"Damnit!"
A pink and green helmet sailed across the room and hit the wall with a crash, leaving an ominous dent in the gray metal. It clattered to the ground noisily, but South paid no attention to it, instead opting to slam an armored fist against her military standard bed, which groaned under the assault. She let out a growl and stepped away before she could destroy it in anger, her pinkish-blond hair dancing around her face. Not that she would have minded if she did. She certainly felt like destroying something right now.
She had been Number 4 on the leaderboard. Number 4! She had been ranked better than her brother, better than Maine, even better than that psycho Florida. God damn her if she wasn't just a little creeped out by the blue bastard. She could never tell what was up with him. One moment he was acting like freakin' Santa Claus, all kind words and cheerful smiles, the next, he was hacking people apart with a bone saw for information. Sometimes it was both at the same time. It was like he got his jollies off torture and murder or something. She was pretty sure he operated directly under the Director, if the frequent visits to his office we're anything to go by.
She felt her lips curl into a snarl. The Director. Jackass. Like he knew the shit they had to go through just to get out of there alive, let alone with his stupid information.
Your carelessness revealed our intentions, and made our next mission more difficult. His words bounced around in her brain, replaying again and again and again, until they sounded almost mocking. She growled and began to tear off her armor piece by piece, throwing it into a messy pile in the corner of her room. How the hell was it her fault some moron had decided to wander in with their coffee? It's not like she could look through walls or see into the future or some shit!
While it's loading, set your god damn trackers. Her fingers stilled on the clasp of her breastplate as she heard North's voice echo in her ears. Then in one violent motion, she tore it off and flung it into the growing armor pile, where it sent several more pieces spilling to the ground, leaving her clad in only her bodysuit. She stepped over to her dresser and pulled out a clean set of clothes before sliding out of her bodysuit and beginning to slip on the new clothes.
She... she could handle this. She wasn't going to just sulk. Sulking wouldn't solve anything. She was still in the top 5, she just had to do well on the next mission, and she'd be back where she belonged. Hell, she'd do so well, they'd kick Wyoming off his British ass- sorry bum- and give her the third place spot. And then she'd knock the two lovebirds off their thrones and take the top as Number 1. Maybe that would keep Carolina from being so insufferably smug all the time.
Now if only she could make herself believe it.
A knock came at the door, and South scowled as she pulled a faded purple T-shirt over head. Great. Already, the peanut gallery was coming to sweet talk her about how lozing her place "wasn't a big deal". Or they were coming to laugh at her, in which case, they could kiss their lives goodbye. She could only hope it wasn't Wash. She really didn't want to deal with his naive encouragement right now. "Go the fuck away," she called.
"No thanks, but I appreciate the offer." She bit back a groan. She really didn't want to have to deal with him right now. Or at all, if possible. She wasn't in the mood to be patronized over losing her spot. "You have all your clothes on in there?"
"Go to hell, North."
"I'll take that as a yes. Now how bout' you let me in?" Though she couldn't see him behind powerful steel door, she could picture the look of amusement his face. South resisted the urge to open the door just to punch him in the face.
"How about I don't and you fuck off," she said. Hopefully that would send him the hint that she didn't want to be bothered.
"I will camp out in front of your door." She bit back a particularly nasty swear word that she felt described the idiot perfectly. She didn't doubt him either. The others would complain, but they wouldn't be surprised.
After someone does something five times, no matter how unusual, you tend to get used to it.
"Fine, I'll open the fucking door," she snapped. She stormed over to the control panel, and though she was careful not to break this one, made sure to slam a fist against it extra hard so her twin would know exactly how angry she was about this. Yeah, it was kind of childish, did she give a fuck? Nope. North was practically threatening her with harassment; she could be as childish as she fucking wanted.
She was pretty sure what he would do if she didn't open the door was harassment. Practically borderline stalking in fact, if he was going to be camped outside her door like he was having a fucking stakeout.
North strolled in, helmet dangling in one hand and eyes a slightly disgusting mixture of concern, humor, and and kindness even as he surveyed the messy room. He was still dressed in his purple battle armor, green highlights clearly visible against the dark paint. His sandy blond hair glinted under the dim ceiling light, and his mouth remained curved upwards in a small gentle smile.
"Nice room," he quipped cheerily.
Yup, she was definitely feeling the urge to give one to him straight to the nose. Experience had taught her that getting violent wasn't a way to convince North to leave you alone though, so it would be pointless if she did. If she could just stay calm and answer her his questions, then maybe he would get the fuck out of her room. "What the fuck do you want North?"
"To talk." She almost snorted. Off all the lines he chose to open up with, that's the one he chose?
"Okay then, let's talk. I just lost my spot to you because that old sack of shit thinks I didn't preform up to standards or whatever. It was good talking with you. Now get out of my room."
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "South, he didn't-" She never got to hear what it was the Director didn't do, because the quiet compassion in his voice was what made her finally erupt. She spun around and knocked his hand off her, ignoring the way his eyes widened with shock.
"No! Don't tell me 'he didn't mean it badly' or 'he didn't want to hurt me' or any of that, because that bastard doesn't give a shit about any of us! He's always locked up in his lab with those damn techies of his, but has he ever been on a mission? Never! Who the hell gave him the right to judge us on how well we do?!"
"Well he is the Director of Project Freelancer-"
"I don't care! What the hell is he even doing in his lab all day?" The only times we see him is for mission briefings, and he contributes so much to those." She glared at her twin for a moment more, before flopping down on her bed and throwing one arm over her face. "This is such bullshit."
A tense silence filled the air for a few seconds. It was broken briefly by the creak of the bed as North sat down next to her. Then the room was quiet again as neither of the twins said anything. She cast a glance at him and found him frowning at the floor, his brow furrowed as he cast around his thoughts, probably trying to find something to say that would improve her mood. Well, at least she could enjoy the silence while it lasted.
"Hey, South?" She bit back a groan. She just had to jinx it, didn't she?
"What do you want?"
"Do you remember when we were little?"
This time she really did groan. "I swear to God, if you tell me some story from our childhood, I'm going to kill myself."
He ignored her less than enthusiastic reaction. "Do you remember when we used to fight a lot?"
She couldn't really see where he was going with this, but she nodded anyway. "Uh, I guess?"
"Really?" There was something about his voice that was making her feel a bit uneasy. That and the feeling that she was forgetting something very important. "Then do you remember what I did to you to make you forgive me afterwards?"
Afterwards? She ran her fingers through her blond hair as she thought back to what seemed like a lifetime ago. That's right, they used to get in a whole lot of fights with each other, and it would always end with neither speaking too the other for a couple of hours. Then North would go and... Her eyes widened and she tried to sit up, but she was unprepared. North, on the other hand, was poised and ready. He threw himself on top of her, and all the breath in her lungs was driven out as the armored man crashed on top of her. By the time she had regained her wits, North had already pinned her down.
"You son of a bitch," she growled, struggling frantically under him as she tried to throw him off. In a regular fight, she may have been able to, but she was out of her armor and was unable to lift his suits weight without her strength booster. "Don't you dare-"
"Hey South," he interrupted. "If I remember correctly, you were most ticklish on your...
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