Chapter Text
Tord looked at the glass of water in front of him.
“This is stupid.” He grumbled.
“C’mon Boss,”Patryk pleaded,”you need to figure out how to use that arm sooner or later. This is just a starting point.” Tord groaned.
“There’s more important stuff to do right now.” He protested.
“At least try,” Patryk said. Tord sighed in defeat.
“Fine! I’ll do it.” He wrapped the metal fingers around the glass. At first glance, it appeared that he had it, but, having no idea how tightly to grip it, he simply lifted up nothing. The glass stayed on the table. He went for it again but held it too tightly this time and the cup shattered. He cursed. He could see the water on his arm, but couldn’t feel it. He stared at his arm. He remembered when he had first woken up from the surgery and realized that he couldn’t feel his right arm and when he looked in the mirror, seeing what the explosion had left him with…. A blind eye, scars on his face, and one missing arm. Paul looked at the glass shards everywhere and sighed.
“I’ll get a new one for you, Boss.” He said, running off. Patryk started to silently clean up the broken glass.
“You’ll get it eventually!” Patryk said enthusiastically. Tord sighed.
“Look at me, how pathetic is this?” He said sadly. “I can’t even pick up a cup. How can I expect to do anything with this?”
“I’m sure you can do it with some practice!” Tord slammed his hands on the table.
“No, you idiot!” He shouted. “I can’t feel a thing.” He said quietly. “I can’t even pick up a cup, much less do anything actually useful.”
Patryk flinched backwards in surprise. He wanted to comfort his friend, but he stayed back. Paul came in to interrupt the silence. He started talking but Patryk wasn’t paying attention. Paul went on talking until he looked around and noticed how Patryk looked, almost scared. Then he looked and saw Tord with his hands clenched on the table. He looked ready to pounce at something.
“What happened to you guys?!” He demanded. “Patryk looks like he’s seen a ghost, and you Boss, you look like you’re gonna claw someone’s eyes out.” Tord turned away from the man in front of him. “Boss? Is everything okay?” The second those words left Paul’s mouth he regretted letting them out.
“Why the hell did you think everything was okay?! I only have one usable arm! I’m half blind! And because of what happened, I probably don’t have a single living soul on this planet that’s my friend!” Tord looked around at Paul and Patryk’s stunned faces. “I…..I just need some time….” Tord walked out of the room alone.
“Boss, wait!” Patryk said, reaching out to Tord, but the Red Leader was already gone. The two looked at each other before running after him. After a bit of looking around, they found Tord sitting just outside the Red Army base. He was sitting on the ground in front of a pond, skipping stones with his left hand. They walked over to him.
“What do you guys want?” he said.
Patryk walked over to Tord and gave him a hug. Paul joined in to make it a group hug. Paul and Patryk pulled away at the same time and looked at him. He looked so surprised.
“Now, I’m no therapist, but I think you have temporary depression,” Patryk said.
“Who says this is temporary?” Tord said looking at Patryk.
“It’s temporary because you have two new friends who are gonna help you through this and that you’re stuck with from here on out. Now, let’s go work on your coordination,” Patryk said. Tord stared out at the water and sighed. He got up and started to walk back to the building.
“You are pretty good at this,” Paul said.
“It is one of my many talents.” Patryk responded. Tord jokingly punched him in the arm.
“What talents? The only thing you two are good for is crashing planes!” The Norwegian said.
“Yeah, yeah but at least I didn’t cause the apocalypse!” Patryk said.
“Ugh, that was one time Patryk!” Paul said, laughing.
“We have some of the weirdest icebreaker stories I have ever heard!” Tord said while laughing as they walked through the doors and the sun set behind them.
Everything would be alright.
They would be alright.