#creature commandos fic

"What is it" Bride asked, looking at the small furry creature with displeased curiosity. The creature skittered in on all fours, hands uncoordinated and flailing a bit as they did so. They went over to G.I. first, sniffing at his arm. The robot squinted, attempting to run a scan, but they ran off too fast. They bounded over to Nina, who reached down a hand to pet them a bit as Elizabeth continued. "A patient at the site of John Doe's case was found. The DNA traced back to his saliva, and I requested to have them housed together"

"So he spit on a kid and now it's our problem? Great" Phosphorus said. "The results showed a similar genetic pattern to lycanthropy," Elizabeth responded "It's not making it easy on his case, but there is a connection between the two of them". The child scampered along, bounding up to Bride excitedly. Her steely gaze made them freeze, and they slowly backed up, instead heading straight for Dr. Phosphorus

"I wouldn't do that, kid-" Phosphorus said, trying to step back. The kid kept running over, eager to greet the radioactive man. Before their little snout could make contact, they were suddenly lifted off the ground. Weasel was back in the room, and he gave a big sigh of relief. He was able to lift the kid by their scruff before they could be hurt. He squinted at Phosphorus, growling as he turned away. "Don't give me that shit, I was making sure it wouldn't bite me" Phosphorus grumbled

"Poor thing," Nina said softly, watching Weasel carry them to his little corner. He plopped down, placing down the kid, who proceeded to roll around and curl up in his arms. "So this has to stay with us now? You expect us to take care of two of that thing?" Bride asked, pointing to Weasel. "I know, I know, but this is the only way I could get them somewhere safe. They were just going to experiment on them otherwise" Elizabeth answered.

G.I. focused on the game between him and Nina, while Nina herself kept sympathetically glancing at the new kid. Being a child, labeled as a monster... it hit much too close to home. "I think we can take care of them. It seems like Weasel's doing better with them around" she said hopefully. The kid was currently curled up right at Weasel's side, who was cradling them close and sniffing them to make sure they were okay. He gave a little murmur, tucking their head under his chin as he closed his eyes

"I'm not cleaning up after that thing" Phosphorus said. "There's nothing more I can do" Elizabeth reinstated firmly "So you might as well get comfortable with them". With that, she stepped out of the room, and the door was shut once more. Phosphorus glanced to Bride, who scoffed "This is such bullshit". "Come on, Bride, they're just a kid" Nina said "The least we can do is take it easy on them". Bride huffed, rolling her eyes, but she stifled any further comments

Belle Reve isn’t the most welcoming nor understanding of places, it IS a prison after all. But there’s something to be said about the true loneliness one can feel, especially in the sub levels of Belle Reve. The floors used to detain the ‘sub-human’ prisoners. The freaks, the outcasts, the monsters that society would rather shove in a dark hole in the ground than actually let out into the world.

Despite being a maximum security facility, inmates were regularly allowed to roam the floor their cells happened to reside on without much interference from guards or other personnel. The bombs planted at the base of the neck acting as a short leash most dare not tug. 

There’s somehow a sense of overwhelming isolation yet an air of community. Being able to roam the floor your cell is on means you have SOME freedom, but do you? You’ll still be forced back into your cell, you’ll still be yelled at and abused by a guard for stepping even a hair out of line, you’re still on the business end of someone’s leash and you’re still stuck with a collection of people you’d never interact with otherwise.

Some take solace in the routine, some lash out more and more, grasping for any sense of control they can…but all, at the end of the day, are still held in the same cage as everyone else. It doesn’t matter what happened on the outside, what matters now is what happens in here.

You’re not out there. You’re in here. Things are different here. Sure you can make friends, but you’ll probably never see them after one of you gets out. Or being Belle Reve, there’s also a good chance that neither of you make it out. The friends you make in here? They aren’t real friends. They’re just people you’re forced to interact with while you’re both stuck in the same shitty situation. 

You’re not really friends…Are you?

Having just arrived back at the prison, Task Force M disbands as the group reports back to their cells…Not exactly what Nina was expecting. In movies and TV shows, everytime after a mission of sorts people usually have a debriefing or at the very least get questioned about stuff that happened while they were away. That just proves how slapped together this whole Task Force thing actually is… No questions, no reprimands, no debriefing…Just back to their cells like nothing happened. 

But something did happen…Six of them left, but only five came back…

Small bubbles floating to the top of her helmet, Nina takes light steps as she’s led back to her cell. Hands together towards her chest, webbed fingers running over one another as she tries to soothe herself. Cell door sliding open, a baton jabbed roughly into her back forcing her forward.

“Ahh! Hey! Ok Ok…Jeez…” Quickly stepping deeper into the cell, heavy door shutting with a loud metal scraping, Nina can just barely make out the thudding footsteps that trail away as she backs herself further in. 

“Could’ve just asked…” Muttering to noone but herself, Nina takes another cursory glance around her room as she tries to settle herself. There’s not much that would, or could, have been changed but it’s a human instinct to check any area you’ve been away from for a few days…

Her bed is still made just the way she left it, the extra helmet sitting beside a small basin of water. The headpiece looking bone dry, indicating at least no one has riffled through her cell since she’s been gone. Trying to distract herself, feet sliding softly across the floor as she makes her way to the basin, Nina gently picks up the extra helm, the only real ‘possession’ she has here. 

Fingers gently trailing over the cold glass, her hands delicately tracing the metal work along the bottom as if the whole thing could shatter at the wrong movement. Staring down at the helmet, Nina walks towards the wall closest to her bed and rests her back against the cold metal. Sliding down, brining her knees up towards her chest while sitting on the floor. The helm still safely tucked in her arms, Nina gently taps her head to the glass, a soft tink barely audible as she replays those fateful interactions over and over again in her head.

Trying to rationalize the irrational. Trying to make sense of the senseless. Pleading that maybe, just maybe, somehow something might right what’s so wrong…

‘Friend Nina…We fought Nazis together you and I …Oh…Oh what a beautiful day…’

Looking down at the reflective glass of the dome, Nina bites her trembling bottom lip as she fights back tears. Remembering the glowing light of GI’s eyes slowly fading, Nina shakes her head with a shuddered breath, bubbled tears floating up from her eyes. 

“At…Atleast you looked happy…” 

“He was a robot, don’t know how happy he could be” 

Head shooting upwards, wide cerulean eyes land on a tall figure leaning against the metal frame of the door. Standing before her, Bride crosses her arms over her chest as she looks in. Ducking her head back down, eyes cast upwards just enough to keep Bride in her sightline, Nina searches for the right words to say but fails to find them. Instead, she settles on the first thing she can, trying to distract herself from the thoughts currently tormenting her. 

“How’d you open the door so quietly?” It’s a soft and hushed tone, one Bride just barely picks up before she approaches Nina who’s still just sitting idly on the floor. A quick scoff has Nina’s attention as she carefully watches Bride stride towards her, arms still clutching the helmet close to her chest.

“I didn’t. It squealed like a stuck pig. You just seemed too lost in thought to actually notice. Even called out to you a few times, thought you just might have been ignoring me” With a shrug of her shoulders, Bride accentuates her point as she stops before Nina by throwing up a hand then resting it on her hip. Tilting her head to the left ever so slightly, Bride fails to notice the hitch of Nina’s breath and the quiver of her lip.

“Wh-why are you here? Shouldn’t…Shouldn’t you be in your own cell?”

“We can wander a little, you know.  Though you might actually not, seeing as how before our mission I only ever saw you in the canteen. You don’t get out much, do you?”

“Where’s there to get out to? We’re just stuck here…all of us…”

Raising an eyebrow, Bride takes note of the way Nina has her helmet clutched in her hands, much like she did when GI Robot died by the hands of Circe in the palace garden. That’s what this is all about then…

Rolling her light eyes, Bride gives an annoyed click of her tongue before approaching. The rustling of clothing and the sudden presence of someone beside her has Nina turning to her right to see Bride having plopped herself down on the cold floor, her back pressed against the wall as her tall hair bends as she rests her head against the wall. 

“True, we are stuck here in this shithole. But isn’t there something nice about being all stuck together?” With a forced smile, Bride turns to Nina who is staring at her with a befuddled look. 

“N-No…This-This is still a prison…”

“No shit it’s a prison! I was trying to make you feel better! I thought maybe me bullshitting you on the idea that it's not so bad if we’re together might mean help!”

Eyes scanning for any indicator of Bride’s motive, Nina tries to wrap her head around why exactly she would be here in her room right now. Fingers lightly tapping on the glass nervously, Nina watches Bride carefully before inquiring about motive.

“Why-Why would you be trying to cheer me up?”

With another soft click of her tongue, Bride ignores the question for now, instead just tapping a knuckle against the helmet in Nina’s arms only to have the gilled woman pull the helm closer to her body and back away slightly. 

“I won’t do anything to it. I know you need that to breathe and what not. You’re not exactly worthwhile if you’re floundering on the ground, are you?” 

Scowling, Bride rolls her eyes again as she looks over Nina’s pitiful state. On the floor, curled into herself while clutching the only thing she has that reminds her of their newly fallen comrade. Granted, they weren’t a team for long and Nina and GI weren’t particularly close, but still…sometimes hastily formed friendships can have a lasting impression on someone. And this is probably one such scenario.

Not giving Nina any time to answer the rhetorical question, Bride straightens her back out before she throws Nina for a complete loop.

“So, how are you doing?”

“H-Huh? With wh-Oh…That…”

Looking down sadly, brows furrowed as she runs a hand along the curve of her spare helmet, her shoulders dropping as she tries to relax. With a softened expression, Bride waits as Nina wracks her brain for the right thing to say, struggling to put the grief into words. 

“We…I don’t know…”

“How not? I never understood people saying they ‘Don’t know’ how they feel. If you don’t know how the hell is anyone? Don’t you know if you feel sad? Or mad or happy?” Bride says in a curt tone, only to be met with a soft chuckle. 

Cocking her head to the side as she speak, Nina raises an eyebrow while watching Bride.

“Isn’t that sort of reductionist? We’re people… We’re more complicated than just good or bad feelings.” 

“No my dear, you forget. We’re monsters. Not really people.” People in air quotes, Bride simply writes off Nina’s question, once again not even giving her the chance to speak before continuing.

“Regardless, you have to know how you’re feeling. Even if it doesn’t make sense. Say it anyway…You might feel better” 

“I-I feel fine…” 

“Oh sure, that’s what everyone who’s sitting alone in a dark prison cell silently crying says. Totally fine” Sarcasm with a mix of venom laced through the line, Bride presses her hands to the floor as if she’s about to lift herself up to leave, only stopping when Nina lashes out.

“I don’t get to be sad! I-I barely knew GI! We…We weren’t REAL friends…We just…We just happened to be people who met before he died.”

“He seemed to think you were friends and he did die trying to save us”

It’s a sharp response, one Bride had to have already loaded to say so quick and with so much latent seriousness. 

One hand clutching around her helmet while the other clenches into a fist as Nina closes her eyes and remembers all the times GI called her friend…How genuine he seemed every time. 

“I know that! But we knew eachother for three days! I…I barely knew him, how can I call myself his friend and mourn him when I didn’t knew anything about him?!”

“What’s there to know!? He was a robot who was made to fight Nazis and he liked fighting Nazis! Pretty sure that’s all that there was to him!” 

“But we don’t know that!” 

“SO?!” Bride’s frank and matter of fact tone grating on Nina’s already wavering constitution. 

With each back and forth their volume’s rising, neither backing down from their point of view as the other gets more and more annoyed. 

“How am I allowed to mourn someone I barely know anything about?! I shouldn’t be allowed to be sad and this upset that he’s gone! It…It’s not fair…”

“Fair to who?! Grief isn’t finite Nina! You can be sad a friend is dead! There’s no time limit you have to pass before you’re allowed to grieve someone dying! Why are you so fucking scared to admit that you’re sad!?

“BECAUSE WE WEREN’T FRIENDS!”

It’s a desperate shriek and a complete lie, one that hurts so much to say, one that Nina hopes if she repeats it enough she might actually convince herself sooner or later.

“How not?” It’s a low and harsh tone, one that pierces Nina to her core as she whips her head back up to look at Bride. Serious and unmoving eyes gazing directly into Nina, more tears flowing up from Nina’s eyes when she sees how Bride is looking at her. 

“I-I…We…”

“Nina, I swear if you say you weren’t friends again I’m going to shatter the helmet on your head. Stop being so damn dense. Why weren’t you friends?”

Crossing her arms back over her chance, Bride waits patiently as Nina tries and fails to give her a satisfactory answer. 

“So what if you were only friends for three days? You can know someone for decades and have no idea about their real character. You can also know someone so well in such a short time that it scares you how much you end up caring about them…” Trailing off, Bride has to steady herself before she looks back at Nina. 

When Bride finally looks back to her, Nina has her helmet resting against the one she has in her arms, eyes clenched shut as cries. Shoulders shaking and choked out sobs leaving the aquatic’s body as she finally lets go…

Settling back beside her, Bride places a strong hand on Nina’s back, trying to give any comfort she can without overstepping. Rubbing small circles into her back, Bride just closes her eyes as she waits it out. Knowing Nina might want to talk when she’s calmed down enough, though she’ll never admit to being so…nice…. 

They sit silently in the dark for who knows how long before Nina finally speaks, her shoulders still tense and her body tightly curled in as she looks up to Bride with a nearly pleading expression. 

“Do you feel a little better?” 

With a slow and shaky nod, Nina’s hands are still trembling and a few soft sniffles leave her when she feels Bride slowly take away her hand. 

“Th-thank you…I…I didn’t know I needed that…”

“You don’t need to talk right? Think I’ve had enough emotional episodes for the week.” A playful grin crossing her face, Bride feels the slightest bit of pride when she sees Nina crack the smallest smile she could muster. 

“I don’t know…I might have a few left in me…If you know a volunteer?” 

“Hmmm…I don’t know…” 

With closed eyes, Bride stretches her arms up and rests them behind her head and gives a feigned exasperated sigh before opening her left eye and peeking at Nina. 

“Thanks…”

“Yes, Yes. I’m so loving and charitable…Just remind me to bill you for my therapy services when we get out…”

Taking a moment to really let their current situation sink in, Nina watches Bride with an almost concerned look before speaking.

“You-you know…I never really thought I’d be able to make friends here…”

“Why not?”

Turning her head to face her fishy friend, Bride cocks an eyebrow while waiting for an answer, already having reason enough for herself to not make friends, but she’s curious to hear Nina’s.

“I…I just didn’t think it would happen…We’re just a bunch of people stuck in the same place…I-I want to make friends that will still be friends even outside here…And-And I think it scared me that I made a friend so easily and then lost them…”

“Was it your first time losing someone?” It’s a more direct question than Bride meant to ask, but it’s a very valid one. 

Shaking her head slowly, water sloshing ever so slightly in her helmet, Nina doesn’t seem too off put by the question. “No, it’s not the first time…but it was the most direct…”

Watching carefully before speaking, Bride just gives a quiet nod as she listens. 

“What about you? Have you…lost? Someone before?”

“I have. Someone close to me…many years ago”

“O-Oh, I-I’m sorry…” 

Bride’s eye twitches subconsciously when she hears the soft and sincere sounding apology. It’s the first time she’s ever received condolences for Victor’s passing. 

“I…appreciate it…Thank you…”

“Bride…” Nina starts in a soft voice, only continuing when Bride gives low hum in response. “Do…Do you think we’ll ever get out of here? Like really out?” 

Shaking her head unknowingly, Bride shakes her head before explaining herself. “I don’t know…Though I really wouldn’t count on it. We’ll probably die before that happens” Only after saying it does Bride realize how poorly timed that was, sucking her teeth in response before looking towards Nina with an almost apologetic glance. 

“Sorry, probably not the best time to be overly realistic, huh?”

The thinnest smile on her face while looking down, Nina nods her head in agreement but does try to spark an ember of playful conversation. “It was VERY pessimistic but that’s ok…At least GI went out happy, right?” 

Meeting the sorrowful gaze Nina gives her with her own featherly smile, Bride simply shrugs her shoulders.

“He did seem really happy, Nina…We should all be so lucky.”

“We should all be so lucky…” Repeating the phrase as she rests her back against the cold wall, Nina places the helmet in lap to the side to stretch out her legs. 

Both women stay like that for a while, neither saying a word yet just taking the other’s presence in is enough. First to break the silence is Nina, still facing forward, unable to face Bride with the question she’s about to ask.

“Hey Bride…”

“Yeah, Nina?”

“Do you think we would have been friends on the outside?” 

“Oh fuck no. No way in hell. No chance.”

A quiet chuckle leaves Nina, she was honestly expecting that answer. The two really couldn’t be more different. 

“But…” Bride starts, trailing off only to shift her hand to lay it over top of Nina’s hand that is closest to her. “I think we can try to be in here” 

Nina’s hand flinches at the sudden contact but she soon relaxes into it, turning her hand upward to gently clasp Bride’s patched hand in her own webbed one.

“We should be so lucky…” 

How long had it been? How much time had passed since Nina was told what she needed to do? Something so heinous that the full weight of it felt like it could have crushed her soul. Murder someone? The very thought made her stomach drop, an acidic sour taste in her mouth as she swallowed the growing lump in her throat. The only thing that brought her back to the reality she was facing was the person before her. The only one in the world that was able to ground Nina was Bride…The woman who had been as much a thorn in Nina’s side as she’d been a companion. But in that moment, those final fleeting seconds of true friendship…Bride’s words were the only thing Nina cared about. 

“You’re the biggest freak of us all” 

 The strong hand cupped around her shoulder as those geraldine eyes burned their likeness into her mind. In that moment, Nina felt nothing but confidence in herself. Truly believing that she had what it takes to follow through with their mission, do what had to be done for not only themselves but for the fate of the world and then come back to her team…to her friends…

But that’s not what happened.

To be frank, the moment Nina stepped foot in that water the tides changed. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, the mission wasn’t supposed to go this south. It wasn’t supposed to come down to one cheap sneak attack, but the mission is what the mission becomes. All Nina had to do was sneak up behind the princess, stab her, twist the blade into her stomach and then retreat back to land to regroup with the others. 

“The water is yours. A home field advantage!”

Bride’s words of encouragement playing in her mind over and over, with each repetition Nina felt more and more emboldened. She could do this, she had to do this…She will do this! Not just for herself but for everyone. One life to save the fate of the world, it should have been an easy trade off. But the universe works in mysterious and cruel ways…

Her target suddenly twisting in the water, Nina hesitates in her approach as Princess Ilana turns towards where the rest of her team is hidden in the brush. The peaceful scene of the secluded alcove broken by the sudden trashing of water and harrowing, animalistic cries echoing around them. Nina doesn’t know what’s going on as Illana quickly turns her attention towards the water. Breaching the surface, Nina clenches her eyes shut before she tries to stab Ilana. Blade slicing blindly in the air, gasping and opening her eyes when she feels her arms grabbed roughly before the pair slip back into the water. 

Beneath the surface time seems to move in slow motion. Every desperate kick and flail was somehow captured in a crystal clear image. It’s like Nina wasn’t even in her own body as the horrid scene played out, each movement so clearly defined, like it was a rehearsed dance that she was a mere spectator of. Princess Ilana Rostovic was precise in her actions. Hand gripping over Nina’s face, Ilana blinds her attacker as they sink lower into the water. In the panic, Nina loosens her grip on the knife as she attempts to back away. In her efforts to escape, Nina failed to notice that the knife was now in enemy hands.

The knife Bride gave her…

The first stab was shallow, only just barely breaking the fabric of Nina’s suit and skin. Like it was only a test to see how tender the flesh hidden inside was. The second was deep and forceful…and every subsequent puncture that followed laden with hate and fury.

Crying out and reeling from pain, Nina feels herself weakening by the second. Each blow spilling more and more blood into the water as Ilana continues. For a split second, Nina could clearly see Ilana’s piercing gaze.

Bright blue eyes focused and stoic as if she’s done something like this a hundred times. There’s no fear, no desperation, no panic…just a cold and calculating stare. 

This wasn’t a struggle for survival. That would have been one stab to wound your attacker so you could get to safety. This? This was a massacre. 

Though something about the intensity of Ilana’s eyes is familiar…It may just be the shock, but the blood circling around them creates a shaded red and the bright cerulean orbs glaring at Nina almost look like a pale pink…A comforting pink that reminds her of someone else’s…

‘Bride’  The last thing Nina thinks about is her…The woman she’s come to trust with her life, the one that was able to give her the courage to even dream she could be worth something to someone, the one that called her a freak and that was somehow a compliment. 

The person she's most upset about disappointing. The person she longs to see just one last time. 

Vision blurring and body slowly going limp, the last thing Nina remembers is Bride. The confident yet comforting smile, the strong hand on her shoulder, and the way her bewitching red eyes seemed to shine just a little bit brighter…