Alfred spent the next two weeks getting situated in his new digs. Everything was brand new and state of the art. Comfortable.
However, there wasn't a single soul around. Sure, it had only been a couple weeks since he'd arrived at Daedalus. But there was no one in his wing. Boxes of blood were delivered to the second lock and there were laundry and garbage chutes to chuck his things. If he wanted, he could stay here for a decade and not see anyone. Alfred was half tempted to find a ball called Wilson to keep him company.
By the end of the fortnight, he was starting to go a little stir crazy.
"Kiku, why do you write in Japanese!" he demanded of the urn, feeling his brain beginning to fizzle as he copied the scribbling by hand as he tried to decipher Japanese from ancient drawings. The only way he could see a way around the error was to do a separate translation, which involved copying a century's worth of notes. The urn, sitting pretty on top of his lab table, said nothing. Completely unrepentant. "Yeah, you do your silent thing. You're good at that."
A pause.
"Holy shit, I have to get out of here," Alfred groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. He didn't even have video games to distract him. Video games! How could Arthur have forgotten that little detail?
Well, he had promised Arthur he would call if he needed anything...
Then again Arthur also promised he would visit, which he hadn't. It peeved Alfred to no end, since he was just left hanging in anticipation for something he didn't even want.
Alfred slapped his hands on the table. "Alright, I'm going to be social. I can be social, right, Kiku?" Silence. "Yeah, that's right. Thanks bud." He hopped off his chair, bringing his notes and the passcon back with him to his room, hiding them back away underneath his bed. Changing into his body armor, Alfred sucked down a couple packs of blood and made himself pretty for public.
Okay. Alright, he could do this.
Pulling his shoulders back, he headed out of the doors and out through the triple hydro-locks and his robot-like security guard. He didn't dare talk to her, trying to make it seem like he actually knew where he was going and not like he was trying to sneak out. It was only when he reached the main hall that he slowed to get his bearings. Thankfully, it was generally quiet out in the vast glass hall, most people having already started their work day. His Want was far less distracting with just the few people milling around. His eyes trailed up to the ceiling, wondering exactly how many people fit in all those offices.
Not looking where he was going, he nearly jumped when he bumped (literally) into his first Normal. Just a regular grunt. Nothing special. Except the girl nearly had a heart attack when she saw him. "Oh! Agent Estonia! A-ah, I didn't- I'm sorry!" she said, before ducking away as quick as she could.
Jesus, he was going to get rid of this Estonia handle if it killed him.
"Alfred!" he called after her. "It's Alfred, damn it!"
Oh well, that went well. Sighing, Alfred went up to the nearest security grunt and asked, "Hey, do you know where Arthur is?" The man gave him a blank look. "Y'know, the Final Boss. Big Cheese."
"...Big Cheese, sir?" the man said slowly.
"Where is Commander Kirkland's office?" Alfred asked with a heave of exasperation.
After several more instances of getting stonewalled by pure ignorance, Alfred finally made it to the very corporate-like offices of the new Watchers. It was amazing how the bright glass walls managed to show everything and nothing all at once. He came up to the secretary and waved. "Ah, hi. I'm looking for Arthur. Arthur Kirkland. Is he in?"
"Oh!" the secretary said and looked slightly panicked as he checked something on his screen. "Agent Estonia. Yes, the Commander's in. Let's see... you have full access, but he's in a meeting right now. Is there anything that I could do for you instead?"
"Well first, please stop calling me Agent Estonia. Just- Alfred's fine. Can I-? I'm just going to go in," Alfred decided and opened the door past the fretting assistant into the glass walled offices. Finding Arthur was a little like walking through a funhouse of mirrors, but eventually Alfred found the Brit holed up in a conference room. It was filled with some rather stern looking people, who all looked mildly alarmed at his intrusion. Not the least of which was Arthur at the head of the table, whose eyes went as wide as an owl at the vampire's sudden presence.
"Hey," he waved as he entered, feeling his stomach drop to his feet. What exactly had he just walked into? Judging from the high-ranking uniforms of the people involved, he had a pretty educated guess. "Sorry, don't mind me."
"Alfred..." Arthur called. Then he recovered and snapped his fingers at the person on his right to move. "Why don't you come over here and sit by me." He patted the hastily vacated seat. "We were just going over some new security contracts for the Tehran civil war."
Alfred stared. "C-civil..." he started, not quite comprehending what the Brit had just said. Civil war? They were involved in civil wars now?! When did that happen?! He was only so glad he was already a corpse to hide how pale he felt. He just came up for video games.
But... he wanted to know. He needed to know how bad things had gotten while he was gone.
"I'll sit in," he decided against his better judgement, taking a seat beside Arthur. The immortal softly beamed at him, before his expression cooled and he waved for the meeting to proceed.
Alfred felt so uneasy, he almost didn't notice the glances from the others at the table. Confused, concerned, wary, and curious. Right, no one knew him now. It had been fifty years. This was the next generation (and a half) of Watchers. All he had left was his reputation, which it seemed that Arthur had carefully safeguarded and cultivated for him.
Beholden to continue, one of the officers started up again. "Well, to recap briefly, we have the choice of the contract hit on the President and the extermination of the rebel camps. The hit would be easy to do and easy to mess up. We would have to find someone not at all connected to us to keep us from getting any blowback. For the rebel camps, it would take far more effort, but we'd have sovereignty backing us up."
"Killing the president would highly destabilize the region," another Watcher said, a redheaded woman this time.
"It's destabilized already, how much worse can it get?" someone else retorted with a laugh and it seemed that Alfred's presence was more or less forgotten. He stayed quiet, as stonily silent as Arthur as they watched the debate.
"I think we're forgetting about one thing. Pay. The rebels don't have nearly the funds that the President does."
"Yes, but looking at it in terms of cost-effectiveness, we'd be taking higher pay only to be involved in a much more protracted effort. Kill the President and we're one and done. We need to consider our resources."
"How much effort would it be really? The rebels are mostly armed women and children. Soon as we find them, we just bomb the shit out of them."
Wrong... this is all wrong... Alfred thought, his shaking hands clenching underneath the table. This was a den of monsters. He almost didn't hear the man beside him speak, if not for the fact that everyone went quiet.
"If I am not mistaken, the President has all the oil holdings in the region, does he not?" the Brit asked, idly flipping through the information on the holo-screen in front of him.
"Yessir," the redhead replied.
"I want them," Arthur said as easily as one ordered a diet soda for lunch. "Find a way to get them. Renegotiate with both sides to see what we can do about it. To be perfectly clear, I want all of them."
"Yessir," came the robotic chorus.
"Good," Arthur said with a satisfied nod. "I expect an update by the end of the day tomorrow. Now, let's move onto..." he tapped the agenda in front of them, "the Shellco wiretaps. How many wishes is he at now with his Djinn. Yards, update?"
Thus it proceeded for another two horrendous hours.
After the meeting was over and everyone went off to their respective offices, the vampire slumped over bonelessly in his seat. Alfred felt like he'd just had his soul spliced just listening in. He felt nauseous, his stomach roiling after all the talk of underground politics and collateral damage.
Lesson of the day: How much a human life is worth in dollar signs.
"Alfred?" he heard Arthur call. He flinched as the Brit's hand touched his shoulder. For the first time in two hours, the immortal didn't sound so inhumanly callous. He turned his eyes to the side, meeting Arthur's bright green worried gaze. "Alfred, maybe you shouldn't come to any more talks like this. Why don't you just call ahead next time? I'll be happy to postpone anything for you," Arthur said in a hushed and concerned voice. "It's alright. You're too good a person for this sort of talk."
Alfred said nothing, closing his eyes as he tried to breathe to calm himself down.
"Was there something you needed?" Arthur asked instead for want of a change in subject, anxiously fussing and fretting. "I hardly think you came up out of your hole to listen to all this. Was it some companionship? It's quiet down there, I know. I didn't know if you wanted anyone to disturb you."
Alfred swallowed thickly against his bile. "I... I just wanted to see... Arthur, you know this is all wrong, don't you? Contract killings, illegal surveillance, private security. What the fuck!"
"Alfred, it's... a necessary evil," Arthur replied softly, gently cupping Alfred's face. "I'm trying to save the world. Sometimes we need to get our hands dirty to obtain that goal. That doesn't mean you need to be involved." Alfred didn't have the stomach to reply. So Arthur went on, growing more fretful by the minute, "W-would you like to spend the night with me? I promise, no more talk of this unpleasant business. Just... the two of us. That's nice, isn't it?"
The vampire honestly wanted to cry. Why was this Arthur so different? Why was he so much like his writer? How could he turn into a cold-blooded sociopath at the flip of a coin? "No..." he replied with a shake of his head.
"Alfred, you honestly caught us at the wrong time," Arthur pressed, growing panicked at Alfred's despondency. "Next time we have a meeting about our main Mission, I'll make sure you're included. We do plenty of humanitarian and peacekeeping work as well. Alfred, please? Say something..."
"I... wanted... I wanted video games..." Alfred said slowly. Though now the thought of blowing a few heads off of people just made him feel ill.
"Then you'll have them," the Brit said softly. "I apologize, I didn't account for your need for distraction. I should have known. You must have been working quite hard to have gone so long without wanting them," he added, his lips pulling into a tentative smile. "Have you made any breakthroughs?"
"Not really," Alfred replied, allowing his mind to be drawn away from the horrors he'd listened to in this pristine glass room. "I haven't even gotten around to starting on the basics."
Arthur let out a soft hum. "Would some instruction be helpful?" he offered. "You are switching to an entirely different field than your expertise. Perhaps you could work with someone in our robotics division. I'm sure I could find you a mentor."
Alfred made a noncommittal noise in response.
"Well, think about it," Arthur said gently. "In the meantime, I'll get you those video games. And I'll schedule you in for our next Water day. I don't mind you being involved, Love. It would be good to have someone else as long lived invested in this. No one else seems to be able to see the big picture with the same perspective as you or I."
The vampire's stomach twisted. He didn't want to be involved. He didn't. Even if he did believe in part of Arthur's cause. It had been why he'd ignored so much of the shady shit that had been going on even before he left. It was why he just didn't have the heartfelt conviction to do any real damage to the Watchers, even when he'd spent the last fifty years running from them. He was still drinking the Koolaid.
But this. It was just wrong.
How had things gotten so bad? If he had stayed, would things have been different? Would they have just stuck to surveillance and espionage instead of engaging in full on conflict?
Take it slow. To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.
Kiku, again. Alfred took a long breath, trying to adhere to his friend's advice. "M-maybe the space stuff instead," he said after a pause, trying desperately to stick to his plan of keeping Arthur close, but not too close. "Or have you thought about trying to use nanotech to rebuild the ozone layer? Like rebuilding all the ozone particles?"
Arthur's eyes widened. "I... No. No, we haven't." A broad smile spread across his lips up to his eyes and he grabbed Alfred's shoulders. "Alfred, that's absolutely brilliant! I could kiss you! I'll have our R&D start on that right away! Oh, no, you should be involved. It was your idea. I'll get you situated in-"
His words cut short as Alfred pressed a kiss to his lips. With a muffled noise, the Brit melted into it like warm honey, his arms coming to wrap around Alfred's shoulders. When he needed breath, he pulled back, flushed, "Ah... what was... N-not that I'm complaining."
"I... you said you could kiss me- and I was just- I thought you were asking permission," Alfred stammered, not quite sure what he had been thinking himself. His thoughts were a whirlwind, caught between trying to get close, trying to stay away, trying to save and destroy at the same time. "I'm just... so confused..."
"It's alright..." the immortal hushed gently, pressing a chaste kiss to Alfred's brow. "It really is. I'd rather we not rush anything rather than risk you running away again. We will take this very, very slowly, alright, love? There's no need to rush. We have all the time in the world..."
Alfred nodded reluctantly, while Arthur's fingers gently rubbed circles in his scalp. It felt wonderful in a way that made the vampire feel vile.
"Alfred, you haven't gotten a proper tour of the place yet, have you?" the Brit asked after a moment of silent comforting. "I'll be happy to show you around. In fact, I'll arrange things in robotics first, so I'll introduce you to the people you'll be working with. Would that be alright? Perhaps in the next couple of days?"
"Yeah... yeah, sure..." Alfred replied, pushing himself out of Arthur's grip and up to his feet. "I think I'll see myself back. See you." He turned heel and tried not to sprint out of the glass room, speeding past the secretary who just spouted cheerful drivel at him. His head pounded, trying to straighten out the mess. He'd come back impulsively without a game plan, and now it was kicking him in the ass.
His only purpose had been to turn Arthur back to the way he was. But what if the Watcher was no longer even worth saving? Did immortality even do this to him or did he always have the potential for such evil?
Only one hope cut through the mire of uncertainties and doubts that plagued him as he stared up at his bedroom ceiling.
If Arthur could dream again, he'd have nightmares about what he was doing. Maybe that would be enough.
In the meantime, he was going to do what he should have done from the start.
He was going to have to keep a closer eye on them.
Virus it is, Alfred thought, pulling out his wrist console to code up some trouble.
