Three Strikes [✓]

Aftershock

Chapter Seventeen: Aftershock

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444th Air Base, Zapland.
July 27th, 2019.
1505hrs.

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As soon as they'd arrived back at base, everything seemed so quiet. The ground crew, prisoners and guards alike, were chattering nervously to one another and eyeing the remaining Spare Pilots with unusual and unexpected sympathy. As they stepped out into the hangar, Avril was the first to approach them. Naomi was still stunned from the battle, Count was fuming, and Tabloid was looking anxious instead of cheerful. It wasn't hard for the mechanic to notice something was wrong. She limped over to them, eyeing their planes and scanning them for any signs of damage. At last, her eyes landed on them and for a moment Naomi thought that she saw concern on her face. She put on a poker face in an instant, crossing her arms. "What happened?" she asked in a level tone, looking between the three of them. "What happened to Full Band and those other dumbasses? It was a straightforward mission."

Count glared at her, looking back at his plane without a word as he and the others worked to remove their flight gear. None of them were ready to answer right away, so Avril just stood there. Naomi would have answered the question, but every time she went to open her mouth and say something, nothing would come out. Her mind was a blank, only able to replay the events of the mission from when the drones showed up. Tabloid didn't even bother trying to say anything. Count, on the other hand, was looking around the hangar with an almost murderous look in his eyes. When he finally did speak, it wasn't to tell Avril what had happened. It was to ask his own question. "Where the hell is Bandog? I know they landed before us, so where is he?"

"Why?" Avril asked, uncrossing her arms. Her poker face fell, and she allowed a look of confusion and worry to cross her features. "What happened?" Count let out an irritated huff, looking over at Count and Tabloid. Avril did the same thing, her eyes narrowing on them. Naomi looked down, able to feel Avril staring right at her. There was some annoyance in her voice as she sternly told them, "One of you better tell me what happened. McKinsey and Bandog came by just before the three of you got here and now everyone's acting weird." Naomi and Tabloid both glanced at Count, but Avril kept looking at the two of them expectantly. "Trigger? Tabloid? Something you want to say?"

"There...was an incident," Tabloid finally admitted, a look of guilt on his face. Quickly, before anyone could say anything else, he added, "It's all my fault, if anyone's to blame."

Naomi scoffed, staring at him incredulously. Even Count looked shocked by the statement. "Tabloid, that's bullshit! What you did saved our asses. We'd have never made it out like we did. All of us would be dead," she said to him.

"And? Now most of us are and that includes Full Band," Tabloid argued, but he wasn't angry. "And I might as well have handed Bandog the murder weapon."

"Murder weapon?" Avril's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. "What the hell happened out there?!"

The three of them went quiet again. Naomi sighed and ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip as she thought through her response. At last, she took a deep breath. "Full Band was marked as a hostile by Bandog, and Count shot him down," she said, and Count visibly tensed. Tabloid flashed him a sad, borderline reassuring smile. Avril looked as if someone had just walked up to her and punched her in the gut. It was about how Naomi felt. She wasn't sure how to process the information. None of them were. Naomi stammered as she tried to explain more. "Bandog says it was an accident, but with the way that he was talking and the fact that Full Band was only hostile to Count...it kind of implies that he knew exactly what he was doing."