Chapter Text
'So much noise..'
His eyes pried open barely, but enough to take in the scene in front of him. A relief of a sigh escaped his lips as he took sight of the other Cleaners. He was thankful they were all back together again, even if some looked injured. They were occupied fighting against another Raider he couldn't recognize: a middle (or old?) aged man with a cowboy hat for fashion.
The Raider was a skilled fighter, even Enjin was having trouble landing an attack on him. Zanka caught notice of a familiar jumpsuit which belonged to Guita. She was knocked out, but it was unclear what caused it.
'Did the Raider cause it? This isn't good… Guita could get seriously injured,' Zanka takes a deep breath and attempts to move, thankful that he was laying on his side. He flips onto his stomach to take out his Lovely Assistaff.
It takes a while, but Zanka slowly rises on his knees, taking a deep breath and processing how sore his body was. A massive headache pounds his head, Zanka stumbling and leaning against his Lovely Assistaff.
"C'mon.." Zanka whined. He can't be a burden to his team anymore. He was already humiliated being the only one out of commission.
Moving Guita to a safer distance was an easy task, nothing Zanka should be–
Zanka felt a sudden pressure on his back, pushing him back onto the floor. The foot rubbed their shoe onto his uniform much to his dismay. He was too weak to push the person off, struggling to move an inch.
"Loosen up a bit, ZanZan."
That voice–
'You've got to be shitten me.'
Jabber comes into view, but the condition he's in was terrible. The wounds looked really similar to bullet holes. Zanka knows this because he witnessed someone perform with that weapon and being educated on it. The only Cleaner Zanka knows that carried a gun was–
"R-Riyo.."
Some of the wounds were still leaking, yet Jabber was unbothered by it. "That's the red chick, yeah?" Jabber said. "Man, she really got a number on me! I'm so fucking pissed."
"Ya deserve it, yer a fucking bastard."
Zanka debates whether he should call for back-up. His mouth opened, but it quickly closed. "Your team won't hear you," Jabber added. "It's wayyy too loud to hear anything."
Fine, Zanka huffed, he can deal with this alone.
"Anyways, Cthoni came to fetch me right after, but I quickly escaped when she wasn't looking," Jabber spoke to him like they were friends catching up. "She's definitely pissed at me now."
Zanka ignored everything he said and focused on standing on both feet. He was currently back on his knees, breathing a bit too heavy, leaning against his Lovely Assistaff. "You can lean on me too," Zanka gave him a middle-finger.
"How are yer still walkin'?"
"My golden prize," Jabber raised his hands, showing off his Mankira. It quickly clicked in Zanka's head– right, that numbing poison or whatever Jabber liked to call it.
His vital instrument faded back to his normal rings. "Alright, come here."
"What–" Zanka held in a wince as he rose on his feet. A hand is placed securely on his waist, Zanka trying to ignore the way the hand was rubbing up and down. "Y-Yer filthy!"
"I'm not bleeding that much."
Zanka would strangle him if he wasn't in this condition. Instead, he looks at the other a bit confused. "Why are you helping me?" He asked.
"Because," Jabber makes eye contact with those dark blue eyes he'd come to admire so quickly. "I want to continue fighting with you."
Zanka rolled his eyes. What a stupid ass excuse.
He returned his gaze and found himself examining the jerk's facial features. Zanka had to admit, if it wasn't for Jabber's insane personality, he would've been an ideal man. The Raider wasn't too bad-looking and his lips looked–
"Staring quite hard, aren't ya?"
"Not!"
"It's fine. I love it when your eyes are all on me," Jabber grinned, earning a jab to his side. "Easy there, you know that makes me–"
"Don't fucking finish that sentence," Zanka scoffed as he looked away. "Weirdo.."
Jabber grabbed his chin and forced him to look back, the grip on his waist tightening. Zanka kept steady, ignoring the way his heart was pounding rapidly– was he enjoying this a bit too much?
"What?" Zanka leaned in till their noses touched. "You gonna help me or keep starin'?"
The Raider lets out a shaky breath, but lets go of his chin and leans away. "Where are you heading, princess?" He said.
"There," Zanka motioned towards the girl, not seeing the grin on the other face.
To make the process faster, Jabber decides to take advantage and hold the Cleaner bridal style. Zanka quickly protested but it went through one ear and out the other. "Relax, princess, it'll be fast."
Zanka was settled to the ground, next to poor little Guita who was muttering how much her head hurt. "Guita," Zanka placed a hand on her shoulder. He failed to see the portal opening up until a new voice caught his attention.
"Jabber."
The Cleaner turned around with his Lovely Assistaff in hand. Cthoni paid no mind to him though, her eyes glaring into Jabber's skin. "The boss is unhappy with your behavior. It's time to go."
"Well, that's me cue to leave," Jabber sighs, a bit disappointed. He looks back at Zanka and continues speaking, "Hey, no hard feelings, okay?"
Quickly and smoothly, he pierced one claw of his Mankira into Zanka's leg. "You bitch-" Zanka tensed up immediately.
He blacked out after that.
"Zankaaaaaaa."
"Zankaaa, I need to give you your medicine."
"Stop whining in my ear," Zanka grumbled, pushing Riyo's face away. It's been a couple of days after that incident and Zanka was the only one making a long recovery.
Upon discovering that Zanka was poisoned again during the fight, every Cleaner made it their mission to guard Zanka's room 24/7. Riyo felt the most extreme guilt, blaming herself for leaving Zanka in a vulnerable state and failing to notice Jabber's presence.
Enjin stayed close to his side also, along with Rudo who gave the idea to bring flowers. It wasn't too terrible having their company, but Zanka still felt a pit of shame that he caused so much ruckus.
"There was poison all over your system," Enjin had said when it was just the two of them. Riyo and Rudo ran off tk get sweets. "And not to mention those bruises on your waist.. What happened out there?"
His face turns red, which goes unnoticed by Enjin. All Zanka could remember how Jabber was holding him and how much he liked the feeling. "I… I don't remember," He replied.
There's a heavy silence between them and Zanka didn't dare to make eye contact with the man he admired so much. He didn't even want to know what Enjin was thinking.
It was embarrassing enough that Jabber had the nerve to embed his golden hair accessory onto Zanka's earrings. Riyo had told him the story:
The fight was over. Everyone was quick to rush to Zanka's side as he was the only one still knocked out. Riyo held onto him and was muttering small apologies, failing to notice the new accessory on Zanka until Enjin pointed it out.
"It's golden," Rudo pointed the obvious. Enjin took a closer look. "I feel like I've seen that before… oh! That looks like those ring hair accessories on Jabber's hair!"
Enjin crashed out shortly after that, quickly taking out Zanka's earring and removing the golden jewel, yelling profanities and statements like: "Who does he think he is, huh? No one does this to my ki– team members!"
He made a journey to No Man's Land to discard it.
"That's fine," Enjin broke the silence, trying to hide the saltiness in his tone. "I'll come back later, 'kay?"
Zanka nodded, earning a pat on his head. Before exiting, Enjin looks back once more and sees Zanka covering his face with his hands. 'Oh hell no-' Enjin leaves.
"How did it go?" Gris was on the other side with crossed arms. He frowned after noticing the tension of despair and agony running through Enjin's expression. "You okay?"
"I'm going to commit child murder."