It was not his approval she sought, technically, but rather she wanted to keep herself useful to him - that last shred of paranoia would not go away no matter how much he seemed to "enjoy" having her and her partner around. Maybe it had something to do with his manner, or maybe it was the fact that if their places were reversed, she would not hesitate to drop him at her earliest convenience, but either way, when he stopped thinking she had important information regarding her target, she assumed the partnership would dissolve. He didn't need her to capture Alexander.
Despite all this, she did not mind going slow, understanding that for now, she needed to run at their pace. When they were ready to pursue Alexander, that would be her opportunity to engage Gwen again. Blankly, as close as she would get to a smile, she said, "Breakfast sounds lovely - as long as they serve a good omelet, I don't really care where."
Turning away from Benoit her eyes fell of their own accord onto Jason and suddenly she didn't feel so sure anymore. She needed to do something for him and she couldn't help feeling like there was an almost visible clock ticking over his head as well. A thought to take him aside and inquire about his condition flittered across her mind - he had been trained to use the suit and no doubt knew what he needed to correct whatever had been done to him, wouldn't he? - but she shoved it away. No, she could not let him know that she cared about him. That left her only one option, the only thing she knew might help him. They needed to get back what he'd lost, to make the suit whole again.
Thinking it over, she realized that they had a rare opportunity at this moment that she could possibly take advantage of, but it was a very slim chance. "I do have a few ideas I would like to share with you and get your input," Stephanie said to Benoit in an empty voice. "There are a few things, first: I think our chances of capturing the targets increases significantly if they are separated. Despite her abilities, and until they reach full power, Gwen will be somewhat easy to manipulate but not with Alexander there with her. Second, there is a window of opportunity open right now that I may not get a second time. Gwen is stunned and will stay that way for at least a little while - as soon as Alexander uses his powers, it will jump start her focus and she may get them back. But if he is wearing down, as you say, and ready to collapse soon, a time when they are both vulnerable may overlap. I would like to try and capture her before they run off again.
"If Alexander can be distracted for long enough, he may collapse before he has a chance to play the hero like he did before. And we'd have both of them basically handed to us on a silver platter." And Jason's goggles as well. Sitting back smoothly in her seat, she adjusted the front of her red suit jacket so the lower hem laid unwrinkled across her lap.
"If you do not want to move in that fast, then there is an alternative method for getting them separated that will work just as well. If your man cannot stop himself using his powers within the time it takes us to reach them, then we can go a more subtle route. When I am within range of her, my mental signature will be detected by her. No doubt when she connected to me through the glasses, she thought she was being a clever little sleuth. I have no doubt she will try to spy on us again."
Her lips shifted a little and she held her head high. "However, I am now on constant alert for her presence, which I am now able to detect as well as she can me. I propose that if you wish to wait until Xander feels safe enough to let his guard down for you to strike, that we take the opportunity when it comes up to implant a bit of misinformation and seeds of doubt. If she does not know we are aware and waiting - which the illusion is very easy to achieve - she will take anything thought or said to be the truth. If we were to give her a reason not to trust Alexander, I could get her to leave him on her own - which even just a little suspicion right now could shatter her idolization of him. Then it's only a matter of snatching her up and using her as bait for him. That is, if you think he'll fall for it."
There. Both of these plans could be executed within the week - the first had a deadline today of course, but the other had at least until Gwen had gained complete control of her abilities, which Stephanie still estimated about 5-7 days before that would happen. She still didn't know how long Jason had before he became completely unable to work anymore, but it was all she could - and would - do to help him. She would not bring herself to care anymore than that and she would not disrupt the appearance that she only wanted to achieve her own goals, while simultaneously helping him with his. Glancing in his direction again, she gave him a cold, stony look that articulated pure, violent hate through her unshakable facade and turned away as if he had fallen off the edge of the world with the direction of her gaze.
****
Gwen didn't like being ignored. Especially not now when she was already feeling completely helpless. She wanted to smack his face when he called her crazy - She? She was the crazy one??? - and she wanted to hit him over the head with something and drag him off somewhere away from this accented freak. But she also wanted to trust him, no, she needed to. So, glaring at him, she physically jerked her arms in a small tantrum, just after he'd called her twitchy, and she stood off to the side to alternate between glaring uneasily at Xander and the stranger while they "chatted". And all the while, static continued to keep her from hearing anything except exactly what was said and that meant any input from Alex was missing. She was alone.
But in reality she wasn't and since they weren't leaving, she was drawn back into the conversation against her will as the not so young man started to answer her questions. As much as she narrowed her eyes at what he said, suspicious of every word because she could not detect if it was truth or not, she hung on his voice with interest, unable to stave off her own curiosity. Every time he said her name however, she felt a chill run through her and her defenses instantly lock up around her. Never before in her life had she been this jumpy and paranoid, but the one thing other than Xander that had kept her alive these past 15 hours had been her ability to see into other people's heads. And now she was completely blind without it. She was even having difficulty trusting Xander without being able to comfort herself with Alex's presence.
The story "David" told about the lab sounded familiar with what she'd caught a glimpse of from the kid's - or whoever's - mind when they'd tried interrogating him before, but Xander brought up the exact thing that made her suspicious about it. From the sound of it, he'd probably worked at the facility and was trying to play it off as this "pause-while-escaping" bull. As he went on however, she grew more and more uncertain about whether or not he was lying and for several minutes she struggled with the desire to believe him and the fear that she would be wrong if she did so. And Xander was no help at all, unreadable as always, seeming aloof and as if everything in the world were a funny game to be played. She couldn't tell if it was an act or not and instead of making her feel confident that he had everything in control, it made her feel even more alone and anxious, like she was the only one concerned about whether this guy was looking to kill them or not.
Gwen stood just a little apart from them both and was listening intently again as the guy started to go into his relationship with the other people all stuffed into this body together. Strawberries and syrup? Her body went cold when he described the situation they were now in with Xander and she looked at him with a bit of concern lighting her eyes. Was that what was happening to him? She glanced back at David when he asked which of them had another person in their head and she clamped her mouth shut tightly, the paranoia instantly putting her back on the defensive. Then she gave Xander a distraught look when he pointed at her, saying she was the one with someone in her head. Instantly she realized he had a reason for keeping it from the guy so adjusted her expression to a more neutral one so as not to break the ruse he was setting up. But David's warning still made her shiver a little bit, and from his questions, she knew Xander was concerned about it as well, despite his light tone.
When suddenly control was handed over to her, she struggled not to give Xander the same bug-eyed glare she'd given him before and kept her face placid as she looked at the tied young man. Okay, questions, questions. Even after everything he'd said, she both wanted to believe it was true and wanted to tell herself he was lying... but if it was true, then the information was more than useful, it was necessary. But with his attention on her again she felt the paranoia kick in at full drive and she glared at him as if she wanted to kill him. That's right. Xander couldn't switch out with Alex and his exhaustion spells would only be getting worse as time went on and he would die. Did that mean Alex would die with him or would he get his body back? And how long would coffee or whatever help?
She felt like she wanted to cry and like she was losing control. Not for herself of course, but for Xander and Alex and what had been done to them and was going to happen to them. Not only was she helpless right now because of this stupid static in her head, but now she couldn't even help the men who'd protected her. "If you don't even know of a cure," she said suddenly angry at the talky kid. "Then what fucking good are you?"
Needing to get away from him she stalked into the entry hall where his bag still sat. He probably thought she wouldn't look inside because of the mess that was filling it and leaking onto the floor. For that exact reason, she grabbed it up by the strap and dragged it back to her seat. Sitting on the edge of the couch, she merely glanced at David before pulling from the moistened bottom of the thing and upending it in the middle of the carpet.
Noodles of pasta, little chunks of seafood and meat and crumbly chunks of soggy dessert all slathered in an oily, thick saucy mixture spilled out in a small mountain on the floor. Without blinking or recoiling from it, she tucked her hair behind her ears and began to sift through it looking for the "pictures" he'd supposedly tossed in there while attempting to leave the lab he'd been stuck in. She could not go diving within his brain, but she could look through this other shit to find at least some smidgen of physical truth. Amidst the food there were several sheets of soaked paper in there and bringing them out from the pile with dirtied hands, she shook them free of sauce and started to look through them. Like he'd said, a lot of them appeared to be pictures, but a few were files, their pages stained by sauce and food squashed into the paper they were written on.
"So, we know you're not a complete liar," she said without looking at him, her voice dripping with vitriol, staring at a photograph of a man she didn't recognize. "But it all seems like such a likely story that you carry these with you. Wouldn't it make more sense if these were your cases and you were working with them all along?" She angrily smacked the files down upon the nearby coffee table with a wet slap and stood up, coming to stand over him with a penetrating gaze.
"And you seem awfully knowledgeable about all of this, knowing about stuff that suggests to me more than a cursory look over some files or a few eavesdropped conversations between doctors - REALLY? You were, what? Like a little kid pretending to sleep while mommy comes to check in on you and they just happen to discuss important information at your bedside? How fucking retarded do we look?"
Inside, Gwen was terrified while outwardly she was seething. She didn't understand what was coming over her and didn't even think to stop it as she grabbed up his shirt and pointed at him threateningly, her voice growing louder and out of control. "Why did they send you after us? Were you to wait until he dies and recover the body or was it something they couldn't wait for and sent you to FUCKING FINISH THE JOB!?"
The adrenaline was really pumping now and there was no going back, her restraint and any sense she had left gone out the window, replaced by anger and fear. The static burned behind her temple seemingly growing louder inside her head and only making her madder. Speaking in a lower voice she said, "I got news for you, stupid fucker. That trick ain't gonna work a second time!" It was like Peter and Stephanie - they all wanted to play pretend and get one over on them. They all wanted control.
Without thinking about it first, she bent her elbow and snapped it forward quickly, aiming for his face, not even with a clear goal in mind but just wanting to hurt him. Hurt him for all the lies she could not see and for the life that was no longer hers.