Title: Transhuman
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Garcia-centric, team - gen
Genre: Science-fiction/Drama
Summary: In a dystopian future, hacker Penelope Garcia finds herself being hunted by a corrupt organization. Fearing for her life, she must search for help in the strangest of places.
Author's Notes: Betaed by Windy City Dreamer.
Chapter Four
Garcia watched with wonder as they drove through unfamiliar streets. The place seemed familiar to Derek, though; he navigated the snobs just as easily as he did the slums.
It was one thing to look at the snobs from across the river, but here, up close, everything seemed so much grander. It had been so long since she had seen this type of place. Clean buildings, quiet streets. It seemed utopian in comparison to where she'd spent the last decade. In the back of her mind, there were vague memories of her childhood home, an apartment overlooking the bay. From the balcony, you could see the waves crashing against the shore, sand and surf in a strikingly beautiful dichotomy. It shocked her that what could look so beautiful from one side of the river, could be so ugly from the other. In the slums, no-one went to the beach for any purposes. It was a dark, and ultimately, depressing place. Those who did go were liable to end up vanishing into thin air.
They'd been driving along the same street for ten minutes – the same perfect buildings of metal and glass – before Derek turned into a side street. Garcia barely had time to read the word "Avalon Towers" embossed on a shiny brass sign before the car swung into a parking garage.
'You live here?' asked Garcia, frowning. If he had an apartment in the north, then why had he been in the slums?
'I grew up in the slums,' he replied, not actually answering her question. 'I like to keep a place there, to remind myself not to get caught up in any of this Corp bullshit.'
'What do you do for a living?' asked Kevin. Garcia made a slight coughing noise, as if she thought they were asking too much too soon. Apparently, Derek agreed; the answer he gave was vague, non-committal:
'I do a bit of everything.'
There was silence as the trio rode the elevator upwards. It had been a long time since Garcia had been in an elevator this nice. The decorationswere stylish, yet simple. A far cry from the graffiti stained death-traps of the slums. In her torn and stained clothes that hadn't seen a washing machine in days, Garcia felt out of place. Derek too, seemed to notice this.
'This apartment complex has shopping facilities,' he said. 'I can get them to send up some clothes in your size.'
Garcia raised an eyebrow. It sounded as though this place was swankier than she had originally thought, which brought up questions about the kind of people that lived there. Derek Morgan had secrets; that was a fact of which she had no doubt.
Hackers and secrets did not mix well.
***
Garcia closed her eyes as the pellets of hot water struck her skin. It felt good. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a hot shower, complete with selection of scented soaps. For a while now, they'd been getting by on sanitation packs, and the cold, filthy showers of public restrooms. Every now and then, they had managed to bargain themselves a roof to sleep under. Sometimes that had come with a shower. Sometimes it had come with more running.
It was nice to slow down and enjoy the luxuries of life. At least, they were luxuries to Garcia. She figured that most people – most people who lived north of the river – would consider them basic necessities. Just another one of those injustices of the world.
The water trickled to a stop, as she turned off the shiny, gold-colored faucets. There was a towel folded on a chair at the far side of the bathroom, along with a pile of clothes that Derek must have brought it at some point during her shower. She didn't realize she'd been in there so long. She'd been thinking. Thinking about fate, about the future. Once upon a time, she hadn't believed that a life could be turned around so drastically in a single moment. Now, though, it had happened to her twice. First, at the death of her parents, second at meeting Derek today. She wondered vaguely what part this mysterious man would play in her future. Would they band together to take down the Corp?
In spite of Garcia's optimism, even that sounded like wishful thinking.
***
The moment she had left the bathroom, Kevin slinked in there, unable to hide his joy at the thought of being clean once more. Derek wasn't in sight. It seemed almost a foreign concept for her – an apartment so large that you could go hours without seeing the other occupants. Of course, she was probably exaggerating that fact, but having lived in an apartment that was a shoebox in comparison, this place seemed like a mansion.
'Derek?' she called out tentatively.
'In here.' His voice came from a doorway to Garcia's left – a room which was the kitchen, if the small fragment of stainless steel countertop she could see was anything to indicate.
'I figured you were probably hungry,' he said, as she walked in slowly. He was cooking something up on the stove – Garcia couldn't quite tell what he was cooking, but it was making her mouth water nonetheless. She wasn't hungry as such; she and Kevin had eaten this morning – an instant meal from a StayFresh pack – but a home-cooked meal came with the frequency of a hot shower in the slums.
'You don't have to do all this,' she said suddenly.
'I like to cook,' he shrugged.
'No, I mean…Rescuing us from the Corp, bringing us here…It's all too much.' She spoke quickly, flustered by the amount of attention he was paying them. It seemed so…unnatural.
'I have my reasons.' His mouth twitched slightly, and for a moment, Garcia thought he was going to elaborate. Instead, he gave her a charming smile. 'There are two singles in the spare room.' He spoke a little louder, which only seemed to highlight the abrupt change of subject. 'But if you and Kevin would prefer to share a bed-'
Garcia cut him off before he could go any further. 'We aren't together,' she blurted out, before realizing how it might have sounded to Derek. 'Sorry, that came out a little…Kevin's gay,' she whispered, even though she could still hear the shower going in the bathroom. 'You really think a straight man would choose to wear a shirt like that?'
'I didn't mean to assume…'
'No, don't worry about it. You're not the first.' She smirked slightly. 'Truth told, I think he's a little smitten with you.'
'Oh, don't worry about it,' grinned Derek. 'He's not the first. So, did you want lunch now?'
'Yeah,' Garcia said. 'That sounds good.' It seemed strange to think that it was only a little bit after one o'clock in the afternoon. Though they hadn't technically done much that day, the events had been action-packed, and Garcia had the feeling that whatever was going on, it definitely wasn't over yet.