I always notice how whenever Johnny's death comes up, it's usually Rupert or Dave who mourns for him.
But what about his father, Major Hershell Panzer?
Imagine, you were bonding with your son just yesterday, having good ol' father and son quality time. Then the next night, you hear news of him found dead beside the road after the Tunisia diamond is stolen.
Sure, he does have his fair share of recklessness but you know enough that he's aware enough to not zap himself with his own taser.
Does he blame Rupert for not stopping the car to check on him or keeping a closer eye on him? Does he blame Henry more for his death?
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"I understand you're curious about who I am, Miss Rose, I really do but some things are better left in the dark..."
Hello, peeps, I'm back with more TK Rupert/Russell lore for you to delightfully consume before I vanish to the shadow realm.
Russell is much harder to get pissed unlike his canon self (and his alternate self, Rykor) but one of the easier ways to anger him is to start asking stuff about his past which is what Ellie does when she is first recruited to the clan. He won't physically attack you or anything, he will less likely talk to you and trust you with his personal stuff.
Ellie does apologize afterwards though and tries to make up by going on a few heists (Russ does forgive her at some point and become friends). Also draw him in a sort of different outfit from last time because I was feeling the motivation to do something different.
Here's a close-up look of the lapel brooch pin I mentioned before :}
(I might have gone overboard with it but hush-)
The colors of the stars aren't chosen will-nilly, they are all meant to symbolize people/factions Russell has known all his life.
The blue sapphire star is meant to represent the police force which is where Rupert's career started and the person who had the biggest impact on his life (hence why the star is so big compared to the rest): Johnny Panzer. He was his best friend and rock through most of his childhood and the start of his work life. Johnny (and Hershell) was the one who gave Rupert this lapel brooch pin in the first place as a gift for graduating police academy all those years ago.
The green emerald star is symbolic of the Government and technically Major Hershell Panzer, another faction that has directly or indirectly impacted Russell's life in some way. It's where his bio father (Sergeant Warren for those who remember him) and adoptive father (Major Hershell, sorry Dadforce fans-) worked at. Russell has mixed feelings about the Government nowadays...
The red ruby star symbolizes Charles (yes, I'm aware rubies are more of Ellie's thing); another person who influenced Rupert though it's not the same effect as Johnny (it's why his star is small) since they became friends during their college/academy years before Charles went to work for the Government. Since Russell doesn't join the Government in this AU, they remain as acquaintances even if Charles treats him like a best friend (Russell doesn't the feel the same but appreciates his friendship anyway).
And finally, the black onyx star is for Dave of course. During one of the very, very rare moments Rupert did feel some kind of romantic feelings (he's AroAceflux in my THSC verse), he did have a crush on Dave but as time went on, his romantic feelings was banished to the void (lol-) and is embarrassed he had feelings for Dave in the first place which is part of the reason Russ avoids him (besides from not helping him escape from the Airship brig while Dave was kept prisoner until Henry captured the Airship Division in ItA during his Toppat Elite days).
That's all I have for this yap-feast post! See you later!!
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[WARNING: This fanfic contains elements of horror, blood and gore, if you feel sensitive to this don’t read it! This fanfic also has no connection to any of my other AU’s!]
New world no second chances
Chapter 2- The Empty City
Driving through the desert, Rupert realizes it’s getting dark, he looks to his side in the passenger seat to see Dave leaning against the glass with a tired look holding his hat. Rupert looks at him with a pitying look, he looks at the backseat in the rearview mirror, Henry was lying in the backseats looking at the ceiling, the metal bar was covered by his coat in which was bloody.
“when we arrive, the first thing we’re going to do is go to our houses and get what we can take with us, we’re not fucking going to stay in town with this infestation...” Dave agrees not saying nothing, Price sighs looking at his friend sympathetically. “look, it’s going to be ok, I promise...” he puts a hand on Dave’s shoulder still looking at the road ahead. Dave looks at him with a sad, scared look.
Rupert can see the city from afar, his eyes widen and Dave and Henry react the same way looking through the windshield of the car. There was smoke coming out of various parts of the city, they manage to check several truck cars at the entrance completely destroyed and some on fire. “what the fuck happened...” rupert asks whispering in disbelief.
Rupert continues driving, dodging the ones that were destroyed on the way until they enter the city. They looked out of the car windows, seeing the emptiness of the city they had lived in for most of their lives. "what the hell happened..?" Dave asks covering his mouth in shock at the state of the city. Rupert continues driving a few kilometers, they manage to avoid attracting attention from the things that infest the city, and arrive at a group of apartments on a street.
“What is this place?" Henry asked using sign language, surprising both Rupert and Dave as they were getting out of the car. "Oh, do you speak via sign language? Well…" Dave puts a hand to his chin wondering how to respond to him. "This is the apartment Dave lives in." Rupert coldly responds by closing the car door and heading towards Dave's apartment holding his pistol.
Dave turns to Rupert and follows him a little, He turns to him and looks in Henry's direction before following Rupert, "Rup, are you okay..?" Dave asks with an Expression of concern, Rupert looks at his friend before looking away. Dave could have sworn he saw an expression of cold guilt.
"Rup... Is this because of Johnny-" Dave is interrupted by rupert raising his arm in protection and they hear a noise coming from ahead, doing Know how to cover his mouth in fear. It was one of the creatures coming from one of the open apartments, decrepit skin and dead eyes like the ones at the police station. Staggering to and fro with a ghastly groan, it sees them By tilting your head towards the door, it starts running towards them in a disturbing scream.
Rupert plane carrying the pistol, aiming for the head the creature prepared to shoot, but for a second, he blinked, freezing with his hand on the trigger, he saw his friend Johnny. Rupert can't pull the trigger, Dave pulls his arm to the side causing them to fall to the ground as the creature lunges towards Price and passes straight through them.
The creature then sees Henry just ahead and charges at him, within seconds, Henry pressed down hard on the metal bar and with one hand knocked the bar off in midair, hitting the creature's head with such force that the thing flies to the ground next to Henry, scattering blood and brains on the ground, Henry staggered back, his breathing heavy and shaking hands gripping the metal bar tightly.
Dave was was in complete shock looking at Henry, but his attention returns to the friend next to him, "Rup! What happened??" He asks with his hands on Rupert's shoulders, at which he looks down with bulging eyes and equally heavy breathing. "Rupert, tell me what's going on..?" Dave caresses his friend's face trying to calm him down.
Rupert removes Dave’s hand of his face and stands up holding his pistol with trembling hands. "I..." He pauses looking at the pistol, mentally asking his hands to stop shaking so much, his eyes itching to hold back tears. "Stay strong Price..." He told himself, in whispers, not wanting to look weak in front of his best friend. His only living friend.
"I'm fine!" He states firmly, lowering his hand holding the pistol still shaky and continues looking for Dave's apartment. Panpa's looks concern and follows him looking for the keys to his house.
“Damn it!" he notices the keys are missing, "I don't have them!" he puts his hands on his head in a panic, Price turns towards him putting his hands on his shoulders.
“Dave calm down, try to think where you left them." Dave looks into his eyes with a not too confident look, his lips trembled, he looked around nervously.
"A-at the police station..." Rupert pulls back a little with a look of frustration placing his hands over his face and sliding one over his head, hair and up to the back of his neck. “I-I'm sorry Rup! It's my fault again!" Dave cries covering his face in shame at himself, he felt like he was worthless, he never did anything right.
Rupert sigh putting his hand reassuringly on Dave's shoulder, "no problem, just..." He looks at Dave’s apartment door, "we can try to break the door down to get in!" He responds, directing himself to his friend's apartment.
Dave nervously walks up behind him, "A-are you sure about t-that?" He asks with a shaky voice, “Isn't that wrong?" He asks Rupert who was right in front of the door already.
"Dave we're going through, whatever that is!" He puts his hand on Dave's shoulder once more, Dave feels his hand shaking on his shoulder looking down at his arm. "We have no choice but to do this!" He sees Henry behind Dave, "Oi! Can you help out here?" He catches the attention of the thief who sighs, rolling his eyes and dropping the metal bar on the wall to the side and joining Rupert to break down the door.
Henry instead of breaking down the door, takes a paper clip that was in his pocket and starts using it as a look-pick. “Ok, That works too..." After a few seconds Henry hears a *click* and formally opens the door.
"Wow" Dave whispers in awe as Rupert enters the apartment. It was as Dave had left it, A living room overlooking the kitchen with a hallway leading to the bathroom and bedroom.
"Okay Dave, pack everything you can in a backpack! Clothes, foods, everything!" Dave nodding his head runs to his room to pack everything and take the opportunity to change his clothes. Rupert sits on the couch positioning the pistol on the coffee table in front of him.
He sighs deeply, leaning his head on the couch, looking up thoughtfully. He was full of thoughts at that very moment, how they were going to survive this chaotic situation, he and Henry seem to be the only ones who know how to defend themselves. He remembers that Dave doesn't even know how to use a gun properly without almost accidentally hitting someone.
He hauls himself forward, seeing Henry leaning over the open door looking out over the apartment complex that was completely empty except for some of those things hiding outside.
He looks at a picture on top of the coffee table Of him, Dave and Johnny. The three of them smiling at their acceptance to the police academy from a year ago, Rupert had graduated the year before with Johnny, Dave had just graduated and they were celebrating that day. He remembers Dave's parents not showing up that day, like every other time, just remembering those two Ruperts made him feel irritated, but he knew that Dave still loved them even after the way they treated him.
The image of Johnny's smile in the photo leaves him with trembling hands holding the photo, he leans his forehead against the glass of the photo, forcing himself not to cry but when he opens his eyes he sees tears already on the surface of the photograph. "Shit.." He murmurs, wiping away his tears and gently tossing the picture to the side trying to ignore it. Sliding his hands through his hair he thinks of what he can do...
“I'm ready Rup–" Dave enters the room with a backpack with some clothes and some food and utensils when he realizes Rupert's condition. "Rup?" He approaches his friend crouching down to look into his slightly tear-soaked eyes. “Rupert!” Dave puts his hands over Rupert's face in comfort to his friend who almost never cried.
"Rupert, what happened? are you ok?" he asks very worried, “Hey, tell me ok? Tell me what's going on..." He slowly lifts Rupert's head to get a better look at him. Henry looks at the two of them and looks back outside. "I'm sorry Dave... I don't mean to look weak..." Rupert responds wiping the tears from his face, Dave looks at him in disbelief, never did he expect his friend to say something like that about himself.
"No no no! You're not weak..." Dave lowers his head, "I am... "He answers with a frown. Rupert looks up at him with wide eyes.
“No! you're not weak..." Rupert disagrees, Dave grits his teeth and stands up with his hands over his chest.
“Rupert! I can never defend myself!!” he started to raise his voice, he almost never did that, “I always need your help for everything!! Without you I could never become a police officer!! Without you, I'd be dead out there!!" He points outside, "you are the strongest person I know!! And tears are not going to make me think otherwise!!" He was tearing up too his face was red and his voice breaking. Rupert blushed, flattered by his friend's praise, he didn't see himself as strong. "I miss Johnny a lot too... “ Dave looks to the side, seeing the picture on the couch, he bites his lip lightly, “He was our friend..." He starts to cry, covering face with his hands.
Rupert gets up and hesitating hugs Dave, Henry looks at them for a while and thoughtfully looks back outside. The friends calm down, Dave was still shaking but Rupert was there to help him, the two prepare to leave, Dave looks to the side and sees an old baseball bat and picks it up, "maybe this will help... I hope..." Rupert smiles at him and Henry opens the door with the metal bar in hand ready to take out any of those freaks.
The three of them ran towards the parking lot where Rupert's car was, Henry being able to keep them safe from any of those things when they got too close. The three get into the fast car and Rupert starts the car heading towards his house not far away. Dave opens his backpack to double check what he's got, some snacks like chips, crackers, some water and clothes. He hears a rumbling of a belly and looks at Henry, was he hungry? Henry glances at him, noting that he has noticed It and crosses his arms and looks away with red cheeks in embarrassment.
"Are you hungry Henry?" Dave offers Him a bag of chips with a smile and one eyebrow raised and one lowered. Henry hesitantly takes it and start eating the snacks. Dave laughs and looks at Rupert opening another bag of chips, "Want some too Rupert?" He looks at him and sighing takes one with one hand and eats it, "You know this is my favorite." He laughs and Dave smiles eating the chips.
For hours the three of them drove through the city without a sign of life or security. They were starting to fear the worst, Rupert was already wanting to drive to the next town to hear from his parents when they heard something in the distance. They pass a corner from which they can see red smoke in the distance. The three look at each other and start driving towards the smoke hoping they were survivors.
Arriving at the end of the street they reach the source of smoke, it was a smoke signal tube thrown on the ground, the smoke was almost over. The three get out of the car with Henry getting out first and ensuring the protection of the others while Rupert approaches the flare taking it in his hand and analyzing it. “Someone definitely came through here." He looks at Dave who was looking around for survivors, he then hears a sound coming from behind a trash can next to an alley. He takes the baseball bat in his hands, he was shaking and sweating with nervousness.
He approaches slowly, "W-who's there??" He gets closer and closer and then the figure steps out from behind the trash can. It was a boy about the same age as them, curly brown hair, dark skin and green eyes. He wore a green camouflage-print jacket with a fur collar and red headphones around his neck. He had an injured arm and a cut on his face.
“Who are you??" Price stands in front of Dave pointing the gun at the stranger who scares himself a little by extending a hand before groaning in pain and going back to holding the other arm.
"Don't attack me! I just sent a signal to make it easier for them to find me..." Rupert lowers the gun, glaring at the boy as Henry approaches with a raised eyebrow. “I work for the government and went out on patrol, I got lost..." He laughs nervously and Rupert gets even more suspicious. "My name is Charles Calvin!" He cracks a smile and extends his hand, "I'm a helicopter pilot, it's nice to meet you!" He keeps waiting for them to shake hands with him, but not one of them accepts the handshake, that said pilot laughs awkwardly, lowering his hand .
“Rupert Price." He puts the gun away and introduces the other two, "This is Dave and Henry." Dave nods and Henry just stares at Charles, their eyes meet for a moment, he could sense a sense of distrust and coldness coming from the albino, Henry looks back down the street alert in case those creatures come again, tightly holding the metal bar in hands.
“If you're from the government, do you guys know what's going on??" Dave steps forward with his hands clasped together. Charles pauses and looks down at the ground, he shakes his head with a disappointed look, Dave's hopeful expression dissolves in seconds.
"It happened overnight, I don't know all the details, but if we find a way to the base in the center of the city, maybe the General will know!" He says going behind the trash can and picking one up military bag full of food and water. It had more supplies than Dave's pack, making him feel even more unprepared.
“Okay pilot boy, I'll help by giving you a ride." Price snorts and waves in the direction of the car, directing Charles to follow, from which he takes the backpack and without difficulty slings it onto his back. Dave was surprised, the backpack looked quite big and heavy.
“How do you manage to carry that big backpack?" He asks side by side with Charles as Henry follows close behind. Calvin looked up at him, raising an eyebrow until the question struck him.
“Oh!" He laughs, "It's not that heavy, I know I'm only a pilot but I'm not that weak!" He says winking and raising his arm flexing, but immediately he feels pain in his arm. "Half an hour ago I hit my arm hard..." He rolled up his jacket sleeve showing a wound on his arm that was poorly bandaged.
“Oh, I hope it's not serious..." Dave looks to the side wanting not to see the wound, Henry glances over and react attentively, catching Charles's wrist and lifting his arm towards him. “Henry what is it??" Dave looks at him confused, the thief is staring at the wound for a few seconds, noticing a bad placement of the bandage and blood stains. Henry finds a loose piece and slowly removes the bandage from the pilot's arm which shocks both him and Dave.
“I... I don't know how to take care of myself in a medicinal way..." He laughs nervously but Henry cuts the laugh short with a cold serious expression against him who swallows hard. Henry sighs, shaking his head and going to Charles' bag, starting to rummage through it. "H-Hey what are you-" in seconds Stickmin pulls out a first aid kit from inside the backpack.
Henry goes to the car and opens the backseat door and points inside. "You..." Dave stares at him for a few seconds until he realizes what he wanted to say, "Are you going to tend to his wound?" Henry blushes, again pointing further inward looking to the side. Dave laughs and helps Charles zip up his backpack and takes him into the backseat and onto the passenger seat.
Henry closes the car door behind him and gets in, Rupert checks that they're buckled in and starts driving. Henry puts the first aid kit between him and Charles and raises his hand without looking at it, the pilot is a little embarrassed but raises his injured arm which Henry pulls close to look more closely.
Luckily, it wasn't a bite, Henry sighs in relief at that and starts going through the kit and getting medicine for wounds, taking cotton and alcohol and dabbing it lightly on the wound. Charles lets out a small groan of pain with each pressure from Henry who doesn't seem to want to look at him.
“So...." Charles paused trying to ignore the pain, "Henry huh?" Just awkward silence, Charles wasn't the type to start a conversation, "you don't talk much do you?" Henry presses hard on the alcohol making Charles feel more pain, "Sorry!" He tries to laugh at the pain but it only makes Henry look at him with a cold and serious look.
“Are you a doctor or something..?" Charles tilts his head a little, "you seem to know a lot about first aid." Henry was just starting to put on the bandages when Charles mentioned this, causing him to freeze, he stared at the wound holding the bandages tightly, his vision becoming blurred and everything seemed to disorient him. "Hey..." Charles notices Henry's state a little worried, "are you okay..?" Henry snaps back to reality, putting Charles's arm back in place as if nothing had happened.
Henry looked away from Charles again, closing the first aid kit and setting it aside. This guy gave a negative vibe about him, Charles looks at Dave who looked at him too not knowing what to say.
“So...” He pauses looking around, "how long have you been in this situation?" He asks leaning over a little closer to the front seats. Dave looks at Rupert who with a sigh allows his friend to speak.
“We found out when we were at the police station not far from here." Rupert looks to the side, his eyes focused on the steering wheel and the street ahead, "let's say..." He looks at Henry who crossed his arms rolling his eyes and resting them on the window which he started to stare at, "We went to see how Henry was doing..." His eyes glanced at Henry repeatedly with a nervous expression, "...in his cell." Charles almost jumps out of his seat in shock, hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. “I know it sounds really crazy, literally we are..." He paused looking at Rupert who glanced at him, and when he noticed his eyes he looked forward again, "two policemen and a criminal..." Charles looks at the two and at Henry who just stared at him coldly, pointing at him in a conflicted way.
“Wow," he smooths a hand through his hair, "you mean this whole time I've been sitting next to a criminal?" Henry cracks a small smile as if he takes it as a compliment, "that..." He looks at He He glances in Henry's direction, one hand on his chin resting on the edge of the car window looking out at the passing streets. “I don't know how to feel about this..." He puts his arms over his legs looking at the ground not knowing what else to say.
“Do you remember the direction to this base in the city center? I need it here" Rupert says keeping his eyes focused straight ahead, Charles lifts his head, realizing he wasn't there given the directions to them. He takes his backpack, even though his arm hurts he could still take the map of the city and gives it to Dave's hand, smoothing a little bit of the bandaged arm trying to ignore the pain he felt. Henry couldn't help but notice this, but he looked back out of the car thoughtfully.
That ride would take almost half an hour, Rupert was still wondering how Charles managed to get away from his group so easily. During the ride it was getting close to dusk, and they were passing through a very poor area of the city, seeing through the windows those things outside roaming freely in the street.
“You know what those things remind me of?" Rupert and Dave stare at each other with an "oh no" look.
“No please..." Dave begs almost squirming in his seat as Rupert buries his head in the steering wheel and lightly taps it repeatedly.
“For the love of god this better not start with a Z!!" Rupert grunts turning to Charles who just shrugs his shoulders with a nervous smile. It wasn't quite the time to joke about how this looked like the apocalypse movies everyone already knew.
“I've always found it strange that in these movies they never say the word..." He laughs with both men growling in frustration, "and am I lying??" A silence takes the car for a few seconds, for a moment Charles really thought he had done something wrong, when he entered Rupert started to laugh softly, and soon Dave joined him. The two laughed and Charles felt like laughing too, the three kept the volume low so as not to attract the creatures, even with everything that happened, they still found a way to keep a good mood.
“What idiot, like, isn't a popular monster? Why do these movies never mention if it's something so common in the media?" Rupert laughed holding the steering wheel, Dave just looked at him laughing and smiling. “And it's not like I didn't notice, of course I did..." He pauses, the smile becoming melancholy and the laughter stopping, "Jonny loved those stupid movies..." He could hear the pain in his voice, placing a hand over his gently trying to comfort him. Charles stopped laughing and stared at them, noticing that the mood went from comical to serious very quickly. Charles looked into the corner feeling bad, he had no intention of making anyone uncomfortable.
“I...." He paused looking to the side, seeing something that left him in shock, "guys!" The other two look at him and to the side, going into exact shock. Henry's seat was empty, and the door was slightly open, he had just gotten out of the car while they were distracted. Immediately Rupert stops the car and starts mumbling getting out of the car loading his pistol and starting to head in the direction they came from.
“You two stay in the car! I'm going to finish that motherfucker!" He said mildly irritated, they start to run away from the car. Dave and Charles were left behind scared and nervous, Dave didn't know what to do and started looking around, he went back inside, locking all the doors and turning off the car’s lights. He was almost hyperventilating, he was scared, he crouched down in the space in front of his chair, trying not to make too much noise.
Charles wasn't so panicked, he looked out the windows to see if they had any of those things out there, not seeing anything for now. All they could do was wait for the other two to return.
Rupert continued to run after Henry, refueling his gun as he prepared for anything. But on the way he can see what looked like the bodies of those creatures, torn apart and lying in their own blood and guts, Rupert covers his face in horror, he should be used to this by now. He followed the trail to the same street they passed before, following it to the end of the street, arriving at a house that had an open door and swaying against the wind. Having no idea what was going on, Rupert just entered the house trying to ignore the bodies on the floor, walking through the door and looking around.
It was a small house, they didn't have much furniture, at least a basic kitchen, an old sofa and an old tv, a shelf and a desk with some scribbled and torn papers, some keys over papers with some kind of face symbol he didn't know about. "What place is this..?" He wondered, hearing someone approaching he pointed the gun in the direction, but it was just Henry.
“What the fuck is wrong with you??" He questions staring at Henry and lowering the gun, visibly irritated by the thief's attitude, "You can't just come out of nowhere and go robbing someone else's abandoned house!" Henry raises an eyebrow, he walks over to a shelf, picking up what looked like a photo but with a cold expression throws it away on the ground.
"DUDE!" Rupert walks over to the picture, turning his back on Henry, "be more respectful this isn't your-" Rupert takes the photo turning it over in his hand, seeing the contents of the photo, his eyes widen, he slowly turns to Henry who just looks at him coldly before heading to the entrance of the house.
He was carrying a small backpack, it looked pretty empty but at the same time carrying something inside. Rupert looks back at the photo, looking around at the rest of the house, processing everything. He gets up and still, a little in shock, adjusts the photo back on the shelf, staring into the frame of a mother with a sweet smile holding a little boy with blue eyes and snow-pale skin Just like his hiar. There was another person in the photo, but that part of the photo had been torn apart. Rupert sighs and have Henry following him back to the car.
“You know..." Rupert pauses with his hands in his pockets, "you could have asked..." He says looking at Henry, the thief looks at him confused, "I wouldn't deny bringing you here..." Henry stops confused, staring at him but Rupert just keeps walking, "we're in a life and death situation, we need to work together to survive..." He paused, sighing and turning to Henry with a sincere smile, "even if we're not friends, that doesn't mean we can't help each other..." The two stare at each other for a few seconds before continuing.
Finally they get back to the car, and upon seeing them they immediately open the door and Dave jumps out to find Rupert with a startled look, "Rup, I was so worried where did you go??" He asked with shaking hands on Rupert's shoulder who starts trying to calm him down as Henry gets into the car.
“Henry was stubborn and didn't ask to stop, he just wanted to stop by his place..." He says without much hesitation, surprising both Henry and Dave, "whatever he took must have been enough, right?" And he looks at Stickmin who just nods with a smile and gets in the car, putting the feeling as well as Dave and Rupert who returns to drive.
“Sorry I scared you Dave..." Rupert apologized but Dave just sighed and smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder gently making Price smile. His friend's smile was all he needed, and quickly he was more confident and headed downtown.
The trip doesn't take long, in almost no time he could see lights in a close distance and finally they could verify that it was like a barrier formed downtown, high lights tall enough for none of those creatures to get close.
“It's here!!" Charles points with a smile on his face, in a few seconds they approach what looks like a gate with some towers with snipers on top.
The both guards pointing in the direction of the car alarming "who's coming??" Really loud. The three look at Charles who just smiles genuinely nodding, nervous Rupert stops the car and they start to leave raising their arms. Charles immediately starts waving, "It's ME, Charles!!" The guards face each other and one of them speaks in an walk talk as they lower their weapons. The group faces each other and in a few minutes the gates begin to open, and on the other side an older man wearing a general's formal uniform was waiting with an expression of surprise.
“General!" Charles immediately runs towards him and stopping in front of him salutes, "I'm sorry sir, I-I got lost on patrol, I-I don't know what you heard with the rest of the group i... I...” For the first time he appeared to sound nervous in front of the trio, but he quickly fell silent as the general unnaturally welcomed Charles into a hug, surprising everyone.
Charles didn't look surprised or shocked, just... embarrassed? They were even more confused by this, they looked quite close. "The group returned safe, but they said you were lost and I..." The man paused, "I thought you were gone..." They break apart and the general puts his hand over Charles' face, "Are you all right?" The young man scratches the back of his head nervously and looks at the group, the general immediately sees them, "surviving hands I see, come on, come in." He gives room for them to pass with a hand on Charles's shoulder.
The group enters the base, impressed by the state of the place, arriving from military groups and various tents, medical, training, food and even accommodation. There were several townspeople there, some seriously injured, others having panic attacks and others just in a corner crying to themselves and being comforted by others. It was a very dire situation for many of them and it hurt Dave's heart, Rupert felt enormous discomfort seeing all this, and that only made him even more worried about his parents.
Henry just looked at those people with pity, sighing in the presence of children who asked the soldiers, firefighters and doctors where their parents were, with not even the adults being able to give an answer. The group just gets back in the car and they drive inside, parking it close to other cars and pulling out what they have inside.
They come back together with Charles and the general, "so..." Rupert stares at the two trying to understand their relationship, "what are you two?" He questions getting strange looks from Dave who just stares at him with a raised eyebrow while Henry hold a laugh.
“Oh well, I've known him since I was a kid, he was a friend of my parents..." Charles pauses looking at the general at which he smiles, "I grew up with him taking care of me so we're very close!" This seemed to make sense to them.
The general decides to let them take care of whatever they need in the medical hut and eat in the cantina hut, and Charles has offered to show them around, but Henry quickly grabs him lightly by the arm and starts dragging him to the medical hut with the intention of making him treat his wounds. Dave and Rupert stare at each other and laugh a little.
As they watched laughing, Rupert felt himself being watched, turning to meet the eyes that were looking at them.
“Rupert?" Rupert's gaze was petrified as he recognized the man in front of him, a man with a beard similar to the general's but equally different in build. The man stares at the two with a look of shock, the same one Rupert gave. Rupert felt his chest hurt, knowing what this meant.
