Atlantic Rim // One-on-One // Closed

Duncan opened his eyes and glanced over at her. "Is there an issue?"

"Restless." Cassie said, shifting to, of all things, do crunches. "It's the adrenaline."

"You're weird as hell." He closed his eyes again, trying to get a little sleep during the ride.

"You're so sweet, cap." She cooed sarcastically, falling quiet as she attempted to burn off the adrenaline.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, a small smile playing on his lips. "You call me by my rank? I'm surprised you admit I have authority over you."

"Actually, I'm mocking you." She said, shaking her head. It was fairly obvious that was a lie. "Sorry."

"I like my version better, so I'mma go with that," he said, grunting as the helicopters rocked Alabama around.

"Of course you do." She snorted, pausing her crunches to regain her balance. "Y'know what I wanna do?"

"What do you wanna do, Private?' he asked, opening an eye to look at her.

She glared at him, nose wrinkled in distaste. "Don't call me that. And anyway, I want to go back to Crete. Just….visit home."

"Maybe a Kaiju will hit there," he said, frowning slightly. "Other than that, there's no way. We're too important to just ditch the job for a vacation."

"I know, I know." She shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I don't want them to have to deal with an attack. I just miss it sometimes."

"I pushed those thoughts out years ago," he said with a shrug. "My home got decimated, so I had to get over it."

"Wow, depressing, thanks." Cassie said wryly, flopping onto her back. "I'll see what I can do."

"And such is life," he said, rolling his eyes. "You gotta come to grips with it, eventually."

"Y'know, I had, at one point. Don't know when the false hope showed back up, but oh well." She waved vaguely.

"Probably that first Kaiju we beat. Thunderthighs, remember?" he asked with a snort.

She snickered, nodding. "God, how could I forget?"

"You were like a little kid after we disconnected. Kissed my cheek, screamed like a banshee, whole nine yards." He grinned over at her.

"I was excited." She said, looking away with a smile. "Y'know, that was the first time I'd ever done something with a positive impact? And the adrenaline rush was insane."

"It's not actually adrenaline," he said. "Your brain kicks on overdrive whenever we bridge into Al, so when we disconnect your brain has to cool down."

"You mean I've been riding fake highs this entire time?" She raised an eyebrow, tucking her arms against herself as though to hide them. It was pointless, considering he already knew. "Huh. Wack."

"Wack indeed." He stretched his legs out and groaned, looking much older than 25 for a moment. "I'm getting too old for this."

"A grumpy old man." She cooed, trying to keep down the laughter threatening to bubble up. "I do hope you didn't leave your Life-Alert at home."

He patted his chest, then began looking around frantically as if he lost something. "God dammit, damn this old brain."

She couldn't stop the laughter, doubling over. Any of her worries and fears were momentarily forgotten as she laughed, shaking her head. "Old Man Duncan."

"I'm older than most who have this job," he said, putting his arms behind his head. "My expiration date's probably coming up soon."

"Nice try, cap." She shook her head as her laughter quieted, rolling her shoulders for no particular reason. "I'm keepin' you alive as long as possible. Ain't nobody else gettin' in my head like that."

He looked over at her with eyes that knew more than they had the right to know. "You're my 5th, hotshot, which I'm sure you already know. It's a miracle I'm even with you right now."

"I know. Which is why I intend on keepin' the both of us alive." She met his eyes with determination, fists clenched in her lap.