{M} People Like Us {Numbers & Natora}

[Numbers]

He had slept peacefully during the night, even if he did feel some pain on his body since Kelly was sleeping on the couch with him, on top of him. He could tell when she left, even in his sleep, because the pain that followed him in his dreams went away. He awoke at the normal time that his alarm went off and he groaned as he eventually sat back up. He had used more energy than he was prepared to do. He didn't use much of his internal battery since he was drawing energy from the wires as well. Yet, the use of his power was strong still since he was using a lot of the energy he was soaking back up. Add in the fact that he had to use extra energy to conceal his mark as well and he was in a huge mess.

He got up from the spot he was now sitting and went to the kitchen. He proceeded to put on some special tea that would help his body quickly heal from the use of his power and went to the bathroom to quickly deal with the burn mark that was on his face. He first set about using some special medicine he had to remove the makeup that was burnt onto his face. As he removed it, the half of his face that it was on was only slightly red but not actually burnt. He quickly put on some new makeup which made it look like the burn was gone overnight to those who would have seen it before. With that in mind, he took some bandage and wrapped it around so that it covered the half of his face that was supposed to be burnt.

He then went to the kitchen and proceeded to drink the special herbal tea that his people prepared for him far in advance. As he started to drink it, he could taste the plants and it gave him a warm feeling as he was reminded of home. He got ready for work and quickly went to leave. However, as he got to his garage, he remembered that his bike was still at work since Kelly brought him home due to his burn. With that in mind, he quickly caught a ride on the bus and made his way to work.

As he got to work he saw Kelly was working but was more focused on another thing in his mind. Work and not the kind that was performing tests. He needed to find out what information had been gathered and what information hadn't been gathered. As he accessed his computer without his friend seeing, he activated a hidden program to quickly search the computer. It hacked into the reports that had been given on the damage and repairs. It looks like all video evidence of the room was in fact gone. However, Kelly's report combined with reports of people seeing a blue glow coming from the door as well as the marks in the wall apparently led the higherups to believe the blue grow was real. A step in both the wrong direction and the right direction. He quickly closed the program and he relocked the program down so that no one could use it without his rebel password. He took a deep breath as he knew the camera would have its eyes on him more, not only because he was starting to get noticed but because he knew that one of the agents in the hiring department would be keeping a closer eye on him to make sure he was still following the mission. He turned to his coworker to finally talk. "You'll have to excuse me if I let you handle any follow up experiments that deal with chemicals. I would hate for some to accidentally get on my bandage and then burn what is left of my face." He said in a joking manner as he looked over to the lab that Kelly was in, seeing her work. "If you'll excuse me real quick as well, I need to have a quick word with Kelly about something." With that, instead of waiting for the man to answer him he got up and walked over to her lab, using his keycard to open the door as he stuck his head inside real quick. "Sorry to interrupt you guys, I just need to borrow Kelly real quick."

[Natora]

Kelly had been in a conversation when their lab beeped open. Both her and Travis turned to look. There shouldn't have been any deliveries this morning yet. The fact that the door was opening was odd. When Etmere was the one who looked into the room, both of the more senior scientists gave him an odd look. It was quite obvious the conversation was ended. With Etmere's request, Kelly grabbed a clipboard that looked like the one she had used yesterday and walked over to him quickly. "We can talk on the way to the elevator," she said to him briskly and walked out of the lab beside him.

Ever the scientist she asked, "May I see your key card?" She hadn't even waited to see what he was bothering her about. It was strange and there had to be something about it that was different. What was it, though? When he surrendered it, she took it and scanned it at another lab. The door beeped to say it was unlocked. That was weird. She looked confused at the card and handed it back to Etmere. "That's strange. Your card must be malfunctioning. On this floor you should only have access to the store room and your lab," she said to him. "I'll send an email to fix it," she let him know.

"Anyways, you wanted to talk about something?" she asked him with a half smile. She turned and nodded for him to follow as she made her way towards the elevators. It was fairly obvious that she was in a hurry to get somewhere though she hadn't had a chance to say where.

[Numbers]

"Oh don't worry about it. I am already talking with the support team about it. They said they think something went wrong when they gave me better access to run the electricity tests now. Something about accidentally enabling too many flags. They're already working on fixing it." He then looked around real quick and didn't see a private spot to talk. Thankfully elevator doors quickly opened up and he pulled her into the elevator. Once they were inside he pressed a button and the elevator powered down for a moment leaving them locked inside with nothing to watch them.

"As I said I need to talk to you. It's important so if you could just listen to me for a moment." His face was serious, at least, the half of it that wasn't covered in a bandage. "There is something I need to do. I can't tell you what, even if you ask. I do need your help though. If anyone asks where I am or what I am doing, or if any of the higherups come to you asking these questions, I need you to answer with a certain response. I need you to tell them I am out visiting a sick mother." His plan after today was to meet with several of his agents. He needed to get new measurements and safeties put into place based on what one of his agents said. He didn't know what the company was about to get their hands on but if his agent was correct, there was a chance he was gonna turn the company into a war zone to intercept the package. If he was successful he would get the package and keep his secret position, if he failed, he would get the package but lose his secret identity. Either way, he would get the package when it became clear what it was and he was going to set up all kinds of fail-safes to make sure.

[Natora]

Kelly was refusing to let her eyes stray from the chart that she was looking at. It was obviously very important to her and there wasn't much to distract her. "Well I'm glad-" she started before he pulled her into the elevator as it opened. Even still there was something more intriguing on the chart than he was. It took him putting a stop to the elevator for her to look up to him with a concerned facial expression. Honestly she looked much more annoyed than concerned but there was a hint of concern there as she pulled the clipboard to her chest.

Kelly listened to what he said and her annoyance turned to confusion. She shook her head and looked down towards his stomach before back up at his face again with narrowed eyes. She was about to ask a question. It was quite obvious as her mouth opened before she stopped herself. Then she rethought about what he had said and closed her mouth again. A sick mother indeed. His mother was hours away! He wasn't going to visit her. Then the pronoun caught her. "What sick mother are you visiting?" she asked him. "And what would anyone else care who you're visiting?" she asked.

[Numbers]

He looked down for a moment with a smile on his face before looking back at her. "I can't answer these questions. Simply, it's better if you don't know the answer right now. I just needed to make sure that you knew all of this. Tonight, after work, I'll be leaving for a few days. I should only be gone for about three days. My place is going to be locked since I won't be home so you won't be able to get in. At the very worst I should be back by the end of the week." He then hit a switch to make the elevator continue back down into the deeper floors. "Can I trust you to give that answer if someone asks? You're the only person who knows the truth about where I come from and if you share some of that truth, my whole identity could be broken and those who are hunting me could end up finding me much sooner than I would like."

[Natora]

The movement starting again made her nod. "Okay, sure," she said to him not really entirely sure if here was any purpose in her knowing or not about where he was going. Him leaving wasn't really part of her own plan but she supposed she could live the single life for a few more days without him there. She had lived before and would live again. When they got to the testing floors, the doors opened for her but she didn't move right away. Her hesitation allowed her to search his eyes for a moment before she sighed. Whether or not he told her, it wasn't like she was going to have a say in the matter. It was bout to happen sooner or later that he would leave for one thing or another. Maybe he would tell her when he got back. She stepped closer to him as the doors started to close and kissed him swiftly as she pushed the button to hold the doors open one last minute. "I'll see you soon," she said simply.

With that she left the elevator before it had a chance to close again. Her journey took her deeper into the testing rooms into more and more remote locations. Finally she got to a room and went inside. It was an observation room. On the other side was a table and chairs with a puzzle at it. Sitting and doing the puzzle was a girl of only nine years. She looked morose. Her energy in doing the puzzle was very low and it was rather disappointing. It was going to have to take some convincing but she was sure they could manage it. Later that afternoon, Kelly brought Daphne in to see what sort of an effect it might have. It did wonders! They girl played with the pup and was much happier. When Daphne laid down for a rest, she was able to finish the puzzle in a reasonable amount of time.

Over the next few days, it was clear that any time Daphne was in, the young girl was much more willing to undergo the tests. It wasn't like they were doing invasive tests yet but even still the amount of testing they were doing was constant. The girl got her meals alone, as to not let the adults influence her, and then spent time with Daphne while they were testing. Eventually the lead researcher was switched to Kelly so that she had the only contact with the girl when it came to doing tests of any sort. Of course, in order to promote her position ever so slightly, her boss did have to come down from his upper floors and talk to her. When he did, he did ask about Etmere and it gave Kelly a moment of pause. She looked at him confused before she shook her head. "Visiting a sick relative. A mother, I think he said," she told the man.

It was on the evening on the day that Etmere got back to work that Kelly finally saw him again with Daphne following loyally behind on a leash. Of course, she didn't spot him. She had just finished a day of tests and was studying her chart while she walked back into her laboratory.

[Numbers]

Etmere had spent the several days that he was missing moving new pieces onto the chess board. Making new bombs, having them placed by visitors or drones. Placing them in place that would make them hidden until vehicles for the company drove over to them, activating a magnet to move them from their hiding place to the underside of the vehicles. He made contact with smaller agents in the surrounding areas of the city to alert them of the Omega Protocol going into effect and that it was in place on his mission at the company he was working at. Effectively he locked down all missions and objectives that marked rebels would be carrying on in the city in order to give him any backup that he could need if something bad happens.

He had met with his overseer contact and he had found out that his protocol was going to act as a test for him. Depending on how the mission went down could change how future missions for him went about. Which identities he got, which positions undercover, better living styles along jobs that he prefers. More chances to get in contact with his family. He had also spent the time getting his body ready for combat again since in the months leading to the current assignment he was on he avoided contact to let his face go invisible off of peoples radar. Now his bandage was still covering his half of the face but there was no makeup underneath it currently.

While he was getting resources moved and ready though he did run into a patrol and was forced to kill them. He did take a small injury that resulted in him getting another small scar. This one was the other side of his face and looked like a small knife had hit him on his cheek. Easy to explain to most people, but he knew it could be hard to explain to Kelly since she knew he was off to do some unknown thing.

When he got to his lab he saw both Kelly and Daphne and he smiled a bit. He needed to get into his computer to access any and all new information to find the target he was looking for. Yet, even though he was doing his real work the past few days, he had missed Kelly quite a bit. He quickly put two fingers to his mouth and let out a whistle, partially to Kelly but mainly to Daphne in order to get her attention and to call the dog over to him.

[Natora]

Daphne heard the whistle and the tone. Her ears perked up and her tail started wagging. She turned her head to see who she had thought was there and started to move away from Kelly. Of course, the pull on the arm turned Kelly and she too saw who was whistling. She smiled gently and followed Daphne over to Etmere, though not with as much enthusiasm. The pup was elated! Kelly just seemed happy to see him. When she got over to him, she did wrap her arms around him in a warm hug.

"Fancy you being back," she said with a small smirk. "I was actually doing well at getting work done with you away," she teased gently. But it was true. In all fairness she had only been at work while they had been dating for about three days. Not much evidence would be there. It truly had been easier to focus on work when he wasn't around. It made her doubt whether or not she was ready for a relationship if she was honest with herself.

[Numbers]

"What can I say, when I am around, life is much better. If that means you work slower at work but are happier in general, I'll gladly take responsibility for a better change in your life." He said with a smile as he walked over to her to give her a quick kiss despite being at work. "Anything interesting happens while I was away? In your personal life or here at work?" He asked with a smile on his face as he watched her for her own reaction.

He was curious to know more about the information that happened while he was gone. He knew from some of the higher reports he read on his computer quickly, that the sabotage he did before did not go unnoticed. There was talk about a threat inside of the company. They had no idea who would have caused it and were moving certain projects to off the computers in order to hide it from whoever the threat was. He had to move carefully now and was the reason he planning on getting bombs into other places using technology against the company itself.

[Natora]

Kelly's work was one of those things that had been moved off the computer. All the information about the young marked was saved in a special area that was down in the testing site. Instead of being able to always come straight to her work station to do some sort of review over the previous research, she had to go down to the testing areas to pick up the paperwork and bring it up to review. When she was finished for the day, she had needed to return anything she had used to the vault of information that was nearly impenetrable. Of course, with this sensitive type of information she wasn't able to share any of her research with anyone unless properly introduced to a new research partner, as she had been introduced to the rest of the team.

"Work has been pretty ho-hum," she said to him with a shrug, hiding the excitement well after a long day of testing. There had been plenty of excitement going on on the upper floors of the building as well though it hadn't affected her any nor did she care. She brightened up a bit as she said, "I managed to convince them to let Daphne come to work with me though. She's been here since the day after you left." Kelly had yet to actually meet the patient face to face. She had only been able to do observations so far. Daphne on the other hand had made a new friend and was allowed to play with the little girl daily. Of course, she wasn't allowed to tell Etmere why Daphne was allowed to come to work now.

"And I've been doing a lot of watching sappy chick flicks with Daphne while you've been gone," she informed him. Truly her days had been much more routine since he had left. She had fallen into a rather predictable pattern: get up, take a small walk with Daphne, eat, go to work, come home, go for another small walk, eat, watch a movie, read a research article, go to bed. It had made her curious to know how he would fit in to this new norm she had built in the days that he was gone. "How was visiting your sick mother?" she asked, though she knew that wasn't what he had been doing. She was very curious to know if he would tell her the truth.