Chapter Text
Tired, exhausted, mindless.
Rudo knows the situation is deeper than that, it's not just fatigue— But he can't find the correct words to describe it, he knows it's a strained feeling. A draining sensation of burnout, coating his entire body in a goopy, molasses-like sludge he can't see to wash off, following him around like a shadow. However his predicament is unwarranted, he's done nothing to deserve such a weary body.
He hasn't done anything even near challenging in the past months he's been with the cleaners. Unless eating rice, training twice a week, and taking showers are now considered demanding tasks, then yes, he should be glued to his bed.
There's not a single drop of motivation within him, all of his limbs have been sapped of the feeling, now all that's left are limp, jelly arms that feel like fat bags of flour every time he tries to move them.
The feeling isn't new, it's been stalking him for a while now, gradually enveloping more and more of his body in its sticky grasp. For some reason, his wondrous trip to the ground somehow made it worse. Is it boredom? Homesickness?
Whatever this feeling is, he wants it gone, completely eradicated from his body. Because he desperately needs that motivation that was squeezed dry in him, a good pep in his step for his first upcoming mission in a while.
His last mission ended in him completely embarrassing himself. Rudo fell into a pit of… Something. Something so absolutely repulsive, that getting a simple whiff of it would stunt and burn your nose for the next week— Riyo and Enjin are still recovering. Unfortunately, Rudo had to sit on top of the car when they drove back.
August and some of the other cleaners tried everything in their cleaner arsenal to do what they do best, clean. But after maybe 15 rounds in the washing machine the smelly stench persisted, and they had to get a new washing machine.
In the end they all opted to just burn it. Due to Rudo’s preference towards supporter uniforms, and no extras of his suits available, everyone agreed on his blue sweater and Sphereite sweats he still owns along with a backpack of tools and kits.
The car ride to another city Rudo had never heard of before was boring. In the air there was nothing but audible sighs and snores, and then the occasional awkward cough. Too Lily’s newest hit played on the radio, but the volume wasn't high enough to be properly enjoyed.
The cleaners were missing their enthusiastic flare, their loquacious lunatic— Their hypeman. From the driver's seat, an eerie aura of quiet infected the others. Enjin kept to himself that entire car ride, not even making attempts at small talk with Gris, or trying annoying little quips at Zanka.
It was uncanny seeing Enjin harbor such a silence, and not his usual obnoxious and extroverted traits. Though on the bright side, his reclusiveness allowed everybody to relax before their mission.
Follo fell asleep, an insane feat considering Enjin’s serenity did not hinder his driving capabilities in any way, he still drove like a crazed maniac. Zanka, inspired by Enjin’s manner, withdrew from everyone else in the car. Rudo did the same. Gris tried his hardest to spark up an entertaining conversation with Enjin, but all Enjin could return was tasteless mutters.
Semiu gave them a debrief before they set off for the town. According to her, rumors have spread throughout the town talking about a strange, sneaky trash beast breaking into houses and stealing jewelry. She also alerted them about the sudden hostility in the town due to this trash beast.
The concept of a trash beast stealing jewelry and collectibles is unheard of, so the cleaners have all been warned to keep their guard up.
An hour later, they arrive in town. This town in particular is larger compared to the other towns Rudo has visited. It inhabits tall towering buildings with mazes of alleyways wedged tightly between them. Above them is their even taller dome, completely man made and quite impressive.
The town today is crowded, buzzing with eager people on every road and sidewalk. Every once in a while Rudo awkwardly bumps shoulders and arms with other people. Throughout the quick chatting and loud noises of the town, Rudo tries his hardest to follow Zanka’s and Enjin’s monotone conversation specifically, it's the only way he can track them.
Shortly after, Follo and Gris join the discussion. They chat about their supposed lead on the case. A building with numerous sightings of a “beast” entering inside an abandoned house. Said house is settled in the off-skirts of the town and hard to miss. Follo and Gris then begin to lead them through the overwhelming tsunami of people to this house.
Due to the previous comment on the house’s condition, Rudo was expecting some grand, architecturally perfect— Or at least eye-catching building.
Instead, he's introduced to the equivalent of a patched up, and soggy cardboard box. Newspapers and boards are stuck onto the windows, blocking any sort of sunlight from entering. On the exterior, the paint job is sloppy, and stripped. The whole two stories of the house is slowly being eaten by overgrown moss.
Enjin and Rudo curiously forge ahead of the rest, they walk up to the driveway and inspect the boards nailed to the windows. Rudo then heads towards the door, where he twists open the doorknob. Enjin impatiently leans over him, examining the interior of the house. He turns on the light switch and utters a low, “Wow,” above him.
Wow.
The exterior of the house was just a simple ruse, if Rudo had to guess it was probably some cheap trick to keep people off their lawn. Surprisingly, the interior is actually, grand and architecturally perfect. Its complex, everything is gilded with intricate designs etched throughout.
Glittery, and eccentric chandeliers adorn the ceiling. Gold accented furniture made with premium wood and marble in every corner. Both Enjin and Rudo step inside, amazed by this house’s secrets. He might just have to take a few things from here.
The door slams.
They should’ve known it was too good to be true— Some abandoned house in the outskirts of the town, somehow a Sphereite level of rich and fancy? The loud snap of the door makes the two of them snap around. Enjin struts over to the shut door then fiddles frustratingly with the handle. Enjin soon realizes that no amount of twisting or pulling will unjam the door, so he resorts to ramming into it with his shoulder.
On the other side of the door, Rudo can make out the worried murmurs of Follo, Gris and Zanka as they combine their efforts into opening the door from their side. Enjin steps aside, rubbing his shoulder with a frustrated mumble when Gris and Follo’s efforts do nothing to this door.
“Move.” Enjin warns, he takes a few steps back from the door and unlatches Umbreaker from his belt. He points Umbreaker at that dreaded door and promptly alters it to its weapon mode with flashy flares of yellow. Enjin thrusts his arm, drilling the tip straight into the polished wood.
One would think that with the insane amount of billowing air, and the ear splitting whir of wood against the metal of Umbreaker, that the door would have been shredded in seconds. Quite the opposite. Enjin withdraws Umbreaker, revealing an untouched, and still cleanly polished door. Not a single scratch or indent was made. Enjin huffs, more surprised than frustrated.
“Rudo, try and find a way out!” Gris bangs on the door.
Yes… Motivation! He's feeling the motivation coursing through his veins! So energetic!
Rudo leans on the side of the unbreakable door for a few minutes, he takes a long and deep sigh. He soon figures out Enjin has completely abandoned him. He peels himself off the door and chases after him.
The house is giant, white walls adorned with rich decoration. Everything is white except for some wooden furniture and plants. The house shows no signs of life but still is kept in tip top condition. He wonders if it's actually abandoned, so if this house is actually owned, then by who?
“Hey, quit chasing me around, check up the stairs,” Enjin groans, shooing away Rudo with a flick of his hand. The suggestion confuses Rudo. Teamwork, isn't that important? It's awful to split up in situations like this. Sure there's no threat now, but that could change in an instant. Rudo glances back at the stairs leading up to the second floor.
“Upstairs, little man,” Enjin mumbles while he checks drawers. Out of one of them, he retrieves a crumpled piece of paper. He tosses it up and down with a tired sigh.
“…You sure?” Rudo tilts his head. Maybe he didn't hear him right.
“Yes, I am sure.” Enjim stashes the paper in his jacket pocket, and checks the empty fridge.
“I don't think we should split up,” Rudo squeaks.
“Rudo.”
Yeah, screw Rudo for trying to get his opinion in— Stupid… Fucking… Sass—turd face… Fine, didnt even wanna be with Enjin anyway.
He marches up the stairway, dragging the ends of his gloves along the polished railing. He doesn't need to feel it with the tips of his fingers to know it's smooth. Rudo copies Enjin’s methods, he takes his time to search through every drawer or search underneath beds. Every room shares the same layout, the same gold accents and no clues. There's too many rooms, what do you even do in a house this big?
Rudo twists another door open, it has a completely new layout than the other ones. Its cabinets are stocked with coloring books, crayons and in the middle of the room is a crumpled piece of paper.
He pockets it, then searches the room again but the room seems to hide nothing else important. He decides to return to Enjin, he retraces his steps to the stairs and while he’s walking down he spots Enjin sitting down on a posh couch smoking a cigarette.
Rudo seats himself next to Enjin, he reaches for the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket and places it on the highly detailed coffee table in front of them. Enjin stretches a hand out, straightening the bent paper. He then lends over his own piece, the one he found in the cabinet.
On Rudo’s paper, the letters I, D and I are drawn. On Enjin’s, there's 3 more: O, T, and S. Enjin sets them next to each other, and altogether it spells out one word. It makes him squint, he looks offended.
Idiots.
A door beneath the staircase is flung outward, the doorway shoots out a puff of pink smoke. A female voice echoes from inside the doorway, as more smoke plumes out coating the ground. Rudo snaps up, fists balled up ready to block or punch.
“Bitch!” The voice booms, her foul language makes Enjin finally sit up.
She gasps, “Why… Why are you street rats… You bums! You worms! Why are you on my beautiful mansion, on my beautiful couch?” The brim of her hat is the first to emerge from within the smoke, with an assortment of red white and black feathers bundled on the top. It all sat on a head of straight blond hair similar to Tamsy about to her chest.
She's wearing an expertly tailored tan suit with a red tie to compliment the dramatic red lipstick she has on her giant duck lips— But what does Rudo know about fashion or compliments?
“I, the sexy, and also quite persuasive Carmine will—“what Rudo presumes is an empty threat by the one and only Carmine, is swiftly interrupted by the shattering of glass nearby. She shifts her attention from Enjin and Rudo to Gris and Follo on the first floor, both of them look a total mess.
Enjin swiftly unlatches Umbreaker, preparing to jab the mysterious woman in her stomach in order to take her out. A desperate and breathy voice halts his movement, he searches for the voice. Follo has a black eye, and is clinging to the railing of the stairs. He's heaving, his chest moves rapidly. He takes a moment to catch his breath, then yells out, "Don't get too close! She’ll kiss you!”
A door is cracked down, completely demolished by Gris. Deadly fractured splinters fly in Follo’s direction, and he's just barely able to escape all the damage. He scrambles down the stairs and rushes towards Enjin.
“My secret!” An inhuman- like squeal comes from Carmine, and she dashes back into the door she popped out from.
“Her kisses! They control you!” Follo is at Enjin’s side. The two of them keep their eyes trained on Gris as he stomps down the stairs. His uniform is dusty and disturbed along with his hair. His hat is nowhere to be found and on his cheek is a giant lip stain. One can only wonder where he got that kiss from.
“Shes the robber! There's no trash beast— Gah I should’ve known!” Follo mentally beats himself up while Enjin growls something fierce.
“Go,” Enjin mutters. He ushers Rudo towards the doorway that Carmine made her grand entrance out of. Just the tiniest sliver of hesitation by Rudo, compels an impatient Enjin to toss him by the hood of his uniform through the doorway. Rudo doesn't even have time to scoff, or scowl.
Rudo almost falls straight on his face—if he did, he would have never forgiven Enjin, but he didn't. He catches his footing at the last second, a pile of dust flies in the air after his success.
Carmine’s house is just one big maze of mystery and confusion, because Rudo seems to be in a dimly lit cave right now. The cave is wide with rugged walls, along with sandy gravel trails running across the bottom. On the top are dingy lanterns, their light begins to fade as the cave goes on. Indestructible doors, expensive furniture, and a cave that appears to go on forever? Who the hell is this woman?
The clacking of Carmine's heels bounced off the cave walls, she couldn't have gotten far in those. But then new steps join hers.
They’re not the recent click of towering stilettos, but rather strangely familiar and light ones. They’re quicker, airy and nearing Rudo way too fast. He recognizes this pattern, to whom these steps belong— it's the same footwork he hears while he's sparring.
Rudo twists, raising his arms to guard his face. He gets halfway around before he gets a strike of pure blistering rage and unalloyed metal straight into his face. He's flung into the rocky walls like some pathetic house fly, and left gasping desperately for the air that was just knocked out of him.
This shithead, can't he just mind his business for ten minutes? He needs to catch Carmine.
“Ya big baby, get up,” Zanka seethes. He repositions Assitaff so that she's protecting his front. On Zanka’s cheek one of Carmine's humongous signature kisses. His posture reads confidence and anger, with just a dash of stuck-upness, but then again, when has it not been that way? It just seems his bitchy attitude has been multiplied by 20.
Zanka appears ready for any sort of upcoming attack by Rudo, but Rudo is still trying to unstuck himself from the wall. He uses the rocky wall behind him as a crutch, and barely stands on wobbly legs.
He hasn't got the time for this, Carmine is probably long gone now. Enjin is counting on him, is he really gonna let Enjin down just because Zanka is standing in his way? Hell no!
He needs something that could snap him out of Carmine’s control: Something painful to possibly snap him out of her persuasion, a tool to incapacitate him for the time being, or something to constrain him to buy him enough time to take carmine out. His plans sound easy, but it's Zanka he's dealing with, he never makes shit easy.
Rudo extends a gloved hand towards his backpack, he retrieves a beheaded stuffed bear. He obtained it while at Alice’s for a checkup on his hands. She told Rudo all about this brat who had her arm torn up by this rabid dog along with her stuffed bear. She had just thrown it away without a second thought, and Alice suggested he might like the little thing.
Rudo settles for a crouch, swiftly he clutches a mix of sand and gravel beneath him and hurls it at Zanka’s face. His reaction is priceless.
He stumbles backwards with a violent wince, bawling out curses as he tries rubbing the sand out of his eyes. Zanka searches mindlessly for Rudo, pointing Assitaff at wherever he thinks Rudo is.
“You dumb fuck!” Zanka squeals, high pitched and offended. His sight is still stunted by the sand, and he thrashes Lovely Assitaff in the air in front of him. Rudo tightens his grip on the teddy bear's leg. Poor thing, brat probably threw him away so quickly. Flashes of red envelop the two and the bear begins to shift.
“Resorting to… Cheap tricks! Asshole!” Zanka whines. His eyes begin to flutter, Rudo can tell he’s beginning to regain his lost sight. Zanka’s Squinted, red and irritated eyes scan the cave for Rudo.
A menacing grizzly bear grows to about Rudo’s shoulder, still headless, but honestly Rudo believes he's cooler this way. The bear cracks his knuckles, anticipating his inevitable brawl with Zanka. The bear doesn't need a face to convey his emotions, Rudo can already tell by his warm ups that he's buzzing to fight Zanka.
Rudo doesn't even have to give an order, the bear leaps, pouncing on Zanka and locking him in a tight bear hug. Hopefully it's enough time to finish this whole problem. Zanka writhes around like some worm in the bear’s constricting clutches, he spews weak insults in his direction.
Most of Zanka’s insults fly right over Rudo’s shoulder, mainly because they’re incomprehensible screams of rage, but one of them— a cohesive one— jams straight into his heart.
“Face me you pathethic fucking baby!”
That.. wasn't weak.
He can easily shrug off any sort of critique or insult Zanka throws his way, he's had way worse hurled at him up in the sphere anyway. But this one in particular resonates with him, somewhere deep in his stomach— Actually, this one is on par with the disrespect he's dealt with…
…What the hell is he saying? Is he really saying that Zanka— Zanka of all people!— Made him this mopey? Zanka’s a dweeb! an annoying shit talker! Like he mentioned before! His unnecessary comments are nothing he cant just shrug off!
“Zanka shut up!” Rudo’s urge to kick Zanka is soothed when his bear pal senses his rage and hugs him even tighter. Zanka lets out another frustrated squeal, and continues to thrash around like a cockroach.
Rudo wishes he could stay and watch him struggle but he has better things to do. He needs to capture Carmine, make her pay for attacking the cleaners, for stealing everybody's riches, and to show that he's reliable, for Enjin.
Something strange causes Rudo to slow down his jog just a bit. Although barely noticeable at first, the lights of the cave begin to dim as it goes on. At the very far end of the cave Rudo is met with total darkness. During his sprint Rudo gazes upwards at the lamps up top, they flicker and buzz weakly. Rudo doesn't like to fight in the dark, he's worried he might have to.
Unfortunately in the second it took him to look up and analyze the lamps, he got slugged in the face. Just how many injuries is his face gonna take?
Fortunately this punch isn't as bad as Zanka’s Assistaff. Calloused knuckles bruise his other cheek, rapid and aggressive. The soles of his shoes drag more dust with him as he skids along the floor. He recovers quickly however, finding his footing, he cocks up his fists to his face to block another suspected jab.
There's nobody there.
At first Rudo thought it was Carmine’s fist that just knocked him over, but when he lowered his guard for a second, Carmine was about 12 feet away from him. She's not a fast person, Rudo knows because of her heels and that he's caught up to her in a matter of seconds. So who punched him?
Carmine laughs at Rudo’s confusion, a screechy and obnoxious noise. Rudo can't wait to get his revenge.
Theres a patter.
Rudo catches the beat of footsteps on the dirt just like Zanka’s, and for a second there he is absolutely terrified that it is Zanka and that he's come back to feed Rudo a flurry of rage filled attacks. But these steps are even lighter than Zanka’s, almost like droplets of rain.
Telling footsteps apart is a skill he mastered while stealing from the townsfolk. During his trash hauls it was important to differentiate confident apostle footsteps from your lesser, average citizen ones.
It helps that the area isn't pitch black yet, he can see the imprint of boot soles stamp the dirt and just the faintest amount of dust is being kicked up with every step. Yet, there's still nobody in his view, so he concludes that this must be some sort of vital instrument at play, that or he’s meeting with the paranormal for the first time. Sick, Rudo has got to try something like that. Except Rudo doesn't prefer the stealthy approach.
The imprints in the dirt are crucial to tracking this mysterious person, it makes it way easier to pinpoint their location. They enjoy their fancy footwork, and seem to be taking their sweet time looking for an opportunity to strike again. The steps move in, getting louder and faster with each second. He’ll play it risky, why not? At the last second, Rudo ducks to the side.
A whoosh of strong wind flies by his ear, hopefully that means he successfully dodged another one of those rough punches. But with another sturdy gust, Rudo gets a kick of a hard boot to his stomach. The mysterious person digs the rough sole of their worn boot into his tummy, drawing out a clenched grunt from Rudo. The footsteps retreat half as fast, then come to a complete stop.
Glowsticks.
On the sphere they were a decent light source, cheap, fair amount of light. The only problem is that they died too quickly, and only came in green. Rudo has always had this deep curiosity inside of him for glowsticks, but he never had the heart to dissect one and learn about its puzzling contents.
It was only when Riyo had invited him to some ground party that he truly figured out what glowsticks were, and how they tasted (bitter, and burning). They’re made of glass, fluorescent dye, and some other strange chemical compounds.
Luckily for Rudo, he has a faulty pack of them in his backpack.
It's a long shot, but if Rudo is able to use the faded glowsticks he has in his bag to its fullest potential, he might be able to flick said fluorescent fluid at Carmine's invisible partner to mark their location. It’ll be much easier to track her and Rudo won't have to rely on their faint steps and imprints. Then, he can beat their ass.
He brushes it off, it's just a dirty boot. Sure it hurts but there's no time for pain right now and he's got a plan cooked up in his brain, Rudo just needs them to get close again. Rudo feels for a singular broken glowstick in his pocket, as he stands up again.
Carmine’s partner seems to be craftier than Rudo expected. They learned from their previous mistakes of letting Rudo track them by their footsteps and prints. Still, it doesn't matter to Rudo.
3R is activated again with a flash of red, then afterwards a novel shattering crack of the glowstick reverberates through the empty cave.
For about 10 seconds, Rudo cannot see nor hear.
Afterwards, there's a high pitched ring in his ear like a dogwhistle and he feels… Wet. On his upper lip there's the familiar feeling of warm blood trickling down his nose, soon he can taste it on his tongue. Dribbling down his cheeks are what he hopes are tears or sweat and not more blood, those droplets seem a lot colder, probably saltier if he could taste them.
His sight hasn't recovered yet, at least not before his hearing. After the ringing ceases, multiple thrashes and thuds are heard, though they sound like distant echoes in Rudo's ears. Fortunately his eye’s recovery follows right after his hearing, and boy do they sting. They’re dry, he probably cried out all the water he had.
Rudo is drenched in vibrant green. One might call him… Greedo… Green-Rudo…
The neon fluid of the glowstick paints the cave walls, illuminating the entire thing with a vivid, and dramatic green glow. A strange protruding mound sticks out from the rest of Rudo’s new green canvas like a sore thumb. From this mound Rudo hears distressed groans and upset muttered curses.
He staggers towards it, his vision still slightly impaired from the glowstick. He reaches for the mound, and pinches it. With one swoosh he takes off what feels like a piece of flowy fabric. Underneath the neon stained fabric is a woman. She has dark blue hair, and she’s in her pajamas, specifically ones with little moons on them. Rudo got punched by somebody in their pajamas? This is insulting.
She rubs her eyes over and over again. The glowstick probably did more damage to her than Rudo.
“Carmine! Help me!” The woman yelps out, holding a desperate hand in Carmine’s direction. Luckily for Rudo she also caught some of the glowsticks attack, she is stunned on the floor. Rudo releases a relieved sigh, now he just has to fix Zanka or atleast knock her out, that should undo the effects of her vital instrument.
“No… Bitch!” Carmine mumbles from far away, still dazed and covered in glowstick fluid. She's slowly beginning to get up, but Rudo knows he could catch her in an instant.
“Dont leave me like this! After everything we’ve been through you fucking whore!” Carmine's new ex screams at her, she jabs a middle finger in the air towards her voice. Rudo flips the girl on her stomach, and ties her wrists together with zipties. Some sort of rope, ziptie or item to capture someone like this is always supplied in backpacks or pouches, always.
Rudo walks for Carmine who has her back to the ground. Her suit is messy now, covered in dust and gravel. A plus for everyone is that the glowstick had suddenly died, now it's slowly crusting and blowing away Rudo's sweater. Rudo feels her shoulder, he's prepared to flip her around again.
She jolts, an unexpected gesture that makes Rudo flinch as well. She then does a full twist, she's sat up on her bottom.
There was a shiny glint in Rudo’s vision in that split second it took for her to spin, something eye-catching and deadly. Additionally, a harsh swoosh of air. An item had cleaved through the wind. Her echoing boisterous laughter fills the dreadfully quiet caves.
Huh?
He doesn't know what Carmine did, but whatever it was it was enough to make Rudo stumble backwards drunkenly. The pieces start to fall into place when he feels something beneath his sweater bubble and ooze, but he hopes to god it's just the leftover feeling of glowstick making him feel so drenched.
His wishes are denied when his stomach begins to tremble. A slicing, burning feeling ripples through his abdomen.
His eyes steer upwards, till they are met with Carmine's mischievous gaze. Directly above her head, Carmine flaunts an engraved knife, lathered in his blood alongside a shady and iridescent purple goop.
It's okay, perfectly fine.
Rudo steps forward to tackle Carmine. She slashes the air in front of her to create more distance between the two, but she swings too far on a swipe which allows for an opening. Rudo is able to sweep her down to the ground, and kick the knife far away from her hand. He pins her down and swiftly ties her up.
Now, Rudo allows himself to breathe, he's covered in sweat, blood, and dust. A worrying pool of red begins to grow on his sweater. He lifts his sweater, he can't really see it. It wasn't a plunge sort of stab, but a succinct slice.
A medium sized wound stretches across his belly button. The cut filled up quickly with blood, it trickled down towards his pants. But it's not bleeding like a sprinkler or a fountain, which means it's manageable. Rudo falls to his knees on his own accord, he lets his shoulders slump and takes numerous, fulfilling, deep breaths. Rudo’s shoved forward by a powerful force, his chest meets the ground with a thud.
God, what now?
“Dumbass,” Zanka’s rage is fiery, Rudo already feels blisters growing over his skin.
He was an idiot for believing the bear would’ve immobilized Zanka for long— It's Zanka for crying out loud! He's a gifted combative genius.
Rudo rises to a low crouch, deciding he’d rather stay close to the ground than go face to face with Zanka again. It doesn't mean he's not prepared to spring upwards, he's just waiting for Zanka’s next move. Zanka circles him like some sort of murderous vulture, but it's hard to take him that seriously when there are the remnants of his stuffed bear jammed in his every nook and cranny.
“Look at ya on the ground! Gonna get up and do something?” Zanka shifts and Rudo isn't swift enough to protect himself from the spray of dust Zanka kicks into his eyes. Rudo’s whole face cringes, he fights the urge to start rolling around like a crazy person. The burning sensation of sand meeting his innocent eyeballs makes him screech. Zanka huffs at Rudo’s distressed grunts.
“Fucking useless,” Zanka mumbles, then spits. His crass comment makes Rudo furious. Rudo is sheltering enough frustration to crack through multiple concrete walls. Who does this stuck up asshole think he is? And why the hell does Carmine’s power make him so mean?
“Zanka, just snap out of it already!” Rudo pleads, almost desperately which was not the intended response he was hoping for. He hates how pathetic he feels in this situation— Eyes covered in sand, as he's wriggling around on the ground. Maybe Zanka was right, maybe he's just some useless bug.
“All you’re good for is just complaining! I don't want some useless leech infiltrating my HQ!” Zanka takes a step forward towards Rudo, then uses the back end of Assitaff to jab him in his stomach, right above his open wound.
Rudo wants to beat Zanka into the ground right there and then.
A match is lit, and held directly under his bleeding wound. He can feel the endless fire, ripping through him and searing his skin. He breathes fast, although interrupted by panicked hitches, Rudo has to hold his breath in order to deal with most of the damage.
“Zanka shut up!” He cries— Rudo cant tell if its the excess sand irritating his eyes, or if he is genuinely crying. All he knows is that he's beyond frustrated, and wants to throw a fit. Rudo’s shaky hand reaches for his bag of trash, he pulls out his final object. A clogged spray bottle.
“All you talk about is your problems,” Zanka hisses.
He spins the bottle in his grasp with a red flash, he copies the movement he memorized from the apostles and their guns. The newly upgraded bottle is pointed directly at Zanka’s furrowed face as his gloved index hovers over the trigger. Down his nose blood spews violently, dripping down his chin like a leaky faucet.
“You are trash! Trash that should’ve been thrown out months ago!” Zanka yells, twisting Assistaff above him.
Rudo winces intensely, so much so that his index presses down on the trigger. In a moment the spray bottle releases all of its mysterious contents in Zanka’s direction, with the force of a raging waterfall. The two of them are thrown to opposite sides of the cave wall, Zanka forced to bear the watery wrath of Rudo’s spray bottle, and Rudo who was also pushed far back by the bottle’s strength.
After a moment, the water flow softens, and all that's left is a passed out and soaked Zanka. He's passed out completely, and the lip mark has been washed off. Rudo drops to the ground as he leans against the wall with a grumbled sigh.
Rudo sucks in another breath, looking to buy back the air he spent during their fight, but his stomach disagrees strongly with the action. Rudo winces, and remembers that he's actively bleeding. He guesses the feeling was camouflaged by his spiked adrenaline. Rudo treads slowly over to Zanka, unwillingly.
He sways above him, pawing at Zanka’s buttoned pouches. He searches for the emergency medkit Zanka always bragged about having, he discovers the kit in one of his pockets. Ideally, it should be something good enough to help with Rudo’s situation. Rudo peels off his dirty sweater.
Hopefully, Zanka would be the last roadblock in his way. Now that he's free of danger, and working on an almost clear head, he reinspects his wound. It was bleeding, matter of fact it flowed all the way down to his pants— But it's a total paper cut compared to the other injuries he's seen the cleaners receive. Plus, the wound doesn't exactly feel deep, though he doesn't know if he should fully trust his own judgement since all he can feel is an overbearing warmth hugging his gash. That along with all the pulsing bruises painted over his body— courtesy of Zanka.
Rudo wants to dig a six foot hole and burrow in it forever. Zanka’s distasteful insults still linger fresh in his brain. He's trying his best to swallow it, shrug it off but he can't. He heard very clearly what Zanka said to him, he got sand in his eyes not his ears.
Zanka’s malicious diction and tone struck a nerve within him— He's heard those familiar words and attitudes all before. Rudo’s thrown back, back when he had those itchy ropes pulling his wrists, and then their abrupt snap. All their screams, their pleas to send Rudo down into the pitt.
Rudo grasps his chest, right above his heart. He can finally feel it beginning to slow now that his fight is over. He doesn't know whether he wants to punch Zanka, or join his slumber, slump onto his unconscious body and give up.
Instead he retrieves the bandages from Zanka’s medkit. Based on his cloudy judgement, and the occasional life lesson by Eishia, he concludes he won't need stitches— Maybe just some rest and a day’s worth of healing and he’ll be just fine!
The bandages are low quality, Rudo could compare these to literal sandpaper. He's spent enough time around bandages to know but he's in no shape to complain.
The bandages are low quality, Rudo has spent enough time around bandages to know. They’re scratchy, comparable to literal sandpaper, but Rudo is in no shape to complain right now. He won't pass out and have Enjin and Follo carry him, just because his bandages don't feel good.
They seem to be low quality, scratchy even. If Rudo was a
He questions whilst wrapping the bandage around his torso numerous times, though every wrap around his wound elicits a pained hiss from Rudo. It's not a pleasant experience.
Rudo shoves a few emergency tissues up his nostrils to prevent more bleeding, then mentally prepares himself for the hell that is “standing up,” He can already feel the strain in his legs and he hasn't even made any effort to move them at all. Heavy footsteps enter the cave, Rudo gets terrified for a second but he then realizes. It's just Gris.
He jogs over to the two, wearing a worried expression on his face as he crouches over Zanka. On his cheek is a smudged lip stain. Enjin follows behind using Umbreaker as a cane, Follo is slung carefully over his shoulder.
“He hurt badly?” Gris inspects Zanka, feeling his limbs and checking around his face.
“No— I mean maybe, I sprayed a lot of water at him and he knocked out afterwards…” Rudo leans into the rock behind him.
“Carmine is tied up, I got her partner as well.” Rudo continues. He points down the cave, Gris holds his bruised shoulder but he's still making sure Zanka is fine. Then Gris turns over to Rudo.
“God! Kid are you okay?” Gris gasps, he grabs Rudo’s face and begins to inspect it like he did Zanka. Gris looks absolutely terrified.
Rudo holds his breath, he's unsure of what to say. If he were to tell Gris he would snatch him up and carry him back with Zanka, he doesn't want Gris to carry more weight than he has to. Also, he’d want to patch Rudo up right away and use more materials on Rudo when he could be using them on his teammates who actually need them like Zanka or Follo— The more important players of the team. Plus, he's already done Gris’s work for him, he's bandaged the wound so he's perfectly fine now no need for complaining.
He opens his dry mouth before swallowing, then he slowly croaks out a lie he thought of right now, "I'm fine, it's just the blood from my nose. I just got some bruises, that's it.”
It feels wrong to lie, especially to Gris of all people but Rudo was fully expecting Gris to see right through his facade, roll his eyes then tell him to lift his shirt. But he replies with a reassuring grumble then hoists Zanka up in the air. Did…Did he just get away with this?
“Good, can you stand?” Gris asks, he's walking out the cave already with Enjin.
“Yeah,” Rudo rasps. He stands up, ignoring the ache in his body.
“We can tell some of the townspeople to pick up Carmine and her partner, let's get out of here,” Gris sighs.
Rudo stifles an exhilarated giggle. On top he would’ve never gotten away with it, Regto would’ve seen right through him!
———
Rudo doesn't feel like giggling anymore.
He might’ve passed out on the car drive back to HQ, that's probably why the trip felt so short. Luckily, all Rudo had to do was go to Eisha for some pain medication and that was it. Now he's chilling in the cafeteria. Perfectly, fine…
Though his tiredness persists, this time with a good reason. Rudo can't help it, the way his eyes begin to droop, eyelids weighed down by the persuasive effects of boredom and pure exhaustion. Neither can he help the way he catches himself embarrassingly drooling every time he closes his eyes. He's fighting sleep right now and losing miserably. But he's resisting an even stronger force, a powerful urge. The desire to let sleep tuck him into bed and take a much needed nap right on Gris’s shoulder which is just inches away from his cheek.
His battle with sleep upsets his stomach, Rudo does his best to hide his wince.
His pain is tolerable, his wound has soothed to a bearable and calm throb. That doesn't mean it gets uncomfortable to deal with sometimes, throughout the day he's had these erratic little ambushes of pain attack him. His skin is littered with bruises, matter of fact, there's a giant one where Zanka hit him on the cheek. But it's nothing he can't handle, he's got this whole situation under control, no need to worry Eisha.
He hasn't been able to rid himself of that strange autopilot-zombie haze he's been feeling. His battle this morning multiplied this feeling by like 10 times. Everything is just so splotty and smudgy, like cotton being stuffed into his brain. However it doesn't fully stop him from catching a few words from the conversation beside him.
“Doing better atleast?” Gris asks Enjin beside him, he provides Enjin with a warm smile and then places a hand on his shoulder. Enjin takes a decent chomp out of his burger then replies with food stuffed mouth.
“Better than before,” Enjin answers. The corners of his mouth turn, he's trying to smirk. Enjin probably shares the same level of exhaustion Rudo has if he can't even smirk.
“Follo!” Gris’s sudden excitement jolts Rudo awake. Groggily, Rudo looks for Follo and finds him easily. He's smiling and rubbing his shoulder, on his face he has a bandage. He walks over to sit by Enjin who tosses him the rest of his burger.
Unfortunately Rudo has seemed to sprout some sort of headache. Follo, Gris and Enjin are all conversing about Follo’s injuries and how tough Gris is. It's getting a bit too rowdy for Rudo’s sensitive brain… On cue their conversation slows, Gris says something to Follo he doesn't know but it was deep. It was deep,calming, and very sincere.
“All you talk about is your problems.” Zanka’s unwelcome words flash in his mind.
He frowns. He taps his foot impatiently, and grumbles. He said he wouldn't let Zanka’s stupid comments get to him, but it's a pain in the ass to ignore the weight those crappy words force onto his heart. He wont admit it to anybody, but those words affect him, deeply, and he fucking hates it. But it's not how any of them actually feel right? Zanka doesn't truly believe he's nothing but a leech… And he doesn't complain that much! C'mon! Psh— The cleaners don't secretly hate him! That's crazy talk!
…Do they?
Follo’s voice halts his train of thought, he hasn't been paying attention to their conversation, "Don't say that!” Follo shelters his red tomato face with his hands.
Rudo decides he’ll let exhaustion take him, he's been longing for his bed ever since morning. Rudo is not quick to his feet, and there's a slight sway when he begins to walk away from the group.
“What? It's true! C'mon kid.” Gris barks a heart laugh, he tries to peel Follo's hands from his face.
Rudo couldn't imagine the cleaners secretly hiding their hatred for Rudo’s guts, because that would mean Gris and Enjin hate him, and that's almost impossible to believe— They’re all good friends right? Rudo’s not delusional? The thought of Gris or Enjin hating him is one he doesn't even want to ponder about.
“Where ya going?” Enjin interrogates.
“Bathroom.” Rudo’s shoulders tense. He begs Enjin not to catch the hesitance or strain in his voice. “Gotta go pee.”
Enjin is quiet for a bit, which adds onto Rudo’s growing anxiety. Then he shrugs and returns to his conversation.
Rudo marches down the hall quicker, the way his throat tightens and his eyes get a little misty encourages him to get to the comfort of his room faster. He doesn't want anyone to see him like this.
When Rudo finally enters his room, he expects a breath of fresh air and a time to finally calm down— He can finally rest and get rid of his healthy facade. But he never gets that breath of air. His lungs feel the same, dissatisfied and hungry, constantly being starved by his developing unease.
Zanka was right. He is a leech.
But he can do better, he can be better. He can prove to the cleaners he's worth keeping around. He needs to prove himself, prove that he's not some pathetic baby that cries because he got insulted a few times. Prove that he is a mature, and strong man, that he is perfectly capable on his own.
Though despite Rudo’s hope for dependability, his heart thrums painfully for some sort of comfort. It miserably cries for somebody to fix his stomach up, and give him a warm bear hug. His mind instantly goes to Regto, and his familiar affection. He wants Regto to tell him it’ll all be okay, that he’ll fix him up and hold him close to his chest.
But he doesn't want it, he can't want it—because he needs to grow up already he's not a baby anymore.
Rudo struggles to sleep that night.