Teamwork is a skill we lack. (II SUPERHERO AU FIC)

37

'Hey, how's it going? You're still alive, right?' Pickle texted.

Knife thought for a moment, making sure the little icon changed to read to make sure Pickle saw he was looking, before responding.

'Still alive. Things are getting more serious.'

'I know how important this job is to you, but... if things get deadly, please get out of it.'

Knife held the phone in front of his face, looking at the texts with a guilt ridden face, once again struggling to find a good way to respond.

'K.' Was all he could muster.

'Ily' Pickle texted.

Knife waited a minute.

'Ily too. Now get some sleep.'

'I should be saying the same to you, goodnight, loser.' Knife couldn't help but smile.

'Just to clarify, that loser part wasn't serious. Goodnight for real now.' Pickle texted back a few seconds later. 

And with that, Knife put his phone down by his side on the couch, now moving his gaze over to Microphone, who was asleep in the chair. He wondered how she could just sleep despite all of this-- but he figured she had her own problems, and was able to deal with them in a way that didn't involve her losing sleep. He looked away, now flopping back in a laying down position on the couch, stretching his legs out on the cushions, as he blankly stared at the ceiling.

Knife didn't sleep much that night.

--

It was morning now. Testtube knew that, not because she had slept through the night, but she was working so long, her phone alarm went off. 8 AM. She took a moment to sit back in her seat, admiring her handy work. An EMP. She figured since his headquarters was full of electronic devices, and most likely a bunch of security bots, she'd use this to easily get through them, to him, and Fan. A job? Pssh. The only reason Cobs wanted him was for his powers, and to divide the team. Testtube wasn't about to let that happen. Fan meant too much to her to let him get mixed up in something as serious as this. She carefully placed the EMP device in her bag, and slung it around her shoulder, ready to leave her lab to go upstairs, though it looked like someone was coming down to her.

"Uh... hey." Knife said, looking around the room, an unsure look on his face as he made his way down the stairs."

"What... Do you need." She said, being entirely blunt.

"I'm surprised you didn't just go off on your own last night, honestly." He crossed his arms, his gaze landing on her bag.

"Is that part of the plan?"

"It's part of my backup plan."

"Incase..."

"In case things go wrong. You can't just take risks with something like this."

"And you making an entire back-up plan and not sleeping isn't a risk?" He furrowed his eyebrows, making eye-contact.

"What makes you think--"

"You look terrible. I'm just assuming." He was the one being blunt now.

"Where is this attitude coming from?"

"You said it yourself. We can't take risks."

"So what is that supposed to mean?"

"You shouldn't go with us today. You'd be an emotional liability."

"And how can I trust any of you to bring back Fan safely?" She raised her voice.

"Do you just not have any faith in me and Microphone? Your other two friends?" He moved closer, challenging her. She stepped forward now too, the both of them butting heads, annoyed with each other.