The minute Cassie locked the bathroom door, the first thing Herbert found her doing was slamming his back up against it and mashing her mouth to his. It seemed he had forgotten over the years that receiving a kiss from her was more or less like receiving a headbutt if one wasn't prepared for it.
He yelped in pain as his head went back and his hand went to his bottom lip, which was then bleeding. Cassie being completely useless of course, gasped.
"I'm sorry!" she said quickly, trying to sound apologetic. "I thought that since that's the way we always did it, you wouldn't mind! Here, lemme see!"
"I always mind!" Herbert shot back, wiping the blood away. "And there's no point in letting you see, since there'd be nothing you could do about it in the first place!"
A sly smirk spread over her face as he pushed past her to get to the sink, tossing his glasses onto the counter top as he did so. "Geez, Doc," she said, putting a hand on her hip, sidling up beside him as he rinsed the blood off. "…You never complained that much about it before."
Herbert didn't answer her as he huffily turned the sink off and began struggling with the paper towel dispenser. Cassie on the other hand, tried a different way to get a rise out of him. "You know, I like these better than your old ones," she said, picking up his glasses and examining him. "These kinda remind me of Clark Kent…although I'm sure you don't even know anything about comics, huh?"
He turned around to see her slide them on and stare at him as innocently as she possibly could. "Give me those," he said irritably, tossing the paper towel away.
"Why?" Cassie asked, giggling lightly. "Afraid I'm gonna take advantage of you and your poor eyesight?"
"Ms. Hack," he warned.
She snorted and slid the glasses off, handing them back to him. Then she hopped up on the counter next to the sink and beckoned to him. "Want me to kiss it better?" she asked dryly.
He glared at her, causing her to roll her eyes and hold her arms out to him again. "I'm sorry, okay?" she asked. "Now come on – show me what you learned on the inside."
Neither of them would ever be able to figure out what prompted him to suddenly grab her by the shoulders and slam her up against the mirror so angrily and hard enough to break the glass. Cassie wasn't surprised exactly, but she definitely liked it when he fought back.
"Do you think that's funny?" he hissed, bringing his face close to hers, his grip undoubtedly leaving marks on Cassie's shoulders. "Insinuating that I might have been…"
Cassie shoved him hard, pushing him away from her as she looked at him from heavy-lidded eyes. "Oh I think that's hilarious," she said casually. "I guess this means it must be true, huh?"
"Completely the opposite," Herbert replied bitterly, shoving her legs apart roughly. "How do you think I ended up in solitary?"
"I dunno," said Cassie, biting him hard and rather close to his jugular as she put her arms around his neck. "Do I want to find out?"
"I killed a man who tried to sexually assault me with his own pen. After that, none of them deemed to bother me in that manner again," said Herbert as his hands moved up her skirt to do away with any hindrances in the way of undergarments. "Are you going to dispatch me now like you so often promise?"
Cassie gasped as his fingers grazed her. "Not if you keep doing that," she said smugly. "How'd you manage it?"
"What?" he asked, looking up at her.
"The shank," she said, before her head went back and uncomfortably hit the mirror again.
"You think I never watched you?" Herbert replied casually.
"Huh?" Cassie asked, barely listening.
Before he could answer her, screams conglomerated outside as a panic rose up, leaving Cassie to groan as Herbert pulled away from her, as if remembering that he was normally a woman-resenting, science-minded sponge with no friends or sexual relations whatsoever.
"Dammit, Angel, couldn't you have waited a half-hour before going on a rampage?" she whined to herself as she hopped off the sink and straightened her clothing.
The door burst open and Vlad stepped through, wearing his gas mask and tossing Cassie her bat. "How'd you know I was in here?" she asked.
"Cassie have Dr. West now, yes?" said Vlad. "Vlad already check on Cassie once to make sure little one's not hurt."
Cassie sighed, smiling despite herself. "I don't even wanna know how you managed that," she said, shaking her head before turning to Herbert.
"Go back to the hotel, okay?" she said, grabbing his tie and pulling him in close before pecking him on the mouth and engaging in very practiced speed-talk. "I'm gonna need you later – either to sew me up or to do things I can't quite label by name with Vlad here. Hopefully it'll be the latter, but you know – expect the first one. I have a habit of burning these kinds of places down when I fight in them, so…good luck getting out alive!"
He would have asked her what any of that meant, but before he could, she was gone with Vlad close behind and he found himself with a very convenient opportunity for a re-agent test when it collapsed in the same alley he happened to be escaping in.
Cassie didn't have to know; he had far more important things to tell her later anyway.