Valentin's Day Fic Exchange Event ended and here are the results of this lovely idea - five delicious Valentine's Day-themed stories written by different fic-writers!

The last one is by The Joker's Ears and Eye and it is dedicated to Worstcase.

Prompt: chocolate

"Minions," Captain shouted as he barges into the squad's current living room.

Engie dropped the cogs and gears he was working with as he flinches violently. Snippy jumped up from his relaxed position on the couch, his hand instinctively reaching for his still-missing weapon. Pilot stood from his mini tea party on the ground and raised his hand to his head in salute.

"I have a marvelous mission for all of you to do!" Captain nods, spreading his arms out in a 'you're welcome' gesture, as if all his minions were just dying to work together.

"What is it Captain?" Pilot asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a child.

"It is the most splendid of all my ideas," Captain strolled past Pilot and clasped a hand on the shoulders of his other two minions. "Chocolate!"

"Chocolate?" Snippy repeated apprehensively.

"Yes!" Captain nods enthusiastically. "I want you three to bring me piles and piles of chocolates!"

"May I ask why?"

"Do not question Captain, Slug!" Pilot shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the sniper.

"It is not of importance at the moment, Mr. Snippy." Captain replied, patting Pilot on the head like a dog. "Now, off; off with you all!" He waved his hands dismissively and skips out of the room, leaving the three minions to complete the vague task.

Snippy regretted his decision.

He had thought, since they didn't have an adequate method of defense, it would be best for them to stick together; safety in numbers. However Pilot wasn't the quietest person to navigate the dangerous terrain with and Engie was a little too quite. Out of all the people to survive the ending of the world and he was stuck with two crazies and an introvert. Maybe it would have been better just to go their separate ways.

"So, chocolate," Snippy started, glancing over to his squad mates. Engie nervously twiddled his thumbs, looking anywhere but the sniper. Pilot just hummed happily, skipping ahead as he kicked around some ruins as if boxes of chocolate would be sitting under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

"I wonder what Captain wants with them." He continued to ramble, pausing only for a moment to see if they would reply. "Wow guys, stop monopolizing the conversation. You're barely letting me get a word in edge wise."

"Chocolate!" Pilot shouted, breaking Snippy's sarcastic tangent. The bug eyed aviator widely waved his arms around and pointed at a nearly decimated advertisement hanging on the side of a building. Little hearts could be made out, decorating the outside of the poster.

'OUT DO HER OTHER LOVERS. GET HER THE MOST AND THE BEST CHOCOLATES. FOR ONLY 100900 CREDITS YOU CAN WIN HER LOVE! GIVE HER – '

The rest of the ad was unreadable.

"Heh, maybe there's still some chocolate in-" Before Snippy could finish, Pilot swung a stray plank of rotting wood at the sniper. Snippy's eyesight blurred and the back of his head throbbed.

"I will obtain Captain's love!" Pilot shouted as he ran into the building.

Snippy muttered a string of curses as he knelt forward and held the forming lump tightly.

"You might need ice on that." Engie offered, finally speaking up.

Snippy ignored Engie's input and unsteadily chased after the fleeing aviator.

"Pilot! Get back here!" The sniper shouted, not caring about what might be lurking in the dark building.

"Go away, you shoe!" Pilot barked. "You can't have any of the chocolates!"

A low moan echoed inside the building, silencing Snippy before he could reply.

Engie, who had cautiously followed the sniper groaned. "We're all gonna die…"

Another moan boomed from an unknown source.

"Captain's glory will keep us safe!" Pilot shouted loyally.

Snippy shushed them both, muttered a 'damn-it', and looked the dark room, attempting to spot the source of the sound before it found them.

The room turned eerily quiet, only the sound of their breathing and an occasional creak could be heard.

One last groan filled the room before the floor boards erupted from the ground beneath Pilot's feet, flinging him into the air. A section of the ceiling cracked open, sending dust and chunks of drywall around the room.

It stepped out from the dust, letting out a loud screech. The creature's body was elongated. The creature's sickly skin glowed pink, illuminating the room with its radiation. On what Snippy assumed to be the monster's face, there was only a dented in nose, a wide mouth filled with pointy sharp teeth and sunken skin where it was missing eyes.

"Damn." Snippy whispered, slowly backing away.

"I will fight in the name of Captain!" Pilot declared loudly as he weakly stood back up, only to stumble back down.

The eyeless creature swiftly turns toward the Pilot's voice, its nostrils flared. It let out another screech before charging at the aviator.

Snippy rushed forward and grabbed Pilot by the arm, dragging him away just before the boney thing could snatch him. He dragged him with him, cursing him as Pilot protested.

"No, the chocolates!" He whined.

"You won't be of any use to Captain if you're dead." The sniper huffed, glancing behind him at the creature. It crawled on its arms like a centipede, snarling and snapping its teeth. He peered ahead, noticing a ladder hanging on the edge of a building that would be just high enough to get out of the reach of the monster. Assuming the creature couldn't climb, of course.

Pilot broke free from Snippy's grasp and managed to run past the monster, as he shouted once again about maintaining Captain's glory.

The creature followed after Snippy for a bit, but it slowed as if deliberating. Engie was ahead of the sniper, surprisingly fast for what Snippy had pegged him for. He seemed to have noticed the same building the Sniper had.

The creature had chosen to continue chasing Snippy and Engie instead of Pilot, probably hoping for two meals instead of one. It increased its speed, getting closer and closer to the sniper.

Engie made it to the building first, leaping up the ladder and clumsily climbing up. Snippy was just a few feet behind, the creature shortly behind him. He jumped, reaching for the ladder. He managed to climb halfway up the ladder before one of the creature's arms grabbed the sniper by the leg, dragging him back.

Snippy tightened his grip on the ladder, struggling to kick the monster back. Just when Snippy thought he was going to lose, a block of cement flew past his head and hit the creature. A hand extended down to him and he took it gratefully, letting himself be pulled up.

"Uh, thanks." Snippy muttered awkwardly.

"Yeah well…It's nothing." Engie replied just as awkwardly.

Snippy glanced over the edge watching the creature as it screeched and circled the bottom of the ladder.

"We have to get Pilot."

"How do you plan to get past it?" The Engineer peered over edge as well, doubtful that they could do anything.

The sniper glanced around, unsure himself exactly how they would do it. There were more chunks of cement on top of the roof, but he didn't think there'd be enough to actually do any major damage, aside from one boulder that looked too heavy for him to lift. Even if they could both get it over the edge, there'd be no guarantee that it would even land on the creature's head or if it would knock it out.

"Got anything in that backpack of yours?" Snippy nodded once toward the Engineer's back.

"Nothing of any use," Engie shook his head. "Just some random gears that Captain seems to think I'll be able to turn into a functioning laptop."

Snippy grunted, turning back to face the monster. He wondered if they could wait it out without Pilot causing trouble, but Snippy new it wouldn't be long before the aviator would come running out of the building singing Captain's anthem.

An idea popped into to his head.

"What if we wait for Pilot to come out? He'll distract the monster, giving us enough time to lift that heavy rock over there to toss on its head. We'll just have to hope that it disorients it enough that we can all get a head start back to base."

"What if doesn't give us enough time?" Engie worried. "Or what if Pilot doesn't come back?"

Snippy stared back at the building they had previously occupied. "He will."

They positioned the rock, ready to heave it over the edge when/if Pilot returned. Then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The sky began to darken as midday began to turn into late afternoon. If Pilot didn't return to soon it would be impossible for them to tell. The creature was restless, unwilling to give up the two warm bodies it wanted to devour.

The engineer was rocking ever so slightly in a seated position, obviously nervous.

"So," Snippy began, hoping the new intern was still speaking. "Were you some sort of technician before…you know, the world ceased to exist as we knew it?"

"You could say that." Engie hesitated.

"Like what?" Snippy shifted to examine his leg and noticed a bruise forming where the creature had grabbed him.

"Uh, programming…maintenance…this and that…" He avoided, not wanting to give away too much.

"Heh, you didn't work on ANNET did you?" The sniper joked, sniggering.

Engie chuckled nervously.

"You didn't, did you?" Snippy repeated more serious.

Before Engie could answer the monster screeched again, prompting Snippy to forget about his question momentarily. Off in the distance, Pilot was running from the building, his arms outstretched and little red box in his hand.

The monster turned toward the unsuspecting aviator, leaning back as it prepared to attack.

"NOW!" Snippy shouted, prompting Engie to help. The two quickly dumped the large cement block over the edge and onto the creatures head. It stumbled to the left its arms twisting and for a moment, it seemed like it wouldn't work, but then it leaned far enough over to fall.

"Come on." Snippy called, swiftly sliding down the ladder and running toward Pilot, pausing only to make sure that Engie was following.

The creature stirred and soon was thrashing around, trying to get back up. Unfortunately for the monster, its many arms kept it from regaining its upward position.

The three minions made it back to the base, tired and relieved to be home.

"Captain! Captain!" Pilot cheered, waving the chocolate box as he ran towards the Captain's quarters.

"Uh listen," Engie began as Snippy let himself fall to the ground.

"Save it." Snippy muttered turning face the engineer. "At the moment I don't really care who you are. I'm tired and I just want to sleep. And even though you didn't really come up with any helpful plans of escape, you're still not as useless as I thought you were."

"Uh, thanks?"

Snippy just murmured something unintelligible, before Captain came strolling into the room.

"Engie! Forget the portable computer device. Use your plumbing skills to make me a fountain of chocolate." Captain declared taking the protesting engineer by the arm and dragging him from the room.

"For the last time, I am not a plumb-" he began. "Wait, fountain?!"

The End!

Thanks for reading and reviewing! We hope, you had glorious Valentine's Day!