding chair and jammed it under door handle. It wouldn’t hold him for long, but hopefully it would be long enough. He then jogged to what looked like some sort of control panel and began flipping random switches. As he’d hoped, some of the mechanical arms sprang to life and began moving around in haphazard patterns.
“What are you doing?” Annie asked as Jeff continued flipping switches.
“Cover. So he can’t track us.” The door they’d come through shook as the Terminator began trying to force it open. “Come on.” Jeff grabbed Annie’s hand and led her into the maze of workbenches.
They found a spot somewhere near the middle of the room that would allow them flexibility in potential escape routes, but also provided a view of both sides of the room so they could see which path their adversary was taking.
The banging on the door was getting louder. Jeff turned to Annie and whispered in a rush. “Hopefully he’ll think we already went through the other door. But if he doesn’t, then I’ll draw him off and you get out back the way we came.”
“Jeff, no!” Annie protested. “We have to stick to-”
“We don’t have time to argue!” Jeff cut her off. “You’re the one they’re after, you’re the one that has to make it. Besides, you’re the sleek, graceful cheetah, remember?” Annie huffed out a laugh, but remained doubtful. “Annie, listen and understand. That Terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are covered in paint.”
Annie looked at him fearfully, her voice trembling. “Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know…” Jeff sighed. “Without a weapon, I don’t know. But you need to get away. Do it, Annie. Promise me.”
There was a hint of that look Annie would get now and again which said she was about to put up a fight and refuse to back down. But it quickly faded into a look of sadness and she gave a resigned nod.
A loud crash signified that the door had finally given way. Jeff and Annie tensed and turned towards the entrance, peeking through the scattered junk to try to keep track of their nemesis. They could see him stride into the room and stop short when he noticed the whizzing and whirring mechanical arms. His gaze swept slowly over the room before he began advancing deliberately down the side of the room to Jeff and Annie’s left.
He moved from row to row, methodically searching. As he neared the center of the room, Jeff and Annie scooted quietly around to the end of the workbench they were hiding behind and snuck to the other side as the Terminator passed. When he continued on his search, Jeff let out a tiny sigh of relief.
Jeff glanced at Annie and nodded towards the door then held up one finger to indicate to wait a moment. She nodded resolutely, a small smile beginning to spread across her lips. He looked back to where the Terminator had nearly reached the other end of the room. Jeff raised himself up into a crouch and prepared to sprint for the door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Jeff froze and his gaze shot towards Annie, whose eyes had gone as wide as only Annie’s could.
“I know you’re in here.” The voice sounded like whetstone being scraped over a blade. “You can’t hide forever.”
Jeff locked eyes with Annie. “Get ready to run,” he said in a barely audible whisper.
Annie looked distraught but determined as she reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, her fingers lingering just slightly as their hands drifted apart. “I love you,” she mouthed.
Jeff gave her a lopsided grin and took off in the other direction, keeping himself crouched low and below the level of the workbenches. He’d be walking a fine line. He needed to be seen in order to draw the Terminator away from Annie, but if he was seen too soon, he’d get himself cornered. He paused after traversing three rows and took a peek above the bench he was hidden behind. The Terminator was now wading through the rows of workbenches instead of staying to the sides. Jeff glanced back at Annie and waved for her to start moving. She gave him a thumbs up and started crawling towards the end of the room at which they’d entered.
Jeff waited until the Terminator had passed the row he was in and then darted down a few more rows and over a couple aisles. He couldn’t see where Annie was anymore, but he figured the Terminator was roughly equidistant between them.
It was time.
Jeff moved from one bench to another, this time purposely making a scuffing noise along the floor as if he’d tripped. Once he was behind the next bench, he peeked through some boxes at the base of the bench to see if his bait had been taken.
The Terminator was still moving away from him, however, towards the spot where he and Annie had initially been hiding. Jeff felt sure that the noise he’d made had been loud enough to hear, but perhaps the white noise from all the mechanical arms had drowned it out. He cast an eye over the various junk that was cluttering up the surface of the workbench he was hidden behind. He picked out a set of metal tongs and knocked them off the edge. The tongs made a clanging noise when they struck the floor, loud enough that there was no way that anyone in the room could have missed it.
He peered back across the room, but the Terminator had now passed their hiding spot and was still moving inexorably away from him. There was no way Jeff could be any more conspicuous without jumping up and yelling “Here I am!” It didn’t make sense that he’d be ignored unless-
Shit!
Unless the Terminator knew that Annie was there.
Jeff felt a rush of anxiety and took off back towards the other end of the room, risking a peek up to see where his enemy was. The Terminator was getting near the far corner of the rows of workbenches. It wouldn’t be long until Annie ran out of places to hide. Jeff closed the gap as quickly and quietly as he could. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Maybe if he could sneak up behind him and move fast enough, he could grab the Terminator before he could get a shot off and take his gun away. This guy wasn’t actually a machine after all, and Jeff was stronger than most. It wasn’t a great plan, but it would have to do.
He moved as swiftly as he dared, and soon there was only one workbench separating him from the Terminator. It was not a moment too soon either, as there was only one workbench left for Annie to be hiding behind. Jeff’s heart was racing and he took a deep breath to steady himself, then sprang from his hiding spot.
No sooner had he stood than the Terminator spun in one swift motion and trained his rifle on Jeff’s chest. Jeff felt frozen in place, there was nowhere for him to go, no possible escape. The mask covering the Terminator’s face betrayed no emotion, but the eyes behind it were smiling maliciously at him. All the adrenaline had drained out of Jeff and he felt weak and helpless.
“You were pretty good, I’ll give you that,” the voice behind the mask ground out. “But I’m better.” One gloved hand moved up towards his face, but the gun never wavered. The gloved hand slowly removed the mask and tossed it aside.
Jeff felt his jaw clench involuntarily. He recognized that oversized chin.
Dammit, not him!
“Not going to fake a heart attack? I’m disappointed.”
The gun fired and Jeff felt a burning pain in his stomach.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Annie had to fight the urge to scream when she saw Jeff fall. She’d managed to sneak over to the other corner from where the two men were, and hadn’t been in the immediate danger Jeff believed her to be in. She’d desperately tried to get his attention as he’d crossed the room, but he’d been too focused on the Terminator to notice her. Now she was alone. Alone and unarmed and without even a distraction to get her out of this cursed room.
Why did you have to insist on splitting up, Jeff? And why did you have to be so heroic?
The Terminator resumed his search and reached the corner he’d been heading for then turned in her direction. Annie ducked down quickly and tried to formulate a plan. She couldn’t reach the door they’d entered through with the Terminator right there. Maybe if she could reach the other end fast enough, she’d be able to escape through the other door. The Terminator was being slow and methodical in his search, so she could probably reach the far end before he reached the edge of the room she was on. The room was long enough that it would be very difficult for him to hit her from that distance if she made a break for it. She didn’t know what was on the other side of that door, but she couldn’t play hide and seek forever. She steeled herself to execute her plan.
“It’s just you and me now, Bean Allergy.”
Annie suppressed a gasp. Of course it was him. Who else could’ve cut through Abed’s forces so easily? She set off, keeping herself as low to the ground as possible. But as she neared the midpoint of the aisle she was in, gunfire suddenly erupted from behind her. She instinctively launched herself for cover behind the nearest workbench. However, as she did, her right ankle rolled to the side and it felt as if a jolt of lightning had shot up her leg. A cry of pain escaped her lips before she could cut it off.
Annie leaned against the workbench she was next to and tried urgently to massage the pain out of her ankle. The pain subsided slightly, but was still pretty intense. She figured she’d probably sprained it. To make matters worse, she realized that the Terminator hadn’t been shooting at her at all, but had just been trying to flush her out. Much to her chagrin, it had apparently worked.
Annie shook her head ruefully. Sleek and graceful like a cheetah… right.
She forced herself to keep moving, though it seemed pointless. She’d only had a slim hope when she was fully mobile. And now she’d just broadcast her location and couldn’t move very quickly to get away.
“Don’t make this hard on yourself, Bean Allergy.” The voice was much closer now. Annie dug deep and managed to scurry on to the next workbench. “Borchert still wants to talk to you. Come along nicely, and I’ll make sure it goes easily for you.”
Annie’s ankle felt like it was on fire. Walking upright would have been difficult enough, but trying to run in a low crouch felt like torture. She refused to quit, though and kept moving as quickly as she was able.
“Come on, Bean Allergy. I know you’re in pain.” He doubtless thought he sounded reassuring, but there was something there that Annie just didn’t trust. She risked a glance back. The Terminator was only two benches away now. She hobbled around the corner of the bench she was next to and abruptly realized she was near the edge of the workbench area. The door they’d entered through was tantalizingly close.
“Last chance. Come out now and I’ll even find something to help you with your pain.” His voice dropped menacingly. “But if you make me find you, I won’t be so nice.”
Annie was breathing hard from the exertion and the pain was starting to make her feel nauseous. Part of her wanted to just end it all. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t give up. Everyone was counting on her. She braced herself and put everything she had into one last burst of speed.
She’d only made it a few steps before her ankle gave out and a blinding pain tore its way up her leg. Annie collapsed onto her side, panting breathlessly and trying to shake away the stars from her vision. Her right leg didn’t want to move, but she began desperately dragging herself along with her arms and her one good leg.
There was a click behind her.
She turned her head to find herself staring down the barrel of the Terminator’s rifle. Annie let out a breath that was half a sob. After all they’d been through, to have it end like this…
“What is it with you?” The Terminator asked incredulously. “I mean, I’m here for the money, but you? You’re not getting anything out of this. You look like you seriously injured yourself just now, and yet still you persist. Why?”
Tears were pooling in the corner of Annie’s eyes, threatening to spill over. “Because this is my school. My home. My family. And I’m not going to let Borchert destroy it.”
“Destroy it?” The Terminator snorted with laughter. “Sweetie, from what I’ve seen, destroying this place would be doing a favor to everyone here.”
He lowered his gun and aimed it at Annie’s foot.
“You’re terminated, fucker.”
A hand came out of nowhere and clamped down on the Terminator’s shoulder. He jumped in surprise and spun to face the source of the voice. With his back now to her, Annie could see red paint starting to dribble down the Terminator’s shoulder.
“What?! That doesn’t count!” the Terminator sputtered. “I shot you, you can’t eliminate me after you’re out of the game.”
Jeff stood behind the Terminator, a triumphant look on his face. “You shot me, yes. But the ball didn’t break.” He held up his left hand, which was covered in red paint and shards of plastic. “Until now.”
“Son of a bitch!” the terminator fumed. “Screw this place, I’m out of here.”
“I’ll take that, thank you.” Jeff grabbed the rifle from the Terminator as he moved past Jeff and stalked angrily towards the door. “Enjoy Coldplay,” he called after him.
Annie’s head was spinning from a combination of the pain in her leg and the rollercoaster of emotions she’d just gone through: fear, determination, hopelessness, resignation, shock, elation, relief…
She looked up to find Jeff standing over her and forced a smirk onto her lips that ended up being half a grimace. “Took you long enough.”
Jeff huffed out a laugh and knelt down next to her. “Sorry, I had to sneak up behind him and you kept moving around. Are you ok?”
“I don’t know,” Annie said through clenched teeth. “I’m pretty sure I sprained my ankle, if not worse.”
“Can you stand?”
“I’ll try.” Annie clasped Jeff’s (paint-free) hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She tested out putting some weight on her right ankle and winced at the sharp pain that resulted.
A look of concern covered Jeff’s face. “That looks pretty bad. We’ve got to get you some help.”
“No, Jeff, I’ve… I’ve got to finish this.”
“But you can barely stand!” he protested.
Annie sighed. “If I leave and let Borchert win, then it was all for nothing.” She eyed the various junk on the tables. “I’ll be fine, we just need to stabilize and get compression on it. See if you can find some tape, or something like that.”
“Ok, but as soon as this is over I’m taking you to the hospital.” Jeff hurried off and returned a minute later carrying a roll of elastic bandage. “I found a first aid kit.” He shook his head wonderingly. “This place actually has something that works the way it’s supposed to, can you believe it?”
Annie gingerly removed her shoe and leaned against one of the workbenches while she allowed Jeff to wrap her ankle tightly. She managed to make it through the ordeal with only a few gasps of pain. After she was tended to and got her shoe back on, she tested it out again. The pain was still there, but she found that she could limp along without it being unbearable.
Jeff still wore a look of concern as he handed the rifle over to her. “I can’t help you with the game anymore, but I’ll stay fairly close. Just shout or… scream or something if you run into any killer robots.”
Annie rolled her eyes but still smiled at his concern. “Wish me luck!”
Jeff leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips, then pulled back and grinned at her. “Go get him, tiger.”
Annie grinned back at him then hobbled over to the far door. She did her best to keep the limping to a minimum, lest Jeff decide he was going to give her a piggyback ride for the rest of the game.
She slipped through the door and paused for a few moments to get her bearings. When they’d entered the basement level, they’d been fleeing as quickly as they could and not paying a whole lot of attention to where they were going or where they’d been. After working out a quick search plan in her mind, she set off, but remained as vigilant as possible. She figured that by now she and Borchert must be the only two left in the game, but there was no way to be certain.
After several minutes of searching through unoccupied rooms, some empty, and others stocked full of more mechanical limbs, she found it. A hallway that was lit with a peculiar red-tinted light and one large metal door at the end of it that looked almost like the entrance to a vault. Annie paused at the door and considered.
If Abed was here, he’d probably say that it looks like I’m about to enter into a boss battle. This has to be where Borchert is.
Annie grasped the door handle and took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then turned the handle. She pushed on the door, but it was exceptionally heavy and she had to lean against it with all the strength she could muster with her one good leg to get it to budge. Slowly, but surely, the door began to swing open. But once started, the momentum of the door carried it onward and it crashed loudly against the door stopper. Annie winced and ducked for cover behind the doorjamb.
After a few moments’ silence, she dared a peek around into the room. It was poorly lit, but she could make out several workspaces filled with clutter and various mechanical paraphernalia. There were more robotic limbs scattered around as well. Annie figured this had to be Borchert’s personal lab.
She took a few cautious steps into the room and swept her gaze around nervously. She didn’t see anything that was an obvious threat, but her heart was thundering away, nevertheless. After a few more moments of silence, she started to relax slightly and turned to search for a light switch.
A sudden snort from behind had her almost jumping out of her skin and she spun towards the source of the noise. Not detecting any movement, she crept forward, rifle at the ready. After a few tiny steps, she finally saw him. A raggedy figure that was curled up in a blanket on the floor over by the far wall. Another snort emerged followed by a wheeze and Borchert rolled onto his back, smacking his lips together a few times before beginning to snore loudly.
Annie felt a wave of joy surge through her. This was going to be easy.
She wanted to savor this though, wanted to see his face when she ended it.
Annie continued creeping forward, her rifle locked onto the sleeping Borchert.
She had just passed the midpoint of the room when suddenly a light flicked on to her left. Two lights. Annie turned in one quick motion, but what she saw she couldn’t comprehend.
Two flood lights backlit what appeared to be some sort of assembly station. A humanoid figure stood slouched over in the center, with a myriad of wires protruding from it. Annie gasped softly and took a few steps closer, mesmerized by what was in front of her. As she neared the edge of the stand, she began to hear what sounded like a high pitched whine. Annie glanced around trying to locate the source of the noise, but all at once the stand’s supports lit up with a series of indicator lights and several motors buzzed to life.
Before she could figure out what was happening, the figure on the stand jerked violently. Annie stumbled backwards in surprise, causing her to step awkwardly on her injured ankle. She cried out in pain as she collapsed to the floor, dropping the rifle in order to break her fall. The figure straightened, mechanical servos whirring as it moved. The face turned towards her, blood red eyes burning to life behind a grinning death’s head.
The eyes focused on her, pitiless balls of fire that seemed to look straight through her.
The figure took a step forward, its hand reaching out for her.
Annie screamed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jeff kicked the door, flinging it open with a crash. The noise startled the room’s previously sleeping occupant into consciousness. Jeff strode purposefully over to the couch where the occupant was still lying.
“Move,” he said brusquely.
“Oh, um, of course, Jeffrey.” The Dean jumped up off his office couch. “What’s going on? Why are you carrying-”
“We’ll get to that. But right now I need you to call 911.” Jeff laid the unconscious form down on the couch. His arms were burning from the effort. It was a long way from the CPU Lab to the Dean’s office. He straightened and stretched his back. The Dean hadn’t budged. “Now.”
“911?” the Dean sputtered. “Is everything ok? Is the game over? Is-”
“Just do it!” Jeff snapped.
The dean jumped and scurried over to his desk. “What should I tell them?” he asked as he picked up the phone. “Do we need an ambulance?”
“No,” a voice said from the doorway, “the police.”
Jeff turned to see Annie limp into the room, leaning heavily on Abed’s shoulder. He hurried over to relieve Abed of his duties, and Annie looked up at Jeff gratefully as she slipped an arm around him.
“Police?!” the Dean gasped as he began dialing. “What happened?”
“Borchert has some kind of killer robot he’s built in the basement of the CPU lab.” Jeff still wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it. “Annie was about to win the paintball game when both of them attacked us.”
A strange expression crossed the Dean’s face, but then the 911 operator answered. “Hello, 911? Yes, this is Dean Pelton at Greendale. Just doing our daily check-in a little early today. No issues to report.” The Dean fell silent for a few moments as he listened. “Oh I agree, quite surprising. Have a nice day!”
The Dean hung up the phone as Jeff, Annie and Abed eyed him suspiciously. “Dean…” Annie said slowly.
The Dean held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Now, hold on, you three. Before we do anything rash, why don’t you explain to me exactly what happened.”
“What happened?” Jeff asked incredulously. “What happened is that Borchert has gone insane, that’s what. And I’m not talking the normal kind of Greendale insanity here.”
Annie put her hand on Jeff’s chest to calm him. “What… Jeff means, is that after we took out the rest of Borchert’s army, I found him sleeping in the basement of the CPU lab. It was dark and I was crossing the room to win the game when his robot turned itself on and came after me.”
“I had just run into Jeff,” Abed added. “He was leading me to where Annie was when we heard her scream. We ran down this long creepy hallway that had this red lighting and a giant metal door at the end. The whole thing definitely looked like someplace a boss would be lurking.” For some reason Jeff couldn’t understand, a self-satisfied look came over Annie. “We entered the room and Annie was down on the floor and the robot was going after her. Jeff and I rushed it and I think we caught it by surprise because we knocked it over pretty easily.”
“You knocked it over?” The Dean seemed horrified.
“It was that or watch it murder Annie,” Abed said matter-of-factly. “I prefer to think of our show as a comedy rather than a Shakespearean tragedy, so we couldn’t let her die so soon after she and Jeff finally got together. Besides, Sarah Connor isn’t supposed to be killed by the Terminator and Annie’s too popular with audiences to die in such a gruesome manner.” Annie’s self-satisfied look had quickly been replaced by a rather disturbed one.
The Dean, meanwhile, seemed to be having a minor panic attack. He was waving his hands frantically and rapidly muttering “Oh no.”
Annie turned away from Abed’s dispassionate analysis of potential narratives for her death and regarded the Dean. “Dean, are you ok?”
“I can’t believe you knocked her over,” the Dean whined. “Oh, I hope she’s ok…”
“Wait, you knew about this?” Jeff demanded.
“Of course-” The figure on the couch groaned as he began regaining consciousness. The Dean darted over to the couch and started using a magazine to fan the disheveled individual. “Russell? Russell can you hear me? It’s Craig. Are you ok?”
Borchert moaned and his eyes fluttered open. “Ohhhh… what… what happened?”
The Dean straightened and turned to face the trio, his hands planted firmly on his hips. “That wasn’t a killer robot down there. That’s a project that Russell has been working on all summer under my supervision.”
Borchert raised his head weakly off the couch. “Is… is Raquel ok?”
“Raquel?!” Jeff, Annie and Abed exclaimed in unison.
“Yes, Raquel,” the Dean said impatiently. “Russell has decided to invest his considerable fortune in Greendale, and is building a state-of-the-art laboratory in the CPU lab. Greendale is going to become a national leader in robotics engineering.” The Dean gave them a significant look. “So please tell me that you haven’t destroyed his prototype.”
“I think she’ll be fine,” Borchert said in his nasally whine as he propped himself up on the couch. “I designed Raquel to be tough. I knew she might get herself into trouble if I made her mobile.”
Annie shook her head quickly. “Wait wait wait. If all this is true, then why did… she… come after me?”
Borchert looked confused. “Come after you? Oh dear, no, Raquel is equipped with motion sensors, so if you walked past she would have come out of power saving mode to say hello.”
“She didn’t say anything, though!” Annie protested. “She just started walking towards me with those horrible red eyes…”
Borchert scrunched his face in annoyance. “Grr, her voice processor must be on the fritz again. It seems to happen sometimes when she’s been powered down for too long.”
“Wait a second,” Jeff interjected, “when we came into the room, Annie was on the floor and… Raquel… was reaching for her.”
“Of course!” Borchert lit up. “I’ve programmed her with a standard set of courtesy subroutines. If Annie here had fallen, Raquel would offer to help her up.”
“Help me… up?” Annie looked completely bewildered, which was exactly how Jeff felt.
“I have a question.” Abed raised one finger as he spoke. “Why program a robot for courtesy and then make it look like the skeleton of a T-101?”
“Oh… yes. Apologies for that. Her facial features are on backorder.” Borchert grew steadily more excited as he expounded on his design plans. “Just wait until you see her. She’s going to be absolutely perfect! I’m having her hair made out of pure gold. And she’s going to be… fully functional.”
Jeff shuddered involuntarily and felt Annie do the same at his side.
“I have a question too,” the Dean interjected. “When you came in here, Russell was unconscious. How exactly did that happen, hmm?” He directed his gaze at Jeff.
“I- I thought…” Jeff stammered, “the robot, the weird lighting, the creepy room… I mean, he was running at us and yelling and-” Jeff was still trying to process all the new information. At the time, it had seemed so urgent and everything had seemed to fit… “The Terminator…” Seen in the proper context, he was starting to feel rather foolish. “Sometimes I still lose track of how big I’m getting,” he mumbled.
“I still don’t…” the Dean raised his eyebrows suggestively. The room descended into an uncomfortable silence.
Jeff suddenly snapped out of his reverie as something occurred to him. “Hold on!” he exclaimed. “What about him hiring all the students to help him win the paintball game? Even if that wasn’t a killer robot, he was still planning to take over the school!”
“Take over the school?” Borchert looked and sounded appalled. “Why would I want to do that?”
Jeff had shifted into full lawyer mode. “What other reason could you have to spend so much money on trying to win a paintball game? We know you took the old copy of the Greendale bylaws that would give you the power to insert yourself as dean permanently and remake the school’s mission.”
Borchert looked thoroughly nonplussed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Save it. We visited the archives, the records are missing.” Jeff folded his arms across his chest in judgment. “The Dean told us you were after the prize in the paintball game, and being both Dean and Vice-Dean would allow you to revert to the old bylaws.”
Borchert scratched his head but before he could say more, the Dean cut in. “Oh goodness, is that what you thought I meant? No, no, after that report Annie did I had the old copies of the bylaws destroyed to ensure they could never be used again.”
Jeff and Annie exchanged confused glances. “But…” Annie faltered for a moment, “then why was he trying to kidnap me?”
“And he kidnapped Rachel!” Abed added quickly. “I still want to know what you’ve done with her.”
Borchert was starting to look dazed from all of the allegations being lobbed at him. “Kidnap? I didn’t tell anyone to kidnap you. I simply said that I was interested in speaking with you to get your advice. And I let your friend Rachel go as soon as they brought her to me. I believe she went home.”
“But, Chang said-”
“Chang?” Borchert sighed. “I was worried it might be a mistake to send him. He’s… unstable. I’m afraid he and Mr. Butt were rather competitive with each other and a bit overzealous.”
“Who’s Mr. Butt?” Jeff snickered.
“Harold. The professional I hired. I thought for sure he would win the game for me, but the best laid schemes of mice and men, as they say.”
In the moment, Jeff couldn’t remember ever being more excited and his confusion over the day’s events was temporarily forgotten. He gaped at Annie for a moment, then exclaimed “His name is Harry Butt!”
Annie grinned back at him. “No wonder he always uses a pseudonym!”
“I just checked my phone,” Abed cut in. “Rachel left me several messages. Borchert is telling the truth.”
Jeff’s smile slowly faded. “So… If Borchert isn’t building killer robots or trying to take over the school, then what the hell have we been doing for the past-” he checked his watch, “twenty-one hours?” He looked around at each person in the room, but Annie and Abed had nothing more to offer. Borchert had pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and began loudly blowing his nose. Jeff’s gaze settled on the Dean, who was pointedly avoiding eye contact.
“Dean…” Jeff grumbled, “You begged us to keep Borchert from winning. You told us it would be a disaster if he won.”
The Dean glanced furtively between Jeff, Annie and Abed’s accusing gazes. “Well… what is a disaster, really?”
“If you were lying to us, you’re about to find out,” Jeff growled.
The Dean held up his hands defensively. “Now, Jeffrey, I didn’t lie to you. I’m just saying that it all depends on your point of view. There’s a spectrum really. I mean, one man’s disaster is another man’s-”
“Stop.” Jeff found his patience suddenly hanging by a thread and he could feel Annie beginning to rub his shoulder in an effort to pacify him. For the sake of his sanity, he decided to take things one at a time. “You said you hadn’t read all of the Greendale bylaws,” he ground out as calmly as he could. “Which ones were you referring to?”
“The um…” the Dean looked down and placed his hands flatly at his sides. “The winner gets to use my office,” he finished quickly.
“Bylaw number one-three-seven-two, section three, paragraph three,” Borchert recited. “Space officially designated for administrative use shall not be reassigned or re-designated on a temporary basis. So since this space has been designated as the Dean’s office, it has to remain the Dean’s office, no matter who the Dean is and for how long. Unless it’s being permanently changed.”
“Your office…” Jeff said slowly. “And why does it matter if Borchert got to use your office?”
“It’s not so much the office as what’s in the office,” the Dean said evasively.
“He won’t let me borrow any of his costumes,” Borchert whined. “I think some of them would look really good on Raquel, but he won’t-”
“I told you, Russell, they’re not costumes!” the Dean yelped. “I put time into what I do wardrobe wise! Each outfit was carefully selected to represent a specific aspect of my personality or a meaningful time in my life.”
“Let me get this straight,” Jeff said in a quietly menacing tone, “all of this was about your stupid costumes?”
“Outfits!” the Dean howled. “Have you seen the shoulders on Raquel?! She’d stretch them! Helllooo! DISASTER!”
Jeff felt his face twitch. But mercifully, Annie cut in before he could do something he might later regret. “Mr. Borchert, I just have one last question. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Borchert brightened. “Oh! Well you wrote a marvelous paper for one your classes a year or two ago. Fashion for the Nerdy Girl, I believe it was. And Raquel is nothing if not a nerdy girl. I was hoping you could help me with accessories and such.”
“Awwww!” Annie cooed. “I’d love to!”
With that, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. Jeff didn’t know why he was surprised. Greendale was the only place he knew of where this sort of thing ought to be expected.
“Well this certainly was a crazy adventure!” the Dean said hopefully. “Hooray for Greendale capers! … Right?”
“Dean.” Jeff’s initial anger had faded and now he was just annoyed. And exhausted. “We’ve been running around for almost twenty four hours thinking we were in a fight to save the school. Annie badly sprained her ankle. We’ve barely slept. The only thing I’ve eaten in the past twelve hours is a few stale crackers and some Slim Jims. And to top it all off, we all gave up-” Jeff stopped short as a thought occurred to him. He looked down at Annie and whispered “Annie, did you ever actually shoot Borchert with a paintball?”
Annie gave him a confused look and shook her head.
Jeff turned to Abed. He’d been more than a little surprised when he’d been following after Annie and the air vent next to him had suddenly opened to reveal a dust covered Abed. His friend had explained that he’d been hiding in the air ducts ever since the majority of his forces had been wiped out, and that Jeff and Annie’s battle with the Terminator had woken him up. He’d been leading Abed to Annie when they heard the scream.
“Abed, can I have your paintball gun please?” Abed shrugged and handed it over. “Thank you.” Abed fired finger guns at Jeff. Everyone was now looking at him with expressions ranging from curious to suspicious.
“With all the commotion it never occurred to me until now, but Annie never actually finished Borchert off. Which means… the game is still going.” Jeff looked slowly at each person in the room in turn. “Now, Borchert here was willing to pay every student on campus five hundred dollars each for a shot at the Dean’s costumes.” Jeff brandished the paintball gun. “So what we’re going to do now is have a little negotiation.”
The Dean was aghast. “Jeffrey! You wouldn’t!”
“Dean, I think by now you should know me well enough to know that that isn’t true.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jeff let out a large yawn as he finished scrubbing the last of the pots he’d used to make his and Annie’s dinner. He’d managed to catch a short nap in between taking Annie to the hospital, going to the gym and then picking her up from Greendale again, but he was still well short of the sleep he’d usually get. Annie was working on even less, but somehow she never seemed to be affected by it. He was thankful that there were no classes in the upcoming week so he didn’t need to head to work the next day. Nevertheless, his plans still involved heading to bed early as soon as Annie finished in the-
“So what are you going to do with your share of the money?” Annie called out from the bathroom.
Jeff frowned. There were plenty of things he wanted to do with it. Like put a down payment on a new car. But instead he said “Take you out for a nice dinner, and then probably pay a bunch of bills. Exciting right?”
Annie’s laugh wafted out into the kitchen. It was a sound he never got tired of. “Well the dinner sounds fun! And look at you being all responsible. For what it’s worth, I was proud of you today.”
He didn’t know why, but the last words made Jeff feel better about himself than he thought they ought to. He still rolled his eyes though. Everyone had been rather surprised when Jeff hadn’t merely milked Borchert for as much money as he could and then handed him the game. Truth be told, Jeff was a little surprised himself. But instead he’d worked out a deal between all parties wherein the Dean could pick out a few outfits that would be off limits, Borchert wouldn’t be allowed to pick any that were obviously too small, and Annie would be both the arbitrator and assist Borchert with accessories and such. To make Annie’s power binding, she had fired one shot each into Borchert and Abed’s shoes. Borchert, of course, had shown his gratitude in the only way he seemed to know how: financially.
“Is Abed done peeing himself over the sword yet?” That had been the first thing Abed had ordered with his share of the loot. Jeff was apprehensive about what other new dangers might soon await him on his visits to apartment 303. He fleetingly contemplated investing in some body armor.
“Give it a week.”
Jeff chuckled to himself as he dried his hands on a towel, then carefully hung it back over the handle of the oven and straightened the edges. “How’s your ankle?”
Annie’s voice came from directly behind him. “Why don’t you come find out?”
Jeff turned and felt his mouth drop open. Annie was leaned into the doorjamb, favoring her injured ankle which was crossed casually over her good one. Her feet were encased in shiny black ankle-high boots, the tops of which were overlapped by neatly pressed, dark navy blue pants that closely hugged her hips and were held in place by a thick black leather belt decked with the night stick, walkie-talkie and handcuffs she’d been given by the Greendale PD. Tucked into the pants was a close fitting, short sleeved police shirt that was only buttoned halfway up, the top flaps purposefully pulled open ever so slightly to provide a glimpse of her black lace bra and just a hint of cleavage. His gaze continued upwards past the sly smile that covered her lips to where her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark aviator sunglasses.
“Are those my sunglasses?” It was an effort to keep his voice from cracking.
Her hand moved up slowly and grabbed the brim of her police hat to tip it downwards a hair. “Think I can pull them off?”
Jeff took a couple casual steps closer to her. “I suppose I’m not the only one. Now what can I do for you, officer?”
Annie pinched one of the hinges of the glasses and lowered them until her eyes were revealed. They were practically smoldering with desire.
“We had reports of excessive sexiness today. Some guy sacrificed himself to save his girlfriend in a paintball game and then rescued her when she was attacked by a killer robot.”
Jeff cocked his head to the side. “That doesn’t sound like something I’d do.”
“Well you fit the description.”
“Who’s bringing the charges? I have a right to face my accuser.”
Annie’s eyes darted back and forth quickly. “It was… um… me.”
“My accuser is the arresting officer? That’s a conflict of interests. I can get this dismissed in ten minutes. You haven’t even read me my-”
“JEFF! You’re ruining it! This was supposed to be sexy and-”
Jeff swiftly closed the last few steps between them and cut her off with a kiss. Annie quickly got over her frustration and he soon found her tongue eagerly exploring his mouth. Her arms began working their way around his neck but before she could lock him in place he pulled back and grinned at her. Annie peered at him impatiently from behind the sunglasses.
“You’re sexy when you get flustered.”
“Oh,” Annie said in a small voice as her smile turned shy. Jeff bent in one smooth motion and picked her up in his arms, then carried her towards his bedroom.
Sleep would have to wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author: cgkm2099z
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Current
Rating: PG-13
Warning Some profanity
Word Count: 7,500
Disclaimer: I do not own Community. Community, and its characters, are the creation of the great Dan Harmon. I think it's still owned by Sony Pictures Television, but after the hack, I'm not so sure. The title is from the song "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons.
A/N: Paintball, part four! This time I actually finished it! Hope you enjoy :-)
As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!
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Jeff shouldered his way through a set of double doors and they rushed into yet another eerie room made to look like some sort of grotesque warning to other robots. This was the third one they’d encountered on this level already. The basement section of the CPU lab was deceptively large, and oddly enough, much larger than the two floors above. They raced across the room and made for a door Jeff thought would lead them back to one of the stairwells up. Their only hope was to find a weapon - any weapon - they could use to fire paint at an assailant. And with the arsenal upstairs taken out of play, that meant getting outside.
They’d just about reached the door when the now familiar sound of the Terminator’s rifle sounded behind them and paint splotches blossomed on the door frame. Jeff cursed and they ran towards another door in a low crouch and went through it. The layout of the basement made absolutely no sense to Jeff; it was as if Borchert himself had designed the level as a kind of robotic funhouse. Random doors were all over the place along with hallways that led nowhere or back where they began.
He didn’t know where they were going, but he was pretty sure their pursuer did. There’d been multiple opportunities for him to have finished them off, but so far all he’d done was use his gun to prevent them from going in certain directions.
The bastard is hunting us. Herding us towards something.
Jeff had played his share of cat and mouse games when he was a lawyer. But he’d always been the cat. He was now finding that he did not enjoy being on the other side of things.
They found themselves in an enormous room filled with row after row of workbenches, each with various equipment on them including circuitry, robotic arms and machine presses. Jeff surveyed the room quickly; there only appeared to be one other exit, which was directly across the room. If the Terminator had driven them in here, then he must have meant for them to go out the other end. But Jeff had had enough of running where his opponent wanted him to. It was time to change things up.
He grabbed a nearby folding chair and jammed it under door handle. It wouldn’t hold him for long, but hopefully it would be long enough. He then jogged to what looked like some sort of control panel and began flipping random switches. As he’d hoped, some of the mechanical arms sprang to life and began moving around in haphazard patterns.
“What are you doing?” Annie asked as Jeff continued flipping switches.
“Cover. So he can’t track us.” The door they’d come through shook as the Terminator began trying to force it open. “Come on.” Jeff grabbed Annie’s hand and led her into the maze of workbenches.
They found a spot somewhere near the middle of the room that would allow them flexibility in potential escape routes, but also provided a view of both sides of the room so they could see which path their adversary was taking.
The banging on the door was getting louder. Jeff turned to Annie and whispered in a rush. “Hopefully he’ll think we already went through the other door. But if he doesn’t, then I’ll draw him off and you get out back the way we came.”
“Jeff, no!” Annie protested. “We have to stick to-”
“We don’t have time to argue!” Jeff cut her off. “You’re the one they’re after, you’re the one that has to make it. Besides, you’re the sleek, graceful cheetah, remember?” Annie huffed out a laugh, but remained doubtful. “Annie, listen and understand. That Terminator is out there. It can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are covered in paint.”
Annie looked at him fearfully, her voice trembling. “Can you stop it?”
“I don’t know…” Jeff sighed. “Without a weapon, I don’t know. But you need to get away. Do it, Annie. Promise me.”
There was a hint of that look Annie would get now and again which said she was about to put up a fight and refuse to back down. But it quickly faded into a look of sadness and she gave a resigned nod.
A loud crash signified that the door had finally given way. Jeff and Annie tensed and turned towards the entrance, peeking through the scattered junk to try to keep track of their nemesis. They could see him stride into the room and stop short when he noticed the whizzing and whirring mechanical arms. His gaze swept slowly over the room before he began advancing deliberately down the side of the room to Jeff and Annie’s left.
He moved from row to row, methodically searching. As he neared the center of the room, Jeff and Annie scooted quietly around to the end of the workbench they were hiding behind and snuck to the other side as the Terminator passed. When he continued on his search, Jeff let out a tiny sigh of relief.
Jeff glanced at Annie and nodded towards the door then held up one finger to indicate to wait a moment. She nodded resolutely, a small smile beginning to spread across her lips. He looked back to where the Terminator had nearly reached the other end of the room. Jeff raised himself up into a crouch and prepared to sprint for the door.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Jeff froze and his gaze shot towards Annie, whose eyes had gone as wide as only Annie’s could.
“I know you’re in here.” The voice sounded like whetstone being scraped over a blade. “You can’t hide forever.”
Jeff locked eyes with Annie. “Get ready to run,” he said in a barely audible whisper.
Annie looked distraught but determined as she reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, her fingers lingering just slightly as their hands drifted apart. “I love you,” she mouthed.
Jeff gave her a lopsided grin and took off in the other direction, keeping himself crouched low and below the level of the workbenches. He’d be walking a fine line. He needed to be seen in order to draw the Terminator away from Annie, but if he was seen too soon, he’d get himself cornered. He paused after traversing three rows and took a peek above the bench he was hidden behind. The Terminator was now wading through the rows of workbenches instead of staying to the sides. Jeff glanced back at Annie and waved for her to start moving. She gave him a thumbs up and started crawling towards the end of the room at which they’d entered.
Jeff waited until the Terminator had passed the row he was in and then darted down a few more rows and over a couple aisles. He couldn’t see where Annie was anymore, but he figured the Terminator was roughly equidistant between them.
It was time.
Jeff moved from one bench to another, this time purposely making a scuffing noise along the floor as if he’d tripped. Once he was behind the next bench, he peeked through some boxes at the base of the bench to see if his bait had been taken.
The Terminator was still moving away from him, however, towards the spot where he and Annie had initially been hiding. Jeff felt sure that the noise he’d made had been loud enough to hear, but perhaps the white noise from all the mechanical arms had drowned it out. He cast an eye over the various junk that was cluttering up the surface of the workbench he was hidden behind. He picked out a set of metal tongs and knocked them off the edge. The tongs made a clanging noise when they struck the floor, loud enough that there was no way that anyone in the room could have missed it.
He peered back across the room, but the Terminator had now passed their hiding spot and was still moving inexorably away from him. There was no way Jeff could be any more conspicuous without jumping up and yelling “Here I am!” It didn’t make sense that he’d be ignored unless-
Shit!
Unless the Terminator knew that Annie was there.
Jeff felt a rush of anxiety and took off back towards the other end of the room, risking a peek up to see where his enemy was. The Terminator was getting near the far corner of the rows of workbenches. It wouldn’t be long until Annie ran out of places to hide. Jeff closed the gap as quickly and quietly as he could. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Maybe if he could sneak up behind him and move fast enough, he could grab the Terminator before he could get a shot off and take his gun away. This guy wasn’t actually a machine after all, and Jeff was stronger than most. It wasn’t a great plan, but it would have to do.
He moved as swiftly as he dared, and soon there was only one workbench separating him from the Terminator. It was not a moment too soon either, as there was only one workbench left for Annie to be hiding behind. Jeff’s heart was racing and he took a deep breath to steady himself, then sprang from his hiding spot.
No sooner had he stood than the Terminator spun in one swift motion and trained his rifle on Jeff’s chest. Jeff felt frozen in place, there was nowhere for him to go, no possible escape. The mask covering the Terminator’s face betrayed no emotion, but the eyes behind it were smiling maliciously at him. All the adrenaline had drained out of Jeff and he felt weak and helpless.
“You were pretty good, I’ll give you that,” the voice behind the mask ground out. “But I’m better.” One gloved hand moved up towards his face, but the gun never wavered. The gloved hand slowly removed the mask and tossed it aside.
Jeff felt his jaw clench involuntarily. He recognized that oversized chin.
Dammit, not him!
“Not going to fake a heart attack? I’m disappointed.”
The gun fired and Jeff felt a burning pain in his stomach.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Annie had to fight the urge to scream when she saw Jeff fall. She’d managed to sneak over to the other corner from where the two men were, and hadn’t been in the immediate danger Jeff believed her to be in. She’d desperately tried to get his attention as he’d crossed the room, but he’d been too focused on the Terminator to notice her. Now she was alone. Alone and unarmed and without even a distraction to get her out of this cursed room.
Why did you have to insist on splitting up, Jeff? And why did you have to be so heroic?
The Terminator resumed his search and reached the corner he’d been heading for then turned in her direction. Annie ducked down quickly and tried to formulate a plan. She couldn’t reach the door they’d entered through with the Terminator right there. Maybe if she could reach the other end fast enough, she’d be able to escape through the other door. The Terminator was being slow and methodical in his search, so she could probably reach the far end before he reached the edge of the room she was on. The room was long enough that it would be very difficult for him to hit her from that distance if she made a break for it. She didn’t know what was on the other side of that door, but she couldn’t play hide and seek forever. She steeled herself to execute her plan.
“It’s just you and me now, Bean Allergy.”
Annie suppressed a gasp. Of course it was him. Who else could’ve cut through Abed’s forces so easily? She set off, keeping herself as low to the ground as possible. But as she neared the midpoint of the aisle she was in, gunfire suddenly erupted from behind her. She instinctively launched herself for cover behind the nearest workbench. However, as she did, her right ankle rolled to the side and it felt as if a jolt of lightning had shot up her leg. A cry of pain escaped her lips before she could cut it off.
Annie leaned against the workbench she was next to and tried urgently to massage the pain out of her ankle. The pain subsided slightly, but was still pretty intense. She figured she’d probably sprained it. To make matters worse, she realized that the Terminator hadn’t been shooting at her at all, but had just been trying to flush her out. Much to her chagrin, it had apparently worked.
Annie shook her head ruefully. Sleek and graceful like a cheetah… right.
She forced herself to keep moving, though it seemed pointless. She’d only had a slim hope when she was fully mobile. And now she’d just broadcast her location and couldn’t move very quickly to get away.
“Don’t make this hard on yourself, Bean Allergy.” The voice was much closer now. Annie dug deep and managed to scurry on to the next workbench. “Borchert still wants to talk to you. Come along nicely, and I’ll make sure it goes easily for you.”
Annie’s ankle felt like it was on fire. Walking upright would have been difficult enough, but trying to run in a low crouch felt like torture. She refused to quit, though and kept moving as quickly as she was able.
“Come on, Bean Allergy. I know you’re in pain.” He doubtless thought he sounded reassuring, but there was something there that Annie just didn’t trust. She risked a glance back. The Terminator was only two benches away now. She hobbled around the corner of the bench she was next to and abruptly realized she was near the edge of the workbench area. The door they’d entered through was tantalizingly close.
“Last chance. Come out now and I’ll even find something to help you with your pain.” His voice dropped menacingly. “But if you make me find you, I won’t be so nice.”
Annie was breathing hard from the exertion and the pain was starting to make her feel nauseous. Part of her wanted to just end it all. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t give up. Everyone was counting on her. She braced herself and put everything she had into one last burst of speed.
She’d only made it a few steps before her ankle gave out and a blinding pain tore its way up her leg. Annie collapsed onto her side, panting breathlessly and trying to shake away the stars from her vision. Her right leg didn’t want to move, but she began desperately dragging herself along with her arms and her one good leg.
There was a click behind her.
She turned her head to find herself staring down the barrel of the Terminator’s rifle. Annie let out a breath that was half a sob. After all they’d been through, to have it end like this…
“What is it with you?” The Terminator asked incredulously. “I mean, I’m here for the money, but you? You’re not getting anything out of this. You look like you seriously injured yourself just now, and yet still you persist. Why?”
Tears were pooling in the corner of Annie’s eyes, threatening to spill over. “Because this is my school. My home. My family. And I’m not going to let Borchert destroy it.”
“Destroy it?” The Terminator snorted with laughter. “Sweetie, from what I’ve seen, destroying this place would be doing a favor to everyone here.”
He lowered his gun and aimed it at Annie’s foot.
“You’re terminated, fucker.”
A hand came out of nowhere and clamped down on the Terminator’s shoulder. He jumped in surprise and spun to face the source of the voice. With his back now to her, Annie could see red paint starting to dribble down the Terminator’s shoulder.
“What?! That doesn’t count!” the Terminator sputtered. “I shot you, you can’t eliminate me after you’re out of the game.”
Jeff stood behind the Terminator, a triumphant look on his face. “You shot me, yes. But the ball didn’t break.” He held up his left hand, which was covered in red paint and shards of plastic. “Until now.”
“Son of a bitch!” the terminator fumed. “Screw this place, I’m out of here.”
“I’ll take that, thank you.” Jeff grabbed the rifle from the Terminator as he moved past Jeff and stalked angrily towards the door. “Enjoy Coldplay,” he called after him.
Annie’s head was spinning from a combination of the pain in her leg and the rollercoaster of emotions she’d just gone through: fear, determination, hopelessness, resignation, shock, elation, relief…
She looked up to find Jeff standing over her and forced a smirk onto her lips that ended up being half a grimace. “Took you long enough.”
Jeff huffed out a laugh and knelt down next to her. “Sorry, I had to sneak up behind him and you kept moving around. Are you ok?”
“I don’t know,” Annie said through clenched teeth. “I’m pretty sure I sprained my ankle, if not worse.”
“Can you stand?”
“I’ll try.” Annie clasped Jeff’s (paint-free) hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She tested out putting some weight on her right ankle and winced at the sharp pain that resulted.
A look of concern covered Jeff’s face. “That looks pretty bad. We’ve got to get you some help.”
“No, Jeff, I’ve… I’ve got to finish this.”
“But you can barely stand!” he protested.
Annie sighed. “If I leave and let Borchert win, then it was all for nothing.” She eyed the various junk on the tables. “I’ll be fine, we just need to stabilize and get compression on it. See if you can find some tape, or something like that.”
“Ok, but as soon as this is over I’m taking you to the hospital.” Jeff hurried off and returned a minute later carrying a roll of elastic bandage. “I found a first aid kit.” He shook his head wonderingly. “This place actually has something that works the way it’s supposed to, can you believe it?”
Annie gingerly removed her shoe and leaned against one of the workbenches while she allowed Jeff to wrap her ankle tightly. She managed to make it through the ordeal with only a few gasps of pain. After she was tended to and got her shoe back on, she tested it out again. The pain was still there, but she found that she could limp along without it being unbearable.
Jeff still wore a look of concern as he handed the rifle over to her. “I can’t help you with the game anymore, but I’ll stay fairly close. Just shout or… scream or something if you run into any killer robots.”
Annie rolled her eyes but still smiled at his concern. “Wish me luck!”
Jeff leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips, then pulled back and grinned at her. “Go get him, tiger.”
Annie grinned back at him then hobbled over to the far door. She did her best to keep the limping to a minimum, lest Jeff decide he was going to give her a piggyback ride for the rest of the game.
She slipped through the door and paused for a few moments to get her bearings. When they’d entered the basement level, they’d been fleeing as quickly as they could and not paying a whole lot of attention to where they were going or where they’d been. After working out a quick search plan in her mind, she set off, but remained as vigilant as possible. She figured that by now she and Borchert must be the only two left in the game, but there was no way to be certain.
After several minutes of searching through unoccupied rooms, some empty, and others stocked full of more mechanical limbs, she found it. A hallway that was lit with a peculiar red-tinted light and one large metal door at the end of it that looked almost like the entrance to a vault. Annie paused at the door and considered.
If Abed was here, he’d probably say that it looks like I’m about to enter into a boss battle. This has to be where Borchert is.
Annie grasped the door handle and took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then turned the handle. She pushed on the door, but it was exceptionally heavy and she had to lean against it with all the strength she could muster with her one good leg to get it to budge. Slowly, but surely, the door began to swing open. But once started, the momentum of the door carried it onward and it crashed loudly against the door stopper. Annie winced and ducked for cover behind the doorjamb.
After a few moments’ silence, she dared a peek around into the room. It was poorly lit, but she could make out several workspaces filled with clutter and various mechanical paraphernalia. There were more robotic limbs scattered around as well. Annie figured this had to be Borchert’s personal lab.
She took a few cautious steps into the room and swept her gaze around nervously. She didn’t see anything that was an obvious threat, but her heart was thundering away, nevertheless. After a few more moments of silence, she started to relax slightly and turned to search for a light switch.
A sudden snort from behind had her almost jumping out of her skin and she spun towards the source of the noise. Not detecting any movement, she crept forward, rifle at the ready. After a few tiny steps, she finally saw him. A raggedy figure that was curled up in a blanket on the floor over by the far wall. Another snort emerged followed by a wheeze and Borchert rolled onto his back, smacking his lips together a few times before beginning to snore loudly.
Annie felt a wave of joy surge through her. This was going to be easy.
She wanted to savor this though, wanted to see his face when she ended it.
Annie continued creeping forward, her rifle locked onto the sleeping Borchert.
She had just passed the midpoint of the room when suddenly a light flicked on to her left. Two lights. Annie turned in one quick motion, but what she saw she couldn’t comprehend.
Two flood lights backlit what appeared to be some sort of assembly station. A humanoid figure stood slouched over in the center, with a myriad of wires protruding from it. Annie gasped softly and took a few steps closer, mesmerized by what was in front of her. As she neared the edge of the stand, she began to hear what sounded like a high pitched whine. Annie glanced around trying to locate the source of the noise, but all at once the stand’s supports lit up with a series of indicator lights and several motors buzzed to life.
Before she could figure out what was happening, the figure on the stand jerked violently. Annie stumbled backwards in surprise, causing her to step awkwardly on her injured ankle. She cried out in pain as she collapsed to the floor, dropping the rifle in order to break her fall. The figure straightened, mechanical servos whirring as it moved. The face turned towards her, blood red eyes burning to life behind a grinning death’s head.
The eyes focused on her, pitiless balls of fire that seemed to look straight through her.
The figure took a step forward, its hand reaching out for her.
Annie screamed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jeff kicked the door, flinging it open with a crash. The noise startled the room’s previously sleeping occupant into consciousness. Jeff strode purposefully over to the couch where the occupant was still lying.
“Move,” he said brusquely.
“Oh, um, of course, Jeffrey.” The Dean jumped up off his office couch. “What’s going on? Why are you carrying-”
“We’ll get to that. But right now I need you to call 911.” Jeff laid the unconscious form down on the couch. His arms were burning from the effort. It was a long way from the CPU Lab to the Dean’s office. He straightened and stretched his back. The Dean hadn’t budged. “Now.”
“911?” the Dean sputtered. “Is everything ok? Is the game over? Is-”
“Just do it!” Jeff snapped.
The dean jumped and scurried over to his desk. “What should I tell them?” he asked as he picked up the phone. “Do we need an ambulance?”
“No,” a voice said from the doorway, “the police.”
Jeff turned to see Annie limp into the room, leaning heavily on Abed’s shoulder. He hurried over to relieve Abed of his duties, and Annie looked up at Jeff gratefully as she slipped an arm around him.
“Police?!” the Dean gasped as he began dialing. “What happened?”
“Borchert has some kind of killer robot he’s built in the basement of the CPU lab.” Jeff still wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it. “Annie was about to win the paintball game when both of them attacked us.”
A strange expression crossed the Dean’s face, but then the 911 operator answered. “Hello, 911? Yes, this is Dean Pelton at Greendale. Just doing our daily check-in a little early today. No issues to report.” The Dean fell silent for a few moments as he listened. “Oh I agree, quite surprising. Have a nice day!”
The Dean hung up the phone as Jeff, Annie and Abed eyed him suspiciously. “Dean…” Annie said slowly.
The Dean held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Now, hold on, you three. Before we do anything rash, why don’t you explain to me exactly what happened.”
“What happened?” Jeff asked incredulously. “What happened is that Borchert has gone insane, that’s what. And I’m not talking the normal kind of Greendale insanity here.”
Annie put her hand on Jeff’s chest to calm him. “What… Jeff means, is that after we took out the rest of Borchert’s army, I found him sleeping in the basement of the CPU lab. It was dark and I was crossing the room to win the game when his robot turned itself on and came after me.”
“I had just run into Jeff,” Abed added. “He was leading me to where Annie was when we heard her scream. We ran down this long creepy hallway that had this red lighting and a giant metal door at the end. The whole thing definitely looked like someplace a boss would be lurking.” For some reason Jeff couldn’t understand, a self-satisfied look came over Annie. “We entered the room and Annie was down on the floor and the robot was going after her. Jeff and I rushed it and I think we caught it by surprise because we knocked it over pretty easily.”
“You knocked it over?” The Dean seemed horrified.
“It was that or watch it murder Annie,” Abed said matter-of-factly. “I prefer to think of our show as a comedy rather than a Shakespearean tragedy, so we couldn’t let her die so soon after she and Jeff finally got together. Besides, Sarah Connor isn’t supposed to be killed by the Terminator and Annie’s too popular with audiences to die in such a gruesome manner.” Annie’s self-satisfied look had quickly been replaced by a rather disturbed one.
The Dean, meanwhile, seemed to be having a minor panic attack. He was waving his hands frantically and rapidly muttering “Oh no.”
Annie turned away from Abed’s dispassionate analysis of potential narratives for her death and regarded the Dean. “Dean, are you ok?”
“I can’t believe you knocked her over,” the Dean whined. “Oh, I hope she’s ok…”
“Wait, you knew about this?” Jeff demanded.
“Of course-” The figure on the couch groaned as he began regaining consciousness. The Dean darted over to the couch and started using a magazine to fan the disheveled individual. “Russell? Russell can you hear me? It’s Craig. Are you ok?”
Borchert moaned and his eyes fluttered open. “Ohhhh… what… what happened?”
The Dean straightened and turned to face the trio, his hands planted firmly on his hips. “That wasn’t a killer robot down there. That’s a project that Russell has been working on all summer under my supervision.”
Borchert raised his head weakly off the couch. “Is… is Raquel ok?”
“Raquel?!” Jeff, Annie and Abed exclaimed in unison.
“Yes, Raquel,” the Dean said impatiently. “Russell has decided to invest his considerable fortune in Greendale, and is building a state-of-the-art laboratory in the CPU lab. Greendale is going to become a national leader in robotics engineering.” The Dean gave them a significant look. “So please tell me that you haven’t destroyed his prototype.”
“I think she’ll be fine,” Borchert said in his nasally whine as he propped himself up on the couch. “I designed Raquel to be tough. I knew she might get herself into trouble if I made her mobile.”
Annie shook her head quickly. “Wait wait wait. If all this is true, then why did… she… come after me?”
Borchert looked confused. “Come after you? Oh dear, no, Raquel is equipped with motion sensors, so if you walked past she would have come out of power saving mode to say hello.”
“She didn’t say anything, though!” Annie protested. “She just started walking towards me with those horrible red eyes…”
Borchert scrunched his face in annoyance. “Grr, her voice processor must be on the fritz again. It seems to happen sometimes when she’s been powered down for too long.”
“Wait a second,” Jeff interjected, “when we came into the room, Annie was on the floor and… Raquel… was reaching for her.”
“Of course!” Borchert lit up. “I’ve programmed her with a standard set of courtesy subroutines. If Annie here had fallen, Raquel would offer to help her up.”
“Help me… up?” Annie looked completely bewildered, which was exactly how Jeff felt.
“I have a question.” Abed raised one finger as he spoke. “Why program a robot for courtesy and then make it look like the skeleton of a T-101?”
“Oh… yes. Apologies for that. Her facial features are on backorder.” Borchert grew steadily more excited as he expounded on his design plans. “Just wait until you see her. She’s going to be absolutely perfect! I’m having her hair made out of pure gold. And she’s going to be… fully functional.”
Jeff shuddered involuntarily and felt Annie do the same at his side.
“I have a question too,” the Dean interjected. “When you came in here, Russell was unconscious. How exactly did that happen, hmm?” He directed his gaze at Jeff.
“I- I thought…” Jeff stammered, “the robot, the weird lighting, the creepy room… I mean, he was running at us and yelling and-” Jeff was still trying to process all the new information. At the time, it had seemed so urgent and everything had seemed to fit… “The Terminator…” Seen in the proper context, he was starting to feel rather foolish. “Sometimes I still lose track of how big I’m getting,” he mumbled.
“I still don’t…” the Dean raised his eyebrows suggestively. The room descended into an uncomfortable silence.
Jeff suddenly snapped out of his reverie as something occurred to him. “Hold on!” he exclaimed. “What about him hiring all the students to help him win the paintball game? Even if that wasn’t a killer robot, he was still planning to take over the school!”
“Take over the school?” Borchert looked and sounded appalled. “Why would I want to do that?”
Jeff had shifted into full lawyer mode. “What other reason could you have to spend so much money on trying to win a paintball game? We know you took the old copy of the Greendale bylaws that would give you the power to insert yourself as dean permanently and remake the school’s mission.”
Borchert looked thoroughly nonplussed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Save it. We visited the archives, the records are missing.” Jeff folded his arms across his chest in judgment. “The Dean told us you were after the prize in the paintball game, and being both Dean and Vice-Dean would allow you to revert to the old bylaws.”
Borchert scratched his head but before he could say more, the Dean cut in. “Oh goodness, is that what you thought I meant? No, no, after that report Annie did I had the old copies of the bylaws destroyed to ensure they could never be used again.”
Jeff and Annie exchanged confused glances. “But…” Annie faltered for a moment, “then why was he trying to kidnap me?”
“And he kidnapped Rachel!” Abed added quickly. “I still want to know what you’ve done with her.”
Borchert was starting to look dazed from all of the allegations being lobbed at him. “Kidnap? I didn’t tell anyone to kidnap you. I simply said that I was interested in speaking with you to get your advice. And I let your friend Rachel go as soon as they brought her to me. I believe she went home.”
“But, Chang said-”
“Chang?” Borchert sighed. “I was worried it might be a mistake to send him. He’s… unstable. I’m afraid he and Mr. Butt were rather competitive with each other and a bit overzealous.”
“Who’s Mr. Butt?” Jeff snickered.
“Harold. The professional I hired. I thought for sure he would win the game for me, but the best laid schemes of mice and men, as they say.”
In the moment, Jeff couldn’t remember ever being more excited and his confusion over the day’s events was temporarily forgotten. He gaped at Annie for a moment, then exclaimed “His name is Harry Butt!”
Annie grinned back at him. “No wonder he always uses a pseudonym!”
“I just checked my phone,” Abed cut in. “Rachel left me several messages. Borchert is telling the truth.”
Jeff’s smile slowly faded. “So… If Borchert isn’t building killer robots or trying to take over the school, then what the hell have we been doing for the past-” he checked his watch, “twenty-one hours?” He looked around at each person in the room, but Annie and Abed had nothing more to offer. Borchert had pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and began loudly blowing his nose. Jeff’s gaze settled on the Dean, who was pointedly avoiding eye contact.
“Dean…” Jeff grumbled, “You begged us to keep Borchert from winning. You told us it would be a disaster if he won.”
The Dean glanced furtively between Jeff, Annie and Abed’s accusing gazes. “Well… what is a disaster, really?”
“If you were lying to us, you’re about to find out,” Jeff growled.
The Dean held up his hands defensively. “Now, Jeffrey, I didn’t lie to you. I’m just saying that it all depends on your point of view. There’s a spectrum really. I mean, one man’s disaster is another man’s-”
“Stop.” Jeff found his patience suddenly hanging by a thread and he could feel Annie beginning to rub his shoulder in an effort to pacify him. For the sake of his sanity, he decided to take things one at a time. “You said you hadn’t read all of the Greendale bylaws,” he ground out as calmly as he could. “Which ones were you referring to?”
“The um…” the Dean looked down and placed his hands flatly at his sides. “The winner gets to use my office,” he finished quickly.
“Bylaw number one-three-seven-two, section three, paragraph three,” Borchert recited. “Space officially designated for administrative use shall not be reassigned or re-designated on a temporary basis. So since this space has been designated as the Dean’s office, it has to remain the Dean’s office, no matter who the Dean is and for how long. Unless it’s being permanently changed.”
“Your office…” Jeff said slowly. “And why does it matter if Borchert got to use your office?”
“It’s not so much the office as what’s in the office,” the Dean said evasively.
“He won’t let me borrow any of his costumes,” Borchert whined. “I think some of them would look really good on Raquel, but he won’t-”
“I told you, Russell, they’re not costumes!” the Dean yelped. “I put time into what I do wardrobe wise! Each outfit was carefully selected to represent a specific aspect of my personality or a meaningful time in my life.”
“Let me get this straight,” Jeff said in a quietly menacing tone, “all of this was about your stupid costumes?”
“Outfits!” the Dean howled. “Have you seen the shoulders on Raquel?! She’d stretch them! Helllooo! DISASTER!”
Jeff felt his face twitch. But mercifully, Annie cut in before he could do something he might later regret. “Mr. Borchert, I just have one last question. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Borchert brightened. “Oh! Well you wrote a marvelous paper for one your classes a year or two ago. Fashion for the Nerdy Girl, I believe it was. And Raquel is nothing if not a nerdy girl. I was hoping you could help me with accessories and such.”
“Awwww!” Annie cooed. “I’d love to!”
With that, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. Jeff didn’t know why he was surprised. Greendale was the only place he knew of where this sort of thing ought to be expected.
“Well this certainly was a crazy adventure!” the Dean said hopefully. “Hooray for Greendale capers! … Right?”
“Dean.” Jeff’s initial anger had faded and now he was just annoyed. And exhausted. “We’ve been running around for almost twenty four hours thinking we were in a fight to save the school. Annie badly sprained her ankle. We’ve barely slept. The only thing I’ve eaten in the past twelve hours is a few stale crackers and some Slim Jims. And to top it all off, we all gave up-” Jeff stopped short as a thought occurred to him. He looked down at Annie and whispered “Annie, did you ever actually shoot Borchert with a paintball?”
Annie gave him a confused look and shook her head.
Jeff turned to Abed. He’d been more than a little surprised when he’d been following after Annie and the air vent next to him had suddenly opened to reveal a dust covered Abed. His friend had explained that he’d been hiding in the air ducts ever since the majority of his forces had been wiped out, and that Jeff and Annie’s battle with the Terminator had woken him up. He’d been leading Abed to Annie when they heard the scream.
“Abed, can I have your paintball gun please?” Abed shrugged and handed it over. “Thank you.” Abed fired finger guns at Jeff. Everyone was now looking at him with expressions ranging from curious to suspicious.
“With all the commotion it never occurred to me until now, but Annie never actually finished Borchert off. Which means… the game is still going.” Jeff looked slowly at each person in the room in turn. “Now, Borchert here was willing to pay every student on campus five hundred dollars each for a shot at the Dean’s costumes.” Jeff brandished the paintball gun. “So what we’re going to do now is have a little negotiation.”
The Dean was aghast. “Jeffrey! You wouldn’t!”
“Dean, I think by now you should know me well enough to know that that isn’t true.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jeff let out a large yawn as he finished scrubbing the last of the pots he’d used to make his and Annie’s dinner. He’d managed to catch a short nap in between taking Annie to the hospital, going to the gym and then picking her up from Greendale again, but he was still well short of the sleep he’d usually get. Annie was working on even less, but somehow she never seemed to be affected by it. He was thankful that there were no classes in the upcoming week so he didn’t need to head to work the next day. Nevertheless, his plans still involved heading to bed early as soon as Annie finished in the-
“So what are you going to do with your share of the money?” Annie called out from the bathroom.
Jeff frowned. There were plenty of things he wanted to do with it. Like put a down payment on a new car. But instead he said “Take you out for a nice dinner, and then probably pay a bunch of bills. Exciting right?”
Annie’s laugh wafted out into the kitchen. It was a sound he never got tired of. “Well the dinner sounds fun! And look at you being all responsible. For what it’s worth, I was proud of you today.”
He didn’t know why, but the last words made Jeff feel better about himself than he thought they ought to. He still rolled his eyes though. Everyone had been rather surprised when Jeff hadn’t merely milked Borchert for as much money as he could and then handed him the game. Truth be told, Jeff was a little surprised himself. But instead he’d worked out a deal between all parties wherein the Dean could pick out a few outfits that would be off limits, Borchert wouldn’t be allowed to pick any that were obviously too small, and Annie would be both the arbitrator and assist Borchert with accessories and such. To make Annie’s power binding, she had fired one shot each into Borchert and Abed’s shoes. Borchert, of course, had shown his gratitude in the only way he seemed to know how: financially.
“Is Abed done peeing himself over the sword yet?” That had been the first thing Abed had ordered with his share of the loot. Jeff was apprehensive about what other new dangers might soon await him on his visits to apartment 303. He fleetingly contemplated investing in some body armor.
“Give it a week.”
Jeff chuckled to himself as he dried his hands on a towel, then carefully hung it back over the handle of the oven and straightened the edges. “How’s your ankle?”
Annie’s voice came from directly behind him. “Why don’t you come find out?”
Jeff turned and felt his mouth drop open. Annie was leaned into the doorjamb, favoring her injured ankle which was crossed casually over her good one. Her feet were encased in shiny black ankle-high boots, the tops of which were overlapped by neatly pressed, dark navy blue pants that closely hugged her hips and were held in place by a thick black leather belt decked with the night stick, walkie-talkie and handcuffs she’d been given by the Greendale PD. Tucked into the pants was a close fitting, short sleeved police shirt that was only buttoned halfway up, the top flaps purposefully pulled open ever so slightly to provide a glimpse of her black lace bra and just a hint of cleavage. His gaze continued upwards past the sly smile that covered her lips to where her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark aviator sunglasses.
“Are those my sunglasses?” It was an effort to keep his voice from cracking.
Her hand moved up slowly and grabbed the brim of her police hat to tip it downwards a hair. “Think I can pull them off?”
Jeff took a couple casual steps closer to her. “I suppose I’m not the only one. Now what can I do for you, officer?”
Annie pinched one of the hinges of the glasses and lowered them until her eyes were revealed. They were practically smoldering with desire.
“We had reports of excessive sexiness today. Some guy sacrificed himself to save his girlfriend in a paintball game and then rescued her when she was attacked by a killer robot.”
Jeff cocked his head to the side. “That doesn’t sound like something I’d do.”
“Well you fit the description.”
“Who’s bringing the charges? I have a right to face my accuser.”
Annie’s eyes darted back and forth quickly. “It was… um… me.”
“My accuser is the arresting officer? That’s a conflict of interests. I can get this dismissed in ten minutes. You haven’t even read me my-”
“JEFF! You’re ruining it! This was supposed to be sexy and-”
Jeff swiftly closed the last few steps between them and cut her off with a kiss. Annie quickly got over her frustration and he soon found her tongue eagerly exploring his mouth. Her arms began working their way around his neck but before she could lock him in place he pulled back and grinned at her. Annie peered at him impatiently from behind the sunglasses.
“You’re sexy when you get flustered.”
“Oh,” Annie said in a small voice as her smile turned shy. Jeff bent in one smooth motion and picked her up in his arms, then carried her towards his bedroom.
Sleep would have to wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~