Lucas glanced over his shoulder to the door when Paike knocked, "Yeah I'm dressed, you can come in." He turned back to his bag, closing it up and ready to grab if they needed to make a quick escape. He doubted they would. It was late, they far enough out of town for Lucas to classify it as 'bat-shit nowhere' that his family wasn't going to find him and he knew Paike's wouldn't from what he could gather. For now, they were as safe as people like them could get.
People like them… Lucas almost laughed quietly at the thought. They were the only people like them. Sure, there were probably other fugitives on the run, but none like them.
Sighing to himself, he headed to the small space deemed as the kitchen. It wasn't much, just a couple cupboards and a sink. He opened one of the cupboards. A couple packets of noddles, some sultanas and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. Not much.. he supposed if they needed they could take them on there trip, where ever they were gonna go next.
Paike turned the knob and pushed the door open, taking in his new surroundings with wide eyes.
"This– this your place?" he asked, voice cracking a bit. He cleared his throat, forcing a cough into the bend of his arm. "It's pretty good."
Pretty good, he had to admit, was a bit of an understatement. Paike had decided to forgo a permanent residence in favor of flexibility, but there were a lot of downsides to not having a stable home that he wouldn't admit to outright. Of course, the time spent on the run was vastly different for both Lucas and Paike, and with that thought, he couldn't help but wonder how long a cabin like this would remain undetected.
But it was a nice cabin. It had a simple yet home-y feel to it. He felt safe.
Or maybe it was just because he was out of the gaping void that was the outdoors. Either way, he liked the cabin.
He took a few careful steps inside, glancing over every nook and cranny just in case things weren't what they seemed, before tossing his satchel onto the couch.
"I've got everything I need on me, if you're all ready to go."
"Well I mean technically it isn't mine," Lucas said, shutting the cupboard he was looking in and turning back around to face Paike, "I don't really know who owns it, I found it when I was younger all abandoned. No one ever came home to it."
It had made a good hide out over the past few years. Secluded, out of the way. The only people who might know about it were hunters in the area but they never came in or even tried, minding their own business. Lucas supposed it was a blessing.
"Let's get going then."
He made sure he had everything he might need in his pockets before heading to the door, twiddling the key in his hand until both were outside and he could lock the door behind them.
They probably wouldn't be long gone, but leaving the place always made Lucas nervous, no matter how many times he did.
Paike slipped his hands into his pockets, walking backwards carelessly until he had passed through the door frame and returned to the chilly night. As he passed by Lucas, he noticed his companion fidgeting with the key.
All abandoned, huh? A cabin, out in the middle of practically nowhere, just here for the taking. He didn't doubt Lucas; one could find abandoned houses left and right if they knew where to look. He just wondered what would prompt Lucas to need such a getaway to begin with.
"An' the key was just there?" he inquired, watching Lucas as he locked the door. "How'd you even come across a place like this? What'd you do with it before?"
It wasn't much his business to pry, especially since he was so reluctant to divulge information about himself, but such thoughts didn't occur to him. He sized Lucas up, reading his body language in an attempt to gain any new information.
The questioning, even though Lucas knew was justified, still made him a little wearing. Especially since Paike hadn't shared much about himself thus far. They had to trust each other, but that didn't mean Paike needed to know everything about him straight away. He had nothing to hide, but still reluctant to share.
"Yep, just here. The door was open when I found it, the key was just inside." He said, keeping his voice casual, nonchalant.
Lucas shrugged a shoulder as he placed his key in his pocket and began to continue down the path they had entered on.
When he'd first found the cabin, he visited in hopes of finding the owner, thinking they might come back looking for the key. They never did, and no one else ever found the place, so it became his secret place, safe space. He just hoped he hadn't made a mistake showing his new companion.
Paike hesitated, tempted to inquire further, but seemed to get the hint that Lucas wasn't going to talk if he wasn't. That was fair, he supposed. They could talk over dinner.
He picked up the pace until he matched even with Lucas, lifting up his sunglasses and resting them on his brow. He ran a hand through his hair and winced as he caught a knot, pulling the tangled strands close and working his fingers through them.
"You know anything 'bout the Syndicate?" he inquired. "You said you've only just recently been out on the run, yeah? How much about 'em have you figured out?"
Maybe a way to start building some trust could be sharing intel, he figured. Paike knew a thing or two about the Syndicate, but it was possible that Lucas had discovered something on his own terms. If they were going to be in this together, might as well combine information. It'd give the two some common ground, perhaps, and make conversation easier at the diner. While they were comrades in crisis, Paike still felt the discomforting air of strangerhood, and sought to break at least a couple social barriers.
Lucas hummed softly to himself. He'd only had a few encounters with the Syndicate themselves which he was grateful for, however leaving his knowledge of the organization limited. He wracked his brain for things he knew, things that Paike might not know. But the other had been on the run a lot longer than he had, any information he had was probably as important as knowing that water is wet.
"Well I- I don't know an awful lot, I dunno if that's a good thing or bad." He started, "I've had limited confrontations with them, but they seem to be everywhere these days."
Where ever he went, they were always there, watching, waiting for a slip up from one of them. It was terrifying.
"I've seen them use this weird ass device to hack into security cameras, only once. It looked like they were downloading footage or getting a live feed I dunno."
Paike nodded in agreement, a light chuckle escaping him. "Everywhere is an understatement. Sometimes — now, this is kinda stupid — but sometimes I wonder if everyone in the city's a Syndicate plant, all just waiting for me to slip. Logically, I know it ain't true, but after a while sometimes I just can't help but wonder."
At the information being relayed, a curious eyebrow raised.
"Weird ass device, huh?"
He hadn't known that. His brow furrowed as he retreated into his thoughts for a moment. After a minute, a smile cracked through his features, but there was no humor to be found in his eyes.
"You get a good look at it, or was it only a passing glance observation? How fancy was the tech?"
Admittedly, Paike had never thought to really get a look at the equipment they used. It was probably the smart thing to do, to be honest, but it had never occurred to him that it might be beneficial. All he'd really cared about was surviving, and even then he'd roll the dice of fate just for fun. Maybe Lucas would bring more to the table than just his neat abilities.
(Heyy, sorry for disappearing for a good while there. School kinda said fuck you and i just haven't had time or energy to come on)
Lucas hummed for a moment, racking his memory. It was a while ago. Admittedly he had been bored one evening and the shadows weren't particularly cooperating with him so he'd wandered the roofs for a good few hours till he took a nap. He ended up trailing a group of about five of the Syndicates men when he'd saw them hack into the security around one of the banks in town.
"It was maybe about this big?" He gestured with his hands, outlining a small box shape, "Had some sort of suction cone on one end that they attached to the camera," He lowered his hands again, "Had a couple wires that they also plugged into the camera and then it made a loud buzzing noise before the camera died and they left."
The sound it made had been more like a loud, piercing scream then a buzzing but it kinda sounded similar to the buzzing too.
"It also had a small screen on one side where they could watch the footage."
(hey, no problem!! good to see you again, i hope everything's going well now)
Paike made a face, "Oh, shit, that's great. Just fantastic. Guess I should've made more of an effort to stay out of the supermarket cameras."
He snickered to himself. He hadn't been caught yet, emphasis on the yet. And now, with this new tidbit of info, a small feeling began to sink in that his perfect record was about to get its first tally.
"Figures they've got all this fancy tech, though. Most of it's been done with regard to my little talents, but I wonder if they've got anything up their sleeve for you. I guess that's not something we'd want to find out," he added after taking a moment to reflect on his words.
"But, y'know, it ain't all that bad. It's fun to mess with them. I'd actually nabbed a bit of their tech at one point – some kind of taser gun. That was the most fun I'd had in weeks," he cackled, an impish edge to his grin. "On the run, you get to appreciate the little things."
(It's better than before to say the least lol. Hope you've been good :))
"Your idea of fun and my idea of fun seem to be too completely different things." He replied, nose crinkling at the thought of them having specialised tech in regards to him.
Lucas had kept his best to stay out of the sun over the past few years, only venturing out when he really need or pure desperation to escape his own thoughts. Libraries tended to be the go to, or quiet parks on the outskirts of towns were only a few children roamed and he knew he would be safe. He didn't go out stealing things from the Syndicate - that was the last thing on his list.
"True, you do. Do you still have the taser?" Lucas asked. If they had an extra weapon, maybe whoevers powers were the weakest could hold it, just for an extra precaution.
(that's good!! school's been a beast here too lol)
Paike shook his head. "Fried the thing. Everyone knows electricity and water don't mix, but it's always fun to have the idea reinforced every once in a while. Poor sod didn't stand a chance, but it was either him or me."
He pulled out his balisong, flipping it around haphazardly with a grin. "I got this, though!" he continued. "I can't do any fancy tricks, but I got it off the guy I electrocuted and it's served me well. They never expect me to whip this thing out."
Then, suddenly, he cursed, dropping the knife in a reflex reaction and biting the cut on his finger. He picked the knife back up and decided it was for the best it stayed in his pocket.
"It's easy to get in their base of operations; the hard part is getting out. At least, it is for me. But maybe you'd have an easier time with it, hm?"
Lucas shrugged, "I've only been in there once. I found getting in harder, personally, but it's easy to get out when you can jump from place to place."
He'd crept in during dusk, figuring his powers would be stronger later in the evening and he would be able to escape quickly if he needed. Turns out he had been correct. Finding a way in that wasn't heavily guarded had been the tricky part. Luckily he'd found an air vent and snuck in that way.
It had been a stupid idea to look around the place as Lucas nearly ended up captured. By that point he was able to jump out the way he came using his shadows but had collapsed a few miles out from the facility.
"But there's no way in hell I'm going back in there. I dunno about you but that place is too dangerous. Getting out is easy when you can use the shadows, but it's way harder when you've got your arms locked in between two of the syndicates goons."
Paike snickered. "Yeah, but after tangoing with the head honcho — Director Baruskov, you heard of him? — the goons don't seem so bad. I'd sooner take lead to my stomach than put up with his superiority complex. And I've done both," he added, his features scrunching up in contempt. "He thinks of us as parasites. Got government funding and public support and took off, made it the Ivory Syndicate's mission to 'get rid of the global nuisances'. Global nuisances my ass."
His voice had risen in volume the more he expressed his frustrations, and he seemed to realize that. He waved a hand dismissively, his gaze drifting away. "You probably know all this already, so I'm not gonna be a broken record for you. I just hate the guy," he muttered, his voice now taking on a softer tone. "How close are we to that diner again?"
"Hey, I don't mind," Lucas replied with a small smile, "I hate the guy as much as you, never met him, though, and I'm taking that as a blessing." It was nice to hear someone else's voice other than his or the whispering of shadows. He didn't care what Paike was talking about, it was just nice to talk to someone again.
"And it's right around the corner." He nodding to the path ahead where twinkling lights of the street and small shops shone through the trees. There was a large sign that could be just seen through the greenery. In big, bold and very pink letters read the words Flo's.
Paike took a gander at the diner, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Not too shabby," he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets and quietly taking a breath. The bright lights of the city eased his nerves, whether he'd realized it or not.
A quaint little diner, it seemed to be. Hopefully, given how late at night it was, not many people would be there.
"You know anyone in there? Like the manager or the bartender or something? Do the people mind their own business, at least?"
"I know the owner," Lucas replied, leading them off their dirt path and the concrete one that ran next to the road. There weren't many people out, which was good for them as they wouldn't be stopped by any of the syndicate, hopefully, "I've been going there since I've been on the run."
The owner, Flo, was an elderly lady Lucas had come to view as motherly figure of sorts. She didn't know about his powers and even though she'd questioned him previously and didn't believe him, she never asked again. She'd always been sweet to him, treating Lucas like a son and Lucas had always thanked her for that.
"All sorts of people end up here but they all keep to themselves."
Paike mulled over the information for a brief moment before shrugging, pulling down his sunglasses and adjusting his collar.
"I suppose that'll have to do."
He hesitated, lifting his sunglasses to peer at Lucas with a keen, focused gaze.
"Call me crazy. I know we're s'posed to be on the same team here, but my guard is up, capiche? Pull a fast one on me and I'm handing you to Baruskov on a silver platter."
Flashing Lucas a smile, he dropped his sunglasses back down on his face, concealing whatever emotion that accompanied the smile.
"'Course, I figure you aren't gonna do that, but I'm letting you know now. If we're gonna be relying on each other, there's gotta be trust. And I bet you don't have much more reason than I to give someone that trust, so let's try to take it slow, hm?" he suggested. "This diner's a place to start. If we're gonna spend the next hour or so taking it easy, I want to get to know you a bit better."
Lucas couldn't help but let out a soft sigh with a gentle roll of his eyes. He had presumed this talk was coming. Paike wasn't wrong, he was dead right, and Lucas would do the same if it was the other way around.
"Yes yes, I understand. No backstabbing blah blah. Thought that part was at least a little obvious." He shook his head, more to himself than anything.
"Slow and steady wins the race as the saying goes. But I'm not sharing anything about me if I'm not gonna get the same back, okay?"
They made their way to the front of the door. There looked to be a few people inside. A group of older men at the bar, a couple people sitting alone, but that was about it.
Lucas pushed the door open, the smell of sugar and coffee wafting itself out from inside the diner.
"Yeah, yeah, this thing's a two-way street," Paike mumbled his agreement, having seemingly forgotten that he had to talk just as much as Lucas did, much to his displeasure.
He'd almost forgotten the smell of a good old-fashioned diner. It brought back memories, pleasant ones at that. The only thing that tipped him off was the group of men at the bar; they might be either drunken delinquents of some variety or undercover agents, and he didn't really feel like tangoing with either. But maybe if the two laid low, nothing would come out of it.
He folded his arms across his chest, taking in the atmosphere around him. He, admittedly, missed the feeling of casual hang-outs such as these.
If Lucas was right about the place, maybe he wouldn't have to miss it any longer.
"You said you know the owner of this place?" he whispered, casting a glance at Lucas. "Do y'know how to get her attention?"
