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[This day had to come eventually, didn't it? Just another one of those damn Blood Gulch Sim Troops arriving here to crash the party, and predictability a little late like always. But hey, it wasn't like he hadn't been busy saving a planet or being blissfully retired or anything equally as important. Nope.

The video shifted a little as Tucker tried to set it upright, but it soon found itself quickly propped at an angle that said this wasn't his first time recording himself; the purpose of such skills would be left up to the viewer to guess at their own discretion. But hey, have Tucker with that beautiful aqua colored armor looking right back at you, even as he sat back down and tried to appear relaxed, cool, okay with ...well, all this. All this.

Ladies in hot tight superhero outfits definitely helped.]

So, yeah, Tucker here. [It felt like an interview with Dylan. Good thing talking about himself was one of his favorite things to do.] Please try to contain your applause, but ladies, feel free to toss your bras in my general direction.

[No shame, this one.]

You know, I was kind of busy back home. [With Church shit. It was always Church shit, and there wasn't a single damn regret for it; in a way, he hoped it kept being Church shit because that meant that bastard was still around. Tucker wanted to be back there, needed to be back there because--] Those idiots - my idiots - have no one to lead them now unless you count Sarge and no one counts Sarge. Shit, I don't even think the Reds count Sarge. Okay, so maybe Simmons does, but whatever.

[He sighed, rubbing his hand over his helmet before he just waved his hand.] But cool, superpowers, am I right? I mean, if I was getting chicks before, I'm getting triple chicks now.

[Let the record show that he was not, in fact, getting ladies before, and that the triple of "zero" is still "zero".]

Look, I just want to get this shit done and over with so I can get back to being a badass back home and get my shit done. So, you know, I'll do what I have to, I guess.

[There's a sigh, that burden of few choices and responsibility - ew - before he cocked is head up.]

Hey, important final question: where do all the hotties hang out around here? There's the title of wingman up for grabs if you tell me.

[At least the video ends there, and everyone was probably better for it.]

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[That's about the reaction Wash expected, if he's going to be honest with himself. That doesn't make this any easier, though.]

No. He's a Legionnaire. Took the oath and everything.

[He can try to explain it all right now, or he can let Tucker scream himself out for the next minute or so and try again once Tucker has vented. The latter option is louder, but he's going for it anyway.]

[He was a Legionnaire? Locus? Suddenly the whole "superhero" thing soured, didn't feel as shiny and impressive as it did a few minutes ago. ]

Oh, well fuck! I guess they'll let just anyone into this little club, huh? Next you'll be telling me Felix is a member and Hargrove's in charge.

[Why did he get to be here? What had that asshole done, other than kill a shit load of innocents, help orchestrate a war, try to commit a planetary genocide, and kidnap half of his friends? Sure, he didn't exactly stop him when Tucker took out Felix, but it's not like he was shooting at that mouthy bastard either? He just stepped back!

He didn't deserve a medal for that. He sure as shit didn't deserve a sword. ]

Do the people here know what he did?! What the hell kind of person he is?

[Turns out desperation makes for strange bedfellows.]

[And Felix is actually alive and in the wind somewhere, but that information doesn't need to be shared for a little while.]

[And then Tucker gives him an opening in the form of another question and he just sighs.]

They do, actually.

Look, where are you? It'll be easier to talk in person.

[It'll also be easier for Wash to convince himself this isn't all a desperate hallucination once he sees Tucker in person. He's pretty sure it's not, but pretty sure isn't sure and is therefore not good enough.]

[They did? They did and still let him be here? Every red warning light went off in his head all at once, like it was the middle of the day.

Really? Locus?]

I'll come find you. I need to do some more exploring anyway.

[And hell if he wasn't a little unsure of this now, hesitant. Don't let him down, Wash. He's had enough BS in his life already and he was still a little sore from the last asshole that betrayed him.]

Where are you?

[Wash just sighs. Why must you argue with him every single time. Why.]

Seriously, Tucker, I'll find you. It'll be faster, and you need time to do the homework before I get there anyway.

[And he sends Tucker a link to the broadcast of Locus' Legionnaire Legacy. Might as well get him on the same page as everyone else.]

[It's not every single time. Just...you know, most of the time.]

Homework? Hope you're not coming after me with a ruler.

[But then that was sent over and he understood what he meant. Fuck. This was going to complicate shit; he could feel it.

He sighed, sitting back a little.] Crew quarters. [Look, no arguing, just an annoyed face under his helmet because this...this wasn't going to end well, was it?]

On my way.

[Crew quarters. Like there weren't a thousand of those on Legion World. He pulls up the directory, looks for Tucker's name, and finds his assigned quarters. He's close - it'll take Tucker longer to watch the Legionnaire Legacy than it will for Wash to get there.]

[So he kills time. Gets out of his armor and puts on casual clothes. Swaps out the paint in the Reaper trap for glitter, because it's hard to beat a classic. Pulls out a bag of cat treats and tries to figure out why he can't teach DC to fetch when Locus taught him to steal pudding cups from Grif's room.]

[Calls Locus to give him a sitrep. That's a fun conversation.]

[Finally, enough time passes that he's comfortable heading out. He debates taking DC with him and decides against it - this isn't the kind of conversation that needs a built-in distraction, and that's what DC is in this sort of situation. So he sets the traps and walks out the door, heading to Tucker's.]

[Twenty minutes after he tells Tucker he's on his way, he knocks on the door.]

Tucker?

[It was awhile until Wash showed up and Tucker needed all the time he could get. The "homework" had been heavier than he thought, some things he recognized, remembered, most he didn't. And then Felix--

That asshole.

God, was there anyone that weaselslit hadn't fucked with? Was there anyone he hadn't manipulated, hadn't turned and played to his own fucking little twisted games and desires? Was there anyone he wouldn't sell out for a paycheck?

There wasn't even a point in asking that question, not when he already knew the answer.

The knock at the door had him tossing the omnicom onto the bed, his helmet still off from when he had been bitching back and forth with Grif. Everything...everything was a mess and so little of it made sense; this was worse than what he had left behind, more chaotic and confusing even with the questions hanging over his head about Alpha and Freelancers and...well, Grif. Was that video supposed to make everything Locus did okay?

No. No, but Tucker got it, remembered how easy it was to fall for that asshole's bullshit.

He leaned against the wall as the door opened, his eyes staring at Wash - something familiar, something sane in the middle of all this - before nodding in.] You're really you, right? [Because was it that unreasonable to be skeptical when he was told he had super powers, Grif didn't know anything past Blood Gulch, Locus was a good guy, and Wash-- okay, so Wash was pretty much the same so far. He waited for him to come in before closing the door.]

Yeah, I'm me. [A beat.] Though from your vantage point, I'm me from ten months ago.

[Ten months. Ten months that Wash hasn't experienced yet, that are still a mystery - but Tucker's still alive, and if he's mad at Grif, then it stands to reason that Grif is still alive, and-]

[He doesn't need to go down this rabbit hole right now - not when he can finally get answers. Not when Tucker is right in front of him.]

[It's such a relief to see him in person, and Wash doesn't have time to process it right now, but- God. He's alive. That's one, at least.]

[Thank God.]

How're you holding up?

[Tucker believed him, more because he wanted to than any hard evidence proving the fact. Anyone could say they were a person, and it didn’t make it true. He wished he could have told himself that a year ago.

But Wash was Wash and they both looked at each other and it was… It was weird. It was weird in a different way than Grif, probably because the anger he had stewing in that particular topic, probably because of the missing time they had now. Well, shit.

Tucker wanted to spew everything, to talk about what he should be doing, what he needed to be doing, what was waiting for him back home and how pissed off he was at Grif. The words just were fenced back for once, his mouth sealed. He could keep a secret, after all.]

Um, well as good as anyone can be after they’re kidnapped and told they have super powers. [He pulled the sword off his side, tossed it on the bed, before moving to sit down beside it.] Then you find out your friend here is from a long fucking time ago and doesn’t know shit of what you’ve been through, the other one doesn’t know how the biggest battles we’ve ever been in ended, and one of your enemies might just be a big victim of a serial asshole, so yeah, I’m cool.

Must be Tuesday, right?

[He takes a seat on the bed next to Tucker, not too close but not too far, and damn if he doesn't want to just reach out and touch him, make sure that he's actually there and not a very detailed hallucination brought in by repressed desperation and a very tenuous grip on his own emotions-]

[But Wash's hallucinations tend not to extend to massive network posts, not to mention the fact that he hasn't actually had one in all the time he's been on Legion World. All signs point to this being real.]

[He really needs to get a goddamn grip on himself.]

Grif being from that far in the past rattled me when I showed up. I started giving him grief about his codename, and he had no idea who I was. [Shrug.] Then again, at the time, he was the only other person from our dimension here.

What's his codename? [Because Tucker hadn't gotten that far yet and he was desperate for a laugh. He needed something, something that wasn't a fucking anvil weighing on his back, and while flirting his way through the hero roster was great, he was more than happy to just fucking talk. To figure shit out. To wrap his brain around it.

You don't know about Epsilon. You don't have a damn clue.

Hands pressed into the bed behind him, and he leaned back a little while looking up. At the time. There were Freelancers that Grif had mentioned, ones he didn't know but he was pretty sure Wash would. Did it mess him up, seeing them? Probably. Maybe he was used to it by now.]

Yeah, I heard there were Freelancers that weren't assholes here. Didn't know they came in that flavor. [Only small offense there, Wash; even your past was a little rocky with them at one point, not that Tucker held that against him anymore. Horrible histories, fighting in a war, and their weird friendship helped smooth over that, thankfully. But even so, he smiled, showing it was the joke that most were used to from him.]

You okay? [With them being here. With that. Tucker turned his head to eye him, as if it was perfectly natural for him to be asking that of the guy who had a long time to get used to the place. Still... he had a feeling that Wash would get it, that Wash would understand what he meant.]

Doubletime. [Delivered as though he's imparting the galaxy's best gossip - and really, given what both he and Tucker know about Grif, it's good for a laugh, at least.]

They don't. [The ribbing is easy, familiar, Blue Team bullshit at its best, and Wash has missed it something fierce. It's not the same talking with Grif, who knows who he is now but still doesn't, really, or with Dave, who can keep up with him but isn't really a Red. Bantering with Tucker is something that's been missing from his life for several months, something he hadn't realized he'd enjoyed until it had left a gaping hole in his daily routine, and it feels good to be back to the usual level and flavor of pointless sarcasm.] Some of them are just bigger assholes than others.

[And then there's a hard left turn from sarcasm to depth, which, honestly, is also pretty normal.] Yeah. I've had time to get used to the idea. Plus, they're my friends - this is a second chance I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else.

Speaking of second chances: Locus. [Might as well address the big green elephant in the room.] Did you watch the video?

...Doubletime.

[And Tucker laughed, because of course he did. This was what the Blood Gulch crew did to one another, laugh and make fun of themselves and then save each other's asses while half-assing taking each other out. It was good. It was tradition.] You sure it's not "Double Down" like that sandwich with fried chicken for buns? Seems more his style.

[And hey, it was nice to hear that Wash could joke about it, that he could laugh and make comments and be okay with it, Well, as "okay" as he ever was, and Tucker felt good, felt happy for him. His old friends. His old family, alive and not recovered. Maybe he'd get the same chance with Church someday.

Fuck, he hoped so.]

Yeah, but that's pretty much people in general.

[But then that topic had to come up and Tucker rolled his eyes. Shit. Of course they were going to talk about it, but it still wasn't a fun topic, wasn't something he wanted to try to unpack even if he knew he needed to. Damn responsibility.]

Yeah, you mean that video that's supposed to make me just forget the shit he did to Chorus? [Just a victim. Just another victim like him, like all of them. Fucking Felix.] He made his choices.

Yeah, I'm sure. [And then, because it's a long-running joke on Legion World and Wash is here to get Tucker up to speed and that includes the local culture, right? Right:] The fans have decided that he's in love with Rich - Nova Prime - and they're calling it Primetime. He goes ballistic if you bring it up. [The smirk has not left his face. Have fun with that information.]

[And then the conversation gets serious, and...yeah, this isn't going to be easy. Tucker wasn't privy to Locus' conversation with Santa, and Wash knows that part of the story isn't his to tell, which means he's going to have to find another way to get his point across.]

That video wasn't supposed to make you forget, and it doesn't absolve him of anything - it just adds context. Felix had Locus on a leash for years, and he chose to let Felix call the shots. And then he chose to stop fighting. And then he chose to be a Legionnaire. The Legion can't force anyone to join - that was his decision.

And he's been doing a good job. He's actually trying to get better. Believe me, I've been keeping an eye on him.

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