Anarchy [ Watty's 2016 ]

XVII: Alex

And I'd thought my run-in with the lamp was bad.

Jade paced around the room, muttering and cursing under her breath. "I swear! The one time I try to be all heroic and shit, this happens. Why do I even try? Honestly!" All in all, her reaction was decidedly entertaining.

I giggled. Really, the lamp incident had left me highly embarrassed, so I understood what she felt, but I just couldn't get over how perfect Will's timing was. Jade suddenly froze; she pivoted on her heel to face Will. "Besides, how did you even get here? How did you know where to go? We thought you'd been captured by Pierce and his goons, for god's sake!"

Will's face was an amusing mixture of confusion, annoyance, and a hint of 'what-in-the-hell-has-Jade-lost-it?' "Uh, I heard Mordekai say something about this park, so I came here to find you guys...sorry? Did I do something wrong?"

"'Did I do something-' of course you did something wrong!" Jade started in a mocking tone. "I just embarrassed myself by arguing and yelling and storming out angrily to save you, and you didn't even need saving! Who does that? And don't even get me started on-"

More confusion. "What are you talking about?" he interrupted meekly.

"...and you go off and-wait, what?" Jade stopped mid-rant and blinked. "You mean-but we heard shouting over the comm! It was your mic-at least, I thought it was. We thought it was."

"No, uh, I have my comm right here," Will explained, showing us the tiny earpiece before putting it back in his ear. "I wasn't even in the underground. I was watching you guys on my monitor at home, because of homecoming. Nobody was there. Not even dad-I mean, Jackson-I mean, the Director."

Jade stared blankly. "But I-but you-" She stuttered for a moment, using random gestures that included pointing like she was conducting an orchestra, blowing into an invisible instrument-probably a trumpet, knowing her-and something that I was pretty sure was a rude word in sign language. "No. I went into the underground to get-" she swallowed, barely catching herself. "-to get clothes to change into-just in case. I saw you! I saw you, and I saw the Director, and I..." she trailed off, her eyes darting to the holo-maker in the corner.

She looked back at me, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. "You don't think...?"

"Yeah," Jade finished. "What if..." She went up to Will and poked him in the cheek.

"Ow! What was that for?" he complained, inching away.

"Nothing," she dismissed him with a wave. "But you guys-CORE has access to that stuff all the time. We could be..." she shook her head, almost as if to diminish the thought. Then, she practically leaped onto the couch, landing perfectly cross-legged. She dug her laptop out of her bag and set it on her lap, opened it, and booted it up. With a flourish, she pulled out the USB and stuck it in the port.

Will and Mordekai gasped, half-angry and half-astonished. "You do have them!" Mordekai said.

"You did have the files!" protested Will at the same time.

"Never mind-that's not important anymore. I think it's about time we find out what this is all about."