Work Text:
Champions
by Amazon X
Langly and Jimmy were clumsy, as always, as they maneuvered the box into the room and onto a work table. Jimmy shook his head at the excited expressions on the Gunmen's faces as he walked away to get the heavy duty surge protectors for the new equipment.
Frohike pushed through with his Gerber handy, knife extended to cut through the adhesive keeping the box closed. He was fast and efficient as he sliced the box open. Working together, the four men managed to slide the new stack server from his packing foam and lay the pieces out on the table.
Since they'd been "resurrected" from death, a la hidden with Mulder, Scully, Krycek and Spender the Lesser, as Frohike called him, they were anxious to begin writing the newspaper again. Langly thought it would be easier to get a little money, and recognition along the way, by entering the world-wide hacking contest. They entered as a team, all four of them. Jimmy was not sure he was necessary until Byers explained his necessity.
"Jimmy, do you know why we need you? We are not regular people, you know that. But you are. You keep the balance."
"Yeah, I do the laundry and the dishes and the shopping and the cooking and the cleaning..."
"And hasn't production of our work been that much more fruitful? We're able to get more done, Langly coded for three video games, and we have enough money to start the paper again. We bought this place, and there's even a real room for you. Do you think we'd do that if we didn't want you here?"
Jimmy smiled a bit and let Byers go back to helping Langly and Frohike set all the equipment up. He went to the kitchen and began brewing some strong coffee. Knowing the guys, they would be up for hours.
Langly looked at Byers and said, "You think they know we were in his office?"
Byers shrugged. "I'm sure Skinner knew. I don't think Kersh noticed. Only IT may have known and called Kersh about the extra load on the servers."
"You think Alvin overlooked our evening escapade?" Frohike asked.
"I like to think so," Byers said.
The two older Gunmen looked at their youthful companion as he slid each component into the server rack. They both smiled. It was fun for the three of them to get together again and hack into servers like the old days. It was a world-wide hacking contest and the winner would receive a brand new Sun Server setup. Of course, the Gunmen's team won, after utilizing the FBI servers, onsite, to hack into the CIA, the KGB and the RCMP all simultaneously. It was like old times.
Byers looked at his watch and smiled. "I'm off, guys. I gotta go."
Langly didn't look up. Frohike smiled and waves to Byers as he left the warehouse. Jimmy walked in the three mugs of coffee. "Where did Byers go?"
"To...um...he...uh..." Frohike stuttered.
"Oh, Dr. Modeski, huh?" Jimmy gave them a goofy grin.
"How the hell did you know?" Langly asked.
"Byers told me. We got bored, we talked. Guys do that you know."
Frohike smiled at the new youngest member of their group, as he would begin to think of Jimmy. "Yeah, kid, friends do that." He patted Jimmy's shoulder. "Did we ever tell you about how the three of us met?"
Jimmy frowned a bit. "I don't think so."
Frohike smiled. "Why don't you grab the toolbox and we'll tell you about how we started 'The Lone Gunman' one day in 1989."
"Yeah, well, it's all Byers' fault so you should let *him* tell it!" Langly whined.
"Hey, Throwback, you just enjoy your spoils of war over there and *I'll* tell the story."
"Yeah, whatever."
Jimmy grinned widely. It was nice to be back with the guys in some semblance of normalcy. Frohike was telling stories and officiating over their lives. Byers was out in the world, acting as the liaison between them and the world. And Langly was making sure they were connected to the outside world inside their fortress. All was right with the world again.
The End
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