Hello! Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good time celebrating. Thanks again for the continued support for my story! I'm really happy you guys are enjoying it! I appreciate and every follow/favorite/review so much! They keep me motivated. But to respond to a few recent reviews here: I love writing Emma, but I have to make her shitty sometimes so she seems a little bit real. I hate the airhead MarySue characters. But I do love me some drama/conflict ;D. Makes it more fun for me. Especially with Wrench's internal dilemma with his mask. There's an audio log in the game where the FBI made up their own psychological profile hinting that he wears the mask due to a troubled childhood which is why he's socially awkward and has trouble conveying his emotions. So it's to help him/hide him from his past, I think. Poor Wrench ;_;
Also, I'm glad you guys were able to tell Sam was gonna be a piece of shit. BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.
Anyway, here's the first of 2017! (Sorry about any typos, it's almost 6am again oops) :D Enjoy!
-Blink
~~~Emma's Lab~~~
Emma and Sitara stood around her lab tables. Emma leaned her back against one, with Sitara leaning half her body on one, "Shouldn't he be here by now?" Sitara asked.
Emma looked down at her phone reading Sam's past text telling her that he'd be around at 11am. The clock was now almost 11:30, "Not sure… He's never been late. You think something happened to him?" Emma asked.
"Don't jump to conclusions. He's testing your sympathy," Sitara said rolling her eyes.
Emma thought it was cold, but didn't say anything. She agreed it was too soon to assume he was harmed, but she couldn't help but feel concerned, "What do you have planned later anyway?" She asked.
"Not sure. Got a few people from the IRC that I'm meeting up with. Doesn't concern you, so you don't have to worry about forcing your way into my plans," Sitara joked.
Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Ha. Ha," She laughed sarcastically, "I saved your guys' ass last time," Emma said confidently.
"Don't push it. We had guns, too," Sitara said.
"AND who knows if Owen would have even showed his face if I weren't with you. So that's better than a dead end!" Emma pressed on.
"You realize you called yourself bait, right?" Sitara asked.
"I'll call myself whatever I have to for you to say that I'm right!" Emma said.
Sitara peered over at Emma, squinting her eyes at Emma's enthusiasm, "Well, you're not wrong."
Emma threw her hands up, "God dammit Sitara, what is it going to take!?"
"Letting US to our job, and you doing yours," Sitara smiled, straightening herself up.
Emma groaned and threw her head back, "I'll never-" She began but was interrupted by her phone sounding a notification. She looked down to see Sam's text alerting that he's arrived, "He's here!" Emma whispered. Sitara walked to the backroom, hiding around the corner. Emma opened the door to allow Sam to walk in.
He stormed in as soon as the door opened, not giving Emma a chance to greet him, and starting speaking very quickly, not making eye contact with her at all, "Emma I'm so sorry about yesterday. I'm not sure what came over me I just…I thought Wrench was trying to threaten me and scare me off, but I know it's not my place to tell you what to do. I was just worried about you with his behavior, but maybe you like him, so I guess I should just back off. But I know about what you went through with Owen, so I was just looking out for you," He finished finally looking at her.
Emma was taken aback and was barely keeping up with what he was saying and took a minute before she could say anything, "Um…." Was all she could come up with.
Sam threw his arms down and turned around, "I knew I shouldn't have said anything… I fucked it all up, I'm sorry…" He muttered.
"Fucked up what?" Emma asked carefully.
Sam sighed and turned back to her, "I really like you, Emma."
Emma's eyes widened, "Wha?"
Sam grabbed her hands with his own and looked down at her, "I know I seemed crazy.. I just didn't trust Wrench. But I do now because you do. What do you say?"
Emma looked around with her eyes, "...About...what?"
Sam chuckled, "About us!"
Emma quickly pulled her hands back, "We're just lab partners… or whatever Sitara said you were. Sorry…" She said and walked back to her table. She wasn't sure where this sudden burst of Sam's affection came from.
"It's Wrench isn't it? I knew it!" Sam said.
"...N-no, it's you," Emma said slowly. "I like you as a friend, but that's it, Sam."
Sam stared back at her looking defeated, "Just think about it," He said softly, "Call me?" He asked. Emma nodded involuntarily. There was nothing she had to think about. He accepted the nod and walked out.
Once the door secured, Sitara walked back from the door, "Hooooly shiiiiit," She said, "That was sooo awkward. I had no idea he was like that!" Sitara said. Emma looked down at the ground, beginning to lightly bite at her nails.
"That's the thing. He never was…" Emma said quietly, concentrating.
"He never was to me either. Maybe he really has it bad for you," Sitara shrugged.
Emma shook her head, "No… I felt no affection from any of that. Everything he said was familiar… Like things Owen has said to me," She finally looked up from the ground to Sitara.
Sitara shook her head and chuckled, "You don't think…." Sitara began, not wanting to believe Sam could be working for Owen.
Emma continued her eye contact with Sitara, a slight touch of fear glinting in her eye, before she quickly shrugged it off, "Of course not. That'd just be us getting paranoid, right?"
Sitara wasn't convinced, but silently agreed with her, "Owen doesn't have that much control."
But he did, Emma thought.
~~~Wrench's garage~~~
Marcus and Wrench walked away from the engine of the car they were working on to reach Wrench's table full of gadgets. Although, they were talking about anything but the car….
"Man, I knew I had a weird feeling about Sam. Never thought it was because of that," Marcus said.
"But it was just out of the blue! He seemed like he was trying to remember things to say to me," Wrench said.
"You mean like it was staged?" Marcus asked.
Wrench sighed, not sure how to describe it, "If you were there, you'd understand."
"I can get an idea," Marcus said, "So you and Emma good then?"
"I think so. She seemed weirded out by it, too, but we sort of… I don't know, 'made up' last night?" Wrench said nervously. He wasn't sure how to word it.
"Made up, huh?" Marcus said with one eyebrow raised.
"We talked, Marcus," Wrench said feigning annoyance.
Marcus laughed, "Yeah, yeah. Just messing with you. But if you did-"
"You know I'd tell you the second it happened. Either out of excitement or depression, we'll see if we get there," Wrench said.
"Just tell her already!" Marcus said, borderline whining.
Wrench thought about what he was feeling last night. His own insecurities with himself would never allow him to have a normal relationship, no matter how much he wanted one - maybe even with Emma. He shook his head, "After we deal with Owen…" He said once again. It was to show courtesy for Emma, as well as giving him more time to sort out his own issues.
Marcus didn't want to press on, but he thought it was ridiculous to wait. Emma had friends, she knew that, but he figured having someone closer would make her feel her more secure. Either Wrench was still worried about himself or having more responsibilities, Marcus couldn't decide, "Whatever you say man. But if you ever want my advice, it's going to be to go for it."
"I'll keep that in mind," Wrench said studying Marcus' face. He knew he wanted to say more. Wrench displaying two angry emoticons on his mask, "Spit it out."
"Just go for it, man! If I were you, I would have told her forever ago!" Marcus said, feeling more passionate about the discussion.
"Yeah, most people would," Wrench said before he erased any emotion from his mask.
It dawned on Marcus and he relaxed, "It's about the mask," Wrench felt shy all of a sudden and he turned around to fumble with the gadgets on his table, "Has she asked?"
"Sort of… Well, not directly," Wrench answered, unsure, "It's kind of the way she looks at me," Wrench said, feeling light thinking about her eyes staring back at him.
"Would you… if she asked?" Marcus asked, referring to Wrench taking off his mask for her.
Wrench didn't answer right away, mostly because he didn't know how, "I want to… maybe.. I don't know," He muttered quickly, "God dammit!" He shouted dropping what he was holding and walking away from the table.
Marcus wanted to speak but he heard Wrench's phone vibrate from the table next to him. He saw Emma's name pop up with the text reading: Let me in, it's cold! "Uhh, Emma's here and she's cold."
"Shit, she going to notice that I've been moping for the last hour?" He asked grabbing his phone.
Marcus studied Wrench's posture and scrunched part of his face, "Ehh."
"Don't leave me, Marcus. I need you!" Wrench pleaded.
"You got this, buddy! Don't blow it!" Marcus said heading closer to the door.
"Remember this, Marcus!" Wrench called out.
Marcus laughed as he opened the door to see Emma standing by it, "Oh hey, Marcus!" She smiled.
"Hey, Emma! Bye, Emma!" Marcus said tapping her on the shoulder and leaving, glancing back at Wrench one last time.
"Oh, bye Marcus," She said and turned to Wrench, "I finally get to see your garage," She said briefly looking around.
"It's my second home," Wrench said, "Well, I guess I spend more time here, so… first home?"
"I used to sleep in my lab. I know all about that," Emma smiled.
Wrench smiled with her. She understood him even if they had different professions. Wrench cleared his throat, "So, uh, it's my turn to show you something," He said and led her to a table filled with his own projects and his laptop.
"Have you been working?" She asked concerned with his injury.
"Not you too… Sitara already mom'd out on me," Wrench said, "It's not even that bad." Emma didn't say anything, accepting that he could handle himself, "Check this out," He said pointing to his laptop screen.
"What is… Wait, is that my freeze gun?" Emma asked. It was a 3D model of her freeze gun.
"It is! You left it at the hackerspace last night so I was able to scan it in," Wrench said and brought up a stool to move in front of the laptop, "Here, sit down."
Emma sat down without taking her eyes off the screen. She moved the mouse to try to see the different angles, "You just scanned it in?"
Wrench nodded, "I hope you don't mind, but there's another version where I adjusted the tension and made the base smaller. Barrel is the same size, unless you want to change it," He explained.
"I didn't even think about 3D printing…" She said, still staring at the screen, inspecting the 3D version of something she built, "You guys really have everything, huh?"
"I wouldn't say everything, but the 3D printers make it pretty close," Wrench walked out of view to grab a printed version of Emma's freeze gun prototype, "Made it possible to make this."
"Make what?" Emma asked as she turned to see what he was holding. She jumped out of her seat and covered her face with her hands for a second before she walked up to Wrench to inspect the gun, "You already printed it!"
Wrench laughed, "Yeah, it's your first version. I didn't really want to change it without asking you."
Emma's heart slightly fluttered for a reason she couldn't really figure out. He knew her freeze gun prototype was her baby and he didn't want to change anything, even though he already messed around with it in the software. She just grabbed the freeze gun from him and turned around to inspect it herself. Tears formed in her eyes, that she tried to hold back. But she already wiped one of her eyes before she realized she was doing it.
Wrench noticed and felt awkward, like he shouldn't have printed it, "Shit, Emma. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have printed it without asking you first," He said, "You wanted to be the first one to see it."
Emma shook her head, "No, they're happy tears! Do you know how much easier this will make things?!" She asked, looking at Wrench, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Yet he was still uncomfortable seeing her cry, "You sure?" He asked.
"Of course! I don't really care about the guns themselves, Wrench, but I need something to use the ammunition I make, you know?" She explained.
"So you don't care that I saw it first?" Wrench asked.
Emma shook her head, "As long as I can make sure my ammo works! You're making this so much easier."
Wrench let out a breath of air that he didn't know he was holding and relaxed, "Making me go through all these emotions. I can't handle it," He said dramatically.
Emma laughed, "We make a really great team!" She stood in front of Wrench, smiling.
He felt nervous and began to rub the back of his head, "Yeah, we are, aren't we?" He said quietly, mostly to himself.
Emma squealed and hugged him for a second, too quick for him to respond and hug her back. This was one shorter, more friendlier than the first. Emma pulled back and turned to set the gun on the desk, peaking at the software on the laptop to try to make sense of it, muttering random words to herself.
Wrench took a second to study her. She wasn't ignoring him, but he felt second best all of a sudden. She was a chemist first, he knew that. And he should have known since he was an engineer first. He wanted to be selfish, but he pushed that feeling aside to focus on her gun, "So, what do you think?"
"Hmm…. I think…" She muttered before taking a deep breath, "Increase recoil tension by 35%. That'll give it pinpoint accuracy across 50 feet. Any more and the capsules that hold the dry ice will burst from the air velocity," She rambled on, "Reduce barrel capacity width by… 20% so they can be held more securely," Emma said. Wrench stared at her. He was uncomfortable to admit that he was feeling slightly turned on by listening to her talk about her own obsession. He liked that she knew exactly what she was talking about, "Got it?" She asked knocking him out of his daze.
"Yeah!" He said trying to play it cool as he turned to his laptop and readjusted exactly what she was instructing him to do so. She was very close to him, occasionally touching his arm. He liked it and hated it at the same time. Hated it because it was distracting. But distracting for all the right reasons.
"I never thought of this before… You don't have to worry about physical resources anymore with this," She said, mostly to herself. She's never had a 3D printer and never thought she'd have access to one for her weapons.
"It's pretty limitless. We'll never run out of the filaments. The only downside is time. So trial and error isn't exactly the best way to go about things. Printing this one out took about 6 hours," Wrench explained.
"6 hours, but it takes a lot more effort and time to find physical parts to assemble what I had going on," Emma said.
Wrench nodded, "Yeah, that's a good point. You want me to print this one out and see what we get?"
"Waitwaitwait," Emma got off the stool and walked over to the 3D printer, staring in front of it, "Okay, go." Wrench clicked around to begin the printing process. He hit the enter key which triggered the 3D printer to wake up from sleep mode, and prepare to print, "It's making noise!" Emma cheered.
"Yeah, tends to do that," Wrench said and walked over to the 3D printer to stand somewhat behind her, leaning on a car that was parked.
She stared at it like she was waiting for Santa. The needle started to move around, dispensing filament, beginning the base. After about a minute of admiring it, she turned back to Wrench, "So, 6 hours, huh?"
He let out a quick laugh, "Yup. Actually got a lot of stuff done waiting," He said gesturing to his garage, which Emma noticed was slightly organized.
"Wait… six hours? It's only 2pm. When did you start?" Emma asked.
"Woke up at the hackerspace at like 3am and couldn't fall back asleep. So I just came here," Wrench shrugged.
"You know, you could get a pretty solid nap in 6 hours," Emma smiled.
"Trying to get rid of me?" He asked, winking through his mask.
"Of course not, but you must be tired, though! I'd feel bad making you run errands or whatever with me," Emma said.
"You wouldn't be making me do anything. My day is now yours," Wrench offered with a smile.
Emma thought for a second, "Well, we could always do what we said we'd do when we first met. Turn up some toy stores," She said with a bright smile that Wrench couldn't help but emulate on his mask. Mostly that she remembered, but that she wanted to go out and actually spend time with him.
~~~Hackerspace~~~
Marcus walked down to greet Sitara and Josh, "You rang?"
"We have to do something about Sam," Sitara began.
"Yeahhhh," Marcus winced, "If it's about Emma, Wrench told me a bit about it."
"Emma said he reminded her of Owen," Sitara said.
"Wrench said Sam felt staged," Marcus added.
"Okay, so he's suspicious on both of their ends. But I've known Sam for years, there's no way he'd just turn on us," Sitara said and crossed her arms, trying to think of something that would make Sam an early red flag.
"Owen could have easily just talked to him and changed his mind," Marcus offered.
"Josh even hacked his phone and didn't find anything," Sitara said.
"He could have another phone. Or another way to communicate with Owen," Josh said.
"We think he has a meeting place," Sitara said.
Marcus nodded, "So find Sam and see what he's been up to?"
Sitara shrugged, "It's the only way. Owen is untraceable at the moment, so Sam is our best bet."
"Does Ray know?" Marcus asked noticing he wasn't around.
Sitara seemed reluctant to answer, "Not about Sam. Didn't get a chance to talk it over with him. He's trying to find any digital footprints left by Owen."
"Guess it's not a bad idea to cover all bases. Emma's with Wrench right now," Marcus explained.
"Alone?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Marcus laughed, "Working on "projects" together," He said using air quotes.
"Aw, adorable," Sitara teased.
~~~Somewhere in San Francisco~~~
Emma and Wrench walked into a small, local pawn shop. The shop owner sat behind the counter, reading his paper. The second he looked up, he recognized Wrench and began to glare at him, "Hey Bogdan!" Wrench raised his arm greeting him. Bogdan just went back to reading his paper, carefully peering over at Wrench occasionally. Emma started to walk toward a table of toys, but stopped when she heard Wrench, "Hooooly shiiiit," He said displaying two "at" symbols in his mask when something on the shelf caught his eye.
Emma walked up closer to him, "What'd you find?"
He held the watch and showed it to Emma, "You know what this is?"
Emma stared wide eyed, "...A… watch?" She asked.
"Not just any watch. This was one of the first "smartwatches" made without computer assistance," He said using his mask to show air quotes, "Well this is a knock off. The first one was made specifically for one guy. Then companies tried to mass market them but no one wanted them. The real one can only be found drifting through museums. It last sold for $11 million!" Wrench explained.
Emma was impressed that he knew so much history about what she thought was a random watch, "I bet you could build your own for $11."
Wrench scoffed, "Well, yeah, almost 100 years later!"
"Mmm not the right attitude. Can we buy that to tear it apart and take pieces from?" Emma asked. She was still focused on the mission.
Wrench gasped and helded the watch closer to himself, "It's only a knock off, but it has feelings, too!"
Emma laughed, "Don't forget what we're here for! Are you going to buy it or not?"
Wrench put it back on the shelf, "Nah, just a cool thing to look at," He said shrugging.
"If it's so cool, then how come Nicolas Cage tried stealing the Declaration of Independence and not the watch?" Emma teased.
"Are you suggesting we write a movie?" Wrench asked.
"Or we can steal it ourselves and then they'll make a movie about us!" Emma said.
"Only if we can be in it!" Wrench added, "You think they'd call it The Watchmen just to trick dummies into thinking it's a comic book remake?"
Emma laughed a little louder than she wanted and covered her mouth, "Wouldn't want rabid fanboys sending us death threats!"
"At least our movie will end up being better than that trash movie," Wrench said crossing his arms.
"We can hope. Hollywood would probably change our story and make it so the watch has magical powers. Though, they'll still say it's based on true events," Emma joked.
Wrench laughed, making Emma blush. Bogdan called out to them, from the counter, "Are you two crazy?!" He said with a foreign accent, "Are you talking about stealing in my own store?"
"Actually, we're talking about stealing from a museum!" Wrench called out. Emma smiled and covered her mouth at his audacity.
Bogdan stood up with a baseball bat, "I have microphones! Get out before I call the cops!" Wrench pulled on Emma's arm and left the pawn shop laughing. Emma was slightly panicking, yet she followed a very relaxed Wrench down the street.
"Wrench!" Emma said, "I can't go there ever again!" Looking back to see Bogdan outside of his shop with his baseball bat.
"Whatever, he always says shit like that," Wrench dismissed, "Besides, there's better places than his dump. I'll show you," Wrench said gesturing Emma to continue to follow him. She liked Bogdan's shop. She looked back to Bogdan, offering an apologetic look that she wasn't sure he saw.
~~~Somewhere in San Francisco~~~
Marcus was inside a local biker tavern pretending to drink a beer as he was carefully keeping an eye out in the crowd. There wasn't a sign outside the bar, leaving Marcus to realize that these bikers preferred to have the tavern belong to them and them only. Even the music would make most people leave the second they entered. But he had a mission. He waited until eventually his target walked in and sat in the corner of the bar. Sam. He looked nervous and kept playing with his sleeve. Marcus stood up and walked over to sit right in front of him.
Sam looked up, ready to talk, until he realized who it was, "Marcus!" He said quietly, but with surprise.
"Hey Sam, what are you doing here?" Marcus asked with a friendly voice. He first noticed a bruised cheekbone and a cut along the side of his face.
Sam looked around frantically and answered, "Meeting someone."
"Oh, me too!" Marcus said cheerfully, "How you been man? I feel like we haven't talked in awhile."
"Yeah, can we catch up later or something? This meeting is important," Sam said trying to rush Marcus away.
"Well, I don't see anyone here yet," Marcus said casually looking around.
"Yeah, maybe they cancelled. See ya la-" Sam stood up, attempting to walk away, but Marcus grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Why don't you just sit back down and relax," Marcus said with more force to his voice than before. Sam looked down at Marcus and after a few moments, he reluctantly sat down, staring at him. Sam didn't say a word, expecting Marcus to continue speaking, "So who were you waiting on?"
Sam gave Marcus a hard stare, not wanting to budge. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, "He knows you're here."
"Who?" Marcus asked, chest suddenly feeling heavy.
"You know," Sam said quietly.
Marcus guessed Owen, "Can he hear us right now?" Marcus asked, wondering if he had a mic on him.
Sam nodded, "He's everywhere. In every phone. In every webcam. He can see and hear it all."
Marcus wanted to call him out for being dramatic, but he had a feeling Sam has seen the worst of Owen's wrath, "You need to stay away from Emma," Marcus said, talking to both Sam and Owen.
"She's plagued us, Marcus. She's the little virus that he's spread to us," Sam said fearfully, "And we have to do what he says or he'll completely expose us."
"You're letting him get to you. Just what he wants. He can't do anything," Marcus said bravely.
"Don't provoke him, Marcus," Sam pleaded.
Marcus chuckled, "He's a joke! This guy's a fear monger and nothing else," He leaned over the table, getting into Sam's face, "I dare him to do something about me."
Sam gritted his teeth, "You're going to regret saying that…"
Marcus stood up, "I"ll be waiting," He said and walked away, leaving Sam to slam his fist on the table and lean back.
~~~KB Toy's~~~A few hours later~~~
Emma and Wrench walked into their 5th shop, which was a modern toy story. Emma led him to the movie action figure section, pointing at the 4 different Predator figures on display, "See!" She said.
"What the fuck?" He muttered grabbing one off the peg hook, "People realize these are for adults and not kids, right?"
"Toy stores are for all children. Even man-children," Emma said. Wrench peered over to her with dashes displayed on his mask, to which Emma replied to by sticking her tongue out, "You've been really good today, want me to buy it for you?" Emma asked, continuing her teasing.
Wrench put it back on the hook, "Oh, gee, would-?" He started, but got interrupted.
"Emma?!" A high pitched voice cheered.
Emma's eyes widened and turned around to see a redhead standing with a shorter woman with a brunette bob cut behind her, equally as excited to see Emma "Oh… Heather!" Emma said surprised, "And Lily!"
"Oh my god how are you?!" Heather, the redhead, asked, hugging her.
Emma hugged her back, then accepted Lily's greeting and hug, "I'm alright! Wow, haven't seen you guys since we graduated!" She said.
"Three years! How you been? What are you doing here?" Heather asked.
"I've been good!" She said, not even telling her the whole truth, "And just killing time. You?" Emma asked.
"Just shopping for Lily's son's birthday," Heather explained.
"You have a son! How old is he?" Emma asked.
"He'll be 2 next week!" Lily said proudly with a smile.
"2! Wow do you have pictures?" Emma asked. She didn't necessarily care, but she wanted to be polite. Lily brought out her phone to show pictures.
Heather peered over to Wrench, who was pretending to look at the figures still, so that Emma didn't feel rushed. Heather always had a thing for the punk rock type and was intrigued by his style, especially his mask. She focused on Emma again, "So are you and, uh, what's his name…Owen still together?"
Emma stiffened. Wrench slightly glanced over to make sure she was okay, but was relieved when Emma responded with a short laugh, "No we've been broken up for over a year."
Heather bit her lip and pointed to Wrench, "Is that your new boyfriend?" Heather was hoping Emma say no.
Emma glanced back at Wrench, who looked at her casually waiting for her to respond. Emma blushed before quickly turning back, "N-no! Hah! This is umm…." Emma began and tilted her head.
"Wrench?" Wrench stated quietly with two question marks on his mask.
"Wrench! This is my friend Wrench," Emma offered. Wrench walked up to shake their hands. He wasn't sure if Emma was flustered with the idea of him being her boyfriend, or appalled. He was just going to enjoy the display of a frazzled Emma instead of thinking too deeply into it, "These are my friends from college, Heather and Lily," Emma wasn't making eye contact with anyone, but noted how clean the floor looked.
Wrench shook hands with Heather first, who's handshake lingered on for a lot longer, as she twirled her hair, "Uh, nice to meet you," He said awkwardly, then shaking Lily's hand.
"So, if you're just friends, why are you in a toy store together?" Heather asked, eyes only on Wrench.
Emma chuckled nervously, "I was trying to prove to him that they still sell Predator toys to 8 year olds."
"Oh my god, I LOVE Predator! My brother makes costumes and he's made some Predator ones!" Heather chimed in.
Lily groaned, "Not this again!"
"No way! That's awesome!" Wrench said.
"Yeah, can your brother make him one?" Emma asked quietly, still nervous, pointing her thumb at Wrench.
"You'd love it," Wrench said winking through his mask, tapping her arm with the back of his hand, to which Emma rolled her eyes.
Heather felt they had some sort of friends-with-benefits thing going on so she told herself to back off, but at the same time she couldn't help but want to flirt with him. Heather gave herself a mental note to ask Emma more about what she had going on with Wrench. Lily turned to see the look in Heather's eyes and didn't like it. She knew.
Emma looked at Wrench the entire time during the rest of the conversation. He and Heather were mostly going on about Predator and her brother's involvement in the costume making scene. He got along with her friends so easily, and they seemed to get along with him. She was smiling, appreciating how friendly he was despite a few occasions where he showed aggression. Heather's comment was still in her mind. Boyfriend. Emma's eyes softened and just realized how kind he was to her. How he always wanted to help her and regretted when he couldn't. With how he was getting along with her annoying friends, Wrench would be a great boyfriend, she thought. She immediately stopped what she was thinking and went pale. How could she think that out of nowhere? She wondered. Then her vision completely changed. The scene in front of her suddenly shifted. Wrench was getting along a little too well with Heather. She was touching his arm when she laughed. Wrench's body almost completely turned to Heather, away from Emma. Emma's smile slowly disappeared.
"Emma!" Her name snapped her out of her trance and she saw Lily smiling at her, "Don't leave me hanging! You want to come to my bachlorette party or not?"
Emma felt bad she completely missed what Lily said. Heather's eyes were now on her as well. She didn't even want to look at Wrench, "Uhh, when, again?"
"Saturday!" Lily said, "Twist Nightclub!"
That was in two days, Emma noted, "Give me your number and I'll let you know later?" Emma asked, handing her phone to Lily to type in her phone number.
"Awww can't even make time for an old friend's party?" Heather teased.
Emma wanted to slap her, then immediately scolded herself for it. She was just jealous, she noted, "I'm kind of on call this weekend, but I'll try to work something out," Emma forced herself to smile and turned to Wrench, "You ready to go?" She asked. Emma was no longer able to be in a group.
"After you," He said and she wasted no time to wave goodbye to her friends and walk away. He followed her, but turned to the girls quickly, Lily held out Emma's phone out, "Oh, thanks," Wrench said grabbing Emma's phone, "Nice meeting you two!" He said and caught up with Emma. Heather and Lily gave each other a concerned look.
Wrench followed Emma outside the toy store, noticing she had a quicker pace than usual, "Had enough, I take it?" Wrench asked. He didn't want to say anything, but Heather sure knew how to talk.
"Yup," She answered quickly, looking down at the ground.
"You forgot your phone," Wrench said softly handing it to her.
Emma glanced to her side to see her phone. She reached out for it, lightly grazing Wrench's hand as she grabbed it. She got nervous and dropped it, "Shit," She muttered and stopped walking. What was wrong with her, she wondered. There were many times she touched Wrench, they even held hands before. Why was she getting all flustered over him all of a sudden.
Wrench bent down to pick it up for her, "You okay?" He asked lightly, a slight chuckle to it.
Emma snatched her phone from him, this time more carefully to avoid grazing fingers again, "Of course," She said quickly, not convincing Wrench.
"Is it… about Owen?" He asked carefully, not wanting to upset her further. He knew something was bothering her, even if denied it.
"What?" Emma asked curiously, making it a point to glance over to him for a second. She thought that might give him the idea that she was fine.
"When she asked about him," Wrench continued.
Emma remembered Heather mentioning Owen. It didn't bother her. She's gotten over Owen months ago, she was just afraid of him now. "N-no. It's nothing, really" She muttered, still staring at the ground as she continued walking.
"Look, you can go to that party if you want. Sitara could go with you or something, and-" Wrench began, but trailed off when he noticed Emma wasn't paying attention, "C'mon, say something. Talk to me," Wrench said getting desperate.
"Wrench," Emma said quickly looking at him in the eyes of the mask, hoping to somehow peep through, "I'm fine."
"Emma-"
"Don't 'Emma' me, let's just go," Emma interrupted.
"Was it something I said? Just tell me," He pressed on.
"Lay off!" She said slightly above her normal volume. She stopped to realize her outburst but didn't do anything to fix it. After a few moments of feeling awkward, she continued, "It's been a few hours, you think we could just get something to eat and go back to your garage?" Emma asked.
She was different, Wrench felt. He wasn't sure why, but in the last two minutes, she wasn't her usual self. He wanted to ask so much more. Instead, he nodded, "Wherever you want."
~~~Wrench's Garage~~~
Emma sat cross-legged on the counter, picking at her Chinese takeout. She was staring at the 3D printer finishing up the last legs of the revised gun. Although, her attention was on anything but the gun. She and Wrench haven't spoken much since they left the toy store, other than small talk involving food. She felt bad for lashing out. It wasn't his fault. It was Heather. Heather said "boyfriend" which caused her to suddenly start thinking about that being a reality. Emma admitted already that Wrench was charismatic and attractive in his own weird nerdy way, but she never cared to think further than that. She smiled thinking about him. Of course she liked him. He was nice and she just wanted to be nice back, but suddenly the need became stronger. She missed his presence. Wrench was in the backroom, probably eating, she thought. He wouldn't eat in front of her, she guessed. That would involve taking his mask off, which she knew he'd never do. She frowned. He certainly had his reasons, but Emma would always feel like he'd be keeping her at arm's length. Maybe she was just jealous that Heather got attention from him. Which was worse, she thought. She'd never want to be jealous of someone because of a man. Fuck Heather, she thought.
Wrench walked back into the main room, going straight to the laptop to see the progress. He noted it was always done, but didn't want to say anything. He looked up at Emma staring at the printer, eating her food. She still looked sad, "How's your food?" He asked. Again with the small talk, he thought. Why did it get so awkward with her?
Emma didn't take her eyes off the printer, "Good," She said, "How was yours?"
"How'd you know I ate already?" Wrench asked.
Emma lazily shrugged, "Just a guess," she said, but she was certain her assumption was correct.
"It was fine. Chinese food is all the same, anyway," Wrench shrugged. It wasn't his favorite food particularly. He hardly even liked it, but he knew Emma did, so he just wanted to make her happy.
"Racist," She muttered.
Wrench felt a little bit of weight lift off of his shoulders after her joke. He wanted to jump for joy, even. She wasn't mad enough to stay cold around him. Or maybe she was being serious, he didn't even know at that point, "Yeah, at least I have some beer for when I get hungry again in an hour."
Emma smiled taking a bite out of her food. Should she apologize? She didn't want to tell him what was in her mind, and why she was acting weird. He'd have a field day knowing she was jealous. Or maybe he'd be uncomfortable and ignore her? "I had a really nice time with you today," She said quietly.
"I did, too," He said softly. He was still confused as to why she got upset near the end of the night, but he guessed it didn't have anything to do with him. He guessed wrong, however.
Before she could elaborate, the printer suddenly went quiet, signaling that it stopped printing. She set down her chinese food and jumped off the counter, walking right up to it, "Is it...?" She asked.
Perfect timing, Wrench thought, and walked up to the printer, "Say hello to your new….freeze gun!" He said taking it out and holding it in front of Emma.
She clapped her hands together and reluctantly took it from Wrench. Her creation was revised without even having to search endlessly through smaller parts, or duct taping old ones. She held it in her hands, admiring the job the 3D printer did while Wrench was admiring her. Before he let himself gush too much, he pulled out the freeze darts from the gun she left and handed them to her, "Care to test it out?"
Emma wasted no time to take them from Wrench's hands, completely ignoring anything she was feeling before and loaded them up, "Wait, where can we shoot?" She asked.
~~~Somewhere in San Francisco~~~
Wrench led her to a train yard, far enough away from residential areas so that no one would find it suspicious. The only thing they would have to avoid is the off chance that someone on duty was around to keep horny teenagers away.
"You really do know San Fran like the back of your hand," Emma said, looking around. She had no idea where she was, but she obviously trusted him.
"Comes with the job description," Wrench said.
"Oh yeah? What else is in the job description?" Emma smirked.
"It's up for interpretation, really. Enough about me, you got free reign here!" Wrench outstretched his arms.
Emma chuckled, happy that they were acting normal with each other again. She took the freeze gun out of her backpack, and held it up, aiming at a train cart. She exhaled, but looked back at Wrench, "What if they find out it was us?"
"How would they do that?" Wrench asked.
Emma shrugged, "You're the hacker, you tell me!"
"Let me deal with the feds if they find out, all right?" He offered.
"The feds?" She asked with concern.
"Just shoot the gun," Wrench said impatiently. He wanted to see the final result just as much as she did.
Emma once again readied her gun to fire. She wanted to savor this moment. The moment of uncertainty. This gun could be everything she wanted or just another test number. What if the tension wasn't good enough? What if it didn't fire as far as she wanted. Ignoring all the 'what-ifs' for once, she inhaled and outstretched her arm, aiming at a train car. She exhaled and pulled the trigger. An ice dart shot out of the gun, pushing her back a little bit, to which she was able to regain her footing. The ice dart hit the side of the train car exactly where she aimed, leaving behind a giant blast, slightly bigger than she anticipated. The ice engulfed half the train car. She turned to Wrench with her arms up high, as did Wrench. He was cheering and walked up to Emma. She quickly hugged him, once again ignoring the studs, Wrench hugging her back. They quickly separated, yet were still cheering, pacing around, "It's exactly what I wanted it to be!"
"Only test number 2! That's amazing, Emma!" Wrench exclaimed. Her calculations were spot on, which amazed him.
"You know I couldn't have done it without you!" Emma said.
"You know what, i'll take the credit. That was awesome!" Wrench said and threw his arms up, "WOO!"
Emma giggled, and tried to shush him, "People will hear you!"
"FUCK them!" Wrench exclaimed, "You deserve this!"
"I don't want to go to jail over it!" Emma said shoving Wrench, still laughing.
Wrench scoffed and lowered his voice, "Whatever, you're on your way to becoming a Batman villain, and you know what happens to them in jail."
"Nothing, because they break out?" She asked sticking her tongue out.
"You got it, dollface," Wrench said winking through his mask.
Emma's heart skipped a beat at the nickname, but she tried to remain cool, "Aww is that my villain name?"
"Better than something lame like, Ice Queen or some shit," Wrench shrugged.
"Too bad Killer Frost has already been taken," Emma said sarcastically.
"Her name sucks, too. Ice names are too literal," Wrench argued.
"Wow, you have quite an opinion on alter ego names. Wrench," Emma said.
Wrench laughed, "You got me," He said keeping it short. There were many reasons for the name, but he let her have that one, "But we should probably go before someone does try to arrest us," Wrench said.
Emma put the freeze gun back in her backpack, "You said we were fine!"
"Yeah, what do I know?" He joked and started walking backwards towards the road. Emma slung her backpack over her shoulder, but didn't budge. After a few steps, he stopped.
She shook her head, "I'm sorry," She suddenly said, but it came out louder and more awkward than she wanted. Shit, she thought, hoping he wouldn't have heard her. It was too late, she had to keep talking, "I just um…." she started. Well now she was fucked. She had to keep talking, "I keep giving you a hard time, and I'm really sorry."
"Hey, no sweat. You have a lot going on," He offered kindly, smiling through his mask.
"Yeah, but… You've been nothing but nice to me. I didn't mean to lash out on you. I'm just… sorry," She repeated.
"Is this about before?" He asked walking back up to her so she didn't have to raise her volume.
Emma nodded, but regretted it. She didn't want to admit that she was jealous over Heather getting attention, or that she was having boyfriend thoughts, or really anything. But she was in too deep and had to come up with something, "I want to go to Lily's bachelorette party, but i'm paranoid about being alone - well, at least away from you guys. I wouldn't want to drag Sitara to it, so I don't know. I guess I miss my old friends," She lied, surprised with herself that she was able to do it so easily.
"Look, if you want to go, we'll make it happen. Trust me once in while, yeah?" He said kindly, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Wrench," Emma simply said.
"Anything for you. Now let's get you back home before Sitara threatens to murder me," Wrench joked. He started to pull away, but Emma grabbed his hand and made him stay. She held his hand with both of hers.
"Take your mask off," She suddenly said, softly.
Wrench's heart sank. He was dreading this moment, but he tried not to let her see it. He forced a wink to display on his mask, "Isn't the line 'take your pants off'?" He joked.
Emma smirked over his wit, even though she was nervous, "Let's start with the mask first," She took a step forward.
Wrench stiffened and stopped her advance. The mask is the only logical first step, but to him, it was the last step - emotionally, at least. At first, it sounded like Emma would only like him further if she liked his face, but he knew he was getting paranoid and she didn't mean it that way. He shook his head, "I can't," He said barely above a whisper.
"Why?" She asked softly, desperately trying to suppress the urge to touch his face with her hand. He wanted to give her an answer that made sense. All of his answers didn't even make that much sense to him, he just knew he believed them.
He pulled his hand out of hers, instantly missing the feeling, and took a step back, "I just can't," He said. He turned and shoved his hands in his pockets, beginning his walk to the road.
Emma stood still for a second, internally scolding herself for asking. She knew the mask was important to him, but she hoped that she was somehow more important. What was she expecting? She wondered. It's not like she was his girlfriend. She power walked to catch up with him, "I keep saying and doing dumb things, Wrench-"
"No, it's really not you," Wrench quickly said, almost laughing. It was all him and his own insecurities.
"But I should have known. I'm sorry I asked," She said.
"Emma, it's fine. I promise," Wrench said.
But she wasn't convinced.
~~~Sitara's Apartment~~~
Sitara was sitting on her couch, watching TV. She was in pajamas, cuddled up with a blanket, enjoying a hot tea. She didn't even realize it was late and that Emma hadn't come back yet. But it was too early to celebrate. She heard the door unlock and seconds later slam shut. Sitara internally groaned as she took a sip of tea, seeing Emma walk up to the side of the couch, looking annoyed.
"I think i'm in love with Wrench," Emma said flatly with a hint of annoyance.
Sitara spit out her tea and immediately stood up, "Emma!"
Emma's eyes widened and she raised an eyebrow, "Just making sure you're paying attention," She said continuing her flat tone, but added a smirk.
"That's a mean fucking trick, Emma" Sitara glared, starting to clean up the tea she spit out.
Emma crossed her arms, "Yeah? Tell me about it," Emma teased. Sitara's played one too many tricks on her like that.
"Fine, we're even," Sitara said.
"I actually do think I like him though," Emma sighed, "Like... a lot."
Sitara stopped cleaning, "That's great! Did you tell him?"
"Hell no. And how is this great?!" Emma snapped, setting her backpack down and plopped down on the couch.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Sitara asked carefully. She wasn't sure if Wrench knew, or if Wrench even told Emma his own feelings.
"Because feeling any part of the love spectrum is the worst thing ever!" Emma groaned.
"That's a bit dramatic," Sitara laughed.
"It is! I get jealous. That's how i figured it out. My friend from college was flirting with him, and all I wanted to do was to tell her to back off," Emma muttered.
"That's just normal. Was he flirting back?" Sitara asked. She was hoping Emma would say no, so that she wouldn't have to go kick Wrench's ass for being a flirt.
"He was being nice to them. I don't know. It doesn't matter. I ruined it anyway. I asked him to take his mask off," Emma said with no emotion, like she was annoyed with herself.
"Oh, honey," Sitara said.
"Yeah. He said he can't," Emma said.
"There's a lot that goes along with that mask, Emma. Don't take it personal. It'll take time. A lot of time," Sitara explained softly.
"Has he ever taken it off for you?" Emma asked.
"I've seen him without it, yes," Sitara rephrased.
"And now i'm jealous," Emma said.
"But it's not how you think! He's like a brother. It was only a matter of time," Sitara said, "Don't add this to your list of things to stress out over," Emma inhaled deeply just to let out a long sigh. Sitara sighed, mimicking her, "Don't be all emo about it!" She said and lightly shoved her.
Emma smirked, "I'm going to a bachelorette party on Saturday. Want to come?" She asked. Emma didn't even want to go, but she suddenly wanted a distraction. A distraction from Wrench.
Sitara was taken aback by the sudden topic change, "Uh… Do I have to?"
"No, but it'll be fun," Emma said. For her.
Sitara scrunched up her face, "They rarely are."
"Well fine, I guess I'll have to see if someone else in DedSec would like to join me at Twist Nightclub," Emma said sighing.
"Twist? Well, that's an even easier 'NO'" Sitara said.
~~~Wrench's Garage~~~
Wrench stormed into his own garage kicking the first box he saw sitting on the ground, "FUCK!" he exclaimed while kicking it then grabbed the first object he saw, which happened to be Emma's prototype that he printed out. He shouted as he chucked it in the first direction he felt like facing. The gun hit a wall right behind Marcus and Josh, who were staring back at Wrench after ducking from the throw. Wrench wasn't expecting to see them there and instantly played it cool. He displayed smiling icons on his mask as he rested his hand on the nearby counter, putting all his weight on it, "Hey guys."
"Heyyy. We just, uh… forgot some stuff," Marcus explained, holding up a hard drive, unsure if he should even be speaking.
"Should we ask if he's okay?" Josh asked. He didn't see the point in asking. He clearly wasn't okay, but Josh heard it was polite to ask anyway.
Wrench put his hands up to stop them from talking, "Hey, don't worry about me!" He gestured to his right to Emma's leftovers, "Just mad that I ate this Chinese food earlier, and I'm already hungry again," He fake chuckled before grabbing the carton and forcefully threw it in the trashcan, where he thought all Chinese food belonged.
Marcus knew he didn't like Chinese food, which was the second red flag. First obviously being his sudden burst of anger when he walked in. He wasn't sure if he should prod him about it, but it could be fun to mess with his friend who was clearly trying to swallow his anger, "Trying to see if you like Chinese food suddenly?"
Wrench cringed, but the mask only went blank, "You know me… open minded," Wrench muttered, biting his tongue from ranting about the truth. Marcus and Josh had things to do, he'd rather not slow them down with his whining about Emma. He crossed his arms and leaned into the counter
Marcus and Josh grabbed everything else they needed and made their way to the door, "Sitara wants us to meet tomorrow morning," Josh said, accepting Josh's answer.
Wrench silently held up his hand giving them a thumbs up, something which he rarely does. He pulled his hand back to him, re-crossing his arms.
"You know… people don't normally throw guns around when they're angry about Chinese food," Marcus said lightly.
People also didn't wear masks to hide from themselves, but he didn't want to open that can of worms in front of Marcus at the moment, "It's like you don't even know me," Wrench joked.
Marcus laughed and walked out, "See you tomorrow, buddy. We'll get some real food!"
Wrench nodded, "Sounds good," He said and watched as they walked out, closing the door behind them. He sighed and slammed his fist against the side of the counter. He took a step forward and forcefully set his arms and forehead on the counter holding back any more violent outbursts. With a deep breath, he stood up straight and exhaled. Anymore pouting and he would have deemed himself a teenager. However his eyes glanced over to the bag that Emma left there, full of the random toys and gadgets she found for her future projects. He was torn between kicking it and going over to Sitara's to bring it to her. Instead, he decided to compromise and just hid it in a cabinet. As long as he didn't have to see it, he wouldn't be reminded of her, which now only led to bad thoughts. The more he had Emma around, the more he realized he couldn't be normal. He couldn't take his mask off, let alone have a normal relationship with someone. One that Emma deserves. Did Emma even want a normal relationship? She was a crazy chemist the way he was just… well, crazy. She didn't seem like the white picket fence type. He rolled his eyes, wondering why he was kidding himself. Everyone was the white picket fence type.