Title: Kidnapping, Kindheartedness, & Keeping Secrets
Description: Liber8 questions why Kellog was at the video game company when kiera was being controlled
Genre: Romance & Adventure
Pairing: Kiera Cameron & Matthew Kellog
World: Continuum (TV Show)
Time Span: EP 1x7 Playtime
Word Count: 1531
Kidnapping, Kindheartedness, & Keeping Secrets
"What the hell were you doing there?" Travis shoved the former Liber8 member against the wall.
"Investments!" Kellog spit out, "Gaming is all the rage in 2012!" Long story short, Travis and the rest of Liber8 had snatched him off the streets after seeing him at Tendyne next to Fred Nettinger when Liber8 had been controlling Kiera via multiple codes and a hacked CMR. Now, they were literally pressing him for information.
"If it were anyone else I'd believe them," Travis growls, "But you're not anyone else."
"I'm telling the truth," Kellog lies. He hadn't been there for investments at all. He'd been there to warn Kiera and he'd been too late. Of course, he'd managed to calm her for a minute so she didn't kill her partner, but Alec had been the one to power her off, a stroke of genius on the young boy's part, saving Carlos, Nettinger, and anyone else who stood in her way, including Kiera herself.
"Yeah right," Travis barks, "Tell me, now."
"I did tell you, it was for investments!" Kellog struggled in Travis' grip.
"Wait," Lucas started from a few feet away, where the rest of Liber8 stood watching, he crossed the room, heading for his table, "I can pull up security cameras."
Kellog curses under his breath, but keeps up his mask of indifference, "You won't find anything."
Travis jostles him again, "We weren't talking to you."
In a matter of minutes, the Tendyne lobby is on the screen and video Kellog is walking in, "I have a message for agent Cameron. If you could just-" The guy on screen interrupts video Kellog just as Travis throws him against the table.
"You're working for the enemy?!"
"No," Kellog says carefully, "I just," His head whirls for a response, "I…I got nothing," He scrambles to get up and out of the terrorist base, but Travis grabs the back of his shirt as he starts to leave, dragging him backwards and throwing him against the wall again.
"Matthew," Kagame speaks sternly but softly, "Why were you there? Tell us."
"Like hell." Kellog spits out, trying to escape from Travis' grip in vain.
"You're siding with the enemy, Matthew," Kagame says, "The Protector isn't any true ally to someone like you,"
"Well Kiera didn't leave me strapped to a chair a bomb under me like you guys did, so much for the oath." Kellog snaps.
Travis nearly drops him, "Kiera? You're on a first-name basis with the Protector?"
"Shit," Kellog says, eyes wide. He hadn't notice his slip-up till Travis mentioned it.
Travis threw him against the table again, "Explain."
"I'm good, thanks." Kellog remarked swiftly, struggling to escape.
"Explain!" Travis said again.
"I don't have to explain anything to you," Kellog spit out, "I'm not a part of your guys stupid gang anymore. I can do whatever I want."
"Like join the enemy side?" Garza crossed her arms, "You're a traitor."
"She isn't a good ally Matthew," Kagame told him, "She could have you arrested or kill you at any given moment."
"But she wouldn't." Kellog emphasized the last word, "Unlike you guys."
"She held you at gunpoint when we asked for a trade, Maddie for Lily, didn't she? Even knowing that if Maddie was killed...you'd die…"
"She didn't hold me at gun-point!" He steamed, "She asked for my help, something you guys never did. And now she owes me a favor, and I know she'll own up to it because that's what friends do. So, yeah, maybe she's a horrible ally, but she's my friend. You people never were."
A silence fell over the members of Liber8 at their former member's words, he and the Protector were friends? What on earth?
"You're feeding her intel," Sonya said in disbelief.
"Never said I wasn't," Kellog quipped.
Travis tossed him against the wall, "You are a traitor."
"Now, now, Travis, I'm sure Matthew can explain himself, isn't that right Matthew?" Kagame asked.
"There's nothing to explain," Kellog snapped, "No ulterior motives, what, can't a guy be friends with a girl without anyone jumping him," He glared at Travis, "about it?"
Sonya sucked in a breath, "Hell,"
Lucas turned to her in question, "What?"
"I knew I recognized that look," Sonya continued, "That glazed-over look he gets when he thinks about her," She paused, "It's the same look that guys look at me with after all that subterfusion-instead-of-violence crap I pull." She paused again, "When they like me."
The silence is even heavier than before, and Kellog's eyes widen, "W-what? That's stupid. Me fall for her- I don't fall for anyone."
"Dammit," Travis hisses, going along with Sonya's plan.
Kagame pretends to regard Travis with a new tone, "He's not going to side with us," He tells him, regarding Kellog, "There is no need to keep him here any longer."
Travis drops him onto the floor, "Good riddance."
"Nice to see you too," Kellog grumbles sarcastically, "Well, now that you got what you needed, I'll be going now," With a quick and sarcastic bow, he bolts out the door, leaving Liber8 to shout comebacks at him in vain.
After he's gone, the group turns to Sonya in question, "Well," Lucas asks, "Why'd you want him out?"
"What are you talking?" Sonya asks, confused.
"You made that subterfusion look up to get him out, right? So why'd you want him out?" Garza asks the brunette.
"That's the thing," Sonya starts, "I didn't make it up."
Kagame pauses, "Sonya, are you absolutely sure?"
"This is Matthew Kellog we're talking about," Lucas says, "He wouldn't let himself…" He trails off.
"Gotta give the Protector props," Garza laughs lightly.
"QUIET!" Travis says, "You're telling me that we just let a guy with a clear weakness escape?!"
"We can use him another time," Kagame remarks wisely, "For now, it's best to let him think that he's of no use to us."
As soon as he's out of the house Kellog whips out his cell phone, calling Kiera, "Hey," He says when she answers the phone, "I'd watch out for Liber8 if I were you, they just kinda kidnapped me,"
"And they let you go?" She asks suspiciously.
"They asked me why I was at Tendyne," He starts, "And they wanted me to join them again."
She pauses, "So why the hell are you talking to me? I could have you arrested now that you're one of them again."
He rolls his eyes, "Kiera, Kiera, Kiera, who said I said yes?"
She makes a sound of shock, "You can't be serious."
"But I am," He grins.
"And they still let you go?" She asks, not believing him.
He winces, "Yeah…"
"What aren't you telling me?" She snaps, "And why were you at Tendyne, anyway?"
"I overheard Lucas telling Nettinger about controlling you," He starts, "So I called you and you didn't answer, went to the Station where I found Carlos, oh yeah- he thinks I'm the Section Six guy by the way- and he told me you were at Tendyne Systems. By the time I got over there Lucas must have been in the process already. I'm sure Carlos told you the rest."
She pauses, "You were there because of me?"
"Well yeah," He laughed, a little confused, "You asked me for help with Liber8, didn't you? I think that would count…"
"But you could have just let me die," Kiera told him, "And you would have been off the hook. Why didn't you?"
His cheeks burn red, "I-I mean, well, I-"
Kiera interrupts him, "Nevermind, it's probably some sort of ulterior motive. Why'd they let you go after you said no?"
He winces again, "They know that I'm, uh, feeding you information about them-"
"And they didn't kill you?" She interrupts again.
"Strangely, no," He laughs, "But then they questioned me about it, and my uh, answers led them to believe that I wouldn't be joining their side again. So they let me go, but I'd watch out if I were you, because I think they're going to try to get to you through me."
"How?" She questions.
"I'm not really sure," He told her, "But just in case it's mind control, we need a code word. So you know if it's me or not."
She laughs at this, "Believe me, I'll know if it's you by the flow of constant innuendos and flirtations."
His laugh gets caught in his throat, did he really flirt with her that much? "Right," He says instead, and he can't help but sound a little nervous.
"Thanks," Kiera says suddenly.
"For what?" He wrinkles his nose, confused.
"For the whole Tendyne thing, even if it was for an ulterior motive." She says, "And Carlos told me to say thanks too, you know, for saving his life."
"No problem," Kellog says lightly, then hesitates, "You know, I...I should probably tell you, there, uh, there was no ulterior motive…" He trails off awkwardly, why on earth had he confessed that?
"Oh." Her voice sounds surprised, "Well, thanks even more then." She mumbles, "I-I have to go." She hangs up before he can say anything else. He glances down at his phone, maybe Sonya had been right.
Fin.
