competitive

so i needed a couple of characters to write a few stories for, because i have to work on character voicing and there were a few prompts i wanted to write, so i made these lil fellas and wrote a story for them

[ima also put my character bios at the end because i wrote them like i was super tired or high or both but i swear i wasn't]

“Raptor One, Raptor One, over?”

“Loud and clear, Two, what’s your status?”

“Codename Vex in target. Follow orders?”

“Carry them out, get back to base—in that order, understand?”

“Copy. Over and out, commander.”

Camari Harris hefted the blaster to the crook of her arm, double checking to make sure it was loaded and ready to fire. Then, slowly…ever so slowly…she rolled her head along the stone wall to peer over the bush. A tall figure, scantily hidden behind the shed, had her back to Cam. A gun rested nearby, but the person was busy reloading its chamber. Cam propped her own gun over the hedge, taking careful aim. Then—

Movement.

Like a flash, she was pressed far back against the wall again, grinding her teeth. That had been close. Not daring to move her position to take a quick glance, Cam flipped open the little mirror on her wrist and slowly extended her arm. Fiddling with the view, she caught sight of the figure by the shed again. Only this time another had joined her. The first person hadn’t seen the second, who was taking the chance to deliberately sneak up behind, gun aimed. 

Cam took a second look—neither were wearing Raptor One’s gear, identifying them as the enemy. There were only the four of them on this base—Raptor One and herself against Codename Vex and Codename Tad. Cam continued to use the mirror, watching as the smaller figure—Tad—continued to sneak up behind Vex, until he had a clear shot of her back. Then, punching to his feet, he pelted off a stream of ammo at the helpless figure. Vex screamed and fell back against the shed wall, her own blaster falling out of her hand. Cam flipped the mirror shut, pulled out her radio, and quickly tuned in to Raptor One.

“Codename Vex down, Tad the culprit. Only one target left.”

“I’m on his right flank,” One’s voice scratched over the coms. “Circle back to his left and we’ll close in together. Don’t go in without my signal.”

Cam pressed her lips together, about to reply. She glanced up and froze. Then growled low in her throat. Leaning over the slumped figure of Vex, Tad was squinting in her direction. He slowly got to his feet, fingers caressing his gun. There was still a large distance between them, but Cam felt a sinking feeling in her gut.

“Change of plans,” she demanded, skirting along the wall so she was no longer in Tad’s sight. “Mission compromised. Codename Tad knows location.”

“Get out of there,” One barked. “Under no circumstances will you be caught, do you hear me?”

Cam would have smiled if she weren’t so busy crawling under the hedge. Instead she pressed her mouth close to the radio.

“Is that concern I hear, commander?”

“Don’t you go confusing duty with concern, Two. It’s my job to keep you safe. Now change your position or he’ll change it for you. I assume you wouldn’t fancy being blown sky-high by the enemy?”

Cam rolled to her stomach under the bush, propping her gun in front of her. She could already hear Tad’s laboured breathing as he approached. It was her last chance.

“One, I appreciate the concern, but I can do this. I have him in my sights.”

“Raptor Two, are you listening to me? He’ll get you. The only way to do this is if we do it together.”

“You’ve always been altogether too fond of doing things together,” Cam grinned. “It’s worth it. Taking out the bad guys is our job, is it not? Besides, it’s high time I get a fair share of the glory here.”

“Even if you have to sacrifice everything to get it? Is that what you want?”

She was running out of time. A couple more feet and Tad could hear everything she was saying. Cam swallowed thickly, her hands shaking on the trigger.

“If that’s what I have to do,” she murmured. “I’ll do it.” She had only moments left. Raptor One wasn’t replying.

“One?” she whispered. “Commander?”

Out of time. Cam caught sight of Tad’s body wriggling through the underbrush. Taking careful aim with her sights, she rested a finger on the trigger. She waited the extra second. Never could be too cautious. She hesitated…just a moment longer…doubled checked her aim…Tad wasn’t moving, he was caught like a deer in headlights…Cam’s lips curled in a grin. If this was her duty, she would do it. Her finger tightened on the trigger. One…two…thr—

“Don’t!”

Raptor One’s desperate cry jerked her out of her concentration. Her blaster turned upwards, she caught a glimpse of her commander in her sights a moment too late. Her finger, fastened tightly on the trigger flinched. Raptor One twitched, paled. His eyes locked on hers for a moment, before turning to face Tad. The enemy target had frozen under the bush, but he reacted a moment too late. Raptor One, falling midair, took aim and shot. A heavy stream blasted Tad, accompanied a moment later by his anguished shout. Cam bolted forward, knowing instinctively that it had been a good shot. That the soldier was down. Her commander hit the ground with a heavy thud, a wet stain in the centre of his chest. Dropping to her knees beside him, Cam gripped his hand.

“It’s okay, you’re fine. One? Tell me that you’re fine!”

His blank gaze was fastened on her, one hand pressed against the dark stain.

“It was…so cold,” he choked.

“Dante,” Cam swallowed, her throat thickening. Abandoning all regulations now, she gripped his shoulders and dragged his upper body into her lap. A dark curl fell over his eye and she brushed it away, shaking with shock. “I didn’t mean—I’m so sorry.”

“It’s…” Dante turned his face to hers. “It’s too late. Camari, I’m sorry.”

“You stupid, stupid man,” she breathed.

“I know, I know.” He heaved a cough, reaching to cup her cheek. “But I couldn’t let you do it.”

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

Cam whirled around, feeling Dante’s body twist as well to face the noise. 

Codename Vex stood in front of them, her shoulders set. A dark stream trickled down her shoulder and stomach, but she stood firm. Bringing up her blaster to eye level, she grinned.

“Hate to break up the moment, but—” a heavy blast crashed into Cam. She howled. It was cold!

Dante growled. “Bexley, really? I was enjoying that moment.”

The woman shrugged. “Duty first.”

A low groan emerged from the bushes as Codename Tad dragged himself out. He, too, sported several dark splashes on his torso and arms, and his hair was plastered against the forehead.

“Not fair,” he groaned. “They cheated.”

Bex’s eyes narrowed. “What?” She knelt next to Cam and Dante, pulling their coms off their ears. 

“You brought radios into this mess?”

Tad glowered, approaching Cam to rip away another part of her gear.

“And trackers?”

Dante chuckled nervously, making Cam vibrate on top of him.

“Well, we wanted to…” his rasp trailed off.

Bex raised an eyebrow. “Wanted to?”

“Win?”

Tad groaned, shaking his water gun in their faces.

“What the—you guys are taking this way too seriously. Look—it’s fake. Fake gun.” He waggled the plastic pistole again. “Just a toy.”

Cam chuckled awkwardly, rolling off of Dante’s stomach and sitting up. She shrugged.

“We’re just a little competitive.”

“Define competitive,” Bex demanded.

“Uh…”

“Aggressive? Ruthless? Hardcore?”

“Okay, I would have said committed, but sure, I guess.”

Tad groaned again, raising both his palms in surrender.

“Guys, guys,” he broke in. “It’s not about winning, you know. It’s all about having fu—”

“O-kay. That’s enough. Somebody tell Holy Joe over here to shut the trap.” Bex jabbed her blaster into Tad’s stomach lightly. Dante chuckled, sitting up and resting his elbows across his knees.

“But guys,” he said, “you’re forgetting the most important thing.”

“What’s that?” Bex demanded.

Cam grinned like the Cheshire cat, her eyebrow raising. She whooped, punching a fist in the air.

“We won!”

Dante barked a laugh, spraying a blast of cold water into Bex and Tad’s faces.

“We got you guys good!”

“Team Cante all the way,” Bex congratulated drily, her tone making it clear that she was not, in fact, thrilled about the result.

The squad:

Dante Farren, code name Raptor I bc has to be twinning with Cam’s—hardcore, likes Cam, tall, very dramatic, into the whole ‘lord of darkness’ thing, actually a cinnamon roll, ’finger guns’, basically i’d prolly be crushing hard if he were real bc babe™, also hardcore gonna name my kid dante bc goals

Camari Harris, code name Raptor II bc shipping—big personality in a small package, super theatrical, loves playing pranks, witty, puts up with Dante but honestly likes him, the actual lord of darkness, eats cinnamon rolls but is not one, has sticky out ears bc i like sticky ears they’re cute

‘Tad’ Wolfhart, code name Tad bc lame—short for tadpole, called that because he’s so small, super practical, deals with everybody else’s shenanigans but actually loves them to bits, everyone thinks he’s a cinnamon roll, is not actually a cinnamon roll, prolly has gorgeous hair idk boys should have nice hair so

Bexley O’Shea, code name Vex bc annoying—thinks everyone’s super lame, tough girl, oldest in the group, gets a kick out of sticking the others in awkward situations, ships ‘Cante’ with all her heart, is taller than everybody and just kinda hangs on their shoulders all the time, super not like the other Bex i had as a oc one time, why do i always give my characters the same names just because i like the names wow i need help