( Author's note: I am sorry for the long wait! I've been on vacation for two weeks without internet *shivers*. Thanks to terriblecupcakes732 for reminding me to resume as soon as I got back, it's nice to know that there are actually people reading this stuff. (And the only way I'll know is reviews – so please, if you like something or want to see something happen in the story, I am all ears!))
"No Hank, we can't use the jet." Ace said, her voice flat as she answered the unspoken question. Hank hadn't even gotten through the door yet, and he'd only inhaled, not getting the chance to say a thing. The hunter didn't look up from the table before her, counting the stakes and weapons, of all sorts, that she had managed to get her hands on since yesterday. "No offense meant to your skills and mojo and all, but they'll hear it, and it'll alert them to our presence. Which we really don't want." She could easily imagine the expression that went with the dissatisfied grumble coming from the mutant's throat, but she didn't care. No jet. Period.
"It would be the fastest-"
"They'll hear it."
"But the shrouding mechanisms –"
"Trust me, they'll hear it."
With a displeased sigh, Hank finally let the notion of using the X-jet go, knowing that she was the foremost expert, and highest authority, on matters concerning the supernatural. Not that he particularly liked the fact that it was, as such, her responsibility to fight said creatures, risking her life in the process, but he had to accept it. At least this time he, too, was prepared, and he could go with her. Logan coming along as well would mean a higher level of safety for Ace, so Hank just had to swallow his jealousy. Not that there seemed to be anything to be jealous of, but the demon had sown a seed that was not so easily removed from his heart.
"How, then, do you propose we get to Salem? It's almost a state away, and my appearance would cause quite the ruckus in public transports." He crossed his arms, trying and succeeding in getting her to look up. With a half-smile, she turned around and leaned back against the edge of the weapon-laden table. He had to admit, she looked ensnaringly confident in her true environment.
"Logan's bike." She replied, and he immediately frowned. Logan's motorcycle? How on earth did she think they could fit three people on that – and not three normal sized human beings, but two and one enlarged mutant. "You do realise that I won't fit on Logan's bike, yes?" He asked, his scepticism quite evident. She smirked, which, for some reason, seemed ill-boding to him. "Yeah, I do. But he's got a sidecar." Without really knowing where she got the nerve from, she looked at him with a gleam in her eyes and a suggestively raised eyebrow. "Although, I shamelessly admit, I wouldn't mind being squeezed between the two of you."
"Ace!" Hank sounded perfectly horrified, but also a little, just a little, amused. She threw her hands up and widened her eyes with mock indignation. "What? Come on, isn't that every girl's secret dream?" When all he did was snort and roll his eyes at her, she shrugged. "Can't see why not."
"How am I going to fit in any way comfortably in a sidecar?" He asked, changing the subject without blinking an eye. He had begun to get used to the occasional innuendoes and suggestive jests from her, but that by no means meant that he was unabashed by it. Rather the opposite, actually. She shrugged again. "Well, it's a big sidecar."
"Still." Sitting in a sidecar, no matter how cramped or not it was, wasn't Hank's idea of a comfortable journey. Especially not when they were travelling so large a distance as they would have to. She sighed and pushed herself away from the table, walking towards him. "If you don't want to sit in the sidecar, we can switch places. You can sit behind Logan, leaning against him, wrapping your arms around his waist. I'm sure people will start shipping it before long."
Okay, that would be worse than the sidecar, Hank had to give her that. Then again…
"Rather me than you." He wasn't sure why he'd said that, the words just rolled off his tongue before he had a chance to stop them. He felt heat rise to his face, and for once in his life, he was grateful for the fact that, since he was blue, he was unable to blush. She wasn't going to pass on this opportunity to make a suggestive jest, surely. But, much to his relief, for some inconceivable reason, she did.
Ace was quiet, she looked away from him and her breathing turned slightly deeper. Did he mean what she thought he meant with that statement? She couldn't, and shouldn't, count on it. It was probably just her wanton mind reading too much in a simple sentence. Her own emotions could gallop wildly on any word he said that could be interpreted in any way as a hint that he felt the same way she did. Of course, Ace almost immediately suppressed these feelings; they weren't useful to her right now, and they might not ever be.
Noticing her sudden withdrawal, Hank frowned. Was she unwell? She exhibited no symptoms of it, but maybe she was in pain? The severity of her fractured ribs had been relatively low, but that didn't make relapses or bouts of pain impossible. Hesitantly, he stepped closer to her, letting his gaze wander over her face and the general posture of her body, trying with a visual examination to determine if there might be anything wrong.
"Are you quite alright?" He asked, his eyes narrowed and voice tense with concern, both medically and personally. She looked up, suddenly noticing that he had soundlessly moved closer, and finding that it distracted her much, much more than she thought was optimal. Her heartbeat began to race slightly, and she fought the urge to lean closer with every fibre in her hunter's body.
"I'm quite fine, thanks. Just… Thinking about where the bastards might be nesting." She managed an awkward smile, and Hank, catching her drift, stepped away, though he, too, had been distracted by the almost magnetic chemistry that had suddenly appeared between them. "And did you think of any specific places, then?" He asked, trying to make the awkward mood that had settled in the room dissipate. She shrugged. "A few, I know where to start, that's for sure."
"Right, why don't you mark them on the map and I'll just… Check the size of that sidecar. Just to be sure." He slowly backed away a few steps, then turned and headed for the door. Just as he was about to step across the threshold, he heard her voice behind him.
"Hey, Hank, you'll fit. Don't worry, you're not that fat."
"Thank you, Ace. It is such a relief to know that you think so." His pitch-black irony was what finally lifted the mood, and he heard her chuckle as he walked through the door.