A/N: Sorry that this one is so short. I just wanted to get a little piece between the drama and such. So yeah. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Do not own quote or Kevin. Everyone else, yeah, I do own them.
'It was a thousand to one
And a million to two
Time to go down in flames and I'm taking you
Closer to the edge'
~'Closer to the Edge', 30 Seconds to Mars
Trace
I saw Kevin hit the floor harder than he probably should've before getting up and brushing himself off with the back of one hand. "You are off your game, man," I commented as Melody slid the folder onto the island of the kitchen. "Gotta get back in the rhythm, dontcha?"
He gave me a slightly menacing glare before picking a little pebble of rocky gravel from his black shirt and making his way over towards Mandy and I were conferencing over the papers Mel had brought over. "Not like I've been doing any psycho acrobat routines lately or anything," he said, a touch of sarcasm hanging onto his tone. He leaned against the counter opposite of me and Mandy as we let ourselves dive into the information that we always got from the girls.
"Didn't expect you to," I remarked right back before pulling a few photographs out of the small, cream-colored folder that held the data of recently missing persons. "Not like your built to be an acrobat or anything."
The voice of reason, Mandy, decided to butt her way in. "Guys, quit being a couple of assholes and focus." I glanced up from the photos to find her somewhat hazel eyes flickering between the two of us and she was reaching for a holster that was just a few steps away. Knowing Mandy, she could've gotten to it and stunned (or killed) us both before we could even grab each others throats.
Kevin grumbled a quick "Fine" and I snorted my agreement. I let my gaze fall back to the pieces of paper that were in my hands. Names, numbers, dates, colors, records. It was all just a blur. I looked to Melody to see her shuffling a phone out of her pocket, the slight buzzing of a vibration from the small device hitting my ears. And it was all blending together again. Blending into forms and shapes and colors.
My focus has been anywhere but where it should be lately. Between my powers going haywire half the time and the general drama of living, things haven't been going in my favor exactly. The lines of everything have blurred together to create a warped reality around me, enough that I'm off of my game the same as Kevin is. It's not good.
"So cloning parts are easily found within this search radius." Mandy's voice sliced through the slight silence that had settled into the space. "Easily traceable and I can tag it for tracking purposes if Bryce can snag me the right equipment for a rig." I made sure to watch and listen carefully. "Now all I'll need is a ride to all these places and for someone to grab Bryce for me so I can get him a list of what I need." She pushed a few stray strands of her long blonde hair behind on ear. "Kev, think you can get him on the line for me?"
"Already got him," called Melody over one shoulder from where she now stood in our little makeshift living room. She stood between the couch and the coffee table that we had put in the center of the living space. "Shoot me off some parts."
"He'll need the physical list," said my favorite little blondie, automatically shoving her list of cloning parts aside and sending papers scattering across the floor. Mandy didn't look back. "Pen and paper ready?"
Melody nodded. "Just shoot it off to me and I'll fire it through to him," she said as Kevin and I were going to clean up all the files that Mandy had sent to the floor in her moment of being a complete scatterbrain. She's such a twit sometimes... And I love how she talks about information like it's a bullet from the barrel of a gun. Almost entertaining for me.
Mandy was automatically caught up in her technology and weapon systems. She was firing off a list of things that she would need and how much of it she would need to create tracking devices on cloning pieces in the entire city of New York. She was listing things off on her fingers effortlessly, chemicals and wires entering her brain faster than she could process it all, ending up in her spluttering over words and biting her tongue repeatedly.
"Sometimes I wonder if all this is really real," I told Kevin as he grabbed the last few sheets of white that had sprawled across the ground. "It almost feels like a dream half the time." I stood up, dropping my armful of papers onto the countertop.
Kevin grinned and I watched him rise to his feet as well, pressing all his papers into an organized stack before putting them down. "More like a sick, twisted nightmare." He leaned against the island, eyes watching the girls intently as Mandy said something only to have Melody repeat it right back into the phone to Carson. "This is Hell, man."
I shook my head and smiled right back at him, my eyes skimming over Mandy's well-built body as she was walking and talking, the youngest member of our little crew struggling to keep up with her rapid pace. "It's only Hell because you've seen Heaven," I corrected while pointing a finger at him, my eyes never leaving Mandy. "For those of us who have only seen Hell, this right here is Heaven."
"Pfft," was his response and he grabbed at the papers I had been looking at before everything went a little haywire in my head for a few moments. When Mandy had interrupted the silence, my head had cleared up. "Don't go metaphorical on me, please. It makes you look more ridiculous than you already do," Kevin finished, flipping through photographs as if one of them would speak to him and tell him what was really going on with the Knights.
I slugged his shoulder and he came back at me by poking my face. So I grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the counter and pinned one of my elbows into his back to keep him there before clenching one hand into a fist and giving him the best noogie ever. Because he was like a little brother to me. I had missed him and I didn't want to let him go again. Not ever. I would miss these days. I always would.
A/N: Please review! Again, sorry about the length!
~Sky