There was a beat of silence over the comms, followed by another. Everyone held their breathe; waiting for someone to defy the order. Amaya's attitude towards Mick had varied from day to day ever since she stowed away on the Waverider, but lately it had been looking as though they were settling into their own sort of friendship. Yet it was evident over the link that today was not a good day for the two of them, and just about everyone was able to correctly guess that it had something to do with the fact that Mick bit Amaya.
"Fine," Mick's voice finally grumbled, followed by Amaya's huff of an agreement.
A part of Amaya wondered if Sara could tell that she wanted nothing to do with Mick for the time being and maybe that's why the blonde paired the two of them together, another part of her knew that this was the case and was nagging at her to just suck it up and deal with it. As much as she didn't want to listen to that part of herself she didn't really have much of a choice, and so after taking the longest route possible she found herself standing outside of Mick's door.
"Mick," she called, rapping on the door none too gently and not really caring. "Open up Mick," she called, still pounding her fist against the metal of the door. "Mick!"
Suddenly the door swished open and revealed a very peeved pyromaniac standing before her and glowering down at her.
"I can hear you," he assured her, "Or did you forget that I have enhanced hearing now?" He asked and she scowled,
"Believe me, I haven't forgotten." She said sourly but he didn't really seem to be listening, instead his eyes were focused on her neck.
"What happened to your necklace?" He asked, and for the first time since he was bitten he didn't sound like he was trying to make her miserable.
But she was still mad at him, and now he sounded so sincere and it was just too good of a chance to hurt him to pass up, so she told him the truth.
"I had to take it off," she admitted, "I can't control the wolf and the rest of the animals at the same time, so until this whole mess is over my powers are out of commission." She explained and for a brief moment a fleeting glimpse of guilt seemed to flash through Mick's eyes before it was gone and his uncaring mask was back in place.
"Then we better get going," he murmured, pushing past her and making his way for the office without so much as looking back.
Back in town, after finding a friend of their new little companion's parents to watch over her, Stein and Jax were headed back to the Waverider when they ran into Ray and Nate.
"Where were you guys?" Jax asked, knowing that the plan had been for them to stay on the ship while Gideon analyzed Amaya's blood sample.
"Uh…" Nate was at a loss for an explanation, as he didn't want to be the one to admit that he and Ray had very briefly forgotten about their comms in all the excitement of a theory coming together and had raced off to find Sara, though he was sure everyone knew that based on how the two of them had interrupted Amaya's explaining of the theory.
"We uh… never mind." Ray said when he couldn't think of an excuse either.
"Very well, how long do you think it will take you to create an antidote for our little problem?" Stein questioned and Nate shrugged while also letting out a nervous sigh in response.
"Hopefully not long, because at 5:12 tomorrow morning San Francisco is going to fall to the ground, and I'm sure this place will feel it." He explained,
"Well the good news is we got everyone in town armed with silver, and Mick and Amaya are out looking for the cause of all this." Jax said but no one really looked to be put at much ease by his words.
"Oh yes, our two teammates who have been infected by the wolves are out and serving as our only hope of cutting off the source, comforting." Stein said in the closest excuse for sarcasm that his voice could reach without going into panic.
"Hey, Amaya has control over her mutation." Nate said in the dark haired woman's defense. "I think its Mick that we have to worry about."
"I don't know man," Jax said, "Over the comm she did not sound like she was in much of a mood to be babysitting him today."
"Yeah well," Ray began in nervous acknowledgment, "They've worked together before when she wanted to kill him they can do it again." He finished, although it was unclear who he was trying to convince of his words, the others or himself.
"I ain't smelling that," Mick bluntly stated, he and Amaya were currently standing in the office of the Waverider and staring down at the dagger which rested on the desk, untouched ever since Sara put it there weeks ago.
"Why not?" Amaya practically growled.
"It's stupid," Mick rumbled in reply and that had Amaya rolling her eyes.
"What are you, twelve years old?" She demanded, normally she would just roll her eyes at Mick before doing whatever it was he was refusing herself, but in light of recent events she was a little less willing to pick up any of his slack today.
"Why can't you do it?" He asked, "You've got more control than I do anyway."
"If your enhanced hearing works without you going off the hinges then so will your enhanced smell." She said, her tone snarky as she could manage it before she mumbled. "And unfortunately so does mine."
Mick lifted an eyebrow at the comment and looked to Amaya from the corner of his eye, debating whether or not he wanted to comment on what was obviously an opening for yet another verbal attack.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He said, apparently deciding that he was going to let her go on with her insults and attitude, not that he could blame her.
"It means you smell," She bluntly replied and to be completely honest Mick hadn't expected such a cold answer from her, no hint of remorse anywhere in her features whatsoever.
"You know," he began as he picked up the dagger and examined it, pretending to be fascinated by the way its blade caught the light. "If I had realized biting you would turn you into a bitch in more ways than one… I might have reconsidered." He said, looking at her for a reaction. He had just called her a bitch, something that she would NEVER let him get away with no matter how much she was acting like one. So yeah, he was waiting for her to hit him. Counting on it actually. But instead she rolled her eyes in the disgusted way she had been all day.
"Doubtful," she grumbled and he huffed, he still wasn't regretting biting her but he was starting to miss the Amaya who had been his friend.
"Whatever," he muttered before extending the dagger out to her, but as expected she didn't take it.
"What?" She asked, meeting his gaze with challenging eyes, daring him to ask her to take the weapon again.
"You do it," he said but she wouldn't waiver.
"I don't want to," she told him.
"Why not?" He demanded, a frustrated growl beginning to overtake his voice.
"Why don't you?" She challenged, not the least bit intimidated by his hulking form and voice, even when he took a step into her personal space.
Or at least, she didn't let him see that she was afraid.
"I asked you first," he replied calmly and she rolled her eyes again, her fear relaxing but she still made no move to give in.
"You're the one who needs to work on control." She reminded him and he barked out a laugh.
"I'm the one?" He mocked, "No offence honey, but if memory serves you're the one who spent most of last night running around WITH me." He reminded smugly and Amaya bit at the inside of her lip in anger.
"I lost control for a few hours," she admitted, "You had to wait for the sun to come back up." She reminded but Mick merely grunted. "Look," she began, finally deciding that it was time to drop at least part of her attitude and take some pity on the arsonist. "The wolf isn't going to rear its head just because you're using its sense of smell, just like with the hearing. Your new senses are innate, so don't suppress them." She instructed and maybe it was the sudden return of softness in her voice or maybe it was simply being tired of the argument, but Mick eyed her warily for a moment before holding the dagger carefully below his nose as he took an experimental sniff. "Make sure you get Merlyn's scent, not Sara's." Amaya reminded and Mick grunted in acknowledgment just before he pulled the dagger away from himself.
"I think I got it," he told her before offering her the weapon. She raised an eyebrow at his actions, wondering if he had really just faked smelling it. "Only if you want it," he assured her, "Just figure that two noses are better than one." He reasoned and with a small, appreciative, smile she took the blade from him and inhaled deeply.
There were a few different scents residing on the dagger. One of them was fresh but weak, that one obviously belonged to Mick. Another wasn't quite as fresh but had definitely come to reside there more recently than the third and most dominant scent. That final one was the only one that was strange to Amaya, as the second smelled of incense that she knew belonged to Sara. But this strange scent was a mix of many things, though mostly expensive cologne and some lingering smog from Chicago. That was the scent that they needed to latch onto, and once she had it she looked up at Mick and nodded.
"Let's go," she said and so without another word the two of them were on their way to, hopefully, put an end to all this.