Chapter 9 - Tick, Tick, BOOM!

Another week passed by without incident after the lunch and supervising the team training started to become easier. Olivia spent the first half of the session observing and the second half was spent training with the team.
"If you're only training for half of the session, aren't you slacking off in your training?" Christian quipped at Olivia as they collected their stuff from their lockers. Olivia only laughed in response.
"I train full sessions Thursday nights and have specialised training every second Sunday." She poked her tongue out at him. Elnath turned to the pair at the comment.
"Specialised training? Aren't you the mission co-ordinator and intel officer?" Olivia looked at him surprised.
"Yeah... But I'm also a qualified sniper." Everyone turned to her with stunned faces, Elnath high-fived her.
"I thought you were too clumsy to be a sniper." Miris looked her up and down and the rest of the unit laughed. Olivia pulled out a pair of shorts with the insignia embroidered onto them as well as a slim tank top.
"Is there anything you don't do! Shit, woman!" Christian laughed.
"I'm actually really bad at math. And I can't drink."
"That's right! Last time Ain had to carry you out of the shower, remember! You borrowed Ain's shirt cause you were too tired to put yours on." Miris giggled to herself as though she had said something funny. Ainsley choked on his drink when she said it and Olivia turned beet red, remembering the incident. Elnath, Lady and Aquilian looked between them, and Christian seemed to have a light bulb moment afterwards, before chuckling to himself. Olivia punched him in the arm.
"So, you heading back to management?" Ainsley switched the subject before anyone had a chance to ask questions.
"Ah, no, actually." Olivia looked at her watch. "I have a brief meeting with Go Team Commander Thrain and then I'm actually on my way to come and speak to you." She raised her eyebrow and smirked at him. Ainsley looked back at her.
"I don't have any meetings today."
"Yes you do. I put it on your calendar a week ago."
Ainsley whipped his phone out of his pocket as it started to ring. He glowered his eyes at her as he silenced the alarm.
"Meeting with Olivia – Today at 3:30pm. You're unbelievable. When did you even find the time?"
"The morning after we watched that movie." She stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled. "After that, I have the rest of the afternoon off."
"You have a lot of time off for someone with two jobs." Olivia looked over her shoulder to see Lenox standing at the end of the locker row. She rolled her eyes at him.
"The perks of being organised." She whistled at him.
"Oh my god. Seriously. I'm not that bad, it's organised chaos."
"If Grandpa heard you say that, he'd smack you over the head."
"Good thing he's not here then." Lenox wiggled his eyebrows at her, and she laughed.
B-Force watch the exchange with a piqued curiosity. Lenox Patel had never been anything other than completely serious. Like, ever. Yet here he was, pulling faces with Olivia, who he is apparently related to? Aquilian was the first to break the silence.
"I didn't know you two were related? I just assumed you didn't have any family left?"
Olivia and Lenox looked at each other before Lenox shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"We're not related." Olivia smiled at him. "We grew up in the same house though."
"Ah, ok." Most of the B – Force members said goodbye to her as they filed out of the room. Only Ainsley and Christian were left.
"Did you come to get me?" Olivia looked back to Lenox.
"Yeah," Lenox pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I wanted to chat to you about next weekend, but I only need like five minutes, and I knew you had the meeting today, so I figured I'd save the phone call."
"That's fine, just let me grab my stuff." Lenox nodded as he disappeared around the corner.
"Explanation please." Christian stared at the spot when Lenox had been standing.
"I'll fill you in later." Olivia promised him with a smile as she grabbed her notes and training guides from the locker. Christian nodded in response before he too rounded the corner and left. Olivia and Ainsley were left in the row as they finished up. Olivia reminded him of their meeting again before smirking when he rolled his eyes and starting to walk away.
"Άstin mín" Ainsley called out to her and Olivia felt butterflies in her stomach.
"What does that even mean?" She laughed as she turned back to him.
"It means Love or Darling." He smirked at her with a small wink.
"Oh my lord. You're unbelievable."
"Come here." Olivia rolled her eyes before walking over to stand in front of him. Ainsley stared down at her as his fingers brushed her waist. She shuttered before smacking him in the chest. He grabbed on to her waistband before she could step away though and laughed. She was about to chastise him when she felt a tug on the back of her shirt. He let go and moved away.
"Your shirt was untucked, darling." He chuckled at the redness that dusted her cheeks.
"You're the worst." She shook her head at him before making her way to the door. "I'll see you later. Love you." She froze as soon as the words left her mouth, and she dropped her head into her hands in embarrassment. Ainsley barked out a light laugh before walking past her and holding the door open. As she got closer, he leaned in and lowered his voice.
"Love you too."
He laughed as she whacked him a few times and put his arms up in surrender. She shook her head at him once again before joining Lenox outside.
"I'll be in my room when you get back, Mischief." Ainsley called to her as he headed towards the B-Force unit base. Olivia rolled her eyes at the nickname but threw her hand in the air, her thumb and pointer making a circle to showed him that she had heard him. She could practically feel his smirk as she walked away with Lennox.
Lennox looked over Olivia and saw the faint smile on her lips as she rolled her eyes, and after seeing the way they were playing when they walked out of the training arena, it only took him a second to put two and two together.
"You like him." He didn't look at her, just kept walking.
"It's been 3 weeks, Nox. I barely know him."
"I doubt that very much. I just watched five minutes of you knowing enough. Think about how he makes you feel and get back to me."
Olivia thought over what he said. Ainsley was a pain in her ass. He was constantly stirring her up and he always teases her with sneaky touches. But she doesn't dislike it. He made her laugh and he never pushed her boundaries. Despite his antics, he was still a gentleman. Then there was his body. Olivia felt her ears and cheeks glow red as she remembered him standing in the cool water of the shower and the way his hands and lips had felt as they trailed her body.
"Maybe I have a bit of a crush."
"It's ok to like someone but just remember what happened last time you rushed into a relationship with a man." He glanced over at her and took her hand in his when she lowered her gaze.
"That's not fair. It's not like he was a complete stranger at the time. And Ainsley is different. A lot different."
"I never said he wasn't different." Lennox sighed. "What happened wasn't your fault and no one blames you. You know I'd come to rescue you 100 more times if it means I never have to see you like that again. But just make sure you do know him before you start something. Bring him by sometime and I'll let you know if he's being honest." He grinned down at her and Olivia watched as his eyes shimmered into a dark red before fading back to his normal bright green. Olivia let out a breathy laugh.
"I haven't seen that in a while."
"No, I haven't relaxed in a long while."
"You know you didn't have to come here with me?"
"I know, but what kind of big brother would I be if I let you come alone. Besides, Alfred and I agreed it would be best for me to watch you, rather than you be limited in what you can do. But enough about that. Next weekend were having a family dinner. Alfred said we should take the day off and hang around the house."
"You want me to?"
"I would appreciate it. I can spend the day lounging around in my real form."
"You know you can always come hang in my management unit. I have a shower as well as the bed and it's just me, all day. I'm heading over this afternoon to talk to Ainsley about making up the room in the Unit for nights though. It's getting hard to stay in the single unit alone."
"I'll take you up on that. Does he still talk to you?"
"Yeah, but he's pretty chill now compared to what he way." Olivia let's out a little laugh. "He must sleep most of the day because I never seem to hear from him then."
"Makes sense. Most demons are nocturnal. It's only the ones who are used to popping up here or staying up here with a human that we adjust. Besides, he doesn't have a lot of energy or power without your approval." Olivia nodded in response.
"I might go back Saturday night if you wanna come with? But I'll have to let you know closer to the date."
"That's fine. Just text me before lunch." He let go of her hand as the entered the Go Team Base.
Olivia and Inigo met for a few minutes before calling in Kian Doyle, the team strategist, and Lennox. Inigo and Olivia had decided that the two would share the responsibilities of Captain for a month, after which Inigo would choose one or the other. The meeting was over fairly quickly and Olivia was on her way back to the B-Force base before she had even really registered what was happening. Lennox offered to walk back with her and while Olivia told him that he should stay and finish up his work, he insisted. They walked in silence through the gardens for a short while before he eventually spoke up.
"Olivia?"
"Yeah, Nox?" She looked up at his face. She soaked in his features as she waited for him to speak again. He had a square jawline, clean shaven face, and a slender nose. He had light circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in a couple days but his eyes themselves were still a clear green. His skin was on the paler side, but he seemed healthy enough.
"How long have you been having trouble with the Lalfon boy again." Olivia stopped walking and he spun to face her fully.
"There's my answer then." He sighed. "I can't deal with this like we would on the outside, Parvulus." Olivia smiled at the familiar nickname.
"Love it when you break out that Latin love." Olivia chuckled to herself. "I'll be fine, I can take it. Promitto. Besides, If I get really desperate, I may have one solution, but I have to be careful when I use it, or it won't be effective at all." Lennox's eyes shifted darkly and Olivia could see the tips of his ears start to turn an ashy grey.
"I wish I could just kill that little piece of trash." His fangs bared as he growled out.
"Nox, no. I know if anyone deserves it, it's him, but I don't want anymore blood on your hands for me." She smiled at him reassuringly and he sighed before relaxing back into his new normal look.
"I'm only letting this go for your sake. If I see him put even one more filthy finger in your direction, I'm going to remove his spine through his mouth though." Lennox continued on towards the unit's back door, not even batting an eye at the blatant threat. Olivia jogged up to him before falling into step with him. Lennox walked Olivia through the base until they had reached the loungeroom. Olivia paused for a moment, breathing deeply, before shaking off the weird feeling she had gotten.
"I have to get back, Parva soror."
"That's fine Frater antenatus. I'll see you later." Olivia smiled as she looped her arms loosely around his shoulders in a quick hug before she let him go.
"I have to go and see Ainsley, but Christian will show you the way through to the front door." Olivia smirked over at the man trying to stay out of the way in the kitchen. Christian nearly dropped his sandwich when Olivia mentioned his name but stopped himself from cursing while Lennox was still present. He would get her back later.

Olivia tapped twice on the door but when she didn't hear a reply, she decided to peak her head in. Ainsley sat leaning against the headboard of his large bed, he had earphones in and a book in his hand. His thumb rested on his bottom lip as his eyes flickered over the words, his glasses rested gently on his cheeks. He had changed into a black pair of boxers and a light grey t-shirt. She walked over and jumped onto the bed, startling Ainsley from his book. He chuckled at her, placing his book on the side table. He watched her roll around on the bed before her expression hardened and she looked at him.
"Who did you guys have over?" There was no amusement on her face, and he realised she was being dead serious.
"It's just been us since we got back, no one has come in. Why?"
"I can smell perfume on your bed and I just got static zapped."
"I'm sorry… What?"
Olivia closed her eyes and tried to remember where she had smelt it before.
"Oh my god." Olivia dived off Ainsley's bed, dragging him with her before running through the living room where Elnath, Aquilian and Lady were playing cards. She dropped Ainsley's arm and spun to look at them all.
"Get on the table! I'm not joking!"
She turned back towards the bedrooms and sprinted down the hall, calling for Miris. Ainsley followed her down the hall and Christian who had just come back, leaned against the back of the lounge. Olivia managed to reach Miris in time to throw her onto the wooden window ledge before a crackling sound emitted from various points throughout the unit and electrical currents surged out like lightning. Olivia, who had still had her leg on Miris's bed, took a huge hit up the side of her body and heard a ringing sound before she dropped to the ground. Ainsley, who had chased after Olivia, was hit in the arm, but the carpet was carrying the current and it travelled up his leg. Christian took the worst hit of the three as he was leaning his whole body against the couch, where one of the currents had shot from. The two on the coffee table, Elnath on the kitchen table and Miris in her window, took minimal damage as they only had to dodge any stray currents. When Ainsley came to a few minutes later, he ran straight into Miris's room as the small girl sobbed and called out to Olivia from her place on the windowsill, too afraid to move down. She cried out to him when he came through the door.
"Shhh, don't move pumpkin, ok? Just stay there for a second, Ok?"
"Livia isn't waking up!" She cried harder as she pointed to Olivia's limp body lying on the floor.
Ainsley moved towards her and gently rolled her onto her back so he could check her for damage. She had lightning burns all along her right leg, arm and the right side of her face. She wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse.
"Shit!" Ainsley heard her words echoing in his brain. '…heart pills…' He ripped open the buttons on her shirt to check her chest for damages before he started to compress her chest. Sure enough, the lightning burns travelled up her torso and branched off towards her heart. As he put his hands in place on her chest, he watched as black lines started to blot across her skin in intricate patterns. One of her small hands came to rest on his and he looked up to her faces, shocked.
"Boy, you have about 2 seconds to take your hands off my chest before I rip them off your arms." A low voice growled out at him and he instantly fell back.
"What a fucking mess." Ainsley watched as Not-Olivia made eye contact with Miris and nodded at her. "Hello kitten. I promised I'd reassure you that everything is fine, so here I am." Miris nodded at whoever it was.
"You're Vondur." Miris watched as the figure nodded its head slowly. With a quick shake on his part, Vondur had moulded Olivia's body slightly to help with any confusion, though the markings were a dead giveaway. Black lines fell from the bottom far corners of her eyes like tears, a small intricate design adorned her forehead and smaller, simpler, symmetrical designs appeared on each temple. These marks appeared all over her body, with thick rings looping her wrists and ankles and thin, swirled lines decorated her shoulders and upper arms. Thick broken and solid lines, curved around her torso and twisted towards her legs. Her ears became more pointed and her teeth sharpened into small fangs. Vondur's eyes were pitch black like the night, with bright red iris's. Olivia's nails became black with Vondur's presence.
"I know it's tough to see her like this but trust me, I'm saving her. If you don't trust me than know that if she dies, I die. I won't let that happen." Vondur walked to Miris and held hid arms out. Miris hesitantly let the demon help her down from the window and waved his hand over his shoulder. Miris and Ainsley felt the static leave the carpet and air almost instantly. He walked to Ainsley next.
"Well, well. Mr. Commander himself." Vondur smirked at him before helping him to his feet. Ainsley felt lighter after the brief contact and looked down to see that his own wounds had been healed.
"You'll have to take good care of our girl after this, she'll be tired and weak for the next couple of days if I finish everything on this fucking list." He grumbled.
"She's not-"
"Not what? Not yours?" He laughed. "Child, you know you like this small girl. I know you like this small girl. I can sense that you like her. Don't think about it too much. She's only holding back because of the last guy hurt her real bad. That and between the two boys, I don't know if you'd live." The demon laughed again before striding out of the room, beckoning the other two to follow. Vondur reached the living room where the three kneeled next to Christian's body. Lady was using magic to ease his pain while Aquilian focused on trying to heal as much as he could. His breathing was raspy and shallow. Ainsley could already see the electrical burns carved through the flesh of his body. Vondur stopped suddenly, leaving Miris to almost run into him. He shuffled her over to Ainsley.
"Keep her here. I can fix this."
Vondur walked over to Elnath, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Clear the space, all of you." Elnath moved back, glancing at Ainsley.
"Are you fucking serious right now?! We're the only thing keeping him alive!" Lady gritted her teeth as tears slipped from her eyes. Aquilian looked up at her and his hands began to shake. He pulled Aris back with him as he watched the demon kneel down to Christian's side. It took a few minutes but true to his word, Vondur healed Christian nearly completely.
"He will have a couple scars, but he'll be fine after he sleeps it off and bandages up the smaller wounds." He nodded at Ainsley.
"You're a demon." Aquilian glared at the monster in front of him. "I can't believe we trusted you, Olivia!" Miris ran over and grabbed onto Aquilin's pants.
"Stop, Qui!"
"Miris, stay next to me."
"I can't believe you didn't say anything about this." Vondur glanced at Elnath before sighing deeply.
"If I hadn't already promised I wouldn't hurt any of you, I'd feel soo much happier right about now. Look, any complaints, feel free to bring them up in 3-5 business days. My patience and generosity has run out. I have 2 more things to do before I go back to my own domain so feel free to wonder about out of my way."
"Oliv-"
"I'm not Olivia. She died. My name is Vondur. I'm just borrowing her body while I fix it. She asked me to do a couple things for her while she waited and being out here was a better deal than being stuck in there with her incessant nagging and moodiness." Vondur walked down the hallway after he had finished and came back carrying four electrical charges. He plucked another one from in between the fabric of the lounge, close to where Christian had been standing. He walked to Ainsley's room and came back with a fifth.
"These are the cause of whatever the fuck just happened."
"These are X Force electrical field charges. They're meant to be used outside to trap a target. This is military grade weaponry."
Vondur turned his attention to the Unit's base before flicking his hand a couple times. The damage slowly receded, and the base was left looking untouched.
"I have one more parting gift that I can manage." He flicked his wrist and everyone's eyes started to droop. "You all need to sleep off the aftereffects of the magic I used, so I've absorbed all of your energy. Yay." He turned to Ainsley.
"I've brought myself a couple more minutes to chat but with her body in this condition, it won't be super long." Ainsley nooded at him.
"How'd she know?" Everyone looked to Vondur at Ainsley's question.
"The perfume she told you she could smell. It belongs to Daphne Chambers. The Delta Force agent. Aside from that, the living area also contains traces of scents that belong to people that shouldn't be here, including Team Thunder." He looked around before he disappeared and reappeared in front of them, holding a note. He handed it to Ainsley before sighing.
"I found this on the fridge. I'm afraid I have to go now, moving her body takes a lot and I've used most of my energy. Remember what I said though. I meant it. She will need you, even if she doesn't want to admit it." Vondur winked at him and turned to face everyone. "Don't be too mad at her. She didn't say anything because she's not allowed to. The Vatican is only letting her live because she can supress me." He rolled his eyes. "If too many people find out, or she loses control, we both die."
With that, the markings on Olivia's body faded away and her features returned to normal. Her eyes drifted shut and she collapsed into Ainsley's arms. He cradled her against his chest, feeling the soft pulse in her wrist before Aquilan's soft voice rang out in the room.
"He wasn't wrong about it being best to sleep off the aftereffects of magic. Since were all tired, I guess it's time for a nap." Aquilan scooped up Lady as she all but collapsed and disappeared down the hall. Elnath carefully picked up Christian's body and looked towards Ainsley.
"What should be do with him?"
"Put him on the couch, I'll ring the doctor to come over now after I put her down. You go and get some rest." Ainsley smiled at the Minotaur before turning to look at Miris.
"Olivia really needs to rest pumpkin, so what do you want to do? Do you want to bunk with us, or do you want to go with someone else?"
"I wanna stay with Livy."
"Ok, you can do that, I'll come and get your blanky in a minute, ok? We have to go and put Olivia down now though." Miris nodded and Ainsley walked slowly to his room, keeping pace with the child beside him. Miris dragged back the blankets on Ainsley's bed, and he gently lowered Olivia down onto it before pulling the covers back over her. Ainsley then helped Miris climb up the end, where she curled against Olivia's side, before making his way back out to the living room to sit with Christian while he phoned the doctor. After he had hung up the phone, he pulled the note from his pocket.

"If you don't voluntarily retire, something worse might happen then a small electrical show."