Freefall

Things that Suck, and Things that Don't

While Atlas had been slinking about the shadows for a good while now, observing Evan- he found out that she didn't really like being called her full name, which he could totally understand- he hadn't been in her apartment until now. It had been a short and awkward walk from the cafe to get there, but now he was able to take in little bits of her while she went and packed a bag for their trip. He'd been drawn to her from the moment he had laid eyes on her in person, but he didn't really think that anyone could blame him for that. It was natural. She was hot, and Atlas? Yeah, not always known for acting rationally around attractive people. Still, that had never been enough for him to go back on a job. To disobey orders. To get his and his brother's company shut down by a mad scientist. He wasn't always the most rational person, sure, but he lived for the next war, the next fight, the next job. Whatever he could sink his teeth into, really.

Sure, it didn't help that he hadn't liked the idea of this from the beginning. Jasper thought it was fucking disgusting to work for a place like one of the government labs, and At had been relieved at first to be on the same wavelength as his brother for once. Jazz had never been as hungry for the fight as he had been, so he ended up using his massive intellect for strategy, while Atlas had always been engrossed in the dirty work, both in the military and in their work now. He was used to going against his morals, had traded them for the momentary silence in his mind that had always come from bloodshed.

But looking at that picture on that file for the first time last year... It felt like a knife to the chest, and it stayed lodged there ever since, twisting and turning whenever he thought about it. So they refused.

Too bad Dimitri Verlice was more of a monster than even he was. Funny, considering he was literally half demon, looking on in disgust at the actions of a human. He tried to be amused by it, but he couldn't be. The bastard ended up pulling some strings, tying their company to his lab legally. Something about supernaturals working together with humans as equals. He knew it was a load of bullshit, but he was left with no choice.

If he thought that an image of her suffering eighteen God damn years ago hurt, then surveillance haunted him. It was part of the job, nothing creepy. Risk assessment was important, especially when working with another supernatural. Especially when the guy who was making you do it told you that she could essentially become the new nuclear bomb.

He tried to view her that way at first, he really did. He tried to imagine her exploding at the drop of a hat, destroying neighborhoods and communities. He tried so fucking hard to make her the enemy, force her to deserve whatever it was Verlice had in mind for her. But the longer he watched her, the more horrified he became at the notion of stealing her freedom from her. Of taking her to what he knew was certainly a hell on earth.

He didn't think he was going soft, either. He didn't feel like he was. She was just that fucking good. It made the rest of the world feel oddly dirty, and it made him feel like maybe he was part devil himself, not demon. Maybe there wasn't a difference. Dad never got too much into that stuff, but then again, Atlas didn't really care to know. Especially not now.

Let's run through a typical day in the life of Evangeline fucking Sire. It started with her coming home at five in the morning from the veterinary clinic she worked at, and doing whatever it was she did in her apartment for an hour or two. Then, she would be on the move again, working as a barista at a coffee shop. He swore he'd heard her argue to stay longer with her boss on more than one occasion, at both jobs. Whenever she lost that battle, which happened more often than he would have ever expected to happen to anyone working a job in the United States of America, she would often go volunteer somewhere. More often than not, the animal shelter, and other times, to his utter shame, the veteran's shelter. She carried old ladies groceries to their cars on multiple occasions when grocery shopping, did dorky magic tricks downtown, went out of her way to take care of the world around her. She was like some sort of saint, and fuck, even if she was faking it, did that really matter at that point? It was like Evan carried the community on her fucking back, or at least tried to. No matter what the motivations she had were, she was doing actual good in the world.