It was a thrill to see her again, even hellbent on his capture as she was. The fire in her blue eyes, and the angry way she leveled her gun at him made her seem like an avenging angel come to punish him for his sins. He glanced at the small bit of white bandage peeking out from underneath her shirt, and a pang of genuine guilt and sorrow hit him. Though he'd done many morally questionable things in his life, there were few he considered actual sins, but what he had done to her most definitely was. He would offer an apology, but he knew she would see it as him mocking her, so he kept silent on the matter. Internally composing himself, he spread his arms wide and said cheerfully,
"Welcome to my part of the mine! A little sparse on furniture – and light – I know, but it's cozy, at least, right?"
"Cut the crap," she growled, the tight grip on her gun making her knuckles white. "Show us a way out of here."
He stared at her. "I don't know a way out of here," he responded. Not at the moment, at least. He was as trapped down here as they were, but he would eventually find a way to free himself, both from the mine and FBI custody.
"Bull!" she snarled, and he noticed Hauser glance at her, as if worried about her tone. He hadn't paid much attention to the three of them – the agent; the good doctor who had aged as much as he had; and the comic book store owner, Rebecca's partner, who glared at him with only as much hate as a man full of hope and optimism can – and though he certainly didn't care about them as much as he did Rebecca, he couldn't completely take them out of the equation.
"You caused the explosion, but there's no way you left yourself without an escape route," his granddaughter continued, her tone still furious.
"Well, that would be true," he admitted, "if I caused the explosion. But it's not, because I had nothing to do with it." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't believe you," she answered, scowling. Lucy and Hauser exchanged looks, but the store owner seemed like he agreed with Rebecca. His loyalty was commendable, but if they both insisted on distrusting him – on this issue, at least, – then they were both idiots.
"I had nothing to do with the explosion and cave-in," the 63 said slowly, talking to her as if she was a child. She seemed to notice, and looked annoyed, the first toned-down emotion on her face since she'd found him.
"Someone did tell us that the mine was unstable," the store owner - wasn't he a doctor, too? – whispered to his partner. She frowned and glanced over at him quickly, a questioning look in her eyes, before quickly turning back to her grandfather.
"Well, fine," she conceded, sounding like a whiny kid who had to compromise with an equally whiny little brother about what movie they saw or what flavor of ice cream they got. "Maybe I'll believe you; then you're as stuck as we are." She turned to Hauser. "So what do we do?"
"I suspect the town is doing what they can to get us out of here," the agent answered. Dr. Sengupta raised an eyebrow just as Rebecca and the other doctor looked at the agent incredulously.
"So, your big plan to get us out of here...is to sit and wait for the the townspeople to help us?" Rebecca demanded, her surprise making her lower her gun slightly. Hauser shrugged.
"We have what we came for," he said, gesturing his gun at Tommy. "And, really, it seems a safer bet to stay put rather than fool around with unstable things that could get us killed."
"Um, but, isn't that what we do...every day?" the other doctor – Soto was his name, Tommy suddenly remembered with glee – said hesitantly. Rebecca shot him a sympathetic look, but otherwise his statement was ignored.
"You're really serious, Emerson?" Dr. Sengupta asked. "You wish to...stay here?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not? Besides, of we're not back by dinnertime at least, Howard'll come and dig us out himself. He's pretty ornery about punctuality and having dinner on time," Hauser replied. Lucy gave a small chuckle, then nodded.
"We ought to make ourselves comfortable then," she mused. She then glanced over at Tommy. "I don't suppose you have anything that would make sitting here less...intolerable?"
He couldn't help but smirk at her and give a small laugh of his own. "'Fraid not, my dear doctor. I mean, I am all for finding better accommodations, but that is a bit difficult, considering all the deadly weapons trained on me at the moment."
"And they're not leaving you any time soon," Rebecca informed him, dragging his attention back to her. He looked at her, and he felt his gaze soften.
"You look like your grandmother," he told her. She froze, and then a blank look passed over her face.
"Shut up," she ordered, voice cold and detached. He took a step forward – hands up, ever mindful of his present state – and continued,
"Your eyes are mine, but everything else – Agatha's. She would have liked you, you know."
"I said, shut up." Her voice wasn't so indifferent now; there was a spark of anger to it. "And stay back."
"Hey, you can search me if you like," he replied.
"Yeah, and be stabbed again? No, thanks," she countered curtly. Her words hurt, but he shrugged them away. There'd be plenty of time to talk about that later.
"Well, think what you like," he said. "But I still -"
What he wanted to say was abruptly cut off as the ground they were in heaved around violently once more, jerking them all to the ground. Tommy heard Rebecca and Soto cry out, and he himself let a hiss of pain slip through his clenched teeth. Dust was in the air and he coughed, disoriented for a moment, but he couldn't let this chance slip away, so as soon as he could he got to his feet. He looked behind him, and was pleased to see that the second tremor – he really was curious about them – had caused some of the rocks in the wall to loosen and fall; it had left an opening just big enough for him to slip through. A grin worthy of the Cheshire cat crossed his face, and then he made his escape.