Joyride

Things evened back out when Riggins came back to the facility. He spoke with Martin, explaining in his calm manner that his superiors were looking for things that he couldn't give yet. Things were moving slower than he'd anticipated. That was okay, but it made some more nervous in their organization and it had gotten out of hand. There were safer ways to conduct the experiment that they'd been going for. Nearly drowning Martin hadn't been cleared with him, and Riggins swore it wouldn't happen again.

Martin had pushed for more information. What were they looking for? Why didn't they believe them when they told them their limits? None of his questions returned answers that made sense. They weren't lies, but maybe half truths that left out important information. It was the same runaround he'd been getting for three years now and he had hit his limit.

That's what had brought them to Riggins' office in the middle of the night, risking a serious reprimand compared to any of their other trips through the halls after hours. It was worth it.

Martin and Gripps rifled through files until they found one with the same symbol stitched into their jumpsuits and on their door. Project Incubus. That was them.

Gripps was right over his shoulder, buzzing with anticipation as Martin skimmed the file. It listed out both known abilities and theories that they had about possible abilities. Apparently they were classified as vampires. Weird, and kind of cool. That hadn't been something Riggins had mentioned before, but. a couple of the offhanded comments some of the scientists had made were a little clearer now. He saw medical history and birth dates - somewhere in all the chaos he'd completely missed his nineteenth birthday - and….

"What'dya find?"

"Where they transferred my mom," Martin breathed. "Riggins never would tell me."

"Probably thought you'd steal a car and go for a joyride," Gripps chuckled and Martin tilted his head. There was an idea.

"We do have the address," he murmured thoughtfully. "And we're both over eighteen now. Can't force us to stay." And it'd show Riggins. He'd left them to the vultures to be picked apart without anything in return. He'd promised a two way street, and Martin had been patient. He'd been too patient. It was time to push back in earnest.

"Can you drive?" Gripps asked.

Martin smirked. "Yeah." He tore the page with his mother's address from the file and tossed the rest of it back on the desk, eyeing the prestige office. "Think we should leave Riggins a goodbye note?"

Gripps grinned like a maniac and the two made quick work of the office. By the time they were done there wasn't a file draw intact, not a book left in the shelves, and they'd even managed to turn the giant mahogany desk up on its end with all the drawers turned out.

They strode out of the office with bubbling excitement and one glance up to the security camera showed they had managed to get it back online from where it had blown before they'd gone in. Martin flashed a devilish grin, flipped it off, and heard it pop again.

They had never tried to sneak out of the facility itself before. They'd been to all corners of the inside by now, which meant they at least knew the weak points to slip out through.

They stopped by the employee locker rooms to steal clothes - Martin was pretty sure that their insignia-bearing white jumpsuits would be a dead giveaway that would send them right back to where they started - before slipping towards the exits.

It was stop and go, Martin working hard to contain his own excitement enough to focus on making sure they didn't get caught. They had one close call with a night guard that had never been fond of them and both teens had stood with their backs pressed against the wall as she had flashed her light up and down the corridor, finally moving in the opposite direction after what had felt like an eternity. By the time that they made it to the garage and found a vehicle with the keys in the visor the sun was starting to show over the horizon.

They made it out of the garage and off the property without incident. Martin hadn't realized he was holding his breath until they crossed the last exit point and he and Gripps both burst out laughing. They cranked the windows down on their stolen truck, and he reached for the radio dial to find the rock station. Music poured out, hard and loud and filling every inch of the cabin as he pressed down in the accelerator, throwing his head back and letting loose a howl along with the music. They were free.


Notes: The boys' idea of a good evening: trashing Riggins' office and stealing someone's car. Run Rowdies run! And Martin finally gets his music XD

I'm really excited for this little arc. Not only is it leading up to Cross' introduction into the pack, but the awesome SetMeAtopThePyer is in the process of writing the Rowdy 3 meeting from Cross' POV (since we're sort of limited to Martin's in this story, since Martin's telling the story to Amanda). I can't even tell you how excited I am for that. :D

I'll make sure to link it to the chapters that they'll correspond with when the time comes.

Hope you guys are enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it.