Like father, like son, I guess.
At the door, Aaron turns back to me, pointedly eyeing the pajamas I’m still wearing, and asks, “You going to change out of those before the mission, kid?”
I blink at him innocently. “And deprive Obsidian Inc. of some whimsy in their cold, evil little lives?”
Aaron’s mouth ticks up in obvious mirth, and he replies sardonically, “I think they deserve to be deprived, this once.”
I heave a dramatic sigh. “Okay, fine, but you’re dealing with the formal complaints from HR when I tell them you summoned me into your office just so you could induct me into a treasonous plot against the United Kingdom and then demanded I take my clothes off.”
“I’ll weather that storm,” Aaron says, unbothered, a smirk adorning his face that has my cock twitching in memory of his wicked mouth claiming mine, so hot and rough, like he had every right to do it. “Liz likes me more than you.”
Present
Jack
We land our plane in some random field, close enough to the castle that we can get to it on foot but not too close that we’ll be spotted by any security lurking around the site. I stay close to Leo and avoid checking up on Dan too much. I can’t allow the distraction when the stakes are this high. Whatever’s going on with us will have to wait.
As much as I hate playing the role of hero, there’s no chance of Leo abandoning this desperate, last-ditch effort to save the world from a bunch of mad, greedy little wankers, which, all in all, isn’t too different from the threat of everyday life. This time the evil we’re faced with is a bit more dramatically prominent.
Without the chance to do any proper recon, we’re having to take it on faith that we’ll be able to get close enough to the machine to disable it if it’s even where Dan said it is, andafter everything we’ve been through, that wouldn’t normally be something I’d be willing to bet my life, let alone Leo’s life, on.
But after some quick assessment, it becomes obvious that the castle is hiding something. There are guards stationed at every vantage point, every one of them visibly armed. Thankfully, there’s also a decent amount of woodland surrounding the castle, so we have some cover, but it’s clear that getting inside isn’t going to be a bloodless endeavour, even with the most optimistic plan.
North takes charge as the most senior member of our little ragtag group since Snow stayed behind to do whatever she does that keeps FISA running. He runs through our options, limited as they are. With only one entrance, there isn’t much choice other than literally storming the fucking castle.
“What if I try to use my power?” Leo suggests, his mouth twisting into a grimace at the end, likely remembering in vivid detail what happened the last time he did that.
“As in, what?” Rex asks, eyebrows quirking upward. “Blowing up the front door?”
Leo shrugs helplessly. “Yeah, I guess.”
North has a pensive frown on his face as he seems to genuinely consider the idea. “Do you think that’s something you could do?” he asks.
Leo bites at the side of his mouth and chews on it anxiously. “I could give it a go? I don’t know how it works. What if I blow up something else by accident?”
“Would it even work on something that big?” Rohan asks, sounding more like he’s thinking through a complicated math problem. “I mean, blowing up a human heart isn’t the same as blowing up a massive wooden door.”
Leo winces at the words “human heart,” and I shoot Rohan a quelling look. Rohan pulls an apologetic face that doesn’t look in the least bit remorseful. It’s so reminiscent of how Danlooks when he’s pretending to be sorry about something that he doesn’t regret at all that it makes me want to slap him just to wipe it off.
Recovering from his slip in composure, Leo blows out a harsh breath and shrugs again. “Won’t know until I try, right?”
Everyone exchanges looks of varying confidence and concern, but North gets to make the final decision. He nods at me. “Agent Roth, go with Agent Snow.” He turns to Leo. “Get as close to the door as you can without being spotted and give it your best shot. If it works, we’ll use the chaos to charge inside and hopefully find the machine without too much searching around.”
Leo nods, accepting the order and the half-baked plan even though he can’t hide the fear that tightens the corners of his mouth and eyes. He looks to me, and wordlessly the two of us leave our group behind to move through the trees together.
Despite his nerves, Leo keeps his footfalls as light as mine, which is no small feat with all the crunchy leaves and breakable twigs that make up the forest ground. He sticks close to me, our shoulders occasionally brushing, seeking comfort to assuage his anxiety over having to use his power again, and I understand why. There are so many things that could go wrong. He hasn’t even had his power for a week, and already he’s used it to kill someone. I’m not sure what it says that a person as softhearted as Leo has developed a power so destructive and violent—if it means anything at all. It’s going to be a lot for him to unpack later if we survive this, which seems more and more unlikely.
Once we’re close enough to the treeline that one wrong move could expose us, I pull Leo to a stop, tugging on his arm to take us both down, half kneeling in the dirt. The castle door is easily visible from here, but that might not mean much. Leo couldn’t see Stone’s heart when he detonated it.
Leo turns his head to meet my gaze, looking unsure and maybe a little lost. I grab at his hand, linking our fingers, locking us in,hoping he can take some security from the action. He squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back without hesitation. A tiny smile quirks at his mouth, and he leans in to whisper, “If I somehow don’t fuck this up royally, I want you to know that … whatever happens, I’ll never be sorry that we met. I’ll never be sorry that I got the chance to love you, Jack. You’re worth knowing, and you’re worth loving. Please don’t ever doubt that, okay?”
Momentarily overwhelmed by the raw honesty torn open and bleeding all across Leo’s face, I eclipse the small amount of distance still between us and capture his mouth in a hard, fierce kiss, taking everything he’s offering like it’s the last time I’ll get the chance to do so because it very well might be.
My heart is racing so fast inside my chest that it feels almost painful, and incandescent love flows through my entire body like blood, each nerve that is touched by it screaming at me to take Leo away from here and keep him safe by whatever means necessary. Static thoughts rush and ravage and repeat like heartbeats;OI can’t take this from me, they can’t take Leo, I won’t let anyone take what’s mine ever again.I’ll kill them, I’ll fucking kill them all before I let them touch him, this man who has chosen to love the monster they made of me.
Leo kisses me back like he can hear each of my thoughts and is co-signing them one by one, is maybe even returning them in kind.
Nothing OI has in that castle, in any lab they own in the world, is more powerful than this. To be chosen and to be forgiven and to be seen and accepted andloved, is everything an organisation like OI could never defeat or destroy, because it is limitless and infinite, an unquantifiable truth of the humanity they lack. Even if OI ordered me to seduce Leo, they can’t take credit for what we’ve created on our own, because the reality of it is beyond their scope of understanding.
