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Chapter Seventy-Five: Showtime
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Daryn looked at the morning sun through the window, then turned away, shuddering faintly. It was still early morning, and already the sun was burning relentlessly. It was going to be a warm day, and that didn't help the least on Daryn's mood. He was already nervous as it was, and having to suffer through a hot, humid day wouldn't make things any better.
"How are you handling it?" a familiar voice asked.
Daryn looked up and saw Zahra watch him, a hint of concern in her dark eyes.
Daryn sighed. "I'm...handling it," he replied, his voice betraying the nervousness he felt. He really couldn't help it - he'd been in danger before, while he lived on the streets, but back them he hadn't been faced with armed guards or policemen. This was a completely new situation, and he didn't like it at all.
Zahra snorted. "Right. You sure look that way, too."
Daryn sent her a half-hearted glare, but there was no real anger in it. She was right, they both knew that. He sighed and looked out the window again, and Zahra sat down on the couch beside him. "You up for it?" she asked, watching him carefully.
Daryn shifted uncomfortably, not turning to look at her. "I have to be, right?"
"Says who?" Zahra challenged, and Daryn finally looked at her again. "You don't even know these people," she continued. "You never even met them. You don't have to risk your life for them."
"No...I don't," Daryn replied quietly.
Zahra raised a dark eyebrow, the look in her eyes a mix of confusion and scorn at Daryn's words. "Then why are you doing this?" She shook her head. "I mean - you're four people going into this situation. The odds are..."
"Bad? Impossible?" Daryn interrupted. "Don't you think I know that? I'm not stupid, Zahra. Maybe I'm naïve to do this, yeah, but I'm not stupid."
Zahra didn't reply, but just watched him silently, still waiting for his reply. Again Daryn sighed, the gesture conveying the tiredness he felt. "I'm...I don't know. Maybe I just want to be able to look myself in the eyes tomorrow when I look in a mirror. I have the abilities to help them. If I refused to do anything, I don't think I'd ever stop feeling guilty..."
"And that's worth risking your life for?" Zahra demanded.
"Ryan thinks it'll work," Daryn pointed out.
"Ryan is desperate to get his friends back," Zahra snapped. "And desperate people make mistakes."
"And?" Daryn glared at her. "I'm going to do this, whether you agree or not, and that's all there is to it."
The ghost of a smile touched Zahra's lips and she nodded slightly. "I know. Just...be careful, okay?" She looked at him, honest concern clear in his eyes, and for a moment Daryn was silent, surprised that she actually cared.
"I will," he promised.
"Daryn? Zahra?" The two looked up, and found Ryan's standing in the doorway. "We have to go now."
Already? Daryn wanted to ask, but didn't. Instead he just nodded in agreement and got up...and stopped as he felt Zahra's hand on his own. He looked at her, curiosity in his eyes, silently asking her what was wrong, and the girl's expression grew serious.
"Desperate people make mistakes," she repeated quietly, eyes flickering briefly to the door where Ryan waited. "Don't forget that."
Daryn smiled faintly, oddly comforted by her concern. "I won't."
For a moment neither moved, then Zahra nodded and let go of Daryn's hand, the motion almost reluctant. "All right...let's go, then."
She got up from the couch, and Daryn paused for a moment, then nodded and followed her out of the room.
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The atmosphere in the room was heavy and uncomfortable, but it wasn't because of the heat outside. The air conditioning made the room pleasantly cool, but none of the four paid any attention to it. Up until yesterday, this hadn't seemed real - it had felt like a twisted nightmare, one they could wake up from at any moment, but now...now, the full reality of the situation had finally hit them, bringing with it an uncomfortable silence. None of them felt like talking - except for a few, brief orders or questions, the room had been silent, each moment feeling like an eternity.
Jordane sat on one of the two couches, one hand playing with her newly dyed brown hair, a frown clear on her face. It had been impossible to miss her sulking earlier that morning, undoubtedly a result of her very reluctant change of hair color, but that sulking was long gone, replaced by worry and a restlessness that Kyle recognized from himself.
He'd watched her carefully, looking for any sign that something was wrong, but except for her paleness, she seemed to be doing all right, at least for the time being. With a little luck it would remain that way, but unfortunately, luck had not been on their side recently.
A glint of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Kyle looked up, watching as Suzuka sat down beside him. She shifted restlessly, then sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, and Kyle put his arm around her, trying to comfort her a bit.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, almost unwilling to break the heavy silence.
Suzuka sighed again. "Yeah..." she replied, her voice as quiet as his. "I just hate waiting."
Kyle nodded. He understood perfectly how she felt - just sitting there, waiting, was starting to get on his nerves as well. They had done everything they could to make sure that things would go well, and now he just wanted to get it over with.
They fell silent again, and Kyle continued his slow survey of the room, going through his mental checklist once more to make sure that there wasn't something they'd forgotten when they made the plans. Blade was checking the weapons one last time before placing them inside the cameras, making sure that there was nothing suspicious that the guards might pick up on. He didn't seem nervous, but there was still a hint of the same restlessness as Kyle recognized in himself. Blade looked up for a moment, his eyes meeting Kyle's, then walked over to Jordane.
Kyle watched them silently, still adding to the mental folder he had on them, absently stroking Suzuka's arm.
Blade sat down in the couch with Jordane, his eyes never leaving her. The unsaid question was clear, and it told Kyle beyond any doubt that he wasn't the only one who'd keep an eye on the girl.
Jordane looked up, meeting Blade's gaze without blinking, and then quite deliberately stuck out her tongue at him.
Blade smiled wryly at the childish gesture. "Cute. Real cute," he replied, and Jordane sent him a smug smile.
Kyle hid a smile with his hand, oddly thankful for the small break in the tension. Any distraction was welcome, even when it was something like that. That, and it helped him feel a bit better about the situation with Jordane - if she could respond like that, there was at least a chance that she would get through the day without her health taking a turn for the worse.
The sound of footsteps approaching the door tore through the heavy silence and made the four look up. The door was opened by two of the soldiers, and Kyle felt a brief pang of relief that the waiting was finally over. He got up from the couch, giving Suzuka's hand a reassuring squeeze, earning him a pale smile from her. He exchanged a brief look with Blade, then grabbed one of the cameras and headed for the door.
Showtime.
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With the exception of those who had worked with it, very few people knew just how much work it took back stage to set up a press conference of that magnitude. A lot of people saw the result and the speech on their TVs at home, but that was only the surface. Beneath the polished exterior lay hours of hard work. Lights, loudspeakers, microphones. Technical equipment by the dozen, each more complicated than the previous. Connections and switches, and miles and miles of cables. All of it had to fit together, and all of it had to work, and preferably before the speech began. It was stressful enough in a normal situation, and this time things had gotten even worse.
"I wish they'd get the hell out of our way," Nathan grumbled and sent one of the guards a less than overjoyed look, before he took a sip of his coffee. Him and his colleagues had been up since before dawn to work on this thing, and he was already at his third cup of coffee. His stomach would hate him later, he knew that, but hell, there was no chance he was getting through the whole day without coffee.
"They're just trying to do their job," Marcus reminded him, taking a sip of his own coffee. "Just gotta remind them to get out of the way sometimes."
"But we have a job to do, too, and we can't *do* that job if they keep stepping on the cables," Nathan complained. "They can do their job all they want, as long as they stay away from us."
"Which they won't," Sasha added. "I've lost count of the times they've walked over to me and asked what I was doing. It's a cable, for crying out loud - it's not like I'm just waiting for a chance to strangle someone with it."
"I told one of them that the electrons in the cable could interfere with his headset, and that prolonged expose could make him sterile," Marcus admitted, fighting back a smug grin. "They've left me alone since then."
"You're shitting me!" Sasha exclaimed, then lowered her voice, giggling in a way that was completely at odds with the heavy, and anything but feminine work-clothes she wore. "He actually believed you?"
Marcus nodded, still with a smug grin on his face. "Yup. Should try it - might work for you, too."
Nathan grinned. Yeah, it was worth a try - not only were the guards even more annoying than usual, there were also a lot more of them than he was used to. Whoever was in charge of security had to be suffering from paranoia or something - it just wasn't normal to hire this many guards to protect one damn politician.
But hell...security wasn't his problem. His problem was the lights and microphones, and they still had a long way to go before they were done. He sighed and downed the remaining coffee, and then got up. "Let's get back to work, people. We still have a job to do, and we need it done now."
And if those guards don't get out of my way soon, I might try Marcus' idea after all.
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