Leonid

King of the Rats!... er, Mice

9:26, November, 14, 2065

Between the times of action, times of reaction, and times of inaction, there were often times where time didn't seem to exist.

So it seemed, Jane mused, as the clock on the desk marked another minute passing into the next. Sixty seconds that droned on forever until the minute counter ticked again. She let her mind drift to far less pleasant times… and sorely wished Neil would quit with whatever he was doing to her hand, it was getting to be a distraction from the mental void she was trying to fall into.

Neil failed to notice as he trudged through his report, and continued his examination of Jane's hand. He imagined beneath the skin, blood bone sinew and nerves connecting perfectly to follow electric impulses; and gaining that electricity by innate bioetherics… natural machinery.

"… So Adam got transferred to one hundred' thirty three, and… I'm still here," he finished. Somehow it seemed more than that. Lives didn't change so rapidly so frequently… or at least they didn't used to. Or maybe it was just that his never had. Not like this.

Whatever it was, he didn't like it. Not so much the change, but the cause behind it. He didn't have auxiliary work anymore, because five of the six he worked with on such occasions were dead. People he liked; heralded the best Deep Eyes in the entire assembly; and they just didn't exist anymore.

He probably wasn't required to recount the story, but he felt better doing it. Even if Gray already knew, or it was what he was reading intermittently. He wanted to be responsible for any small something he could.

---

9:49, November, 14, 2065

The empty hallway had little but convenience to offer, and the promise that it, as unpleasant as it was, would get done with quickly with the threat that it would last long enough to be observed. Bearing in mind that observation was a definite threat, Jane swallowed her unease and acted.

The first step was to stop the motion, and the second was to confront the problem. The first was easy, the second wasn't. So she tried simple.

"Are you okay?"

Confusion fell to defensiveness, "Happens to people a lot, I guess, so-"

"Not people, Neil," She hated the heartlessness of it, but she couldn't get herself to care about the statistic, "Are you okay?"

"I'm scared," It was an honest answer, whether there was no way out or whether he didn't want to try anymore, "But I can imagine there're a lot worse of things that could have happened, so I'm okay."

She scrutinized him carefully, as though to determine the sincerity of the statement. Where he was was a place she'd been before – a cold and uncaring little place that held no remorse for those who would stumble into it unknowingly. She almost wished he'd had the same type of misfortune before to make things easier so that it wasn't a simpler matter of see how it feels?

He fidgeted, but smiled as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Albeit he was suddenly envious of that wall…

How long they stood in such the stand off was difficult to tell on retrospect; but it didn't feel so long as it must have been. Nothing broke through the silence until the cheerful, "Good morning," which was verily ignored.

And the sudden, snap that shattered the universe.

"Hey, kids, that kind of thing is what closets are for," Ryan explained over his shoulder as he went ahead on his way.

Neil tried very hard not to giggle like he did.

"Walk," Jane directed, pushing him in the direction in which they were initially moving.

---

14:10, November, 15, 2065

She watched quietly… contentedly, as another bit of metal was added to the growing mass. From her place she could see perfectly how the spoon bent under the serene heat of the soldering iron; to eventually lose its original shape and be reformed to something unrecognizable and plastered to the strength of the whole… whatever it was.

The thing was basically a lump of various metals, with hollow points, spires, and other odd distinguishing features. She didn't quite understand it, but it had its own charm. If nothing better, she knew to where the cutlery was disappearing.

It sat on a table, usually covered by an old article of clothing unless it needed to cool, or Neil was working on it as he was then.

The simple familiarity of the minor obsession was soothing. The peculiar few days… more of a week or so when she thought of it, had been unsettling. It wasn't necessarily bad, but she didn't like the feeling, whatever it was; and it felt good that the Sunday had fallen into a form of normality. She even felt better, despite things.

Jane itched the bridge of her nose on her wrist, before again resting her head on the pillow, this time facing the wall.

She felt better, but so tired. It was taking conscious effort to keep her eyes open. She barely noticed when sleep finally won.

---

17:22, November, 15, 2065

Neil switched off the device, replacing it to its holder to let cool. With the security of having destroyed all evidence of the bits of metal he had procured earlier in the day, he stood and pushed the chair under the table.

He knew Jane was asleep before he confirmed the fact, but he didn't feel like joining her. He wasn't usually partial to napping. Not when he wasn't tired, anyway. Since he wasn't, and he needed something to keep his mind busy, he found his shoes and sneaked out.

While he didn't have anywhere appealing to go to, he had a whole city to wander through. He could have gone anywhere within the barrier, and potentially outside it. But he figured it realistically; that it would be better to keep it simple and generic.

…His manner of simple and generic.

---

20:03, November, 15, 2065

Jane woke abruptly through no force of her own. The mild stimulation to the waking world definitely came from the light jostling about her left shoulder. She lifted her head in the direction of the disturbance, before remembering to open her eyes. She blinked at Neil, but her sight reflexively followed the tapping noise to the glass jar he held out in front of them.

Something in the container moved suddenly, and she jumped in a similarly constrained manner. The provoking thing… things, were removed from her sight; and Neil let go. She rolled enough to sit up, and took the seemingly long silence to stare as Neil pulled the single chair he owned from its small table. He balanced one knee on the furniture, and examined jar under the lamp light. With no explanation forthcoming, she sought one.

"Where did they come from?" she asked somberly, brushing as much hair as would stay behind her ears.

"I found them."

"Found them, where?" While she didn't discount that he could have found the creatures in a completely innocent fashion, but she had a feeling…

"In the labs."

On what she wished had been a different subject altogether, Jane groaned, "Was anyone around when you 'found' them?"

"I hope not."

"And were they in a cage of some sort?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"So… you just stole a bunch of lab rats?"

"Liberated," he corrected, returning to the bed and sitting down, "Lab mice."

"Whatever," she mumbled, morbidly watching him tip the container, and the contents as the little white creatures scrambled for secure footing. When he caught one in hand he turned the glass upright slowly, and the remaining mice slid back to the bottom. He placed them on the floor, dropped the tiny rodent in Jane's inert hand, and watched the result.

She lifted her hand enough so it wouldn't run off, though that seemed unlikely. Whether it was by fear or by indifference, the mouse pup simply perched there staring at the world beyond its comprehension.

The woman, on the other hand, stared meaningfully and with a lack of patience at the man beside her.

"C'mon; look at him! He's just a baby," Neil pleaded admirably, "And he's so cute!"

She looked back to the mouse, and found that it was kind of adorable… in a sleepy-eyed, mouse-like, rodent way.

This was going to be trouble… but she gave in anyway.

---

22:45, November, 15, 2065

I'm going to kill him, Gray determined as the scientist explained the predicament. However, another part of himself begged to differ, No, you're not going to kill him. Not until I'm done with him, first.

"Again, I'm sorry to disturb…" The captain waved the man silent.

"That's all right, I'm used to this," He smiled reassuringly, yet felt wholly irate. The idea that this particular scientist had come to him a few times before on similar business only made him all the more upset. And he got a similar impression from the man. Hell, he should have been accustomed to it by now, too.

He counted the unmarked doors, and stopped at the one he was looking for. He knocked on it, producing a hollow wood sound. Old building, old door, old patience… he counted as many old things he could think of as he waited. Although he could have admitted himself freely without the wait, the old trauma from using that method before kept him from ever trying again.

But the door opened before long, and the woman behind it watched him expressionlessly. He gestured for her to move, which she did, and so paid her little more attention as she seated herself by the table to watch the course of action.

"Neil, where are these…?" He looked to the scientist, who quietly provided him with the title of the missing property, "Where are the mice?"

"I'm sorry, sir?"

The tone was too familiar, and the barely suppressed smile … the simple audacity was driving him further into regions of wrath far unknown to man, where his soul would forever be lost to the torments….

Whatever sympathy Gray had anytime before was now gone, but he checked himself to a resigned calm. Not here, not now…probably never….

He looked to Jane, who hadn't moved; and to the scientist, who had recovered a glass container but nothing more than that of his missing property. Quite slowly, he turned his attention back to Neil, but a shrill snarling brought it elsewhere. Specifically, to the younger man's pocket, which seemed to be moving with its own force of life.

The movement stopped, and started again; and by then, the pockets were the focus of everyone in the room.

"I think my pants have been infected by a Phantom," Neil said nervously, sounding surprised and impressively genuine, "I really, probably should get this looked at; if you'll excuse me."

Gray marked the convincing acting, but didn't waver as his subordinate tried to slip past him in an attempt at the still open door. He seized Neil's arm with more pressure than was necessary, and glared quite fearsomely. The manner was not to be messed with; regardless, the dead composure was something neither expected.

Gray reached for the pocket; but, before he had opened it, something small and white charged out and up his arm lighting fast. Surprised, he let go of Neil as it made a leap for more solid 'ground.' The mouse landed on his chest, probably a more vertical surface than it had wanted, and grasped at the threads of his shirt for holy existence.

He sympathized with the creature's plight.

Once the mice were returned to the scientist, and everything was settled, Gray purposefully took the private moment to think of the most painful, spiteful, murderous fashion in which to reprimand his soldiers.

Which, in the end, he didn't follow through with.

Instead, he pointed a finger of warning in Neil's direction, and spoke a single word of command to Jane.

"Control."

Without waiting for a reply, he left swiftly and closed the door behind him; thereby managing to miss how Neil stuck out his tongue in the boldest gesture of defiance he was willing.

Jane observed, not quite amused, but not far from it.

"I'm going back to sleep in half a minute," She announced suddenly, breaking the reticence. "I think it'd be smartest if you did, too," She added with a mild edge as he went for his shoes.

"Yeah, okay…" He mumbled in response, dropping as the footwear, as well his plans of war.

Easy.