“And you did remember to lock the apartment behind you, right?” Skye fiddles with her seat belt, finally clicking it in place.
Kit’s reply is casual. “Hey now, have some faith already, yeah?” They apply their own seat belt before turning the ignition, pausing as their curmudgeon of a truck belches to life. Satisfied, they slowly ease out of the street-parking garage. “You don’t hear me quintuple-checking if you’ve got the folder.”
“It’s not meant as a slight. Simply that we’re leaving the house after Alice goes out to work today, so there’ll be nobody-”
“I get it. It’s cool. I got it.” Kit drums their fingers on the steering wheel for a few moments of uncomfortable silence, periodically side-eyeing Skye.
Each time Kit looks over, Skye visibly gets a bit more uncomfortable, withering under their glances. Finally, her frustration reaches a breaking point. “What is it? Are you still angry with me? Is there something on my face? Spit it out.”
“Literally the opposite of that, dude. Well, not dude, but you know – Yikes!” A little bit too abruptly, Kit pulls up at a red light, the sudden halt squeezing Skye in her seat belt. Kit merely chuckles to themself. “Sorry about that. You just still seem really… on edge and all. I was gonna ask if you’re sure you wanted to do this today, ‘cause-”
“We have no choice.” Skye’s response is automatic and hollow-sounding. “We already had to wait all of, what was it, two weeks for his schedule to open up? That’s two weeks of having to choose between either being stuck at home or being, as they put it, hunted.”
As much as Kit hates to admit it, she has a point. Despite half their team being taken down, the Omnis are more than twice as aggro these days. Constantine and Pamela have stuck together like glue, ignoring every attempt to separate them, and the last time they met on a city corner, Sky Horizon was obviously scanned with some kind of radar. Kit doesn’t quite buy into Alice’s paranoia that they’re trying to doxx Skye, or Skye’s doomsaying that they’re building a legal case against her, but even they have to admit that things are looking rough.
That’s okay, though. Once Kit’s side project is done, things are about to get a whole lot easier.
“Am I mistaken?” Skye’s voice shakes them back to reality.
“Uh.” Kit curses under their breath, relieved that at least they were driving safely while their brain went on auto-pilot. “Sorry, say again?”
“Your uncle. He isn’t open for another week after today, yes?”
“Oh, yeah.” Right, the thing they’re driving to. Bit of a brain fart, there. “Yeah, he’s full till like, the sixteenth? But, y’know, I don’t get why you’re so obsessed with meeting him in the office.”
“It-”
“He’s literally asked about going out and getting dinner with you and Alice! Multiple times!”
“It has to be on the books.” Skye half-crosses her arms and forms that same pout she always does when she’s made up her mind. Cute, if it weren’t a harbinger of being a major buzzkill. “We can’t win a fight of person vs business, so we must cleanly ensure it’s business vs business.” She actually says the word “vs” as “vers”, leaving out a syllable.
“Alright, alright. I just don’t want you forcing yourself to handle more of this stuff before you’re ready, you get me.” Either way it’s fine, really. If Skye wants to always take the high road, then it’s a good thing Kit’s project is almost ready – someone has to actually get things done around here. “Especially after, y’know, the whole office espionage thing, with you wearing Nigel’s suit.”
“Can we not talk about that?” Skye’s voice is audibly strained – crap, was she uncomfortable? Kit had been too busy watching the road to tell. Skye continues more brightly, “I’m feeling much better now – I just would rather think about something else for a bit.”
“...Okay.” Merging onto the highway as they leave the main city, Kit fumbles for another topic. “How was our show last night? You bigged this one up a lot but it seemed pretty whatever to me so far – was it as good as you remember it being?”
“Oh!” Skye perks up a bit at that. “Well, I’m not quite certain yet. From what I recall, it takes a dozen episodes or so to actually get good, so it’ll be a bit.” She pauses for a second, breathing out quietly through her nose – from Kit’s guess, that means she’s starting to blush. “Besides, I was asleep for a lot of it anyhow.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember now.” Kit’s grin widens as they smell blood in the water. “You spent like a straight hour curled up with your head on Alice’s lap, right.”
“Listen,” Skye starts, but tucks her head into her jacket rather than actually elaborating.
“Listening!” Kit responds in sing-song.
After a bit of grumbling, Skye seems to recover her higher language skills. “I don’t know how the whole Alice… relationship… situation… would work out in practice, even if I do cherish what we have.”
“Seriously?” Kit looks over to her incredulously, periodically flicking their eyes back to the freeway. “If you’re worried she doesn’t like you, you should have seen her face. She was on cloud nine the whole time you two were snuggling.”
“I object to the term ‘snuggling.’” Skye clears her throat to reset her cracking voice, still refusing to make eye contact with Kit. “And that’s not the issue – It’s more than obvious that she likes me, and that she for some reason finds me… cute.”
“Because you are. Go on.”
Out of the corner of Kit’s vision, they can see Skye wiggling a finger at them. “Hey. That’s a low blow.” Grabbing her water bottle, she continues. “No, my concern is that I don’t want to let her down – I’m worried about what may happen if I don’t live up to her expectations, or if she likes me more than I like her.”
“Huh.” Kit isn’t sure what they were expecting. Bold-faced obliviousness, probably? That or a blushing denial of her own good qualities. “You’ve thought about this a lot on your own already, haven’t you?”
Skye giggles at that. “I think about everything a lot, in case you haven’t noticed.” At ease, she leans back into the seat. “It’s a blessing and a curse in equal measure.”
“I’ll bet.” Kit thinks for a few moments, only remembering to signal right as they exit off the highway. “I dunno, have you talked to Alice about this kind of thing? My vote is to rip off the band-aid. Set all your cards on the table. Pay the piper.”
“Alright, I take your point.”
“Are you sure? I could keep going.”
“And risk making us miss our meeting?” Skye clicks her tongue disapprovingly before bursting out laughing. It’s nice to see she’s finally growing a sense of humor, at least. “But you’re probably right. When next I get time alone with her, I’ll make sure to clear the air.”
“Spell it out.”
“Shed some light on things.”
“So here’s where we stand,” Constantine leads nervously, arms crossed behind his back. “The lab techs on Zeta estimate that they’re maybe two-thirds-ish of the way to having your own suit done. I sent a couple of emails to Gamma team, but they haven’t responded yet, and even if they did they’d probably say they’re too busy to pitch in.”
As he talks, Constantine focuses on the sound of his own voice. Ever since Sky Horizon’s infiltration, the rule on wearing suits into the office was rescinded, and thank heavens for that.
“Yeah, that figures.” Constantine’s boss idly spins his chair in circles as he thinks, looking at the posters adorning the walls. “I can’t blame ‘em, but it just goes to show you that nobody’s expecting much out of us – so it’s on us to prove them wrong.” Realizing Constantine is still standing, he waves him towards a chair. “And take a seat, already! Help yourself to a soda from the minifridge if you want, all that jazz.”
“Right.” Constantine settles into an overupholstered chair before continuing his report. “We made a few attempts to capture Sky Horizon, and we recorded her signal for the one side project Pamela suggested…” Constantine tries to force a perky tone, despite his misgivings about his coworker’s plan.
“Alright, so that’s super and/or duper. Why the long face, then? Everything’s going according to plan. Er-” The boss shakes his head, realizing how shady he must sound. “We’re well on our way to a better world.”
“I just…” Realizing he can’t get out of this hole, Constantine sucks in air through his teeth. “I talked to Sky Horizon, some, when she came into the office. She doesn’t seem like a bad sort? Mostly it just seems like she doesn’t understand why we’re going to all this trouble over her.”
The boss stops mid-spin, facing away from Constantine. “So you guys had a private conversation, and suddenly you’re taking her side?” As he speaks, his hand idly clicks away at a plastic action figure. “You’re not thinking of pulling a face-heel turn on us, are you?”
What the hell is that, Constantine almost asks before stopping himself. “No, sir! This team’s been great and all. What I mean is, I think that if we do a better job laying out our side of the story, then Sky Horizon might very well do… uh, the opposite of a face-heel turn. Sir.”
The boss resumes swiveling on his chair. “I don’t know. She’s already been a real piece of work to you field operatives, the thought of going easy on her now makes my teeth itch.”
“Well… I think that it’d be good to try and make a peace offering if we can.” Time for Constantine to play his trump card. “After all, we’re supposed to be the heroes here, aren’t we?”
“Oh, that’s true!” Almost immediately, a smile spreads across the boss’s face. “Okay, yeah, fair point, good call. We can still try doing things Pamela’s way if things don’t pan out, but I’ll get to work drafting some, what’s the word, overtures and we can see what playing nice gets us.”
“Great! That’s all I’ve got, and we’re about at time, so…” Constantine stands from his chair, excited that he might not have to hunt an innocent kid but more excited to be out of this room. “Good talk?”
The firm’s office foyer is cramped, full of boxes with a spare desk stowed in a corner. Judging from the dust tracked across the floor and the sound of machinery, it’s easy to tell that the work floor is through a door just to the left. Skye quietly scans the surroundings as Kit chats up the receptionist, considering what it’s like for them to walk in here each day. From what scraps of the conversation she can pick up, Kit could just walk her right in, but their uncle wants to greet them in person.
As promised, their host sweeps into the room minutes later, a smile splitting his face broadly. Skye can see the resemblance only slightly – While Kit keeps their hair cropped short, his is a bit longer, with a matching beard. While Kit is short and toned, their uncle is taller than Skye, and a bit soft around the edges. Most notably, contrasting Kit’s quiet tank top and windbreaker, their uncle is sporting a bright purple polo shirt, with a matching plastic cane supporting his steps.
Apparently the cane is new – Kit chuckles at the sight of it. “Morning, boss. Gotta say, I love the outfit – very Modern Fogey of you.” They make a frame with their fingers, centering their uncle. “It screams ‘I have golf at eight, and modeling for a board game piece at two’, y’know?”
“Watch it, Ankit. Remember, this is hereditary, so I’ll be the one making fun of your cane before too long.” Despite his words, Kit’s uncle’s grin hasn’t faltered. “Knowing you, I’ll bet you’d get, oh, something black with flames on it.”
“Flames?” Kit guffaws. “Do you still think the 90s are what’s hip with the youth these days?”
“Careful, kid.” Kit’s uncle jabs his cane in their direction. “Our generation’s cool ugly fads paved the way for your lame ugly fads. Show a little respect.”
“Or what, you’re gonna kick me out?” Kit’s arms are crossed now – they are locked firmly into this battle. “Looks like that ship has sailed, eh?”
Their uncle raises his hands disarmingly. “Hey, if you want to move back into the studio, be my guest! I’m sure we could find space for you under the stove or-”
Unable to take much more of this, Skye clears her throat. Both of the others look at her, and she seizes the opportunity, stretching a hand in front of Kit’s uncle. “Hi, I’m Skye Campbell, Kit’s been staying with me, it’s really nice to meet you, we’re here to talk about the Pearl Incident because I found some emails from Omni, is there anywhere else we could go to talk about this privately?”
After a moment or two of pause, shock playing along his face just long enough to make Skye panic about her appearance, he smiles broadly, taking her hand and shaking it firmly. “Really nice to meet you too, Sky. She and her, Ankit already told me. Wait, how’s your name spelled?”
“With an E at the end,” she and Kit reply in discordant rhythm.
“Gotcha. I like your jacket, by the way!” The praise brings a goofy smile to Skye’s face, and Kit’s uncle chuckles as he continues. “I’ve heard plenty about you – I’d have gotten you a gift or something, but it’s hard to find a “thanks for letting my kid get away with a felony” card this time of year, y’know?”
Kit grimaces but doesn’t look away. For a moment, Skye ponders just how much this affable middle-aged man knows – did Kit tell him about the Breaker? Did they tell him about Sky Horizon?
For his part, Kit’s uncle simply gestures towards an office and starts walking. “Anyways, call me Ravi! And don’t let Kit’s Monopoly Man talk fool you – I’d much rather still be on the factory floor, but I’ve been stuck chained to a desk ever since I had… let’s be polite and say my body fell asleep on the job last year.”
“I see.” Trailing his path, Skye finds herself in a small meeting room, big enough for maybe six people tops. It’s a far cry from Omni’s gleaming chrome and polished glass, that’s for certain. “So, Ravi, I think before we discuss it might be worth asking just how much you already know.”
“Well, let’s see.” As he talks, Ravi counts on his fingers. “I know that there was a big explosion two years back from some kind of nuclear meltdown that took… well, you know. I know that they banned the power thing they were using, but also they never figured out why it happened. Plus, I know that there’s a bunch of costumed yahoos running around now using the banned nuclear stuff and trying to get it reinstated so they can pick up where they left off.”
“Well, we can help you on the ‘why’,” Kit says, sliding the binder across the table. “Have a read through these real quick, and tell us what you think, okay?”
Loving Constantine more than I thought I would tbh
It's nice to see Kit and Skye interact with others too