"Just get me out of here, Malik."
Adam's usual phrase seemed wearier than usual, every syllable hung with the slump of his shoulders. He wasn't wearing his coat—hadn't brought it at all this time, and so the curve of his back and the way he held his shoulders forward told Malik everything she needed to know. She hadn't seen him this exhausted since the mission where the hostages hadn't made it out. Thankfully, this time they had, and the weariness was purely physical. Or so she hoped. He'd been in a lot of tense situations in three days, and from what she'd overheard he hadn't slept during the entire run.
"You got it, Spy boy. Hop in. We'll be home in three hours," Faridah said, watching him nod and almost crawl into the belly of her beloved craft. When he sat down it was with every pound on his augmented frame showing. She caught him leaning forward, head in his hands before the door slid shut.
She swung herself into the pilot's seat, trying not to worry too much about him. She started the engine and clicked on her headset, listening to the silence in the back seat. "Try not to conk out on me, okay? I don't think I can carry you," she teased. There was nothing but a quiet grunt from her passenger.
The flight went smoothly, though Faridah had to resist calling back to Jensen like she normally would. If he was lucky maybe he'd catch a nap and be recharged enough to get back to his apartment. "Coming up on Sarif now, thirty seconds," she finally said, flipping switches and rotating the thrusters so they could land. There was no response from Adam.
When they touched down and she'd performed the shut-down checks she slipped off her headset and went around to the back, opening the side hatch. As she'd guessed, Adam was passed out in his seat, his head slumped against the hard wall, his hands in his lap. His tranq gun was laying in the middle of the floor in a nest of cyberboost wrappers and stun cartridges. Malik tried not to sigh. It was a wonder Adam stayed healthy when all he seemed to eat was energy bars and cereal. She stepped over the mess, gripping his shoulder gently.
"Come on Spy boy, you know how I feel about trashing my baby. How about you pick this stuff up and go make a mess at home?"
Adam's head picked up a little, as though he was trying to rouse himself, but there wasn't much else. She shook him a little. "Adam, come on sleepy. It's almost five, the sun's going to be up soon. You'll want to get home before then." She tapped his temple gently, and with a little click both of his sunglasses retracted almost automatically. His eyes were partially open and he started to sit up straighter, but the only real response she got was him blinking like he'd been hit with a tranq dart. Or three.
"M-going," he muttered, pushing himself to sit forward. He only got part way before slumping, his head falling into his hands like he couldn't hold it up. Malik tried to hide her smile as she rubbed his back.
"Come on, let's get you home and then you can sleep for a week. Promise."
He only nodded.
Even the whirring of his augmentations sounded exhausted. Malik left him for a moment to shut down the last of the electronic components on the VTOL, updating her log with a few quick key-clicks before returning to the back. She sighed, hands on her hips. Adam was out again. He hadn't even made it off the seat. As she thought about it, it occurred to her that he was suffering from calorie crash and probably dehydration. She highly doubted he'd eaten anything but the bars during the whole mission.
"Okay, next plan," she muttered, stepping into the copter and gathering up his stuff, dumping the gun and darts on the other seat, sweeping the wrappers out of the way with her foot. Reaching into the cargo space near the tail, Malik dug out an emergency blanket, a bottle of water, and two foam mats. She made a mental note to replenish the stores later and then lay out the mats and the blanket on the floor. She went back to Adam, shaking his forearm.
"Come on," she coaxed as he pulled his head up sharply, blinking faster this time. He looked at her, but she could tell that he was running on a very short spike of adrenaline caused by being grabbed unexpectedly. He was looking at her but he wasn't really seeing her. "Drink this, then lay down on the floor. Then I'll leave you alone, promise," she said, holding out the bottle of water she'd already opened.
Obediently, Adam took the bottle and drank all of it, purely on autopilot. She doubted he would remember any of this the next time he was conscious. When he was done, she took the bottle and then helped him stand up, working with him to kneel and then lay down on one of the mats. His movements were clumsy and he leaned more weight on her than she was expecting, but eventually she got him down and once again he was out. Smiling a little, she reached for the silvery blanket and pulled it up around his shoulders.
Standing, she flipped on enough power to switch the window tint to the darkest it could go. Setting up the low safety lights, she programmed the doors to lock and then returned to him. There was just enough low, gold light to get back to him without tripping over an EMP grenade that must have fallen out of his pocket when she was laying him down. She sighed and shook her head, sitting on the mat next to his and prying off her boots. Turning, she slipped in next to him and snuggled up under the blanket, curling on her side to face him. It was still somewhat chilly, down on the floor with only a few inches of foam between her and the metal, so she cocooned in the blanket and inched closer, resting her head on Jensen's chest. He made a surprisingly willing pillow.
Just before she was about to doze off, Pritchard came through her earpiece, something she was so used to wearing she'd forgotten to take it out.
"Malik, David wants to know why you and Jensen are still in the VTOL. You're both on mandatory time off for the next forty-eight hours. He wanted to debrief both of you before you went home."
"Read the report I sent in," Malik muttered, snuggling into Jensen. "I'm staring my time off now."
"Then why are you still in the VTOL?" Pritchard asked, his tone exasperated.
"It's against company and legal protocol to leave a passenger in the craft without the pilot," she said. "Goodnight Pritchard." She took the earpiece out and tossed it towards the cockpit before slipping her arms around one of Adam's and falling straight to sleep.