[POST-RAID ORP] Bloody But Victorious!

[Tinnunculus]

"Thanks," Hayes smiled. He'd hooked his thumbs through the loops of his jeans, but hadn't taken his eyes off the agent since he'd spotted her.

"Would've been earlier - a lot earlier," he added with an uncharacteristic flash of feeling, "but." The tech's shoulders moved in an easy shrug under his t-shirt, "Suddenly they need all this stuff for a new base. And yeah," he continued, following her line of sight to Izaya, then back. "Sounds like everyone took a pounding. I should check Kurt and it looks like you're busy, but.. later, when you've got some time?" The question ended on a half-smile.  

[Kitomyx]

"Elite Agent Hayes! It's been a while," the grunt greeted grandly, as if only just noticing the man. "Ah...about Kurt..." Crimson eyes dropped to his feet. "I'm sorry to say this, but..."

Oh, it was tempting. Ohhh, Arceus, it was SO tempting. But no, he couldn't risk it. Even if Elite Agent Hayes didn't immediately see through his lies (or even if he did), the repercussions of implying to the bespectacled man that his partner was dead would probably not be worth the pleasure he would derive from doing so. Probably. Probably.

If Hayes didn't punish him for it, likely Faleen and/or Aulus would instead. Or any combination of the above. No, Nakura had a strike system to think of.

"...he seems to have forgotten you with Elite Agent Claire around," the grunt finished. "They were so lovey-dovey during the mission, it made me sick." Still lies, but at least they were blatant enough that anyone could tell. "Better go check on them before they get too serious."  

[Blood_Goddess]

He still had his usual mannerisms that she hadn't seen in a while, It seemed to strange how something didn't change over time.
her eyebrows arched at his explanation wearing a knowing nod "as I've heard, I'm certain they benefited greatly from your knowledge." She was glad they gave him back though.

folding her hands behind her back and casting a glance behind her to the door they had exited Faleen gave a nod, though with a pause to look at Izaya where she gave him a perplexed look, unable to really deny what he said since she had not been there, but very clearly doubting it.
"I'm more then certain you'll find the Elite there on business, and Aulus as drugged as the others who sustained injury." She clarified, mostly in point to Izaya.

The dark blond turned back to the Elite, pausing before she gave him a soft smile and nodded "Later, I'm certain that's quite manageable." She knew she could make time when she needed to. "I look forward to it." She added.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome put his hands on his knees, quietly watching as Lex approached and spoke with Zahcarie, listening with a mellow silence, while Tremain seemed to zip around with a great deal of interest.
"What r' those? A Keldeo? an Yveltal? Did'ya hit em back?"

The tags along his crystal head fluttered excitedly, finally lowering himself down onto Zacharie's bed, next to the grunt, looking between him and Lex.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie couldn't help the breathless, wheezing laugh that managed to squeeze its way out of his chest, though he winced at the searing pain that pierced his chest. "Other Legendaries, Tremain." He breathed, bringing a shaking hand up to clutch at the fabric over his punctured lung. As if that would stop the pain. "'Course I didn't hit them back." He smiled wryly as he let his hand lightly pat the Jirachi's head before letting it flop back by his side. "You know how well I fight."  

[Tinnunculus]

"Heh." The blond ducked his head at the praise before Izaya's over-the-top greeting made him look up with a faint smile of bemused expectation that stayed in place until the grunt had finished relaying his information -- whereupon he grinned at him.

"Better go see if he recognizes me, then," he said, for the grunt's hearing as well as his partner's, then refocused on Faleen with a quiet "Great. That's great." He was going to see Aulus, really. In just.. a.. minute. "Let me know what works. They gave me 48 hours to settle, so." Another smile. "Whenever's best for you."  

[Shaddaling]

"Well a Keldeo certainly could run you over. Thought that Yveltal was just rude, tossing you under the bus ontop of all that." Lex paused, looking over the Jirachi and then back. "Hey, Jerome." He had completely didn't noticed the other.

"So, you want anything from you room? Since it looks like you are going to be laid up for a while." Lex stopped, hummed slightly and held out his hand to the legendary. "Hey, we haven't met yet have we. I'm Lex."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen dipped her head in a polite gesture of confirmation, straightening her posture back up "I'll let you know." It might take a little playing around with her schedule, but she wasn't worried about finding some time.
"Ah- excuse us," The agent continued, stepping out of the way. "We'll let you get going, I'll see you later."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Jerome nodded his head with a slight jerk in greeting of Lex, moving his eyes back to his partner and Jirachi as the small legendary.
If he was honest, he had no idea about the Legendary that the two were talking about, He couldn't put an image to the names, yet alone remember what the names were anymore.

Tremain's eyes widened slightly as he looked up the Lex when he spoke to him, opening his mouth a little before he threw his hands up, and though it was very clumsy and not as articulate, seeing as he didn't have long fingers, flashed what looked like an attempt of a gang sign.
"Lex- Sup Lex." Tremain replied, floating up to high five the offered hand- seeming very excited to do so as well. "I'm Tremain! How you know the Z-man?"  

[Tinnunculus]

"Alright," Hayes smiled. "I'll see you, Fal."

Unhooking his thumbs from his belt loops, he shifted gears and continued to the buzz of conversation from further down the hall, with a brief smile for Izaya as he passed. The blond poked his head around the recovery room door and stepped inside, scanning the many (too many) beds for a familiar..

..friend with.. a tube coming out of his.. chest. The tech blinked. His smile dropped, as did the first words to mind.

"Well s**t."  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus had started to kind of drift off again but the familiar voice had a way of cutting through to his consciousness regardless of distraction, background noise, or - apparently - potent drugs. Initially however he didn't open his eyes, Alex wasn't here after all; he was a long way off doing stupid (apparently important) programming for stupid (apparently important) people. Must be the morphine making him imagine it, a friendly voice, reassurance that everything was alright... but did morphine make you hallucinate? And if it was a reassuring hallucination why did it say 'well s**t'?

Aulus wasn't quite sure on either of the above points and so he opened his eyes to find somebody to ask. Hum, well, he could ask Alex he supposed; if the programmer didn't know he would quickly look it up and-

"Alex?"

Alex hadn't been in Kodo for a year now and probably wasn't coming back any time soon but there he was, standing there, looking completely real.

Aulus blinked, confusion written all over his pale and battered face. "But... you're not here. Are you?"

He ought to know, Aulus figured.

It would occur to him later that this was not the most stunning piece of logic he had ever come up with but also that he probably deserved to be cut some slack what with brain not firing on all cylinders and full of happy juice.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

This guy... the grunt grumbled mentally as Hayes cast Faleen another smile. Did he ever plan on leaving? Despite Nakura's urging, it didn't seem he was all that keen on it. If the grunt had known this was going to happen, perhaps he would have stayed in the room after all. There was far more romantic tension in the air here than even the exaggeration he'd made between Claire and Aulus, Nakura felt.

Hmm... Maybe if he could get Chrome to sneak into Faleen's tablet through the attachment of a file or something...she might notice, but why would she have reason to suspect it of being given an order to take a peek at her schedule? Then if Chrome relayed that information back to Nakura, he could get Riviere to take on Faleen's appearance to meet Hayes during the time they'd scheduled. As for the real Faleen, if he could just get Aoba to take on Hayes' form, he could intercept -

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why did he care about this again? Sure, he may have enjoyed pulling pranks in the past, but the amount of thought he was putting into this and the intent with which he was putting it were completely unfamiliar. Faleen and Hayes were just two humans. What did he care if they spent time with each other? Or even if they decided to get involved with one another for that matter? Nakura didn't need to protect his partner from the hazards of passionate emotion for another human being; she was likely aromantic enough to remain oblivious even to Hayes' obvious advances. What was he fretting for?

At the back of his mind, he knew. It'd been gnawing at him for some time, now - first with Xander and Frost, then with Hayes and Aulus, with Jerome and Zacharie, even perhaps Tambrey, Lu, Rory...and now Faleen, his own partner. Jealousy. But of what? Surely not their relationships with one another; he stayed away from those on purpose. It was his choice not to get involved. Not as friends, not family, not even as real teammates or co-workers - nothing. These people were supposed to be nothing to him but toys, pawns, and pieces.

"S'that how ya feel bout that girl who died savin' yer a**? Better her then yo? All's fare n's**t, just another piece?"

The words of a certain tattooed agent came, unbidden, to mind. Yeah, right. Who was he kidding? Damn it, he couldn't pretend anymore...

Hayes was smiling again, but this time it was at him. Nakura could only stare back, his face blank as he was caught off-guard, before the agent finally left them to enter the recovery room. Tch... That man...he, at least, seemed to have all his priorities figured out.

Without a word or even a look at his partner, the grunt pushed himself back up on his feet of his own accord and moved away from the wall, supporting himself with the cane he was borrowing as he limped rapidly toward the cafeteria. Where was that again...? Oh well...he supposed it didn't really matter.  

[Tinnunculus]

A tube coming out of his chest.

"Yeah," he echoed automatically at his name, and the sound put his feet in motion. He passed down the beds, taking in details as they came into focus. Pale and scratched up and an IV but a tube coming out of his chest. In a windowless room-

Hayes grabbed Kurt's nearest hand, the one with a plastic port growing out of the back; his fingers were cool and dry. His eyes went from the agent's face to the tube and back again, noting the bright pink color in one that should've been in the other.

"s**t, man, what happened?"  

[TawnyAngel]

The hand was solid, warm, real; Aulus tightened his fingers around it just in case it tried to disappear, an enormous if slightly dazed grin wiping away his confusion as contact affirmed reality.

"You are here," Aulus stated, his usually sharp tones gone drowsy with weariness and medication; and soft and warm because... because Alex was here, not there. He kept his hand tight on his friend's hand and his gaze fixed on those familiar features. He would really, really like to hug his partner right now but sitting up still seemed like a really bad idea and he had just about enough sense to stay put.

...Oh, right. Alex had asked him a question and he really should answer. "Uh. Well. I got slightly kicked in the chest by Keldeo, and then Yveltal dropped Oblivion Wing on our heads apparently. Didn't know what it was at the time but, yeah, that's what it was. And you're here," Aulus continued, his mind swinging back to topics that were actually important. "When did you- You didn't say you were coming, you b*****d! And are you staying?" He didn't want Alex to leave again, the texts - though frequent - hadn't been enough. Forgetting that anyone else was around and with a softening smile Aulus added; "I missed you."  

[Tinnunculus]

Instead of disappearing the hand squeezed back in a rare moment of stronger grip, while the other one clapped Aulus carefully on the shoulder. "Yeah, I'm here." His tone was soft, but his grin - broad but wan - flickered at the edges as a bit of pink froth in the tube flickered back and forth with the agent's breathing at the edge of Hayes' vision.

A tube coming out of his chest. In a windowless room far away from the world-

A 'hah' burst out, coughlike. "Yeah," he repeated. He was here. Underground. Okay. "Short notice and networks-" Unwilling to wave a hand, he shook his head instead. "I missed you too, man. Got in while you were out." He laughed, without humor. "Why the hell've you got a tube?"

The froth slid over the edge of the bed and disappeared into a quietly hissing container.