Jet Link | 002 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
metalicarus) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
makinglies2013-06-02 03:20 pm
metalicarus) wrote in makinglies2013-06-02 03:20 pm
Entry tags:
You cannot change what you are, only what you do.
The room was too quiet. The only sound that accompanied his thoughts was the ticking of the clock on the wall and that was too loud. It reminded him that time would keep moving even if he sat here, nothing was going to change just because he didn't move and, most of all, time only ever moved onwards.
As much as he may want to, he couldn't wind back the clock and undo what had been done. He didn't regret his decision to fly into space and save his best friend, without him Joe would have drifted forever and none of them would have seen him again, at least now Francoise wouldn't have to cry anymore. But...maybe it would have been better if he hadn't been saved, if he'd just died like he'd been prepared to do. Of course, sitting there, alive, it was harder to find that kind of resolve again. But, in the end, what was the cost of his living?
He looked down at his hands and how his wrists ended in the crease of a panel, the first sign of a difference. His eyes followed up from his wrist to his shoulders and then back down his own chest, creases ran along the surface of his too-pale skin like a web. They were closed now, but he knew it only took a second, a thought, and nearly all of them could flair up, open, or even separate to allow him better maneuverability and speed.
He knew this was like Pyunma, the doctor had only been trying to save him, to make him stronger. But he wasn't like the eighth cyborg, he couldn't have plated armor to defend from hits; he needed to be fast and light and aerodynamic. What he now had in speed and evasiveness he had gained at the cost of the defense he didn't have much of to begin with. He'd always been light on defense and built more for the get in quick and hit hard tactic rather than the barrel through approach for Albert or G, but he felt fragile and he hated it. Logically, he knew he could still take a hit better than most people, but he would have to rely more on not being hit in comparison to what he'd had before.
It was frustrating beyond belief, he didn't want to feel like this...and he certainly didn't want to look like this. He understood now, what his partners had been through and how they felt about being mostly machine. And it sucked. But it was more than even that. He looked up and into the mirror across the room where someone unrecognizable stared back. Blue eyes, finer features, and blonde hair stood out like beacons and he couldn't take his eyes off of them. Part of him thought that maybe, if he looked long enough and hard enough, he'd be able to see something that told him yes this was still Jet Link...but he hadn't found it yet.
Everyone always said it was what was inside that counted, not outside, but when you couldn't recognize anything of yourself, it was like you were in someone else's body, like one of those movies where it's some mistake and by the end of it everything would be back to normal. Except there wasn't an ending like that waiting for him, only blue eyes, blonde hair, and panels.
As much as he may want to, he couldn't wind back the clock and undo what had been done. He didn't regret his decision to fly into space and save his best friend, without him Joe would have drifted forever and none of them would have seen him again, at least now Francoise wouldn't have to cry anymore. But...maybe it would have been better if he hadn't been saved, if he'd just died like he'd been prepared to do. Of course, sitting there, alive, it was harder to find that kind of resolve again. But, in the end, what was the cost of his living?
He looked down at his hands and how his wrists ended in the crease of a panel, the first sign of a difference. His eyes followed up from his wrist to his shoulders and then back down his own chest, creases ran along the surface of his too-pale skin like a web. They were closed now, but he knew it only took a second, a thought, and nearly all of them could flair up, open, or even separate to allow him better maneuverability and speed.
He knew this was like Pyunma, the doctor had only been trying to save him, to make him stronger. But he wasn't like the eighth cyborg, he couldn't have plated armor to defend from hits; he needed to be fast and light and aerodynamic. What he now had in speed and evasiveness he had gained at the cost of the defense he didn't have much of to begin with. He'd always been light on defense and built more for the get in quick and hit hard tactic rather than the barrel through approach for Albert or G, but he felt fragile and he hated it. Logically, he knew he could still take a hit better than most people, but he would have to rely more on not being hit in comparison to what he'd had before.
It was frustrating beyond belief, he didn't want to feel like this...and he certainly didn't want to look like this. He understood now, what his partners had been through and how they felt about being mostly machine. And it sucked. But it was more than even that. He looked up and into the mirror across the room where someone unrecognizable stared back. Blue eyes, finer features, and blonde hair stood out like beacons and he couldn't take his eyes off of them. Part of him thought that maybe, if he looked long enough and hard enough, he'd be able to see something that told him yes this was still Jet Link...but he hadn't found it yet.
Everyone always said it was what was inside that counted, not outside, but when you couldn't recognize anything of yourself, it was like you were in someone else's body, like one of those movies where it's some mistake and by the end of it everything would be back to normal. Except there wasn't an ending like that waiting for him, only blue eyes, blonde hair, and panels.
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Albert yanked the man to standing, holding him in front like a shield as he babbled the way to the operating theater, another building over connected to this by a glass covered catwalk on the third floor. Albert said nothing in return, instead using the man as insurance to get past the positioned soldiers by digging his gun against his forehead - not his attached machine gun, but a pistol he'd brought with him. If he can keep his own identity as a cyborg secret, then it would be one less way to track them down once he escaped with Jet.
Once back in the hall, he shoved his hostage back at the group and made a run for it. They immediately opened fire once the soldier was out of their line of fire, but Albert managed to round the corner and bust into the stairwell before more than a couple bullets sent holes in his jacket, though they did little else besides scuff the metal on his right shoulder.
The entire building erupted in alarms as he kicked open the door to the third floor and Albert was forced to dive to the floor as machine gun fire erupted around him. He hadn't quite counted on them being able to mobilize so quickly. Pinned down behind a structural pillar, Albert tore off his glove and returned a barrage of his own, having no choice but to take out those in his way. Instead of aiming low, at head level, he aimed high to drop the ceiling on them, an entire air duct dropping down across the squad of soldiers blocking he exit.
Scrambling, Albert managed to get past them before they recovered, the group from downstairs still hot on his heels. He'd have to put an end to that. The glass corridor seems a good place to end the pursuit. A couple of the soldiers get caught in the blast from Albert's missile that shreds the middle of the catwalk, falling the three stories to the pavement below. It would have to do.
Resistance is lighter in the second building and Albert manages to find the room he's looking for without too much trouble, running right past or through any security he encounters. Of course, there are other barriers to consider.
The Lazarus cyborgs, dead men reanimated through the use of cybernetics, block the hall. Four of them, all dressed in matching black suits with sunglasses as if pulled from that terrible Matrix movie Jet had made him sit through. With a smirk, Albert pulls back his thumb, reloading his arm. At least he doesn't have to feel guilty for killing something that's already dead.
"schließen Sie die Augen!" The first words out of Albert's mouth as he mows down the Lazarus cyborgs at the room's entrance are a call to Jet to close his eyes as the German throws a smoke bomb, sending the scientists hacking and coughing to the walls of the room. He's by the blond's side in a matter of moments, using his knife to sever the remaining restraints and helping Jet to rise from the table. "We have to hurry, they'll regroup quickly."
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He glanced at Albert before looking around for some sort of exit. "Didn't expect to see you." That was about as close to admitting he thought he was going to die as he was prepared to get at the moment, but he shot his partner that same small smile he'd felt when he realized the rescue team had arrived. He took hold of Albert's arm and tugged it in the direction of a door in the back of the room, he didn't know where it led, but it was the only other one besides the one covered in Lazurus cyborgs.
"Where're the others? Don't tell me you stormed a government facility all by yourself just for me." That would be stupid and dangerous and something more likely that Jet himself would do than the more cool-headed German...but then again, maybe he was a bad influence like that.
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The door swings out into a storage room, almost large enough to be a warehouse. Eerily humanoid parts hang from each wall, from arms and legs to sections of spine with metallic skulls attached, digital retinas dark and unpowered. At the far end an exit sign blazes a welcoming green and Albert quickly taps Jet on the shoulder and jerks his head towards the door, hurrying through the jungle of cybernetic parts and trying to ignore the sensation of his skin crawling. What exactly were the Americans doing here?
Still, there's no time to deal with that now, he has to get Jet out. He turns his head as they get closer to the exit vaguely wondering why the Lazarus cyborgs weren't hot on their heels yet. Maybe he'd actually put them out of commission. "Are you hurt?"
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The question is met with Jet's usual nonchalant smirk. "Naw...nothing that can't be fixed." The short answer was yes. He was still sore and the parts that had been damaged that had pain sensors were screaming at him and there was probably some emotional trauma he was refusing to acknowledge at the moment, but none of that mattered until they were both safe.
Jet pushed the door open as they reached it and froze, his damaged arm flying out to catch his partner. "Shit..." There, surrounding the area that would have been the perfect way to escape, were lines of soldiers. The hazards of trying to escape from something closely tied to the military.
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Shit, he hadn't thought they could mobilize quite that quickly.
"C'mon, we'll have to go the other way." He turns to stalk back the way they'd come, only to be confronted by the same zombie cyborgs he'd thought he dispatched in the operating theater, now armed with machine guns of their own.
Double shit.
"Cover me!" Albert turns, Jet at his back with the lone pistol against the four Lazarus cyborgs, and crouches to fire one of the missiles at the wall halfway through the warehouse, hoping to open up another way to escape. Dust and smoke temporarily crowds the room, the ceiling shaking and Lazarus parts rattling and falling from their perches in the impact, but when the haze clears, there's simply a dent in the wall, not a hole.
The soldiers from outside start to file in the door, guns to bear on the fugitives. Each group, Lazarus cyborgs and regular soldiers alike, start to slowly close in around them. Albert clenches his jaw, making a soft 'tch' sound at his own stupidity as he stands back to back with Jet, possibly for the last time, and prepared to go down fighting.
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So it looked like he was checking out early anyway. Even though a strong part of him wanted to find some way to get Albert out of there at least or even just find a way to protect him from the impending attack, he did gain a bit of peace feeling the other man at his back. Besides, they'd made a promise, he wasn't going to break it twice. He Let his shoulder brush back against Albert's and kept his attention and gun trained on the units before him.
"Guess this is it, then. Could be worse." He could be facing death by being ripped apart and all alone. At least neither of them would be alone this way. "I didn't think I'd get a chance to tell you this, but I read The Maltese Falcon. You were right, it is better than the movie." He wished he could turn and kiss Albert, just one last time, but then he wouldn't go out fighting and how disappointing would that be?
There was probably something he could say here to make up for that lack of a final kiss, but he didn't bother trying. He wouldn't be able to and it was probably really lame to say it right before they were going to die anyway. He'd just have to settle with the way they always did things.
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He wishes he had said something else, but it's too late for other words.
One of the soldiers in front of Albert, a corporal judging by his stripes, yells in an authoritative voice for them to surrender. Albert plants a burst of bullets right past his ear in response. He can see the rest of the squad tighten their grips on their triggers, waiting for the hammer to drop, and everything slows down. Albert has to wonder if this is what Joe feels like when accelerating, that all the world suddenly moves at a snail's pace and your own heartbeat comes tinny and loud in your ears. He fires another round, this time aiming to hit as he sees the array of firearms before him go off, his vision turning blue around the edges and indistinct. A cry rips from him as several shots impact into his left leg below the hip and another two bounce from his chest, ricocheting back towards the enemy. Blue sparks rise in his eyes and for just one more moment he wonders if he's been hit that badly.
But no, it's the opposite.
Blue light finishes engulfing the two cyborgs and suddenly the scene before them is not certain death at the hands of misguided American military might, but instead the familiar conference room of Doctor Gilmore's base of operations in Venice.
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By the time he had a chance to wince he was staring at safety and not certain death.
He let the gun fall, forgotten, to the floor as he whirled around both to see the family he thought he wasn't going to see again and to support Albert if he needed it. There was no way the other man hadn't gotten shot.
"Good timing."
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"Why didn't you wait for us? You said you would." That would be Joe, face earnest as he approaches and hugs them both before trying to take some of Albert's weight from Jet's shoulders and guide the injured man to a chair. The German winces, not just from the pain (as considerable as it is), but more from Joe's scolding. He's not given a chance to answer before Gilmore joins in.
"009 is right! I swear, out of everyone you and 002 are going to be the death of me! Always running off, getting into trouble. I've come to expect it from 002 but I thought better of you, 004! You usually think things through. As it is, 001 had to wipe the memories of nearly the entire NSA!" He huffs, red faced and leaning on his cane.
"It took quite a bit of effort." Somehow, Ivan sounds amused more than castigating.
"You're right, I was reckless." Albert just agrees amiably, that same lopsided smirk he wears so often plastered to his face. He wants to laugh, he almost does in realizing he'd done exactly as Jet would have were he the one taken.
And for some reason that's a comfort.
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He wasn't entirely certain how he felt about that.
It was years of his life and while he can look back and realize he hadn't really gone about those years the best way when it came to the people who mattered, he didn't regret the work he'd done for his government. Of course, it wasn't his government anymore, he didn't even exist. Ultimately, it was for the best.
He pushed that thought process away for now, choosing to focus more on what was going on right that second. Jet watched as Pyunma helped Albert to get to Gilmore's lab as the elderly doctor and Francoise prepared to fix Albert up. Jet wanted to go with them, but he knew he'd just get in the way; besides, Albert was going to be fine. Jet could chastise his partner himself when he was all patched up.
The blond smiled at Albert as he left and waited till he couldn't see the other man anymore to find a chair to sink into. He needed patching up as well, but he had every intention of doing it himself, there was no reason he needed to wait for the doctor when he knew plenty about doing his own maintenance at this point. He needed to find something to fix the skin on his chest and he needed to find replacements for the panels he'd lost, but all of that could wait a moment. Right this second he just wanted to take a moment to breathe.
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He smiles brightly at his friend, pulling the roll of peach synth-flesh from a cabinet and bringing it over to had the blond, bottle of sealant ready in the other hand. "We were all really worried, Albert especially, though I'm sure you know that. He's always pretty reckless when it comes to you."
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He accepted the patching material with a small but grateful smile and worked at getting the amount he needed. Joe's statement makes him pause but he just moves to pluck the bottle out of his friend's hand. "Yeah...sorry about that." He was decidedly ignoring that last bit, otherwise his response would have been a bit more defensive.
He knew Joe didn't mean anything more or less than what he was saying, he was honest and earnest to the point of being easily annoying. It was that earnestness that just made Jet self-conscious.
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"I just don't get why Albert didn't wait for back up to go get you."
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The real answer was that he knew exactly why, it was the same reason he wouldn't have waited if the situation had been switched.
It was something terrifying and electrifying, something he'd known for a while without actively thinking about it, something he'd nearly expressed only minutes before when it would have been far too late in coming if Ivan hadn't saved them.
His only outward response is to pause a moment as all this runs through his mind before continuing his own patch job, not once looking over to Joe, especially not when he asks the question he hopes will give Joe his answer. "If Frannie got kidnapped and was in danger, would you wait around to go after her?"
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Hard for him not to considering it was just the point he was trying to drive home with Jet. He'd been watching for it and seen the spark of recognition in Jet's face. Joe's grin collapses into a soft, knowing smile and he leans back in his chair, tipping it on the hind legs just a bit in a decidedly teenage posture he rarely ever displays anymore with anyone aside from Jet. There's something about sitting around with his best friend that just puts Joe at ease, as if none of the baggage of the last three decades ever happened.
"Have you told him?"
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The answer was no and the only reason was because, for who knew what reason, he hadn't been able to tell Albert. He'd tried, he knew he'd tried, but he'd always just hoped his actions would speak the words he couldn't string together.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, decidedly not looking at his best friend; he didn't think he could be honest with that much earnestness being poured out at him. The truth was: Joe wasn't stupid, he knew Jet as well as Frannie did, in some cases even better; he could probably guess Jet was only asking his question out of a desire to avoid the answer a little longer. "No. I don't know. It's not that simple."
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So with Jet and Albert having been together for some time even before their 27 year split, and back together for awhile since then, it's beyond Joe how Jet could hold it in. It's obvious the two love each other, so what's the hold up?
Francoise said it's simply because they're "stupid boys" the one time Joe had mentioned it to her and that had been her entire explanation. Not exactly helpful. "Don't you want to tell him? I mean, he sort of holed up all on his own after you left. That's what they tell me, anyway."
He'd been made to reenter high school over and over and wasn't present for some of it, but Geronimo and Francoise had filled him in once they'd gotten some breathing room after His Voice. "They didn't see him very much. Francoise thought it was because of his work with the German government but Pyunma said Albert had more leeway than anyone else since he's mostly just a special instructor."
Joe leans in almost conspiratorially, as if imparting a great secret. "It sounds to me like he didn't want to be around if you were gone."
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"I've never said it to anyone before." That seemed like a silly reason, but to him it was what made it intimidating. He knew it was all build-up from things around him, but it was one of those things that seemed so final, so solid, it put something out there that he couldn't take back in time if something tried to crush it. Just the thought made him feel vulnerable; it was easier to just not say anything at all.
But it wasn't going to be crushed, was it. Maybe when they'd first been starting out, it would've been too soon with how new everything was and Hilda and the way their lives were, but time had passed and while their lives weren't a walk in the park, things were more stable. What Joe had said about Albert pulling away, the rescue mission that had just transpired, the memory of how tightly the German had held onto Jet even after punching him full in the face. Almost as if, if he let go, Jet would leave again.
No, if anything, it'd make more sense for Albert to feel that way, to feel like he might have something to lose if he put himself out there. It was Jet who had nearly died twice, who always seemed to get himself into a position where he got hurt. Jet was the one always leaving. And it was Jet who needed to stop being a coward.
He finally looked over to Joe, the hesitation and sliver of fear he'd had moments before replaced with a quiet determination that lay behind the warm look he had to offer his friend. "Thanks, Joe." For more than just helping with his repairs, but for also doing that thing of his where he knocked some sense into the blond with barely a nudge.
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With that, Joe claps his hands on his knees and stands. "I've got to go. Francoise needs to be in France before tomorrow night. She's dancing at one of the little venues in Avo... Aver..." He makes a strange face trying to pronounce the town name and eventually gives up.
"Some town outside Paris. You can get Albert home on your own, right?" Is that a mischievous grin? Possibly. He bumps Jet's shoulder gently with his fist in a show of camaraderie and heads for the door. "I'll see you soon, ok?"
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If he hadn't been thinking about everything they'd just discussed and what he felt like he needed to do right that second, he might have turned a teasing remark of his own on the teen.
Instead, he was already getting up and off to find a shirt for himself before going to wait for Gilmore to finish with Albert. Even by the time he'd gotten a new shirt and stood, back to the wall opposite the door to the lab, Gilmore still hadn't finished.
Whatever, he'd wait, neither of them were facing down the barrel of a gun this time. Besides, now that he was there, alone, and only a relatively thin piece of metal between himself and Albert, there was a small coil of nerves nestling itself in his stomach. He'd do it, he would. He just needed to not chicken out.
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With a pat to Jet's knee, Gilmore continues on his way, wondering under his breath if Kozumi has already gone to bed (this being 5 in the evening. So late!) and if his partner kept dinner warm.
He left the door to the lab open.
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He'd had an hour to stew over what he wanted to do, what he wanted to say, and still he hadn't gotten past the basic goal of the conversation. Every time he thought he had found some decent way to approach it, he scrapped the idea moments later.
Why did this have to be so hard? Normal people on a normal day in normal relationships had no problems with it...not that they were normal, but Frannie and Joe seemed to manage just fine, why did his tongue have to twist and tie itself at the thought?
With a sigh of self-annoyance, he pushed away from the wall and stepped into the lab, his eyes instantly going to where Albert lay. He crossed the room in silence, trying to appear calm while his mind buzzed. "Hey. How're you feeling?"
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It was strangely comforting at the time.
Now he turns his head as Jet comes in, the last dregs of the sedatives weening out of his system as he moves to sit up, smiling at the American gently as he gets close. "Better. More in one piece. What about you?"
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He moved to sit next to Albert, a bit of space between them, but not too much, while he quieted the buzzing by focusing on the first thing that came to mind. He didn't have a plan for this conversation, so he'd just have to go with whatever came out of his mouth and hope it was good enough. "I'm glad you're okay...and, as dumb as it was, I'm glad you came for me. I thought...I guess I thought I wouldn't see you or any of the others again." He kept his eyes on his hands in his lap, his voice even though the fear of dying alone and forgotten still pulled at his memory. "I was afraid you'd think I'd just gone again and give up on me. I mean, I can see why. I guess what I'm trying to get out is thank you for not thinking that, whatever reason it was you didn't, I appreciate it."
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Even if he tries, and oh God did he ever try. Burying himself in work with the GSG, trying every hobby or sport known to mankind, trying to ignore that just a small ocean away was someone who'd managed to crawl into that empty space at his core that he thought would never be filled again. But that's Jet, breaking all the rules, pulling him every which way.
And he needs it, Albert's come to understand. He needs Jet's fire to keep him young, to keep him engaged and not folding in on himself. He needs Jet to remind him to let go sometimes, to take off and let life take care of itself for awhile. And in turn, Jet needs him to keep him tethered, to remind him not to fly so high that he can't come back down.
To rescue him when gravity fails.
Still somewhat drowsy, Albert leans against Jet's shoulder. "You made me a promise and I believed you."
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