Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Love [Complete]

[z-May Allman]

"You knew? You don't fuckin' know me, Kincaid." Ronnie's expression was wrathful. "You didn't know, you assumed. I've worked for this place long enough to know how to jump through hoops and play their games. I could have done their little dog and pony show-" A medic startled to giggle and quickly stifled it. Nonplussed, Ronnie went on, "If you still have a job, and if we're still partners after this, treat me like partner instead of a gimped retard."

I like him. Don't like the not telling us, Celeste said, But I like him.

Me, too, May chirped. I bet he'd be hot in bed.

Oh, for Chrissakes! Frustrated with even the people in her head, Ronnie stomped away.

[Travis Kincaid]

The guard pulls at Travis but he scowls and quietly replies, "If I didn't think you were fully capable I wouldn't have let you go through this bullshit at all. If we're to be partners I have to know you'll go through hell and back, because you better fuckin' well bet that I would if the roles were reversed!" The guard shoved Travis and he snarled, "Fine, I'm going." Travis disappeared down the corridor the other man behind him, prodding him along.

[z-May Allman]

The Ronnie inside May smiled at the memory, unaware of the hell Baara was going through to get them out. She frankly didn’t care. She’d already been in this situation, and she’d made her choice…

When She Could Have Left…

Quote:

Whoso loves, believes the impossible.

--Elizabeth Barret Browning

Where there is great love, there are always miracles.

--Willa Cather

It was cold again, but Ronnie didn’t notice. She was far too concerned for the man she was bending over to worry about herself. His normally immaculate clothes were stained with blood, mostly his. A piece of shrapnel stuck out of his chest, forcing his breathing to come in short, hard gasps. The explosion in the engine room that had sunk their sub had peppered them with debris. Ronnie had been lucky; Travis had not.

“Ronnie,” he gasped. “I can’t hold the telekenesis.”

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, “you just focus on breathing. I’ll stop the bleeding.” She slid across the floor on her knees and began to cut the pants off one of their fallen foes. With the cloth, she returned to him and started to put pressure on his wound.

Nana! Tell me what to do!

Sugar, if I do that, we’ll get sick. Nana’s voice was calm.

Ronnie shook her head, though Travis was too far gone to notice the oddity. Just do it! I’ll risk the virus. Information poured into her mind and Ronnie began working quickly, doing what she could for him now.

“I'm all wet and sticky,” he moaned, managing something that might have been a smile.

Ronnie did laugh, a scared tight noise. "And you did it to yourself," she retorted. "I thought you didn't need to masturbate?" She shifted him ever so slightly, but he still shouted in pain.

Ronnie flinched and bit her lip. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I’ll try not to move you.” She managed a weak smile. “We’ll let the rescue team do the heavy lifting.” Something dripped out her nose; she wiped it away without looking. It would be blood; she didn’t need to see it.

His blue eyes focused on her. “Violet… you should go… head for the surface… you can make gills…”

“No,” she said firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder, getting more blood on his suit. “I’m not leaving.”

[Travis Kincaid]

He coughed, spit mixed with blood in his mouth and he tasted the coppery iron of it. "Stubborn ... I'm dead already, my body just don't know it yet." He recalled the surprise he had felt at looking down at a chunk of steel jutting from his chest, physical injury was so rare to him that he almost hadn't realized that he should feel pain. Shock however has a wonderful numbing effect as you bleed to death. He looked up at Ronnie, "I could open that hatch and force the issue you know..."

[z-May Allman]

"You'll just kill me now, too," Ronnie said, then turned her head, coughing. "Virus has got me - over-extended myself. I'm not sure I'd make it." The room became colder still, and she shivered as she stripped a coat off one of the fallen and shrugged it on her body. Gathering more cloth, she began to make them more comfortable. "They know where we are. They need what we know. They'll come for us, soon."

Coughing, she leaned against a black panel, waiting to catch her breath. Once it had passed, she stretched herself out next to him, gently leaning against him to share warmth. After a moment, the silence got to her and she murmured, "Seen any good movies recently?"

[Travis Kincaid]

"Nothing you'd like ..." Travis' head fell to the side and he stared at Ronnie. "It hurts ... its too much to bear, pull this thing out of me, let me go, more ..." he coughed and more red appeared at his lips. ".. more oxygen for you..."

[z-May Allman]

Their faces were inches away, and Ronnie was aware that she rather liked that - or that she would like it, were the circumstances vastly different. "Shut up, then," she said, and they both heard her stubbornness - and her pain. "Rescue'll be here soon."

She put her head on his shoulder and tried not to think about how cold she was, how cold he felt to her.

[Travis Kincaid]

For a while they were quiet, the only sound was the slow drip of water and the tortured groans of the steel hull as it slowly settled under the weight of hundreds of feet of ocean. The only other sound was Travis' wet breathing, a sound that was getting only worse. When Ronnie next opened her eyes she saw Travis was unconscious, his flesh pale gray as his life's blood continued to seep out into the shallow water on the floor of the deck.

[z-May Allman]

"Don't die," she whispered when she saw how bad he looked. Her fever-bright eyes almost glowed with tears in the diffuse beam of the flashlight as she leaned closer and hissed in his ear, "Fight, damnit! Don't you fuckin' die and leave me in this tomb!"

She was nearly panicking, her illicit knowledge of Nana letting her know how bad he was. "Come on... they'll rescue us soon, you need to hang on," she pleaded, then paused as the ultimate bribe came to her. "I'll... um, I promise you I'll have sex with you if don't die." There wasn't even a lecherous smile in response to that, and Ronnie felt real fear. "Travis, please don't die. Fight! Fight for... for me."

She felt the Others pull back, giving her privacy. Nearly weeping, Ronnie begged, "Just hang on, they'll be here to rescue us soon. You have to hang on, I know you just live for the next fuck, but you like me, and... and you wouldn't want me to be sad, would you? Please... please..." She scooted up and kissed his chilled forehead. "I'd rather die myself than lose you here. Come on..."

The silence was thick, filled only with her stricken voice and his terrible breathing. "Travis... please..." This was it, she sensed; her last chance to tell him what she was feeling and she blurted, "I love you!" The tears finally fell as she kissed his bloody lips.

The room was filled with a sudden light and Ronnie looked up to see a warphole filling the far end of the room. Dresdner stepped through and stopped at the bloody mess before him. He immediately ducked back through, yelling for the medics.

Laughing - which turned into coughing - Ronnie said, "See? I told ya. I was right and you were wrong." Everything would be alright now. "Next time we're fighting off death with toothpicks in a downed submarine, you'll listen to me, won't ya!?"

Everything would be just fine, she told herself as she rolled away from him to make room for the medics. Then she let herself collapse from the virus raging through her system.

[z-May Allman]

The Best One

Ronnie curled herself around that memory, and wished that she could have taken his place under the rocks.

Quote:

If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough.

--Ann Landers

"We're done, officially," Travis said, dropping into the chair and setting the briefcase between his feet. The banquet of flowers was dropped on the table.

"I see the flowers worked," she said with a chuckle.

Travis grimaced. "I've never bought flowers for a man before," he grumped. "If it hadn't been our signal..."

"C'mon, Rico was cute," Ronnie laughed.

Travis stood up, grabbed the flowers and dropped them in her arms. "There, I bought them for you," he said before grabbing the briefcase. As Ronnie turned bright red he said, "Let's roll to met our handler before the deadline."

That was her favorite memory of him.