A tag to Grey Areas
by: Laura Boeff
"Alex?"
Fidget Wilson looked worriedly over to her
best friend and team captain Alex Mann. The
extreme athlete had been strangely silent all evening. Not that Alex
was a talker, that was
Fidget's job, but tonight he was almost a specter.
The petite red-head came in, and without invitation,
sat beside Alex on the lounges
couch. Alex threw her an annoyed look, but Fidget ignored that. They
were a team. Family.
Really the only family Fidget felt she had, and if one member was hurting,
then they all were.
Just the job of handling those hurts generally fell to Grinder. Not
that he minded. He liked
helping people, but right now he was sort of repairing the damage Alex
had wrecked to the front
console when he had hunted for the bomb.
The large man beside her still hadn't said
anything, starring off at the far wall as if it held
the answers.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked. There
was no response and Fidget frowned
slightly. She rustled around her pocket and pulled out all the loose
change. Then counted it.
"Thirty seven cents for your thoughts?" she
offered brightly to her grim companion. Alex
looked over at the proffered change, then flashed her look that was
a cross between amusement
and annoyance.
"Hey, I get that look all the time from Rikki
too," Fidget said cheerfully. This comment
earned her an eyeroll.
"What's going on up there?" she went on, nodding
to Alex's head. The blue eyes flashed
with new emotions.... Fear, dread. Alex sighed and turned away and
Fidget felt her heart
constrict. Alex could get a bit broody at times, but never like this.
"I don't know anymore, Fidget," he said in
all but a whisper. "What's happening to me?"
That was the question of the hour. Grey had
given them a bunch of cryptic double talk
before heading off to hide from Dr. X and his cronies. Man, what she
wouldn't give to have that
answer. The AMP factor. The strange... power, that had suddenly blossomed
in Alex's thick skull
during a moment of fear and danger. They had a name for the ability,
and that was about it.
"Well, you just let me have five minutes alone
with Grey in a locked closet and I'm sure I
could get you the answer," Fidget chuckled with mock ferocity, the
humor falling flat as Alex
glanced at her, then turned away again. Man... Alex wasn't looking
for someone to lighten things
up, he was looking for serious answers, and here she was making bad
jokes. Now she saw why
Grinder was better at these heart to heart's. He seemed to see what
people really needed.
"I wish I knew the answers, Alex, I really
do," she said more softly.
Alex heaved a sigh. "Grey does. But.. but
I just don't know if I can trust him.. or anyone with
this."
"Yea, he sort of creeps me out too," Fidget
admitted, then tried to catch Alex's gaze.
"How are you doing?" she asked. No one had
really ever asked that. How Alex was
'feeling'. It was too strange, bizarre what was going on and Fidget
felt a pang of guilt. This was
Alex that this power had happened to -friend, team mate and one damn
nice guy- and all they
could think was how eerie it was.
"I feel... I feel like I've stepped into another
dimension. Mad scientists, weird powers and
shadowy government agents all after me. It's like a bad movie," Alex
muttered, shaking his head.
"Maybe we should keep a journal then sell
the rights," Fidget piped thoughtfully. "Bet it'd
be a box office hit."
Alex let out a snort and cocked an eyebrow
at her. "Knowing my luck right now it would
end up being a Saturday morning cartoon."
Fidget laughed. This was more like the Alex
she knew and loved.
"Oh.. there's a scary thought. I understand
the b-movie feeling. Kind of reminds me of
the last blind date I went on."
"When did you go on a blind date?" Alex blinked
in surprise at her.
"About two months ago and you'd better not
breath a word to anyone. Jane at the
Master's studio had this favorite cousin coming into town to visit
and I sort of agreed to kind of
meet him."
"You went on a date?" There was no missing
the playfully incredulous note in Alex's
voice.
"It has been known to happen," Fidget snorted.
"So...?"
Fidget sighed. "Soo.. it was my worse nightmare
come true. It was like going out on a
date with Rikki. The guy was soo serious and straight laced you just
knew he was born to be an
accountant."
Alex chuckled and shook his head. "Guess I'm
not the only one with problems then if
you're dating an accountant."
"I am not dating him! Once. I only went out
with him once and in a moment of weakness!"
Fidget argued passionately, feeling a world better at the smile Alex
flashed her. He was such a
tease. But the smile became melancholy as silence fell between them,
and even her own horrors
in dating could only make a temporary dent in Alex's problems.
"What's it like?" she asked suddenly. Fidget
had wanted to ask before, but sort of shied
away from the question given how obviously uncomfortable Alex was about
the ability.
"To AMP?" Alex shivered. "I.. I don't know
if I can explain it. It seems like for a moment
the world stops and you see everything. The numbers, they touch everything,
are everywhere,
laying out the course for me to take and I take it. I don't even think
about it. I just *do* it."
The dark haired man shook his head.
"What am I, Fidget? What am I?"
Fidget's brow arched up in confusion. That
question had not only come out of the blue,
she wasn't even sure what Alex was getting at.
"Come again?"
Alex looked up at her, dismay deep in the
clear blue eyes.
"Am I human?" he asked softly.
Whoa! What the..?
"Well... being you're a guy, I think that
instantly defines you as a subclass of human," she said
without thought.
Alex just shook his head. "Grey said that
the project started in high school. All this time
he was watching me, following me... I.. I was part of an experiment
all this time and didn't have
the slightest idea. How.. how did they change me to bring this AMP
factor out? Did the
experiment start in high school, or before that? Before I was even
born!?" Frustration sang in his
words as Alex threw his hands up in the air.
Fidget looked at her own hands for a moment.
Yea, those were kind of creepy questions
to have to ask yourself. "That is sort of deep... Grey wouldn't tell
you?"
"We didn't exactly have a chance to chat over
coffee," Alex muttered darkly.
Fidget nodded. Yea, the mean, green, viper
bitch that had way to much affinity for
explosives. She bit her lip and wished Grinder would walk through the
door to help cheer Alex
up. Her friend was deep in the dumps.
"Hey, I don't have the answer to those questions,
Alex, but I can tell you it doesn't matter
to us," she offered.
Alex let out a snort.
"Oh yea? It doesn't freak you out, just a
little, that I can do this?"
Fidget thought about it. "Humm... not a freak
out I guess. It's.. it's wild you can do it." She
nudged playfully against him. "But it doesn't scare me, or any of the
guys if that's what you're
thinking. It's weird, and wild, and kind of cool you can do this. And
hey, it saved my butt! Did I
say thanks for that? Thanks for that," she babbled cheerfully.
"Fidget..." Alex sighed.
"Alex," she countered. "Look, it doesn't seem
like this Grey guy is going away anytime
soon so I'm sure you'll get your answers. That is, if you don't kill
the guy first for being so
secretive. And hey, that AMP thing your head is a good thing. As to
X... Well..." Fidget shrugged,
then smiled. "But whatever you face, you'll have us right there with
you. Don't forget that, okay?
We're a team! We're your team, Alex, no matter how good you get at
doing the math."
Awkwardly, Fidget reached out and squeezed
Alex's arm. "We hang together, no matter
what."
"And fall together?"
"Hey, it's part of the job description," Fidget
laughed, ignoring the darker connotations
behind those words. "I'll plummet 1,000 feet to the earth with you
anytime, big guy!"
Alex looked at her for a moment, then smiled
slightly and relaxed for the first time since
she'd walked in.
"Thanks Fidg, thanks," he said softly. "That
means alot to me. You been taking lessons
from Grinder?"
Fidget shrugged. "Hey, he's not as dumb as
he looks."
Alex laughed and Fidget knew it made her feel
a world better to hear that sound.
"I'll remember not to mention that to him,"
Alex said dryly.
Fidget grinned. "Soo.. Do I have to keep talking
to you all serious, or are you going to be
okay now?
"I think the patient is going to survive,
doctor," Alex muttered sarcastically around his
smile.
"Great! Because I could really use some help
going over the next stunts visual layouts. If
you're up to it?" she said, bouncing to her feet. Alex hauled himself
off the couch alongside her.
"I'm sure I can spare a few minutes," he said
simply.
"Oh, I feel so honored," Fidget laughed, dancing
out of range of Alex's playful swipe.
Maybe she wasn't so bad at this touchy feely stuff afterall, Fidget
thought to herself as they left
the lounge, glancing up to the chuckling Alex.
Nope, not bad at all.