Grunt Work

And Kiss

The base was so quiet.

The corridors were empty of roaming guards.

The daily briefings were brief and consisted mostly of me talking to myself, because what little other guards were there just didn't turn up.

The cafeteria had pretty much no queues - which was a good thing because then I had all that food to myself. I'm pretty sure I ate enough food for two of me. I tried asking Alice if that was possible, but she didn't seem to understand me. I ate her share too.

It had been a week since the others had gone off on their Vegas trip, and I'd heard nothing about them. Apparently there were some fights, but the news was hazy since they could only get far away shots and the US military wasn't really saying much, just moving people out of the way. Our guys made good progress though, but it looked like they had a bit of an issue getting sidetracked. The Kaptain posted nearly a hundred pics of his stay at the Grand Canyon on his Instagram, and had posted a story about his wanting to go to Chihuaha in Mexico, mainly because he liked chihuahas. Immediately after his posting that I saw a story on Winnie's Instagram saying that they were definitely not, under any circumstance, going anywhere south of the US-Mexico border, and that they were not even remotely considering trespassing into Hiéroe's territory.

It was nice of them to post updates; it made me still feel a part of the war effort, even if I couldn't be there, myself. But not gonna lie, it was still a pretty empty and lonely place. I rarely even saw the rest of the Beastie Boys. I constantly found myself wandering through empty hallways, just hoping to bump into someone.

'Wheeeeee!' said a voice from around the corner, and a moment later I saw Theo shoot past me on a hoverboard, followed quickly by Katya and Manish, who were neck and neck, with Johnnie following up in the back. Theo disappeared around a corner and I heard a crash.

'Sucks for you!' I heard Manish yell.'

I rushed after them, but by the time I got there Theo had already got back on his board and was chasing after the others. There was no way I could keep up, and had no idea where they were going, so decided to head to Mr Huggles' pool.

When I got there, though, there was someone already there.

They wore a trenchcoat that hid made them look only vaguely human, and at first I thought it was Billy come to check up on me, until I noticed their long jet black hair.

'Paula!' I yelled excitedly and rushed over to her. She turned and smiled at me, though it wasn't her usual bright smile. It was sad. 'What's wrong?' I asked her.

She didn't say anything, just sat down on the edge of the pool and dipped her hand in, making little waves until a tentacle popped out from the deeps. She held it in her hand. I sat down next to her. 'What's wrong?' I asked again. 'How come you're not with the election force?'

She took a deep breath. 'I've come to say goodbye.'

I felt myself sag, my chest hollowing out. 'Oh.'

'It's not you,' she said quickly. 'I really liked our date. 'It's me. It's this place. It's - well, it's my job.'

'Are you going to join the Kaptain in America?'

'Not exactly.'

'I don't understand.'

'My,' she paused, looking above her as if the words were in a speech bubble above her, and she was reading them. 'I've finished my work here - or rather, I'm about to. And then I'll be transferred out.'

'Oh.'

'Mhmm,' she said, then stood. I stood and faced her. I couldn't look at her in the face. 'Come with me.'

'What do you mean? Come with you where?'

'Just away. Not here. Anywhere but here.'

'But I have a job here. Friends. And I would need to serve my two weeks' notice.'

'You can just leave,' she said forcefully. 'Just walk out. They can't stop you. There's no one here, after all.'

I bit my lip and looked to the pool. 'I can't leave Mr Huggles. He'd be sad without me.'

She looked down at her hand, at the tentacle wrapped around her wrist. She patted it softly and it disappeared beneath the water. She reached up with her other hand and cupped my cheek, then leaned up and kissed my other. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered, but only a little. It was still too heavy. 'I'm sorry. I don't know when we'll see each other again. I hope we do. I hope... it's in good circumstances. It would be nice to have another date. But I have to go. Do me a favour?'

I nodded.

'Stay here and keep your head down. Whatever happens, just stay here.'

I nodded.

She leaned up and kissed my cheek again. 'Goodbye.'

I stayed there and kept my head down so that I could hide my tears, if anyone came looking. No one did, and the only one to see them was Mr Huggles.

And then, the klaxon sounded out. Red alarm lights blinked, and a voice called out over the base-wide intercom:

'The Thunderbird has escaped! Repeat, the Thunderbird has esca-'