*TW: police brutality*
You're marching with all of them. The size of the crowd is unreal. You're so happy to be a part of this movement.
But you're nervous to meet their old friend Tron, he should be here any minute.
All the sudden you hear:
"Ayy what's up?" Tron exclaims.
You turn around, they stopped marching to greet him.
They all share exchanges and hugs. Then Tron turns to you.
"Hey mami, I don't believe I've had the pleasure." Tron extends his hand out to you.
His voice is so fucking sexy. It's like Rio's from Good Girls.
You shake his hand, "I'm Y/N."
"Mmm, Y/N, I like that name."
You can't even see his eyes but you swear he's undressing you with them.
"You look good with all that gear on," Tron continues.
"Come on lets keep moving we gotta get back in the front," Riot orders.
You all pick up your pace and continue marching and chanting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's getting late, the sun set hours ago and the protest is dwindling down. You're among the last 50 or so protesters left. The police are out in full force and they aren't playing around.
"We're giving you one last warning. Disperse and go home immediately," the cops warn.
But you all stand your ground, fists high in the air. You won't leave without putting up a fight.
The cops shoot tear gas directly at all of you. Luckily you and the rest of the spec ops team have gear on but the other protesters aren't so lucky. Cries and curses are heard throughout the crowd.
You, Athena, and Riot go to the protesters that have been blinded by the tear gas.
Athena rummages through her bag for wipes, water and sterile eye wash solution.
"You guys got this one I'm gonna help them," Riot says.
Riot moves onto another group of protesters that were tear gassed.
You hear the Tank, Alpha and Tron antagonizing the cops.
"Fuck you and your outfits. You really that scared of us? Wooow, we don't even need weapons to make you fear us, and guess what you ain't seen nothing yet, we're just getting started," fumed Tron.
"Can we rinse your eyes for you?" You ask the injured protester.
The protester nods rapidly.
Athena rinses their eyes then gives them wipes.
"How's that? How are you feeling?" Athena asks them.
"Better thank you, thank you."
The protester walks away quickly, leaving the protest.
You and Athena help out a few more protesters. Then you hear shooting.
Fuck.
You look around for something to use as a shield then you see a plastic traffic barrier next to the street.
"Help me grab this!" You tell Athena.
You run to the barrier and Athena follows. You push the barrier into the middle of the road.
"Behind here! Get behind this!" You wave over protesters.
A group of five people hide behind it.
"You guys should get out of here before you get seriously hurt, I don't want you to end up in the hospital," Athena tells them, "We'll cover you while you run, just don't stop running until you get to some type of transportation or your home. Please be careful. As soon as we step out from behind this start running, stay in the shadows."
Athena grabs your hand and squeezes it a little, then you both jump out from behind the barrier and run. You see no sign of the guys, you look at Athena she looks worried. She tugs your hand, you keep running and don't stop.
After a couple of blocks Athena stops.
"Where do you think they went?" You ask Athena.
"I don't know, I didn't hear their signal, they could be anywhere," fretted Athena.
You pull her close to you and hug her tightly.
"We'll find them - "
You look in her eyes and kiss her.
"I promise you we'll find them come on let's start searching."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You and Athena have been running around searching everywhere you think they could be. But you can't find them. Athena starts pacing back of forth holding back tears.
"It's okay, it's okay," you try to calm her.
"No! No its not okay! Fuck. Fuck!"
She kicks some garbage on the ground.
"Before we lose hope let's just check the house."
Athena takes a deep breath.
"You're right, let's go."
You and Athena start running back to the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You finally get to the house but none of the lights are on. Your stomach sinks and your chest tightens.
I really fucking hope they're home.
Athena sits on the ground, takes out her key and hands it to you.
"Can you go in and check for me? Please?"
"Yes-yeah no problem," you try not to sound nervous.
You walk up to the door, put the key in the lock and turn the knob.
It's eerily quiet in the house. You already don't believe they're here but you check anyway. You check every single room but nothing. No one was home.
Shiiit.
You exit the house locking the door behind you. Athena stands up quickly. You shake your head no. All the color from Athena's face is gone. You rush over to her.
"Athena? Look at me. I'm not stopping until I find them okay?" Your voice is starting to break, "but I think we should maybe check the hospital before looking around the city all night."
Athena nods.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You and Athena arrive at the hospital. You walk inside together.
"I'm gonna ask the front desk if any of them are here."
Athena walks up to the front desk and you wait by the door.
"Y/N!"
You run over to her. She grabs your hand and brings you to the elevators. She's holding on really tightly, but you don't say anything. The doors open and you walk inside, she's hits a button and the doors close.
The elevator opens up and she starts dragging you down the hall, checking the room numbers as you pass by. Then you finally get to the door. Athena opens the door and walks in, you follow.
You walk in and see Tank sleeping in the hospital bed with a bandage around his head covering his left eye.
Athena covers her mouth as she breaks down crying, she kneels next to the bed.
"What did they do to you?" Athena whispers.
Tron and Riot go up to Athena to comfort her.
You walk to the edge of the bed and Alpha walks up to you.
"We tried to get him out of their hands but they pulled his helmet off and 'accidently' shot him with one of the 'rubber' bullets. As soon as the shot went off they backed away from us and dropped his helmet," Alpha shakes his head, "they pretended like nothing happened. We just got him out of there, I'm sorry we didn't signal you guys but we panicked. The doctor said that he will be partially blind in that eye for the rest of his life."
Your heart sinks.
I wish I could've done something.
"Thankfully he'll be able to go home in the morning, they wanna keep him overnight as a precaution," Alpha continues.
"I'll be right back I'm gonna go ask a nurse for a blanket," you tell the group.
They look at you confused.
"I'm not leaving him here by himself overnight."
They exchange looks with each other.
"Can you grab a couple of extra ones," Riot asks.
You nod and exit the room.
You take a deep breath trying to hold back your tears. You go to the desk and the nurse gives you five blankets.
You return back to the room. Tank is awake now.
"Glad to see you're still with us, well, see you with one eye at least," he chuckles.
You rush over to him, drop the blankets on the bed and hug him tightly.
"Oof careful there my body's a little sore."
You release your embrace and hold his hand.
"Thank you guys for being here but you really don't need to -"
"Shut up Tank, we're staying," Athena interrupts him.
"Well let's get settled in so we can be ready for his departure tomorrow," Riot insists.
Tank pats the empty space next to him and looks at you. You pop your shoes off and get under the blanket with him, snuggling up to him.
Athena puts one of the blankets over the two of you.
"Get in here," Tank commands.
Athena smiles and climbs into the bed on the other side of Tank. Tank puts his arms around the both of you and Athena grabs your hand.
Tron takes a blanket and covers himself and sits in the chair.
Riot sits on the floor with a blanket covering his lap, and in his lap, Alpha lays his head down. Riot pets his hair softly.
You slowly shut your eyes. The comfort of knowing you belong and are loved sings you to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Rise and shine!" An unfamiliar voice says.
You open your eyes, everyone is starting to wake up. You see the nurse carrying a tray of water, coffee and snacks. She places the tray on the table next to the bed.
"I wasn't sure what you all liked so I just grabbed a bit of everything," the nurse says, "we, me and my co-workers, all just wanted to give a little thanks to you kids for fighting for us."
"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that," Riot assures her.
"No, but I did. It's people like you that give me faith that things are changing and maybe my kids and future grandchildren will be able to live in a world where they aren't afraid to leave their house."
There's a silence in the room for a moment.
"These are his discharge papers and instructions on how to clean his eye. His prescription has been sent to your pharmacy so you should be able to pick it up before you go home," the nurse informs all of you, "stay safe out there."
The nurse exits the room.
You all start munching on the snacks and drinking the coffee and water.
Then everyone starts to gather their things and Tank gets dressed.
"Let's go home," Riot says.
Everyone follows Riot out of the hospital.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You all enter the house, the energy here feels different, the heavy weight of guilt and sadness fills the air.
"I'm gonna try to go back to sleep I didn't get much sleep last night," Tank says while walking to his room.
Everyone else sits down in the living room, you join them. They sit there in silence. Riot stands up.
"I know we're a little scared, upset, frustrated and a plethora of other emotions but we need to stay strong for Tank. He needs us right now. Let's stay home today and take the day to relax and be there for him. We'll discuss whether or not we'll be going tomorrow based off of how today goes. Tron I know you just got here and this is a lot but you're more than welcome to stay. And Y/N for someone who doesn't even really know us that well you have done more than you can imagine for us in the past couple of days. You're family now. You're welcome to stay as long as you want. There will always be a place for you here," Riot declared.
"Thank you, and thank you for welcoming me into your life and into your home. I'll always be here for you guys and I'll stay as long as you want me to," you say.