“Ellis. Uh. Private Hamilton. No, that doesn’t work. Fuck.” Flock tried not to slam her face into her desk. Feelings were annoying and hard. But, well, also good and nice and fantastic. It was just really frustrating considering she had no experience whatsoever, no idea what to do, and the only person who was helping her through this was also the person she felt she had to keep at arm’s length for the sake of her own sanity. But he was so nice about it. She cleared her throat. “Mister Elli-- oh my fuck I sound like I’m seventy.” She rubbed her face. With some luck, it would come off and she wouldn’t have to deal with expression and speaking anymore. Sadly, it disappointed her by staying firmly in place. She lowered her hands quickly when the door chimed. “Ahem. Come in!”
The door to her private chambers slid open and Ellis walked in, his face neutral to a fault. He’d gotten too good at it and so she’d given up on trying to crack his facade. “Ma’am,” he said with robotic efficiency, but that damn glint in his eyes, that almost-but-not-quite smile on his face, that boyish charm, they were turned up to eleven. She felt herself turn into a puddle just by trying to stay composed opposite him. She needed some fresh air.
“Walk with me,” she said, and got up, walking to a far wall. He did as he was asked. There was a door hidden between crevices and hidden panels, which swung open after she touched in a code on a nigh-invisible panel. Ellis walked by her side in silence -- comfortable for him, less so for her -- as they made their way through the bowels of the floor. These hidden passages went on for miles in many different directions, and it was only because she was patched into the base’s systems that she didn’t get lost. One of her drones provided light, happily whirring above them. After over thirty minutes of walking, they got to the end of a passage and another door, which slid open after another secret code was punched into a hidden keypad, and revealed the outside. The rains were light, today, but Flock had nevertheless provided a drone with a small umbrella that hung overhead. Just the one, though. If Ellis didn’t want to get wet, he’d have to stand close.
Flock stepped onto the walkway that seemed to go all the way along the side of Floor Black-62. She heard Ellis take a sharp breath, and smiled to herself. At least something could break through his unflappable demeanour. “It’s quite something, isn’t it?” she said, as she hazarded a look down. The skyways above and below went on for… well, nobody knew how long they went on for. That was sort of the point of the city, she felt. It was infinite, and nobody could -- or should -- try to own it. Ellis stood in the rain for a few seconds, his tousled hair clinging to his forehead, and Flock fixed her gaze somewhere three feet to the right of him to avoid staring.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I recognize this view…” He paused. Patiently, Flock waited and looked out over the neon lights and whirring cabs that passed by. “This is the view from the interrogation room, isn’t it? The… the recording you made?”
She nodded. “It’s my favourite view on the entire floor. I had to be able to see it in my office, but being out here isn’t exactly safe all the time.” She smiled at him and began to walk down the slippery walkway.
“But… if it’s not safe…” She heard the concern in his voice and her heart did a somersault. She knew he cared about her, of course, but it was different when she actually heard it. She looked over her shoulder coyly as he caught up to her.
“I have you to protect me, don’t I?” she asked, and he smiled in response.
“Yeah,” he said. “You do.” She could have died then and there and it would all have been worth it, she thought. His smile, that look in his eyes.
“I actually didn’t just drag you out here to look at the cars,” she said, a little more businesslike. “We’re closing in on Tee and Mal a little more every day.” Ellis nodded. He knew as much, and clearly didn’t want to interrupt her. “I think we’ll have enough to make a move some time next week.” The look in his eyes was amazing. Ecstatic. Worry. Eager. A bit of everything. At first it had filled her with trepidation. If he found Tee again, he’d be spending so much time with them, all his attention would be turned away from Flock. But he’d made it clear that things weren’t going to go that way. Not exactly. Ellis took a step forward so he was under the umbrella. Gosh, it really was quite small. He took her face in his hands and she froze. Her heart went from a sharp staccato to the equivalent of a percussive instrument falling down a flight of stairs. She looked up into his eyes and her breathing became heavy. His brown eyes pierced directly into her soul, and if he wasn’t holding her, she would’ve sunk to the ground and through it. It took everything she had not to whimper.
Then he pulled her in close, wrapped his arms around her. Into a hug. That rat bastard. “Thank you,” he whispered into her ear, and all of her thoughts went out the other one. Brain closed today, thank you, try again tomorrow. He was big and warm and, well, sopping wet, but that could be forgiven. She melted in his arms for a few moments. Finally, he pulled away, and she had to keep from throwing herself at his chest like a quivering waif. That monster.
“Of course,” Flock said, her voice cracking in three different places. He smirked when she coughed softly, and she pretended not to notice. Her voice was still a little unsteady when she continued. “Of course. S-- so, when we finally go up, we’ll need a small taskforce. We have the team assembled already, but I would like for you to come too. I’ll be able to recognize Tee’s platform -- if they haven’t already made changes to it, but you should be able to help us find Mal.” She didn’t tell him she just wanted him with her all the way there. “And then you’ll have your friends… your family back.” She tried to sound excited for him.
He reached out and gently tilted up her head to look her in the eyes again. Why did that work so well? Why did he have so much power over her? Why was she so weak? She felt like she could cry as she looked at his lips. Please. Just let me kiss him. Just once. “I want this too,” he said softly. “But some hard lines can’t be crossed, Flock.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. I just… I really like you, Ellis.”
“I can tell,” he said with a smirk and she wanted to… she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard him chuckle as she punched him softly in the arm.
“How?” she asked. Sure, it was probably very obvious, but she still wanted to know what she could do to make herself slightly less vulnerable. He nudged her softly, so she opened her eyes and pointed at the wall behind her. She turned her head, and saw that one of her drones had apparently translated her thoughts to orders. It was aggressively carving the words ‘KISS ME’ into the sheet metal behind her. She groaned and hid her face in her hands. “You make me so damn weak, Ellis.”
“I know,” he said, with all the warmth and caring in the world and how was he so good? She began to walk again. There was a door not far down that would take them back to the floor interior. They could return to the base from there. She walked in silence, torturing herself over Ellis with every step. And then he did the unthinkable. She felt something against the palm of her hand, and she froze for a moment, until she realized it was the soft skin of his hand, his fingers gently and carefully entwining with hers. She looked up at him. He looked down at her, and she bit her lip.
“Monster,” she said softly, and he smiled again.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Ellis responded. “I like you too, Flock. You’re very strange but you make me feel… good. I’m just not quite as expressive about it as you are.”
“Excuse me?” she asked with indignation, but it was hard to look offended while holding hands and trying to touch as much of her arm against his as possible. “What is that even supposed to mean?” He laughed softly as she opened a panel that let them go inside.
“You’re not that hard to read, Flock. You wear your emotions on your sleeve.”
“I thought I was being subtle,” she said quietly, and he chuckled again, and she punched him in the arm again, even softer this time. She didn’t want him to leave.
“So what now, O great villain Flock, warlord… -- warlady? -- and Queen of Black-62?” She sighed, grateful for the interruption and the opportunity to actually do her job for a bit.
“Well, now we go talk to Shakes. See if the little group of mercs we got through Tore and the three of us are going to be enough. It’s going to be a bitch to get that many people up that high already, especially if we want to be secretive or stealthy about it. If people knew I was going up top, I wouldn’t survive for very long.” He nodded in the dark of the hall, but her drone picked up the movement and transmitted it to her.
“Do you think there’s going to be a lot of trouble?” he asked. Flock shrugged.
“I’m not sure. It’s better to be prepared. On the one hand, the upper floors have the best tech and since they have the most to lose, they guard everything fiercely. On the other hand, they aren’t used to how things go on the lower decks, so they aren’t nearly as prepared for conflict as we are.” She grinned to herself. “They don’t know how to fight dirty.”
“You’re cute when you get like that,” he said, and she immediately felt a blush rise all the way up to her ears. She looked at him with shock.
“Like what?”
“You know. When you get all confident and ‘Queen Flock’ and all that. It’s incredibly attractive, you know.” She blushed harder as they turned a corner and arrived back at the door that led to her private chambers. They walked inside and she huffed.
“I should have you executed,” she said, and he snickered in response only. They walked past her bed and she had a lot of very bad, no-good thoughts. Of course, Ellis noticed and grinned at her like he’d just caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. She glared daggers, swords and several battleships at him. “Not a word, Hamilton. I actually have business to do for the rest of the day and I can’t do that if I have you on my mind the entire time.” She looked down and realized they were still holding hands. Ellis raised an eyebrow. “Ugh!” Flock pulled her hand away and then stood there forlorn for a moment. She didn’t want to pull away. She didn’t want to not spend the rest of the day thinking about him.
He pulled her in close again and this time she did whimper. She let him envelop her. It wasn’t everything she wanted, of course. But for now it was enough. It could be enough. She wasn’t going to try and push him or pressure him into doing something that went against his nature. He would think less of her for it, for one. Fuck, she would think less of her. But it was… hard. The waiting was excruciating. He kissed her softly on the forehead. “Soon,” he said, and held her for as long as she needed him to.
Omg they're so cuteeeee
They are so sweet on each other
Question. How do they know it's Tee and Mal? As far as they know they're rescuing Tee and Tore 2.0, right? Unless Tore just casually happened to mention that Cass's old name was Mal, which would be a pretty weird thing to bring up to the Queen.
Oof, these two are so cute!