Chapter Thirty Eight: Canoodling
(Author's note: Might not have a chapter next week due to some unexpected events that took up my usual writing time.)
Only a minute or two had passed since Cass had left the room when someone knocked on the door. Looking more than a little confused, Hiro went to answer it. He noticed Kally didn't really look surprised when Honey Lemon and GoGo entered the room, followed by Fred. "Oh, hey guys," Hiro said as the entered. He rubbed at the back of his neck. "What brings you over?"
GoGo blew an impassive gum bubble as she leaned against the dresser, arms folded. "Sammy sent a message asking us to come over to keep an eye on you two since Cass is out."
Fred gave Hiro a knowing look, adding in a bit of a comic hint of overkill as he circled the teen. "Yeah, she wanted to make sure you two weren't… canoodling."
"Canoodling? Really?" GoGo gave him a look.
Honey moved to defuse the situation as she came to sit on the edge of Cass's chosen bed. "Actually, she was worried that if those detectives came back you might get into trouble since the one cited the law about unaccompanied minors last night."
Of course Sammy would think it only prudent they have more than just a few AIs as escorts. He wanted to smack himself in the head, not that he'd planned on doing anything he shouldn't, but Honey was right. He was in enough hot water as things stood. And even though the detective hadn't been gone too long, there was always the chance she'd come back sooner than later with some other ludicrous something or other to shove in his face. The last thing they needed was to add more fuel to her fire so he shrugged and went to sit next to Kally on the other mattress. "So, what do you propose we do in the meantime?"
Chances were good Cass wouldn't like it if he left the area, even if he wasn't alone. At least she wouldn't like it if he didn't let her know where he was going. Not that he planned on going anywhere but he didn't know what the others had in mind.
GoGo moved to flop on the mattress next to Honey Lemon. "I'm cool with just watching whatever's on," she replied as she reached for the remote and turned the television on. A news station began playing, even though the volume was muted. "Ugh! Can't they talk about anything besides that stupid explosion!" she complained as images of the airport fire filled the background.
Honey wrung her hands. "Actually, maybe now would be a good time to talk about that. I'd also like to know what you were doing at Lux when it all happened." She glanced over at Hiro.
The teen let out a sigh. He supposed now was as good a time as any to let them in on his little "problem" as it were. "So, that's actually a funny story. Remember how I was somehow connected to that computer in the Hydra base?" He paused at their looks, some more impatient than others as he swallowed hard. "Well, um… you see, Loki and I went to Lux to see that Lucifer guy and while we were there, I somehow managed to connect with the computer system at the airport and witnessed the whole thing."
"You're the one who gave them the anonymous tip!" Fred realized. "And it's probably a good thing you did or everyone who was on that plane would quite literally be toast, including Tony."
Honey gave him a look. "Not everyone made it out in time," she reminded but gave Hiro a sympathetic look. "But I'm sure you tried."
"What I want to know is what you meant when you mentioned the whole burning bit earlier," Kally spoke up. "I didn't say anything while Tony and Bruce were here because it really didn't look like you wanted to talk about it. But I really think you should."
Hearing that, all three Big Heroes turned their attention on a rather uncomfortable looking Hiro. "About that," he hedged. "I'm not really sure what happened. I mean what I said about it being like a really bad dream was true. I just didn't mention that it felt more like I was really there in that plane when the bombs went off."
"Just like you weren't really there but your image showed up on the airport security footage?" Kally pressed.
This was news to the others and they couldn't help but look confused until Kally explained what she meant. "You gotta admit that's pretty weird," GoGo spoke up, muting the television. Chances were good she'd just turn it off in a minute.
Honey looked thoughtful. "Maybe your image showed up on that surveillance because you were somehow connected to the system. It's possible it wasn't so much you being there in any physical sense but that your mental presence somehow overlapped into the footage for the briefest of moments."
Well, it was about as good a theory as any anyone else had thrown around, Hiro supposed. And it made a lot more sense, when he took in all the other factors. "Maybe. But what I'd really like to know is why this keeps happening to me."
Fred nodded. "Yeah, it does beg to question why it's always you." He paused at the looks from his companions. "I mean there is a decided pattern here. The Makt go after him. The whole redoing time lines thing. Q's energy. Not to mention the Hydra stuff. My theory is that whatever mutation happened to your DNA has somehow made you a magnet for weird things, like that one character from Maxamillion's Delima."
GoGo raised a brow at him, arms folded. "Do I even want to know?"
"Only if you want to learn about one of the forgotten treasures of the comic book world," Fred retorted at her tone. "Maxamillion is a totally underrated story lost to the passage of time. And, of course, I own one of the only remaining copies."
"Figures," GoGo quipped as she blew a gum bubble. "But I gotta admit it's possible, though I think there's a lot more to it than that."
Hiro rolled his eyes. "Keep up on that line of thought and I might think you want to use me as a human guinea pig like you did with the whole Q business. My answer to anything related to that hasn't changed. No way." He flung out one arm to emphasize his point.
"We have to get down to the bottom of whatever this is somehow," Honey admitted. "And I honestly don't know how else we can."
Kally began to pace the limited space in the room, one hand to her chin in thought as she chewed the inside of her cheek. "Maybe it's not so much as a need for experimentation as it is observation. But, if we really want to get back to the matter at hand, the real question is why is he somehow picking up on what's going on with all this bombing stuff. It's not like at the Hydra base where he was plugged into the computer."
"Thank you!" Hiro said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "I needed another reminder of just how messed up I am." He flung himself into Kally's vacated space on the mattress. "If you really want to know, the real reason we disappeared off the map for the last few hours, it's because Loki was trying to help me figure out what was going on and we didn't want to be disturbed. And believe me when I say we came up with nothing."
It wasn't strictly true, but also was at the same time. He was no closer to understanding how or why he was able to do any of that, though part of him thought he could chalk up that first experience at the events center to coincidence. He was having a reactive reintegration episode. It just happened to be one involving a bomb shortly before a real one had gone off. Surely the two incidents weren't related. Unless he somehow could sense trouble through a subconscious level. But that still didn't explain why only this series of events, why only the whole bombing thing and not the myriad of other things probably going on in the area. There had to be more to it than that. And maybe Loki was the only one who could help him find out. Then again, maybe not.
Honey let out a sigh. "Maybe we just all need to take some time away from the subject, give it a bit of breathing room." She could tell that Hiro was feeling more than a little stressed and overwhelmed by this whole ordeal and correctly guessed that he wanted the subject dropped. "Why don't we find a movie to watch while we wait?"
The others quickly picked up on what she meant and seemed to all but jump at the idea. "I got some microwaveable popcorn in my room!" Fred volunteered, heading to the door before anyone could protest while GoGo started flipping through the TV Guide channel in search of something decent to watch.
Chloe impatiently waited while Lucifer slipped inside Cass Hamada's hotel room. She'd thought it best to let him get the room key since she'd already made a less than stellar impression on the café owner. She just hadn't expected Lucifer to take quite so long to get one little card. She shifted her weight on her crutch. It was certainly better than having to go on leave, or worse, desk duty, but it was still a pain to deal with.
A small pile of boxes sat at her feet, not yet folded into shape. She wasn't sure just how much evidence there was to collect and wanted to be safe. Next to that sat a smaller box filled with evidence collecting bags and tools. It never hurt to be prepared. It helped that Lucifer was more than willing to haul it all around due to her injury. In that light, she felt the crutch wasn't a bad thing after all.
The door across the hall finally opened to reveal her partner and she let out an impatient sigh. "Took you long enough," she complained as she moved a piece of hair out of her face. "I hope you weren't trying to do anything unnecessary in there."
Lucifer made his way over to her side, wielding the key car. "Nothing of the kind," he protested. "I merely had to wait while Ms. Carmichael retrieved her copy of the key. Apparently she'd forgotten to take it out of the pocket of her pants from the day before."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "I don't care where it was so long as we have it now," she quipped as she took the key from him and slid it into the key reader on the door. The light flashed green and she turned the knob, pushing the door open. Before she could do anything else, however, Lucifer held it open for her.
"After you, Detective," Lucifer said in a more courteous tone.
She didn't need a second invitation to take him up on the offer, only once glancing at the evidence gathering materials on her way inside. She did take the liberty of standing with her back to hold the door for him though, since he'd have his hands full with everything they'd brought.
The hotel room they'd entered was almost an exact replica of Cass Hamada's room, except it was a mirror opposite, and the painting between the beds was different. Chloe let the door close behind her as she hobbled into the room and stopped to pull out a pair of gloves. Things certainly would have been easier with Ella there but she understood why the crime lab expert wasn't.
One bed was mussed up a bit, while the other looked as if it had never been slept in. "That one's Ms. Carmichael's," Lucifer pointed at the rumpled bed. "Well, at least we know the maid hasn't come and displaced anything." He took put on a pair of gloves as he moved around the further of the two beds, the one that was still made. "Hello. Hello. What have we here?" He held up a small suitcase by its handle, the wheels dangling just over the mattress.
"Let's see what's inside," Chloe decided as she moved over to join him, settling her crutch out of the way so she could use both her hands without trouble.
Lucifer placed the suitcase on the mattress and stood back a bit so Chloe could have the honors. He watched as she carefully unzipped the front pouch and removed several pencils, a few pocket packs of tissues, and a few cords that probably went to a charger or mp3 player.
"Not much in that one is there," Lucifer observed as he carefully placed like items in an evidence bag and labeled them. He somehow felt it best to be more professional than usual, possibly because his partner was injured, or maybe because of the unusual nature of the case.
Chloe shook her head a bit impatiently. "I wasn't expecting much in the front," she admitted. "Time to check the main compartment." She unzipped the main area and flipped the front panel out of the way.
A couple shirts lay near the bottom, rolled to conserve space, along with a few pairs of pants. There were also a few pairs of socks, some ladies unmentionables, and notebooks. Chloe picked up the small stack of notebooks and began turning the pates while Lucifer unpacked the clothes, just to be safe.
"Looks like schematics for a robot, maybe her fighting bot?" Chloe continued to flip through what were obviously a set of specs on something. And when she saw notations for an optional plasma cutter option, she felt sure of her deduction. The rest of the first notebook was filled with more of the same, along with mathematical calculations and other similar formulas she knew she'd have to have someone else look at to understand. She set that notebook aside.
Lucifer continued to go through the clothes from the suitcase, going so far as to actually look in the pants pockets. Most were empty, until he came across one with a lump bulging from a front pocket as he unrolled the blue fabric. "What's this?" he wondered aloud as he fished in the pocket and pulled out what looked like a lumpy sock.
Chloe looked up at his exclamation. "Got something?" she asked as she put the other notebooks down on top of the first. She moved to get a better look as Lucifer carefully eased whatever was inside out into the open.
"Not sure," Lucifer said as he worked on freeing whatever was in the sock. "But I didn't know any better, I believe Miss Amesbury didn't want anyone to find this." He finally freed the object and held it up with one gloved hand.
The detective tilted her head for a better angle before taking the silver chunk of metal from her partner. It was suspended in some kind of thick liquid material in what appeared to be a sealed plastic container. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked as she looked at the nugget. The luster couldn't be ignored, though she'd never seen a lump quite like this before. It could be something else, but she felt fairly confident in her original thought.
Lucifer carefully took the metal back and scrutinized it. "It's hard to tell definitively without someone to confirm it, but I do believe this to be some kind of metal, possibly magnesium or something similar." He looked somehow troubled, or at least confused. "How on earth did she come across something like that? And what was she going to do with it?"
Chloe shook her head. "Maybe the answer's in one of these notebooks." She indicated the abandoned stack before reaching for the next in line from the schematic-filled one. She began leafing through it, looking more and more conflicted as she went. "Lucifer," she said as she almost hesitantly handed the open notebook over. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."
The devil took the offered papers in hand and scrutinized the drawings for no more than a few seconds before looking up with the same shock in his eyes that was all over the detective's face. "My dear detective, did we just irrefutably tie together the two cases?"
Chloe swallowed hard, wondering just what Rachel Amesbury had gotten herself into and why she'd had plans for several different types of bombs in her possession.