Guts Over Fear ◇ NIKITA

Eye See You

Alys stepped out of her car and looked out at the water, a little smirk on her lips knowing that Birkhoff bought a beach house. Inviting her here was another story. But she loved the sun. She didn't get much of it in either Russia or London, but that was her favorite part about the states, especially the coasts like this. She was slow, walking the maybe fifty feet to the door as slowly as she could manage. "Come down to the water with me, Alys."

Her green eyes shot up and widened as she watched Noah strip as he jogged to the closest patch of water. It had been a week, she was already forgetting his face. She watched his body disappear into the water, blinking and finding herself at the door. Hesitating a moment, Alys knocked on the door and tried to avoid looking at the patch of water she'd seen Noah in as she waited. When the door opened, she smiled as she took in Birkhoff's simple t-shirt, boxers, and socks. "What's the real reason you brought me here?" she chuckled.

He rolled his eyes and opened the door, shutting it behind her and leading her to an open, empty livingroom. "You weren't kidding when you said you didn't have friends." With a glare, he grabbed his coffee off the computer desk, waving his hand for her to follow.

"I was able to get in through Ops long enough to find what we were looking for. Also, the parameters of Pecry's security."

"I should hope so, it's been a few days." With a light sigh, Alys dropped into his chair and watched him expectantly. Birkhoff gave her a sarcastic smile and prepared himself to explain.

"Percy's got this system that alerts him if the Eye is being used so there's a short window were you can use it."

"How short?" Alys asked curiously.

"Fourty-three and a half seconds." She let out a deep breath and cracked her knuckles, her calculations of her own skill clear on her face. "Like I said, we have a short window. We will need to be fast."

"I think I could work with that," she mumbled, wiggling her fingers in practice.

"Good, 'cause I've done most of the hard work for you." Birkhoff moved to his computer and began typing his code, setting up what could possibly end the both of them on a whiff of connection, which they both clearly had, to Nikita. Noticing her adreniline build up begining to affect her breathing, she took a pump of her inhaler and leaned back in the spinny-chair. "Since you named it the God's Eye, I figured it could use some eye-like upgrades."

Alys took hold of his shirt and used it to pull herself to the desk, her eyes honing in on the coding she understood. "The Backdoor is mobile, allowing for quick glances and long moments of closed rest. But you pick up where you left off. Earlier I pulled up the files we'd need for that day, between eleven and three o'clock." He moved again so Alys took a moment to look at the screen, not getting to peak into Shadownet for too long before Birkhoff spun the chair around. "Just relax, Aly."

With a stronger, deeper breath, she nodded and looked up to him with a smile. "Now what, Birky?"

"You make it so hard to want to help you," he scoffed. "Look at the ceiling." Alys knew she would eventually listen to him, but watched him pick up the contact tray and pull something out before obediantly turning her chin up. With a light touch, he held her chin between his thumb and index finger, placing the same two fingers above and below her eye with a gentleness no one had had with her. "Just look up and don't blink."

She hummed and did as he said, getting a few more blinks in before he slowly stretched her eye open a bit further. She disregarded the hand in the corner of her view, resisting the urge to close her eye in defense. After she felt a light touch and something gelly on her eye, Birkhoff's fingers were gone and she was allowed to blink, letting the contact lens settle in her eye. "I feel like that's thicker than normal," she groaned, still blinking to adjust to the feeling.