[Closed] We gotta get out of this place

[silberfuchs]

Who| Jet and Albert
What| Touching base, future plans
Where| The detainment center exercise yard
When| Before the assassination plot
Warnings/Notes| Mentions of terrible Capitol shit. Will be more specific as needed.


It's raining.

Albert keeps to the edges of the exercise yard, keeping dry but watching the drops make puddles in the slight deviations of concrete that makes up the ground. It's more familiar than the rain dripping off of the branches outside District 13, having grown up in the city as Albert had, but it's less appealing still. He feels trapped, in this rare instance where he allows himself to feel what is. Sam's gone - thankfully so. Not only can he get the information he'd discovered back to Thirteen but he's also out of the scientists' hands, able to adjust better without fear that the Capitol will return him to that lab and try to rewire him again - but Albert feels his loss sharply. It's just him and Jet now, and while Albert had at one time thought that was all he'd ever need, he misses his ragtag family in the dull ache of missing pieces.

He tries to distract himself, push ups and sit ups and running usually, but he doesn't care to get sopping wet in the effort today. Instead, he stands with a cigarette in his fingers, one of the blessed heinous Capitol things Punchy had left with him. The butt burns with a myriad of colors and the smoke he exhales gallops away from him in the shape of actual horses. But it's something to do with his mouth and hands and the nicotine makes him feel better, fills those holes in him for seconds at a time an numbs the ache. It's only long enough to feel it more strongly a moment later, but it's at least something.

At least, at least. All they have right now is at least.

He's been trying to gather information, in his own way. It feels less like spying and more like simply keeping his eyes and ears open, but he supposes that's what actual espionage is like. He'd been a special case as a cyborg soldier, their missions far more cartoonish in practice than he cares to admit. Who would believe they'd faced off against giant ice serpents or the ghost of an Incan princess? Perhaps that's why he has trouble accepting the mundane on some level even as he craves it. But he wants it on his terms. Either way, he hasn't heard much as of late. He'll have to redouble his efforts without sneaking about or listening at doors.

At least (there's that phrase again...) he's been a little productive in that he's found a place or two without microphones, or at least where they'd be hard pressed to hear anything over ambient noise. Take where he stands, for example. The weather through this overhang, since it's configured just so, makes it nearly impossible to hear anything that goes on in that corridor over the patter of water and the high-pitched wail of the wind through a door that's been cracked every so slightly to cause the noise.

He waits for there in his little deaf spot, burning down his cigarette to its last ember and watching the resulting horse-shaped trails of smoke lose their substance in the rain.

Comments

[silberfuchs]

"I thought it might help you to live somewhere else." There, he's said it. He hopes it doesn't communicate just how much he's thought about it though, about taking a step away, taking care of themselves for once as Kurloz had urged him to do before he'd been seized by the Capitol again. Taking care of Jet properly, instead of in the spare moments of privacy they can steal in blind spots and deaf hallways.

He also hopes it doesn't communicate how he's ultimately fallen on the side of feeling that they can't. That it would be a betrayal of if not the Rebellion than their new-found family to succumb and play by the rules entirely, selfishly abandoning the cause in the name of comfort. It wouldn't be quite so black and white, he knows, but he's not sure what they would have to do to prove themselves worthy in the eyes of the Capitol and he's not sure he wants to know.

But he will pursue it if Jet thinks it would help. He'll bite that bullet with him, because if it sounds like a good idea to Jet, then the American is in far more dire straights than Albert had initially figured and above all else, he can't lose Jet.

Not again.

Not permanently.

[metalicarus]

"Play nice for them so, what? I can try and put crap back together in peace? Can't ask you to do that for me, Al, you're still a fighter and a good man, you can make some kind of difference." He couldn't ask the man he loved to compromise his beliefs just for some comfort, that wasn't what zero-zero-number cyborgs did.

But were they? That memory had cropped up, clones and it had thrown everything into disassemble again, something he'd planned on asking about once he found Albert. Instead they were here and Jet found himself considering it and hating himself for it. He could remember, though, this wouldn't be the first time they'd played along for the sake of safety and comfort. Jet had done it for the government he'd wanted to believe in and they'd both done it to go along with Mocawa's scientists. This would just be another time, but maybe if it was something they agreed to do together, they could bare the self-loathing and frustration together as well.

"...If...if we did we could use them like they think they're using us. Make them forget about us, think they've got us and get stronger under their noses, sabotage from the inside. Maybe." He ran his palm over his forehead like the pressure might put the pieces back in order faster. His voice went quieter, half hoping Albert wouldn't hear the admittance. "I can't help anyone like this, I can't even remember if I'm who I think I am. But maybe, like that..." he shook his head, his voice dying out before those words could put their bad taste back into his mouth. When he spoke again, it was normal, still torn by indecision. "It doesn't matter either way, short from killing kids, I can't think of what we could do to gain their trust, we haven't done much to gain it in the past." He'd definitely punched a gamemaker and Albert had been spirited to 13 a long time ago and hadn't come back willingly.

[silberfuchs]

"You have a point." Albert's response comes after a long and silent moment of thought, really listening to what Jet has to say about it, and what he doesn't say. How he terms Albert 'a fighter and a good man' as if he's the only one of the pair of them with these qualities. He wonders if that's because Jet is doubting or because he doesn't remember being a fighter, being uncompromising in his beliefs even if forced to compromise in execution.

"They have no real reason to trust us, which could well be a reason to remove us from here. This facility - prison - is a dirty little secret and to take ourselves from it might hinder our ability to get information." It's not as if they're locked in the place all of the time; they do have run of the city so long as they behave, and they have behaved insofar as the Capitol has asked thus far.

Well, for the most part, but Albert has been careful in his dealings. By all accounts any conversations with Sigma or Phi or anyone else have been superficial at best, setting up his willingness to be manipulated by the Capitol for the sake of Jet's safety. It's an easy cover because on some level its true.

All of that are reasons to take into account, but what really seals it as a poor idea to Albert is the disdain in Jet's voice when he finishes talking about it, the dissonance it causes that could just be in Albert hearing Jet talk like that, or could really be Jet remembering that he's never been one to back down from a fight, not when it concerns true injustice. He can't take Jet away and risk falling into a complacent huddle, as tempting as it is. If Jet's going to truly find himself again, this is probably the better way to do it. It's closer to what their lives were like before Panem regardless.

"I can help you from here, then, and we can continue our efforts. Maybe plan ahead a bit if possible, get people back to Thirteen in the confusion of battle, that sort of thing."

[metalicarus]

There was a rush in his chest of a tightness letting go as Albert took the decision into his own hands. Since when was making decisions so hard? Maybe it wasn't decisions as a whole, but that one. He could see both sides and he hated himself for it. There should only be one: the one where they don't compromise what they stand for just to achieve a little comfort. No, they hadn't done it before, they wouldn't do it now. He felt disdain coil in himself at having even considered it.

He nodded. "I'll be fine, Al." He may not feel it or think it, but it would be true someday, it had to be, he couldn't allow anything less. He'd put himself back together in the past and that had even been by himself or while holding Albert together, with Albert's help, surely he could do it again and be the kind of support his partner needed on their new mission.

"So...crisis aside, what's the plan? Mess their shit up quietly and then bust out if the chance arises?" And if the chance didn't arise? Well...they'd find something. Of course, it was less to do with the chance arising and more to do with that chance showing up when they could both escape. Jet sure as hell wasn't going to bail without Albert and he didn't hold any delusion Albert might take the chance for himself if it rolled along.

[silberfuchs]

Jet says he'll be fine but it feels empty. Hopeful, maybe even desperately hopeful, but empty. He could always tell when his husband says something he doesn't believe in with all his might. There's a tone to it, or a lightness in his certainty. Jet's reassurance here lacks that, but Albert nods a if it doesn't, as if Jet has stated something so mundane as gravity works or water is wet. It's a start. You repeat something enough times and it becomes easier to believe, and then it becomes fact. For Albert, it's already that; Jet will be fine.

"I've made some contacts, but we could use more. With so many of the Districts already warzones, I doubt the rest will wait much longer in falling to one side or the other. What we need - the rebellion needs - is a foothold in the Capitol. Eventually it will all have to lead here, and at that time they'll need help. Even now, if we can share information where we can, it would give them an advantage they didn't have before."

[metalicarus]

Jet nodded, ready to accept whatever game plan Albert had in mind. Just like old times. This actually felt right.

"Okay. I'll see what ground I can cover. There's some people who wanted to meet and talk back before, some Capitolite or other, I can answer their social call and see what it gets me." Information or simply another contact. Maybe nothing. But what else where they going to do but talk? It was all they had right now.

But he didn't plan to take a step without checking with Albert first. They'd promised. He hated that he needed to remind himself over and over again, but it was better than forgetting and rushing off blind.

"Speakeasy's still a good place too, even if it's been a little quieter recently."

[silberfuchs]

"The Speakeasy is too obvious," Albert shakes his head. "Many Tributes used it for a long time, the Capitol can't be that stupid, and even if they are we have to act as if they're not."

He purses his lips, mulling over Jet's offer to meet up with Capitolites who had contacted him before. "You could do that, but be careful. I don't want it mistaken for" - he clears his throat - "Another sort of invitation."

The rebellion is one thing, they'll both have to put their lives on the line, but something more personal than their lives is more Albert's worry, especially in Jet's improving but still vulnerable state.

[metalicarus]

Jet started a bit, momentarily confused and then surprised by what Albert was suggesting. "Hadn't thought about it." No one had ever seemed to show an interest in him, past or present, except Albert and it didn't even occur to him some Capitolites might have ulterior motives. They probably didn't, all things considered.

"Honestly, with our rep in this town, they'd likely be more interested in seeing us kissing each other than me kissing someone else." But he doubted that would make his partner feel any better about it. "I won't meet any of em anywhere private or possibly dangerous. They'll probably just talk about themselves the whole time anyhow."

[silberfuchs]

"Maybe. The Capitolite girl who was bought a dance with me at the Valentine auction certainly thought so." He clears his throat and hides his embarrassment with another puff on his cigarette. "Still better to be safe."

Better that he doesn't have to find some dirty Capitolite and break their neck. He lets that vindictive thought settle at the back of his mind instead of nursing it.

"I'll do what I can around here with other off-worlders. It would be odd to see me around town without out, considering. Apparently I've become a hermit or so the gossip goes."

[metalicarus]

Jet laughed, the bubble of amusement that rose up in him a little surprising. "Oh yeah? Guess we switched personas. I keep getting comments about how nice it is I'm 'coming out of my shell.' Jackasses."

He supposed it made sense. Before, Albert had been working his personable side to gain favor while Jet was too grumpy and vindictive to play their game, so he used his silence in public situations to his advantage and hid in Albert's social shadow. Now, he'd spent a few solid weeks not knowing any better to keep his mouth closed, so he'd been more personable himself while Albert was more measured. An odd thought but it made him smile.

"Before you know it, we'll have our own little network like a good couple of spies." And then, if their web stretched far enough, they'd be able to flip this city over.

[silberfuchs]

Albert snorts at the thought, but that is the plan. They're not GB with all his MI contacts or Gilmore with old friends in every community keeping their ears to the ground, but they have been in situations like this before, have walked the pavement and seen what their was to be seen. Information gathering usually ended in a fight in the old days, but now they're older and wiser and at least Jet has NSA training under his belt. As far as Albert knows about the organization, they lent themselves towards this sort of work.

"You have the experience in that regard. I'm just a soldier, you at least worked for an organization that did this sort of thing regularly."

[metalicarus]

Jet gave a derisive snort. "Those memories are still piecing together, but from what I remember, I did more assassinating and killing than spying. As far as I know, spying just means listening real close and remembering."

He shrugged. "We'll get it done because we're determined. We've gotten through worse plans on less."

[silberfuchs]

He refrains from reminding Jet that running off half cocked is not actually a plan and yet it was what he did most of the time but he does take that being his first instinct for what to say as a good thing. It's a familiar rhythm and it gives Albert hope.

He nods, putting out his cigarette in a puddle on the ground and watching the smoke rise in distorted shapes from the moisture, horses dissolving into regular smoke in whorls and eddies. "We'll make it. Something's going to snap, I can feel it, and when it does I want to be in a position to guide which way it falls."