Participants:
| Scene Title | Real Live Agent |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | First reunion after the Primatech blowup. Elle provides both a listening ear and some agent-to-trainee advice. |
| Date | July 2, 2009 |
Wearing a white t-shirt, some black cargo pants, and a pair of black sneakers, Magnes has finally finished two hours of non-stop ability training. It's around 7:30pm, and he smells fresh from the shower, wearing BOD bodywash, because, well, the commercials said so. Exhaustedly walking down the rundown hall, almost limping, he's simply looking for a place to rest in the creepy military base. Time travel…
…And who should be stalking the vicinity but Elle, just on her merry old way to a workout herself — though a purely physical one. Ability training for her wouldn't involve a duffel bag and a change of clothes inside, which she has looped over one shoulder; currently, she's still in a navy-blue blouse and a black skirt, heels clicking on the bare floor. She practically bumps right into Magnes as she rounds a corner into the wider hall he's limping down. "—Oh!" Her eyes go briefly wide, bag swinging as she comes to an abrupt halt. "Magnes. So didn't see you."
"Elle!" Magnes' eyes widen, his physical pain forgotten as he attempts to wrap his arms tightly around her. "You're alive! I didn't know if you survived or not!" he exclaims excitedly, looking down at her with a bright smile.
Oomph. Elle is overwhelmed by the odor of BOD as she's literally crushed in Magnes' arms, though she doesn't seem to mind, reaching out to give his cheek an affectionate stroke as the hug ends. "Of course I'm alive," she tells him with an equally bright, close-lipped smile. "Do you think I'd let anything kill me for long? Glad to see you made it out in a single piece."
"I wasn't there, I was moving the last of our things to Camp Hero from Carrie's place, then she called me to come to the Camp right after everything happened." Magnes explains, releasing her with a slight wince, pain suddenly hitting him again. "Since uh, we're both alive, I thought I'd tell you, um…" He awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, then just says, "Your shocks kinda make bruises if you do it in the same spot, so uh, you can do it, just, spread it out a little, alright?"
Though Elle doesn't laugh, she takes on a kind of merrily entertained expression. Without much warning, she reaches for the top of Magnes' head to gently bring it lower and closer to her, simultaneously planting a small, careful electric ~kiss~ — right atop the gravitokinetic's lips, of all places. The blueness of her eyes is particularly bright as she pulls away as nonchalantly as if nothing had happened, eyebrows lifted earnestly. "Is that better~?" Her voice is akin to a singsong.
Magnes just stares, raising a hand to his lips, then slowly nods. "Y-yeah, that's better." he answers with flushed cheeks, staring down at his feet suddenly. He sucks at taking Tracy's advice sometimes! "I uh, so, I'm in the police academy now. They're trying to get me ready for the field by the time things are operational again."
Elle's eyes are still as wide as anything as she shifts into an impressed, forehead-creased look. "Are you really," she says in simple reply, letting her arms fall lightly to her sides and clasp themselves behind her back. "That's so exciting, Magnes! That means that soon, you'll be a real live agent, just like me. I'll be so proud of you." She seems like she really really means it, too.
"I'll have to work even harder, then!" Magnes exclaims, giving her a determined thumbs-up. Yes, he does that sometimes. "Do you uh, have any advice for me?" he wonders, starting to walk with that slight limp again. "You're the Evolved agent I talk to the most, so, I don't really know a lot about things from our side."
If Magnes lets her, Elle will adjust the strap of her duffel bag so there's room to drape his arm about her neck, supporting him as they walk — she basically completely upright, thanks to her much shorter height. "You've really gone through the wringer, haven't you," she observes of his limp, looking at him sidelong. "It's okay. Everyone has to, at some point. Let's see; if I had advice to give…" she lets herself trail off, pondering for just a second. "Don't let yourself drown. You can still have fun, even if it feels like you're gonna die from all the training."
Magnes gladly accepts her help, making himself slightly lighter so he can lean more of his weight on her. "I just hope I start getting used to it. Almost every muscle in my body hurts. It's like some kind of anime, except I don't have any magic beans to make me feel better." he observes with a groan, looking around, trying to find a place to rest still. "I'll try to remember that, everyone keeps telling me not to lose myself. I've felt more pain than most people can possibly imagine, and I don't mean my training. I think that's what's gonna get me through this."
"You will get used to it. And what do you mean? What kind of pain?" Elle asks with a mixture of interest and dubiousness, fingers delicately adjusting themselves about Magnes' wrist so the grip is firmer. One step at a time, now. "—Let's sit." With some effort, she gestures with her free arm to a shallow, sheltered niche in the wall some distance ahead. It's still right in the walkway, but at least nobody will be tripping over them. Probably.
Taking a seat in the little niche, Magnes sighs in relief and leans his head against the wall, finally getting a rest. "I told my mentor the story last night." he says, eyes closed for a few seconds. "When I was captured with Abby in the Evolved cage fights on Staten. I had to fight two people, the first was someone who controlled blood, she pulled it right out of my cuts. All I managed to do was dislocate her arm with my shirt, but I barely knew how to fight back then and she pinned my feet down with my own blood. The part I didn't tell my mentor was the blood whips, which just made everything a lot worse." He opens his eyes, watching her reaction. The last thing he wants to do is, well, scare her. "Then the other person I fought was this fat woman, but she could control her weight and make spikes and stuff. She beat me so badly, she basically broke every bone in my body. I'd be dead if it weren't for Abby's healing. I never felt anything that painful again." And this earns his ribs a rub, wincing as if he still felt the pain of broken bones.
How touching— but no. No scaredness. As Elle settles in right besides Magnes, her eyes just narrow into crescents when the blood whips are mentioned, a combination of thoughtfulness and some semblance of a smile. "That sounds awful. You poor thing," she states with what sounds like childish sadness, letting her head lean onto Magnes's shoulder, her fan of blonde hair acting as a cushion. She picks at her thumbnail with a fingertip, watching it with a hovering intensity. "You might not believe me, but I know how all of that feels. Well— not exactly, since I've never fought in a cage with a fat woman or anything, but I can bet you that I've felt all the same kind of ickyness."
"Really?" Magnes asks, sounding both surprised and a bit worried. He raises a hand to rest on her's, watching her face curiously. "I, well, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what happened? I can't imagine anyone would wanna hurt you, but, I couldn't imagine anyone would have wanted to hurt Abby either…"
Oh Magnes, you'd be surprised at just how many people would love to hurt your sweet, defenseless Elle. Her eyelids brush closed for a moment, and when they open again, she looks grim. Grimmer than usual, anyway. "Adam. I don't know how much you've been keeping up-to-date with the Company, but he and a couple cronies kidnapped me last year." She allows her other hand to come to rest on top of his, recalling the details with a calm soothingness. "She hurt me. Jessica Sanders. Every single day, she snapped something, broke my bones, made me bleed — and every morning, Adam could inject his blood into me and heal me. Start over and laugh. For two whole months." Of course, the way she tells it, one would think that she had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. Nothing at all.
"Adam's done a lot to all of us, it seems. Took away Veronica's lover, he's practically the reason I'm even in this situation right now, killed Hiro's father." Magnes raises that hand from under her's, moving to place a reassuring hand against her cheek, trying to gently pull her face up to look at him. "Veronica made me promise to hurt him, and, well, I'm going to hurt him. I don't think I could kill anyone, but I'm going to do something permanent. If I can ever get the opportunity, one day, I'll take away his gravity, forever. He'll never truly be a part of this planet again, no matter how hard he tries. He won't have an up, down, left, or right…" He takes a deep breath, clearly not in the best of moods after Elle's story. "I hear losing one's vertical horizon can drive some people insane…"
Elle lets her head tilt back upwards to look at Magnes without complaint, her mouth curling into a wry smile one on side — odd a gesture as that might seem. "That is a creative way to get rid of him. I hadn't thought of it," she comments as casually as if they're brainstorming for an art project. One can only imagine that she's spent vast amounts of time thinking about the very subject. "If I get to him before you do, I promise you I'll teach him a lesson in good solid pain, first. Level 5's too nice for him…"
"I'll make sure you pay him back, Elle. I really wish I could say the same for Niki, but, I guess I don't really feel as alright with purposely hurting a woman when I could stop her without hurting at all." Magnes looks down at her with a frown, expecting her to be a little disappointed. Him and his damned chivalry! "I won't let you go through that again. If you get captured, I'll tear the city apart to find you."
Perhaps to Magnes's surprise, Elle doesn't seem troubled in the slightest. Whether that means her expectations of his intentions aren't exactly serious, or whether she just expects more of herself in general, isn't bothered to be made clear. "I know you will," she tells him in serene distraction, closing her eyes again with an ironic, spreading grin.
They spend some more time in exactly that manner, comparing examples of past misdeeds on the part of others (Adam particularly) and subsequently promising to repay them in full measure. Elle's workout can't be put off forever, however, no matter how pleasant her company is; and so it's with some resignation that she finally uses Magne's shoulder as a support to stand up and then head her own way. One last, cryptic smile is offered in parting.
Later, alligator.