(Untitled)

[remindmeof_me]

Here's the thing. Five out of six Combine combat terraforming Synths are dead. Four of them were taken out by Resistance attacks coordinated from the Greenbrier HQ. The one in Africa was taken down by the local humans acting entirely on their own. One Advisor died at the hands of the humans in the most recent attack. The Combine are anything but

Comments

[crabbycustomer]

"OKAY, Karkat says without preamble. "HERE IT IS. JUST STICK THEM TOGETHER SOMEPLACE WHERE YOU HAVE SPACE TO OPEN UP A CRATE AND DISTRIBUTE THE HEADSETS."

What he's referring to are two thin stiff pieces of card, one red and blue, which he lays on the bar. They're notched to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU?" he adds, belatedly.

[remindmeof_me]

"Killed me a maggot," says Shephard. "Fuckin' Advisor was too fuckin' distracted to see me comin'. Rammed my chopper into it'n jumped at the last second."

He picks up ine of the card pieces.

"I'd ask what this part is but I don't reckon I'd understand."

[crabbycustomer]

"IT'S JUST A PIECE OF MY INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PHYSICS INVOLVED IT ISN'T THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND REALLY."

"SO THIS IS ONE OF THE ACTUAL GUYS AND NOT ONE OF THEIR SLAVES OR GENETICALLY ENGINEERED DEALS?" And big enough, apparently, to ram with a helicopter.

[remindmeof_me]

"Yeah, physics is Freeman's game," says Shephard. "I just use stuff, he knows the details."

He nods. "The actual fuckin' guys," he confirms. "Bastard was the size of a fuckin' bus. Had one of our people off the ground, ready to suck his shitfuckin' brains out."

[brave_kreyu]

"How badly are you injured?"

Small talk, what small talk? Kreyu can smell the burns and other injuries the marine is sporting at the moment.

[remindmeof_me]

"I ain't dead," says Shephard, "and I don't think there's that much broke, but fuck if everything else ain't givin' me shit today."

Shephard normally is quite happy to avoid giving the impression of being in pain, but he figures just this once it's okay to admit a couple of things hurt.

[brave_kreyu]

That's just as well, as Kreyu wouldn't buy his denial for a moment.

She makes a thoughtful humming noise. "I may be able to help with that, if you're willing."

[remindmeof_me]

"Wouldn't say no," Shephard says. "I got to git back to flyin' soon. Wouldn't look right if I was fixed all the way up, but most of the way's another story."

[tyler_marlocke]

Tyler's coming downstairs with a big longbox of comic books when he spots Adrian and heads over.

"Hey Shephard, where'd you get the sweater?"

[remindmeof_me]

"Christmas present," says Shephard, looking up. "Ellie made it for me. Dr. Freeman's niece. Hey there, Tyler."

[tyler_marlocke]

"What happened to you?"

...as shitty as Adrian looks, there's got to be a story behind that.

"I'll buy sodas if you tell me."

[remindmeof_me]

"Rammed a helicopter into a Combine Advisor," says Shephard. "Jumped out before it hit."

He figures that kind of speaks for itself, right?

[is_a_ghost]

The Marine isn't far from one boy who is just as unhappy-looking, but not nearly as bruised or tired. He has an impressive bruise settling along his jaw and his left hand is bandaged and back in its brace, but he looks alert enough. He's bundled into a set of snow-white clothes that doesn't have blood on them, since all of his are being washed.

"What happened to you?"

[remindmeof_me]

"Jumped out of my helicopter just before it exploded," Shephard says, before realizing he has no idea who the fuck this kid is. "How 'bout you?"

Stranger asking personal question, meet stranger asking personal question.

[is_a_ghost]

It's something of how Milliways works, and Silas can't argue with it much. It still takes him quite a while to answer.

"Family," he says eventually. "Why was it exploding?"

[remindmeof_me]

Some people can be bastards, so Shephard just nods.

"Rammed it into an enemy during battle," he says. "Main gun wasn't enough to take the fucker down."

[hallelujahpilot]

"Need a drink?"

It's a polite way of saying 'well, you look like crap'.

[remindmeof_me]

"Bar's givin' me shit," says Shephard sourly. "If you c'n git the drink out of her for me, be my guest."

[hallelujahpilot]

Worth a shot.

"Bar?" But before she can get any further, a note appears.

"...oh, come on, Bar. Ma'am?."

Nothing.

Chacon growls something under her breath - Arabic, for the record, because she spent enough time over in the Middle East as infantry and the language was made for swearing. "What the hell did you do to yourself, anyway?"

[remindmeof_me]

"Rammed a Combine Advisor with my murderbird," says Shephard, who has never seen any reason to be particularly circumspect about his opinions regarding helicopters and is not about to start now. "Got a bottle of bug juice down my throat before I jumped clear, but that ain't enough to fix everything."