Sledger: The Sledgening

prolog 2: Get Along

"Mortar, you can come down, you don't even look that bad now.." The Engineer could only try to reason with said man,

"Nah.. I'm still sooo injured, heheh..." The man snuggled further into the heavy coat of the Minigunner, which felt just like a blanket, "And Mini here ain't too bothered by carryin' me.. Ain't ya..? Heh." The Mortar seemed suddenly nonchalant, hopefully he wasn't going into shock from the temperature,

"Nope! There is no need to worry about bothering me, I know it can be very dangerous for small animals to be left out in the cold for too long." The Minigunner flashed an honest, genuine smile, at the now enraged Mortar,

"Small!? Animal!? What the hell dude- I'm five-nine- I'm normal! I'm normal sized!" It wasn't his fault the Minigunner was built like a brick wall, standing a notable six-eight.

The Engineer giggled, "Heh, short."

"What!? If he's calling me small then he's calling you small too!"

"Nope, I'm like, two inches taller than you." She taunted, laughing at the Mortars scrunched up face.

The pyromancer looked up to the Mortar, a sly smile on his face, "Stop making that face, you look like an angry butthole."

"Why- What- You!" The Mortar stammered, absolutely shocked and appalled by such an insult.

Angered, the Mortar jumped from the Minigunners arms with an 'oof', snow squished under his boots. He immediately clasped his arms over himself, the cold reminding him of exactly why he had remained in the Minigunners arms,

"My arms are always open, Mortar!" The burly man called behind him. The Mortar mimicked the kind man under his breath, still insulted by being compared to a 'small animal' earlier.

Snow crunched behind them suddenly, the team looked up in alarm, only to find,

"You all better lower your volume, we aren't sure why this research station was calling for help." The Commander scolded, the ensembles faces falling from battle-ready to disappointed.

The Pyromancer leaned towards the Engineer, "Probably needed some toilet-paper.." His cadence was low, trying to not be scolded by the Commander. The engineer snickered, holding a hand to her mouth, she leaned towards the pyromancer, "Oooh, Commander~! We are in dire need of buttwipes~!" She mimicked what she thought one of the researchers might sound like,

"-Engineer, Pyromancer! This is a serious job, it's not to be joked about!"

"Sorry, Commander! Won't happen again!" The two jumped up in surprise at the volume, saluting their superior.

With that the ensemble trekked on forward to the research station.

- lol -

The walk there was about three minutes, Mortar complaining all the way with Minigunner trying to reassure him,

"Quit your yapping, we're here." The Commander looked up towards the building.

It was a concrete gray, cubic in shape, establishment. Dead trees made an appearance crawling over it; the branches akin to claws reaching to the gloomy sky, hoping to pluck the sun and the little amount of light it brought away. It was just right to create a depressing workspace atmosphere, and even better to unnerve the group with its deadness. The group took their first steps into the building through a glass-sliding door that had been forcefully jammed open,

"Yeesh, I'm not the only one getting the creeps, am I?" The Engineers shoulders were hunched, a display of fear,

"Heh.. Nope, just look at Mort, he's trembling!" The Pyromancer attempted to joke to calm his nerves,

"Yeah- Because I'm fucking cold!" The Mortar retorted, holding himself close, although it'd be a lie to say the place wasn't giving him the creeps,

"Do not worry all, I will make sure you stay safe and protected, promise!" The Minigunner reassured, walking behind the three, scooping them all up into his arms,

"They don't need the coddling, they're all grown adults," The Ranger walked just behind the burly man, criticizing the Minigunner as he strutted. It was important to show no fear, no matter how much the state of the station got under his skin.

Alas, the Commander walked ahead of the group, "It seems we were too late to give any aid, make sure to check all the rooms for any possible survivors," He looked up at the Minigunner and the trio he was carrying, "-and all of you, get off of the Minigunner," The group sighed, jumping off the Minigunner.

The Commander stared at the group calculating, "We'll split up into groups of two, make sure not to split up any further than that. Now choose who you'll go with. Minigunner, you're with me." They all knew the man probably just wanted to be stuck with the extra strength, or maybe the least insufferable person there.

The Mortar looked around as the Pyromancer and the Engineer locked arms, that only left one option. He looked over to the Ranger, his own body language stiff. The railgunner looked up, "Well, that's unfortunate. Looks like I'm stuck with master-complainer."

The Mortar knew damn-well that the Ranger was talking about him, "Let's just get this over with." He decided not to start an argument with the man, dude was ominous in his own way and the Mortar didn't want to see him when he's angry.

So the group split up, Mortar depressingly watched as the Minigunner, the only person here he didn't want to punch in the face(despite the earlier situation, he was less insufferable than the other options he had), walked further into one of the oppressively dark halls with the Commander. The Mortar then looked up to the railgunner, the only company he could afford, "So uh.. We're both cliff units, crazy right?"

"Not really. We just happen to do our jobs on cliffs, anyone can do that." The Ranger replied flatly,

"Pfft, imagine someone like Glad tryna do his job on the cliffs." He could just imagine the man crouching from his perch on a cliff, trying desperately to swat his sword at the zombies.

"Fair point-" The Ranger held a sudden sly look, "-but if you really want a funny image, think bigger, like Mini." The Ranger now imagined the man struggling to not fall off of one of his own perches, trying desperately to balance himself on the apex of a roof like some kind of crude circus performance.

"Pfft." The Mortar snickered before the uncomfortable silence engulfed them once more.

He took the silence as a chance to survey his surroundings, he wishes he hadn't. Papers were scattered about dead-gray tiles, black grout standing out against already dull colors. The pair had to step over a fallen sorting cabinet, drawers opened and files askew, the Mortar attempted to look through these unkempt files but the Ranger grabbed his shoulder and spoke, "C'mon, the sooner we look for the survivors- and not some papers -the sooner we'll get to go home, and maybe you'll be able to take a hot shower," The explosive-expert couldn't argue with that logic, so further they trekked into the dimly lit corridor,

"You're actually not that annoying.." The Ranger suddenly spoke again,

He quickly added, "Surprisingly."

The Mortar stared at the railgunner before piping up, "Well, if you wanna play that game; I always thought you were kind of a creep." The Ranger sent a surprised glare his way, shocked at the 'honesty', Mortar spoke again, "-but you're not so bad yourself." He finished. Now it was the Rangers' turn to stare before he playfully punched his colleague in the shoulder, "Guess we're.."

"Friends?"

The Rangers' stare narrowed, "Acquaintances," He finished. The Mortar made a sound akin to a high-pitch squeal of terror, this dude just cant let anyone be happy! The railgunner walked off without him, the Mortar shook his head, an attempt to get out of his shock, and chased the man down.

Further they trekked until they heard what sounded like a heavy door open in the distance,

"A survivor!?" The Mortar exclaimed, ecstatic, "C'mon, if we find them first then Pyro and Engi won't be able to gloat!"

"Well you won me over with just that reason, let's go!" The Ranger responded, rushing after the now running Mortar.