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“You're gonna crack your skull open if you don’t stop thrashing!”
Lilly struggled to keep her hold on their captive as they continued to thrash. Her words of warning were a legitimate concern as their helmet sat a few feet away, leaving them in a vulnerable position. If it weren't for the protective fire hood they wore, Lilly's vision would have been blinded by a mane of vibrant orange curls. A hard pang on metal and a muffled growl was heard as the woman hit their head on Lilly's armor.
“Told you-”
Her painful groans echoed through the dimly lit storage room. The space smelled of stale air and mildew; most likely from it being abandoned for so long. It was perfect for personnel looking for a bit of private time or, in this case, pranking a member of the team. It was an uncommon but favored pass time of Duke's; as long as he wasn't drinking.
Izzy struggled to keep her legs pinned down. Several times she had narrowly avoided getting a bright red boot to her visor. Unfortunately she didn't just have herself to look out for. Her eyes flicked to the man who had orchestrated this hairbrained scheme. If she hadn’t given him an ‘I owe you’ she wouldn’t of been here at all. “Duke, can you wrap it up?” Her voice unsteady as the woman in her grasp once again tried to buck her off.
“You can’t rush art,” he replied calmly. His voice had a mischievous tone to it, no doubt due to the unseen shit eating grin he had on his face. His gloved fingers gently pressed into the glue saturated fabric as he waited for it to dry. The woman in their hold turned her attention from her throbbing head to him, her dark brown eyes boring holes into the golden visor of his helmet. He swore she could see right through the chrome. Goosebumps ran down his back as he met her wrath filled gaze. If it weren't for the cloth gag tied to her mouth she would be cursing him and whatever family he had left.
“-Christ Red, why do you have to be so damn scary?”
“To be honest, I think most of us would act the same way if someone was gluing a costume to our armor”
Lilly had a point. When FIXER had agreed to throwing a Halloween party, no one said that costumes were a requirement. Finding them all the way out here was rare, so if anyone wanted to make one they would be stuck with the trash around the outpost and surrounding desert. Yet somehow, a certain explosives specialist managed to get his hands on a genuine nurse costume. The type a woman would wear to a party to get free drinks. One that would show off way too much skin even if it was worn properly.
Duke popped the cap back onto the super adhesive. “Now hold on, then why are you helping?”
Red stilled her thrashing, turning her gaze to the woman who still had her in a vice grip. The look in her eyes was more warning than pure anger. Lilly tensed. She had known Red since herself and Wes had arrived at Outpost Luna. While they were acquainted during their time there, since joining FIXER the two had gotten closer. One night while on lookout some secrets were told… and unfortunately, Lilly knew it wasn't one she could keep for long.
An uncomfortable silence filled the room as the two stared at one another. The look in her friend's eyes melted into a somber gaze of disappointment. Lilly furrowed her brows. “Hes’…I…”
“FUCK!” Izzy flew back as a boot suddenly made contact with her chest. A moment later Red was free from Lilly's grasp and making a move to grab Duke.
Duke had been knocked clean on his back and was scrambling to get away “Lilly grab her- GRAB HER!!!!” He let out a high pitched scream as he shielded his helmet with his arms.
Lilly quickly launched herself at Red's back, grabbing her by the torso before she could get her hands on Duke. The woman tried to grab at Lilly's hands to make her let go, but it was useless. At least now she could take the stupid gag off. In one firm tug she ripped the cloth off her face. Now unmuzzled she could finally speak her mind.
“Oh you are in some deep shit Four!”
“Hestia calm down!” Izzy called from her spot on the floor, still recovering from the wind getting knocked out of her.
“Calm down? I'm sorry, is it considered ‘okay’ around here to hold people down and GLUE shit to their armor??” She once again tried to worm her way out of Lilly's arms and lunge for Duke.
Lilly tightened her grip while struggling to back away from the others as they stumbled to their feet. In a swift move she managed to lock Hestia into a full nelson. She tried to grab for Lilly’s helmet but it was just out of reach.
Izzy hugged herself with one arm while using the other to brace herself on one of the storage crates. She let out a low groan as she looked over the whole situation. “Why the hell did you want to put a goddamn nurse outfit on the meanest bitch on base?”
Duke had already made his way to Hestia's helmet, glue in hand. He placed the hardware on a nearby crate while grabbing the last piece of the skimpy costume from his pocket. A flimsy headband with a piece of cloth meant to look like an old fashioned nurses cap. “Doc keeps whining about how Peanut and I are too much to handle so I thought ‘Wouldn't be nice if we got him a nurse to help him out?’” Every word dripped with sarcasm. It was all bullshit and Hestia knew it.
She let out a frustrated growl as he started to press the glue covered headband to the top of her helmet “Duke I'm gonna kick your ass so hard it'll land in the mine field!”
Izzy staggered over to Lilly's side “Jeeze Hes’. Can you just take a joke?” It was clear from her tone that she was done with this entire situation. If she could, she would leave, but unfortunately the resident medic has most likely picked up on her fluctuating vitals on their hud.
“A joke?” Hestia couldn't help but laugh “Oh Lilly, she thinks this is a joke. A little trick for Halloween.”
Lilly tightened her grip in anticipation of her trying to escape. She didn't dare open her mouth to respond. She had already said too much.
“I know what this is about Lil-” She barked “I know exactly what you and Duke are up to and it's not going to work” The rage she had at the beginning started to waver into a softer- uncertain tone “You know he's going to hate this”
Izzy looked from the girls to Duke. It was clear she was the only person not in the loop “Okay what the fuck is going on?”
“You'll see” Duke said with confidence as he walked over to the trio, Hestia's helmet in hand.
The woman struggled against Lilly's grip as he approached, raising the helmet to above her head. “Don’t you dare-”
“Oh I dare, Red” He smirked as he worked the equipment onto her head.
Hestia let out a string of curses, all muffled by her helmet being shoved onto her head. It took a minute for Duke to properly secure the thing. Suddenly her voice came screaming through the speakers as it connected to the rest of her armor’s power supply.
Lilly watched as Hestia's callsign on her hud went from ‘inactive' to ‘active’. As soon as her name turned green it showed her elevated vitals. Her BPM was through the roof, causing her signature to have a red box around it. Not good…
It took no time at all for the dry monitone voice of Wes to call through their private com channel “Lilly, what on God's green Earth is going on?”
‘Fuck’ She thought to herself. They had anticipated Hestia getting so worked up, but not on Wes noticing immediately. Lilly mentally prepared herself before answering the call.
“Nothing?”
Wes muttered something under his breath “As convincing as that was, I am inclined to not believe you. I could ignore Izzy and Duke getting thrown around, but you and the arsonist? So I ask again. What. Is. Going. On?”
“We're just doing a little bit of sparring before Pop and Crash got back with supplies for the party.”
There was a moment of silence between the two. For a moment she thought he had bought the lie, but soon enough one of Wes’s signature sighs was hissing over the radio “Lilly, you’re a terrible liar. You know that I know these soldiers aren’t the type to do any extra training unless ordered to.”
Lilly felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She didn’t lie often, and getting caught when she did made her feel extra guilty “Wesley, I’m sorry”
“I don’t need an apology from you. What I need right now is to know why that woman refuses to answer her radio”
Lilly hadn’t noticed that Hestia had gone limp in her arms. Her vitals on the hud still read as ‘conscious’. She had a history of refusing to answer her private coms, especially when it came to any requests that were from Wes. “I dont know. I’ll talk to her”
“No need. I’m on my way”
A wave fear ran through her “Wait-“ Lilly tried to stop him but Wes already terminated the call. She cursed under her breath, taking a moment to think. They needed to move, fast, before Wesley made it to the storage room. She looked over to her accomplice “Duke. Phase two.” She released Hestia.
Duke clapped his hands together. “Perfect” He rubbed them together as he looked up at his work. The Nurse outfit consisted of a corseted top and a skirt. Both had to be cut in the back to be able to even fit onto the armor. Hestia tried to tug one end of the top off, but to no avale. Her next attempt was on the skirt but that was met with a series of ‘tsks’ from him “Alright Red, it’s time we play a little game”
Hestia looked down at Duke. The narrowed visor of her recon helmet matched her sour personality to a T. “A game?” She growled “I want out of this”
“And you will- you just need the right tools” He turned on his heels to face his teammate “Izzy has hidden the base’s supply of acetone in a very special hiding spot. It is up to you to-“
“WAIT” Izzy interrupted. She looked between the two before setting her gaze on Duke “I was supposed to hide it?”
Duke fumbled over his words “I thought I told you to do that before meeting us here!”
“I thought she didn’t know where it was” Izzy looked up at her, as if asking her to confirm her suspicions. Duke did the same.
Hestia looked between the two before looking back at Duke “Do I exactly look like the type of person who should know where that stuff is? Wes told Pops I shouldn’t have unrestricted access to flammable chemicals”
“Which is why it’s kind of a big deal Izzy didn’t hide it…” Lilly chimed in. Everyone turned to face them. She rubbed the back of her helmet. “It’s stored in Wesley’s office”
Hestia felt her heart drop. “No… NO WAY!” She held her head in her hands as she spun away from them. Her heart pounded against her ribs as if it too was trying to get away from all of this. She rested her hands on the nearest crate and gripped the edge to try and collect herself before she punched Duke square in the jaw. “You’re telling me… that I have to go to the med bay, looking like THIS?!” She whipped around, keeping her hands on the box behind her to make sure they stayed off Duke
Lilly approached her “Hold on- it’s not as bad as you think” Hestia narrowed her gaze on her lemon yellow helmet, causing a chill to run down her spine. “Wes is on his way”
She was seeing red “Perfect- so he can escort my happy ass, right?”
“No- If you leave now, you can probably out maneuver him as he makes his way across the outpost.” She paused. Should she mention he is tracking her? No. Wes never rushed after his patients unless they were in immediate peril. And Hestia wasn’t exactly his number one priority.
Hes’ grit her teeth. This was already a shit idea and it had only gotten worse. She balled her fists at her side as she tried to think of the quickest route from the storage room to the med bay. If she was fast and made a few risky jumps, she could do it. She let out a deep sigh, clenching her fists. “Fine”
She approached Duke, looming over him. As stupid as he was, he stood his ground. “As soon as I get this off, I’m taking whatever acetone is left and shoving it down your throat” she hissed. It felt more like a promise than a threat. They knew she would never do anything, but it was hard to tell sometimes.
He chuckled “Good luck, Red”
She groaned, storming off towards the door. She didn’t have time to fight with him. She needed to leave, now. With no effort at all she swung the door open. The dark storage room was flooded with sunlight, causing the others to shield their visors from the sudden change in brightness. Hestia didn’t flinch. She took a moment to survey the immediate area outside before making a mad dash down the hallway.
The outpost wasn’t the biggest she’s been in, but it had enough rooms in halls to get anyone lost if they weren’t paying attention. Hestia knew if she was able to make the jump from the third floor lookout to the walkway just above the gate, she could save a ton of time. The only drawback was the entire area was exposed. Even SAMMI would be able to see how ridiculous she looked. It was better than Wes. God- anyone seeing her in this ridiculous outfit would be better than him.
Making her way up to the lookout, she took a momentary glance at the motion tracker to check if she could see Wes’s location. A jolt of fear shocked her body. He was moving fast. He must have noticed she was on the run. Her heart pounded in her chest as she continued her ascent. “No time to waste” Without a second thought she catapolted herself through the air, landing on the second floor with a well timed roll. Hestia staggered to her feet, forcing herself to keep moving.
Her boots scraped against the corse concrete as she skidded around the corner. Just one more hallway, one more set of stairs, and she would be there. Another glance at her motion tracker. Nothing. ‘Good’ She thought to herself. Pea sized stones and flecks of rubble could be heard tumbling behind her as Hestia continued her charge to the med bay.
Another heavy landing after a leap down the stairs. Hes’ caught herself on the wall, allowing herself to breath for just a moment. There it was, just at the end of this corridor. She could see the crudely painted white cross above the door that had been left wide open. After one last glance at the motion tracker, she made a mad dash down the hall.
This was it. Once she was inside all she had to do was find the canister, dip into another room, and power her armor down before he found her. Hestia reached her hand out to catch herself on the doorframe before she managed to crash into something-
Suddenly she was caught from behind. Something or someone had grabbed her other arm, seizing it in a steal tight grip. Hestia let out a pained yelp as her arm was nearly popped out of it’s socket from the sudden stop and her momentum alone.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
That voice- it never failed to send a chill down her spine. She didn’t move from this angle, aside from the headband, he couldn’t see the stupid costume glued to the front of her armor.
“I had to turn off my location in order to have a chance of catching up with you.” His tone was flat, as ususal. Wesley was in an ever perpetual mood of being ‘done’ with everything, especially soldiers like her “First you get your heart rate up to an unreasonable level, then you refuse to answer my calls, and now you’re running from me” His grip on her wrist tightened “I need you to tell me what it is you’re doing and why you are hell bent on avoiding me.”
Hestia let out a low growl. She tried to yank her arm out of his grip. In a swift move, Wes yanked her back, pinning her arm behind her. “Wrong answer. Talk to me.”
A sharp gasp escaped her from the sudden pressure on the limb “Christ Wes, quit twisting my arm!”
“Don’t growl at me.”
God he was close. If she took a half step back she would knock into his chest plate. It had been a while since they had been this close to each other. Is it bad that she liked it? The two of them couldn’t stand one another, yet for some reason Hes’ found herself drawn to him. It only got worse after she defected from Luna and joined Fixer. Forced proximity can do that to a person. But Wes has such a stick up his ass that she would rather die than tell him.
“Hestia-”
The sound of him saying her name caused her to visibly shiver
“What are you wearing?”
‘Shit’
And just like that, she locked back up- and he noticed
“We aren’t playing this game again.” He upped the pressure on her arm “What are you wearing on your head”
“Let me go!” She yelled, trying to escape his grasp “That fucking hurts!”
“I know the exact angle and pressure I need to break your arm. If you keep ignoring my questions and squirming I could show you”
The immediate thought of ‘Don’t threaten me with a good time’ was followed by her own self conscious being thankful she was wearing her helmet. If Wesley could see how red her face was… actually she didn’t need to know what he would think. There was a long silence between the two. With a deep sigh, her bright orange shoulder plates sagged as did her helmet. Her gaze focused on the ground and their shadows on the wall.
“‘You promise not to laugh?”
Wesley didn’t say anything. He simply let her go. She watched as his shadow retreated a few steps, giving her the space she needed. Hestia balled her fists at her sides. She really didn’t want to do this. She’d rather go back to Luna than let him see her like this, but what choice did she have?
Slowly, she turned to face him. Her vision stayed glued to the floor as she saw Wes’s boots ease into view. The silence that followed was deafening to the point Hes’s tenitus was louder than her breathing. The seconds that followed felt like minutes. Honestly there was a moment she thought he had a heart attack and died standing up.
Hestia snapped her head up “Say something” she barked “This is awkward”
That seemed to surprise him more than the costume. She could hear him struggle to find the right words- any words really. Was he actually speechless right now? Her helmet tilted to the side as her arms crossed over her chest. Suddenly his helmet snapped back up to meet her gaze.
Hes’ blinked “Were you looking at my chest?”
“No” he answered immediately, as if anticipating the question.
She squinted “I know this is armor, but it really doesn’t leave much to the imagination, Doc”
The two stared at each other after that. What was he thinking? Did he really think she wouldn’t notice, or was he actually not looking at the chest area of her armor? Hestia put her hands on her hips. She was fine with awkward silences between the two of them, but this had been long enough.
“Can I go?”
“Go where? If I’m not mistaken you were running into my med bay”
She rolled her eyes “To get the acetone to get this shit off”
“And how exactly did this lovely outfit get glued to your armor?”
It was fine before but she could hear it now. Was he- was Wes enjoying this? She wasn’t mistaken. Hestia knew the sound of him smiling from hearing him talk to Lilly. Maybe he was just amused with how worked up she was from all of this.
“Duke…” She grit her teeth. As mad as she was at Lilly right now, she wasn’t about to throw her under the bus. “He tricked me and glued this onto my armor”
“Hmm” Wesley raised a hand to cup the chin of his helmet. “That was a pretty cruel trick, even if it is Halloween.”
Every minute they wasted going back and forth, the more aware Hestia became as to the time. Crash and Pops could be back any moment. It was enough knowing half the team had seen her in this ridiculous outfit, but she could do without the other half doing the same. “Can we wrap this up? Just let me get the acetone and I’ll leave”
“I’m sorry-” His tone shifted to something more serious. He took a step forward, crowding Hestia enough to get her to back against the wall. Earlier she had thought they were close, but this was uncharted territory “-do you think I’m going to allow you to be unsupervised with a flammable substance?”
Her entire body shuddered. ‘Kill me’ she mouthed to herself. Hes’ opened her eyes, taking it all in. His helmet was so close she swore she could see his tired eyes though the chrome of his visor. Those dark brown eyes with two prominent bags from endless nights of paperwork and regular medical duties.
“Then-“ Her voice sounded too loud now. She hesitated to continue, but then an idea crossed her mind.
Wes looked down for a moment.
[Private Communication Accepted]
“You were saying?”
Wesley’s voice being piped directly into her ears was an entirely new experience.
Shakily, she proposed an idea. “Then why not keep me for observation to make sure I use it properly?” Rarely does one get to hear Hestia talking at a normal volume, Wesley especially. It felt more like a whisper coming from her.
The medic started to mull the idea over in his head. She could hear him hum in thought as he raked his eyes over her armor. Slowly his hand reached out to touch the bodice “May I?”
Every hair stood on end. “Sure.” Her response was as shaky as the last. Hestia rested her body against the wall. If she didn’t she would probably fall over from shock.
Wesley ran his fingers over the article. Even with his gloves on he could feel how rigid it was as opposed to the skirt, but just in case… his free hand moved down to rub the loose fabric. The hand on the bodice trailed it’s fingers from the middle to the sides where it had been cut. Hestia could only imagine what it would feel like if she wasn’t wearing armor under the costume.
“I could authorize you to use the acetone in the relative safety of the medical office- however I believe this is going to be more difficult than anticipated”
“Wh-What are you talking about?” Hestia’s eyes widened. ‘Difficult?’
Wes gently knocked on the hardened top glued to her chest plate “That idiot soaked this thing in whatever adhesive he decided to use and not all glues are made equal” Wes started to play with the edge of the fabric, picking and tugging at the corner “While I could allow you to do this yourself, there is the chance you could end up melting the costume to your suit”
He gripped the bottom of the top, pulling her in a little closer. A sound of surprise escaped her lips as her hands quickly grabbed onto his arms to keep herself from crashing against Wesley’s armor
“I’m going to have to help you get out of this thing. Is that alright?”
Hestia was a mess. For once she was speechless. She quietly nodded, unable to think of anything she could say without sounding like a fool.
“Good” She could hear his smile again. Wes released his grip on her top, instead moving his hand to rest on her lower back as he guided her through the threshold of the med bay
“This way, nurse.”