Snippet #2378592

Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.

WHERE THE FUCK WAS THAT HAND GOING?!

Scraping at his leg? Okay! Sure. He wasn’t going to say anything because the suit was armoured, and even if it felt like it way through the material, she wasn’t actually going to rip it apart. Hand on his leg? Alright! Alright, fine! She was sitting up, she needed something to put her weight on and he was happy he was being useful – just... ecstatic. Really. But this? This?

This was sexual harassment.

That’s what it was! He wasn’t aiming for pathetic or... or victimized but – this was...

Whatever, just ignore it and it’ll go away. Ignore it and it’ll go away. She was digging her fingers into his thigh – it was barely his thigh anymore, but ‘at least’ she’d stopped before things got ‘crazy’ – and doing exactly the opposite of what he wanted. Jason couldn’t take this. He couldn’t breathe. If he’d had his goggles on, his eyes would’ve been masked and he could’ve squinted and squirmed behind them as much as he’d wanted. There was nothing shielding him from her now, other than a very weak and desperate hope that she’d get bored of him and let him... maybe... Seriously – no one else was seeing this? He knew the Flunky didn’t like him, but Frenchie should’ve had something to say. It was as if they were all in on this. Yeah. Hey – that was probably it. Big ol’ joke on Jason – ‘run your hand up his crotch and see if you can him dance’. That wasn’t happening.

Fine, a little dancing, but nothing more after that.

He tensed. He twitched his leg as quietly as he could, ready to pass it off as getting restless in this car – and wildly uncomfortable, but she’d love that – on the off-chance anyone asked. They wouldn't. Benoit hadn’t needed to turn around when his lead sat up to talk to him and he was content to stay sitting forward as he thought over his answer. With Flunky driving and his eyes on the road, her hand could’ve been made of fireworks and making whistling sounds and they would’ve been too preoccupied to look.

Settle down. Breathe. She was screwing with him because he’d messed up. This was her way of getting back at him. He’d live with it. To prove it to her and to himself, he spent a second sucking in some air before diving in to reply.

“If she reset the system –” It hurt to say. “– then... no. Even if she’s been using it day and night since she got her hands on them, there’s no effects she would’ve developed. The...” Jason fought for a better word than the ones his mind was offering up. It’d be nice if he could have his leg back, by the way. “The obsession only begins after months and months of customization. It takes a year for it to be part of you. Until then, it’s fancy technology.”

And then after that, people would up like he did.

‘Natural skill’. It pissed him off. He’d worked tirelessly memorizing every facet of this suit but she took to it a like a dog in heat? Don’t think about heat, don’t think about heat – anyway. She didn’t know everything. Maybe enough to ruin his day, but when it came down to it, he had nothing to worry about. He’d get them back, especially if he had three others helping. It was just a matter of when and how many mental clamps he’d have put on his head. Before, in his target’s room, he’d idly browsed through her listed powers, but when his lead took the time to emphasize how dangerous she’d be if she reached her full strength, it resounded more heavily than basic text.

“Then let us hope she is too distracted by its shiny lights to notice our location,” Frenchie said. “Jean. How much longer?”

“Twelve minutes, Benoit.”

“Good. As for your question, Miss Agent, that is the plan in its essence.” Puff, puff, puff. “If it is worth knowing at all, no, his body is not in Elmira. I have no idea where Alexander-the-guest is, only that it will arrive as ordered in Charlton. Minor detail, irrelevant to us, but in case you have a report you’d like your colleague to write...”

He still didn’t look back. He was definitely doing it on purpose.

“I’ll make a note of that.” But Jason wouldn’t. “That ‘moderate trouble’ -”

“Worry about finding your missing piece,” Frenchie said. “Jean and I will handle our case and your lead will handle hers. Twenty minutes is all the time we need. Rendezvous back at the car by then. I will not accept discrepancies in this limit.”

“Got it.” Too close. She was too close to him. The sentence was forming in his mind, a simple ‘don’t touch me’ with a reverent ‘please’ on its ass... He kept in. A joke, a test, whatever it was, he wasn’t trading in her mild interest for undivided rage from accusing her of something he still wasn’t sure what to call. His mouth wanted to open? He’d give it something else to say. “Anything else you need from me, boss?”

Emphasis on ‘boss’. This was a professional pairing, a business relationship, and he – was Benoit fucking laughing?

“I hope you have the directions, Jean. I would like to get out of this car sometime soon.”

Sure. Cover it up! Even the Flunky was surprised by it.

“I know where to go, Benoit,” the man said slowly. “I have never failed you before.”

“Only making sure. One can never check on their subordinates too often.”

OH HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA. Screw all of you in here! Jason jerked his leg irritably and kept quiet. And he’d be keeping quiet until they made it there. If she’d been enjoying the show, it was over now. If she wanted him to break, she was going to have one hell of a time.



“Good to know you’re on board,” Xander said. “Someone’s still probably gonna die, though. I’m not proud of it, I’m just stating the facts.”

As long as it wasn’t Gwen, he didn’t care. Alex had lost his patience for these people a long time ago. But maybe not everyone in there was involved in these projects. They were lucky they had a mind-reader ready to walk the halls, then. If Gwen could figure out who did and didn’t mean to do them harm, it’d stop a few needless deaths. It’d be a miracle, because in Xander’s-but-really-it-was-his head, ‘deaths’ and ‘needless’ never, ever went together.

“Ugh...”

“Look at that. Right on time.” Xander slapped the kid a little. “What’s cookin’, princess? Thought you were gonna nap forever.”

“I don’t... want t’ask... where th’bloody hell you’ve taken me...”

“It’s not that bad. It’s more of a detour than anything.”

The kid, heels dragging lightly on the ground as he dangled from Xander’s fist, pulled himself from his mandatory nap and rolled his head back. From there, at that lovely angle, he got a full and focused view of the Agency building. Then his head popped back up and he asked, “So what’s that?”

It’s the Agency lab. Oh, right. He couldn’t talk. Xander, tell him.

“You don’t recognize it?”

“No.”

Well, the guy said he’d teleported out.

“Can’t even guess?”

“No.”

Xander...

“I don’t trust you,” Xander said. “You’re creepy and you’re old and you’re like some pedophile who got his ultimate wish.”

“Hey – I never asked t’be put in here, mate! If I –”

“The back door would be in the back,” he cut in. “Keep your eyes open for a window, a hole, a crack or anything like that.”

He started walking. Alex wanted to roll his eyes.

‘A crack’? As in a crack in the wall?

“It might mean there’s a door there.”

“I can walk, y’know. Y’don’t have t’drag me everywhere.”

“Be grateful I’m not doing it by your throat,” Xander told him. “That was a fun stunt you pulled with the pancakes. If I have the slightest reason to believe you’re out to try it again, I’ll kill you. Then I’ll laugh about it. Got it?”

The kid shut up and let himself get dragged. That struck Alex as odd. At the less-than-subtle threat, if he’d been in David’s shoes, he would’ve popped Xander’s head open right then and there. He was oddly calm about the situation. Everyone else knew what this place was before they’d made it here, but the information the boy had picked up in-between the passing out should’ve gotten him to piece this together. Instead, he settled on having a half-wary, half-confused expression on his face. Was he in denial?

... I think... we’re better off leaving him here...

“We’re past that.”

Typical.

Whose fault was that again?

No answer. Typical, typical, typical. Now Xander was ignoring him because he was looking for a way in. He had free reign to circle the place. There weren’t any guards outside the building and, like Alex had guessed, no obvious door. There had to be one somewhere, but if they managed to find a crack, they’d’ve hit the height of the Agency’s convenience. He hoped it wasn’t going to be like this the whole way. Something direct and simple - just once - would be greatly appreciated.

“Ah... so... where are we?”

“Shut up.”

Alex’s eyes were darting all over the base of the building.

You know what you’re looking for?

“Vaguely.”

“... ‘M not one t’pry, mate, but if you’n’her are gonna do some little ‘mind talk’, it’d –”

“Annoying sound.” Apparently, it worked on David, too. Xander went back to searching. On the far-most side, beaten by the sun, he pointed at absolutely nothing and said, “So that’s the front door... I don’t see anything on the side yet. Am I missing it?”

What door?

“Sh.”

If you’d explain –

“Sh!”

Fine, do it yourself, like everything else, Alex muttered. Even though it’d go faster if you’d let us help.

“Uh-huh.” He stopped looking at the base to run his eyes up the lab’s corner. “I think we’re going to roof it, kids.”

With what ladder?

“The one on the side.” Xander started walking, clearly confident that they were alone or well-enough prepared to not bother checking for Agents. “It’s faded. That means ‘invisible to the mind’.”

Those words registered loudly in Alex. Like that Agent at the apartment... Invisible without being invisible? Who funded these people?

“Y’gonna let me go t’climb or should I just hop on your back?”

“Over the shoulder. You twitch, I drop you, and I’m speedy like a monkey. You'll be a good drop.” It took seconds to reach the corner he’d been looking at. A fine trail through the lawn on the hill followed after them, then slowly bent back to its normal shape. Xander put his hand out at the air, bringing it down on something that made a hollow, metal noise. A rung. A ladder rung. Holy shit – there really was a ladder! The instant one of his senses had clued into it, everything else followed. It was a dark brown ladder stretching up to the roof and they... were actually going to climb it. Literally. “Hope you don’t hate heights.”

I do.

Once more, no answer. Xander smirked though.