Tessa's face twisted in disdain as she read the next file. "Theresa Hunt, age 13. Fire amplification and immunity. She can intensify even the smallest flame until it consumes an entire room, as well as intensify explosives. By far the most dangerous test subject yet. Body temp abnormality high but no signs of sickness. Blood: normal. Brain scans: normal. Subject revealed to have an extra organ containing some sort of heated liquid. Subject resistant to most drugs and given viruses. No other tests could be made as subject killed 10 scientists and twice that many guards in a successful attempt at escape."
"there you are, you living legend. taking out 30 people, 20 of them trained in combat, at 13? i feel like i should be a lot more scared of you than i already am."
nik tucked the page under to reveal the next file.
"hazel allen, age… no. age 7. they fucking did not. 13, 11, and 7?" he was a mixture of completely shell-shocked and just plain pissed off.
Tessa scowled and took a big swig from the bottle in her hands. "They're ruthless. If they find something they want, they don't care about how they get it as long as they get it somehow. The government doesn't even view us as citizens until the ones like me cause trouble in public. Then again, not many are stupid enough to do so."
nik finished off the glass in one long drink, standing to go rinse it out and dry it off. he returned to the couch, a pained look on his face.
"ruthless indeed. i don't feel like the glass is entirely necessary, unless you're a hardcore germophobe. do you think any people are still at the facility? everyone so far seems to have died, except for you."
"They always have some at their facilities. Why do you think I've put so much effort in exposing and destroying them?" Tess silently offered Nik the bottle. Tonight would indeed be a long night.
he accepted it, taking a long drink and setting it on the coffee table before them.
"well, we're almost there."
(do you want to timeskip to when they finish reading the files and are Pretty Drunk)
(Yeah. This should be fun)
Tess was perched atop her desk, feet tucked beneath her as she gazed at Nik, eyes unfocused. "D'you think we should team up? That'd be so much fun! We could run around the city and blow places up, and raid McDonald's too!"
(She's a happy/melodramatic drunk)
(he's an honest drunk, and tends to speak in his mother tongue. i feel like this'll be hilarious. the german will be via google translate)
"we could, tess. i always thought it was a good idea. like, uhh… hintergrund herl, front girl, match gemacht … irgendwo schön."
he gestured when he talked, still folded up on the couch.
(Still makes absolutely no sense. XD)
Tess picked up the bottle and drank some more. "I have no fuckin' clue whatchya just said." She didn't really slur her words, as she could hold her alcohol decently well, but she mumbled a lot. "BUT, " she held up a finger dramatically. "I'm a sucker for foreign languages. They're so much fun to use and confuse the shit outta people. And for me–" she covered her mouth as she hiccuped. "Italian is like the sexy language, no? I could be cussing you out and you'd still be drooling." She smiled sleepily and hugged herself. "Helps I'm so gorgeous."
"mhmmmmm. sucks cause you could be telling someone you love them in german but it still sounds like you're cussing them out in gibberish. it is intimidating, though. some guy's- some guy's hittin on you and you pull out the german, now he's cryin."
he laughed lightly. his laugh tended to sound like a cough from the pits of hell, though, and he made a face.
"i am suddenly reminded of why i never do that."
Tessa pouted and pressed her hands against the desk to keep her upright as she leaned on them. "Don make that face. It's not your fun face. I like Nik fun face."
"oh, the smile?" he easily slipped back into his reporting persona, coy smirk fitting like a glove.
"the smile's great, it keeps me happy most of the time, but it gets weird. have you ever tried to be happy when you can't? like, when i see the watch, i have a hard time because they suck. but around you it's easy, cause i like you."
he uncrossed his legs, adopting a looser, more relaxed look.
She beamed. "I like you too!" She pointed at him and hopped off the desk, stumbling slightly but regaining her balance. She then flopped onto the couch, right next to Nik. "You're fun an' don try to tell me what to do." She pouted again, her bottom lip sticking out. "Ma friend tells me what to do. Says I can't cause too much trouble."
"i'm glad! and, there's no such thing as too much trouble, mein liebling. not in our situations. did i tell you why i hate the watch? prolly not, cause its morbid and there's no funny parts, but it's why i laugh weird!"
he pulled up his shirt, revealing a slim torso, but the main decoration was a smattering of sunken, scarred dips across his chest and belly.
"i was documenting a story, and a guy-a guy got too trigger happy. even though i was already half dead, he decided to take me to the fuckin' pound anyway."
nik dropped his shirt, holding out his wrists.
"dragged me by my cuffed hands for a mile! hurt like a bitch. i only just managed to get away."
She threw her arms around his neck and rested her head in his shoulder. "I'm sorry." Then she chuckled. "We both some pretty messed up pasts, hm? Must be why we're such a good pair, no?"
(he is one talkative boi)
"it's alright, and yea!" he accepted the embrace, tossing an arm around her waist. "the fucked-up tend to attract each other… and i forgot to mention! you know why i like you? cause you don't ask stuff. like… my tics. the wrist rubbin. you don't get weird about it, and you're super badass. and your hair is great, but that's slightly unrelated."
he took a deep breath, and when one is that close you could hear the roughness of his repaired lungs.
"thank you for this. going over these with me."
She tilted her head slightly. "I don like people pryin' so I don pry. Common… What's the word… Courtesy? I think that's it." She snuggled into Nik. She was a snuggler at heart, despite her badassery. "And you're welcome."
he began to hum almost inaudibly.
"yeah, courtesy's the word."
nik was lucky he was drunk, to say the least. nobody had touched him in a genuinely cuddly way for a very long time.
"you know, courtesy in german is höflichkeit. it's wack."
Tess hummed in response, the high off of the alcohol wearing off and leaving her drowsy. She somehow read the clock and saw how late it was. She groaned and pressed her face against Nik's shoulder. "I'm tired but I don wanna moooove."
"you can sleep here, i'll grab a pillow and blanket for you on my way out." he went to get up, but she was still clinging to him and he wasn't quite sure what to do about that.
"No, stay." She said quietly, tightening her grip on him.
"alright." he sat fully back down, leaning on the back of the couch and letting her use him as a pillow. he began to murmur some song out of habit, a popular french song that his mother and sister had loved.
She closed her eyes and listened to the song as she drifted off. "I sing too, " she whispered as she fell asleep.
he drifted off soon after.
(who do you think wakes up first)
(Well, Tess is not a morning person when she's sober. You can probably guess the likelihood of her waking up on her own when she's hungover.)
(fair enough. nik sleeps light anyway)
nik woke up
a. sitting up
b. with the district's most renowned badass asleep on his shoulder.
so you can imagine the slightest bit of panic, paired with a pounding headache and an empty bottle laying on the table in front of them was not an overall pleasant experience.
he definitely didn't mind the tess part, though, and this headache wasn't bringing him anywhere anytime soon. he was perfectly content to stay like they were, but his back hurt like a motherfucker and tessa looked like she'd passed on.
Tess was indeed out cold, subject to an alcohol and exhaustion-induced coma. You could probably toss her around and she wouldn't stir.
nik looked at her for a moment, trying to decipher if she was a light sleeper, before just deciding to go for it.
he gently pushed her off of him and stood, popping his back.
maybe i should put her somewhere more comfortable?
all of his senses were screaming for him to just walk out of the door and disappear into the city, but he sternly reminded himself that this was not one of those times.
when he had figured some sort of solution out, he retrieved a pillow and lighter blanket from her bedroom and set her up laying on the couch.
should i like… make food? she looks dead, i bet she'd appreciate it, but cooking in her bomb ass kitchen is a whole different story.
Tessa groaned and hugged the pillow as she slept, shifting slightly so she was lying on her stomach and her legs were sprawled across the couch.
Her dreams were not pleasant. Reading the files had dug up unwanted memories and nightmares, and they came back to haunt her sleep.
Chains held down her waist, ankles, and wrists, and dug into her flesh as she thrashed violently. She couldn't scream for help or anything, as a disgusting gag had been roughly shoved into her mouth and tied around her head. Her torso was bare to the 10 men who hovered over her, and the cool metal bit into her bleeding back. They had whipped and punished her in an attempt to "break her," as if she were a wild horse in need of being tamed. Tears streamed down her face as they cut into her stomach, following the recently healed-over scar from older incisions.
