Chapter Twenty-Nine - Negotiations and Storms
Eventually they got back to work on the disrupter. Hugo had a little trouble concentrating, but by the next day they’d completed the modifications, and made them easy enough to replicate. He called Clem to let him know.
About 20 minutes later, Clem walked into the lab Hugo was camping in while Crysta was at Gideon Enterprises to help Dr. Arliss with the patients from Project Burnout.
The musician had a suspiciously broad smile on his face, "Hey Hugo, how's it going?"
Hugo turned on his stool to face him, "Fine," he answered warily, "Where's CJ?"
Clem slid onto the stool next to him, "Made a beeline for the cafeteria; she's been burning a lot of energy, and probably expected the doctor to be in here with you," the man smirked, "I must say I'm a little surprised she's not with you, too."
Hugo could feel his face getting very hot, and he turned so that he was facing the workbench again. He held his hand out to Clem without looking at him, "give me your cell phone."
The telepath laughed while he complied, dropping the phone into his waiting hand, "I must admit, I'm going to miss the incredibly awkward sexual tension between the two of you, it was pretty hilarious."
Hugo coughed, the phone slipping between his fingers onto the table while he quickly jerked his attention to Clem, unsuccessfully sputtering several excuses and curses, before he gave up, turning away to angrily snatch up the phone, along with a screwdriver to mutilate it. "I hate you so much," he grumbled at the phone. Clem laughed for several seconds while Hugo hunched his shoulders and tried to ignore him.
Eventually the man's amusement at his expense went back to sub-laughing levels, and he threaded his fingers together, "So how long is this going to take?"
Hugo still couldn't look at him, "If you'd stop being a jerk, maybe an hour," he mumbled.
The telepath stretched, "Take your time, I'm in need of a break anyway. I must say, I'm getting a new appreciation of the good old 9 to 5."
Hugo looked back at Clem, finally realizing the man's smile was somewhat tired, "Why don't you both stick around until Friday, wait until after we see how the meeting with Vitaly goes?"
Clem waved back a yawn, "Sounds like a smart idea to me." He stood, stretching again, and then dropped his hand on Hugo's shoulder, "Now would be a good time to go talk to CJ."
Hugo immediately started chewing on his thumbnail, "I don't know what-"
He got a theatrical sigh in return, "It must be difficult being so popular with the ladies." Before Hugo could defend himself, Clem smiled a little, "Don't worry, there's no wrong answer, she just wants you to listen to her." Hugo nodded, still worrying his thumb. Clem gave him a pat on the shoulder, "I'll talk to you tomorrow," and then he walked out of the lab with a small wave, leaving the door open.
Hugo stared out into the empty hallway for several seconds, and then set his tools aside and headed for the cafeteria. CJ was sitting at one of the tables, sampling a hot chocolate. “Hey, CJ, can I talk to you for a sec?”
She looked up at him, smiling, “Sure, what’s up, boss?”
Hugo started tugging at a belt loop as he sat down across from her, “Are you mad at Dr. McFadden?”
She shrugged, but her frown told him she was irritated, “No, why should I be? She just got you shanked is all.”
Hugo sighed, “We told you what happened, you know that’s not true. She was busy fighting the werewolf when it happened.”
CJ scowled, “If I’d of been there, you wouldn’t have-”
“You’re telling me you wouldn’t have gone after the werewolf yourself?” Hugo cut her off, voice dry.
“Of course I would have fought him! He’s a werewolf! But…” She looked down at the table, her voice losing enthusiasm, “I would have been faster. I could have gotten them both for you.”
Hugo smiled a little, “I know you’re fast CJ, but it happened at the same time, you couldn’t have done both.”
“But I’m your bodyguard, not her! I should have been there.” She pushed her beverage along the table between her hands, carefully staring down at it.
He chewed on his lip, trying to figure out his argument. “I know you’re my bodyguard CJ, but you’re more of the proactive variety.”
“I’m what?” She looked up at him, eyebrows raised.
“You and Clem are getting some important information so that we’re all protected when we fight Vitaly, and will let us have a planet to be safe on too. You trusted Crysta to keep me from dying, and she did just that. I’m fine.”
“But you got stabbed,” she said quietly.
“Temporarily. But that probably would have happened either way. The important thing is that I’m fine, we all saved the Agency and we’re going to kick Vitaly’s ass.” CJ watched him for several seconds, her expression a mixture of emotions to the point he had no idea what she was thinking. But she didn’t seem to have any more questions or accusations, and eventually she returned her attention to her hot chocolate. “Wanna go to the Original Pancake House and get waffles? You still haven’t told me what you guys did on the East Coast.”
CJ looked up, grinning, “I was awesome! Let’s go.”
Well, that was a good sign.
They both stepped through the portal Hugo created to Kirkland, a block away from the parking lot. When they got there it was an hour before close, so they didn’t have to wait long for a table. Suddenly he was reminded of the first time they’d eaten together. He’d been so worried about other people’s opinions at the time; it was amazing how much things could change in six months.
Once they were seated and their order taken, CJ started her tale. “So, when we got your message I tried to call you back, but you didn’t answer, and that was super not cool, so I made Clem come with me and we went to where you said you were going to be. So we-” CJ stopped, looking startled for a second. “Wait, hold on one sec, you probably want to know what happened with mind-wipey guy," she took a quick breath, "They were keeping him in this crazy person room, like, all white, padded walls and like only one door and no windows in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere practically.” Hugo’s stomach tightened as he suddenly regretted asking Clem to take care of the guy while CJ was with him; but it was too late now, so he didn’t interrupt. “We found out about him from the machine dude. Anyway, I snuck us in there, which was super easy,” CJ smirked, “and Clem came out and talked to him. I gotta admit, I didn’t pay too close attention to the conversation, he was just confirming that the guy had erased that one guy’s memory, and what you already knew, which was that he was crazy and mean and liked taking people’s memories and was all like, yummy memories, Silence of the Lambs-style crazy. That’s when Clem called you and asked you what to do.”
Hugo’s mouth went dry. He’d essentially issued a death sentence in front of both CJ and the man he’d condemned, and hadn’t even bothered to justify himself or talk to him. What was worse was that CJ appeared to be ok with it. This was behavior she expected from him; everyone that opposed them was ‘evil’.
“So Clem told him he was an evil man and that he should be ashamed of himself, and then we left,” CJ shrugged.
Hugo couldn’t help the fact that his mouth fell open a little at the rather anticlimactic end to the story. However, the thought that Clem had left the man alone was dismissed halfway through its conception. Clem could command people, and he was a telepath, whatever he’d done to the mind-thief could have easily been concealed right out in the open. Hugo wondered what Clem had done, but thought maybe it would be better off if he didn’t know.
“So what happened on the East Coast?” Hugo prompted as the waitress set their food down, smiling warmly at them and asking if they needed anything else.
CJ assured her that they were fine, and watched her move away from the table before her attention snapped back to Hugo to answer the question. “Well, so we went to the Agency place, but didn’t see you, so we asked Charles because he was in the field
with a bunch of guys cleaning up ex-zombies,” CJ stuffed food into her mouth and resumed speaking when she was halfway done chewing, “Although I guess I didn’t know what they were at the time. I didn’t really think about it ‘cause we were in a hurry, looking for you.” CJ took another pause to make room for some chocolate milk. Hugo drank his coffee and drizzled syrup over his bacon waffle. The teenager took a deep breath after chugging the milk and then resumed the tale, “So I asked Charles, because I thought he might know where you were. After all of his guys flipped out a bunch,” CJ grinned, giggling a little at that, “He let me know you guys went to Springfield, so I zipped us over there. But I think you guys had probably just left or something, but we knew you’d been there because there was like a bunch of metal things all over the place, and I figured that was Dr. McFadden doing something awesome.”
CJ stopped again to inhale more of her chocolate chip pancakes drenched in maple syrup and topped with chopped bananas. Hugo watched her carefully. There was a flicker of a frown at the mention of Crysta, but the naked irritation had clearly dwindled. After a piece of bacon she continued, “And I guess beating up a giant werewolf and then saving your life is pretty awesome, so I was right.
“So then Charles called again, all flipping out about New York and he couldn’t get you guys either, so we went. One jerk was setting fire to the building, so I snuck up to him through the ground and then jumped into him and zapped the crap out of him. I don’t even know what the other guys could do, because then I shot some bolts at them and they went down like chumps.” CJ shrugged, but she was grinning, “What can I say, I’m just too awesome.”
Hugo smiled back at her, and then finally cut into his waffle, taking a small bite. “That is true. I’ve got good taste in bodyguards.”
CJ’s face lit up and he thought for a moment she might actually brighten. Hugo blinked at the reaction, and then reached back in his mind, appalled to find he’d paid the remarkable teenager very few compliments in the months they’d been together. “It’s not surprising, while you suck at noticing things, you’re pretty smart, so you could tell how awesome I was almost right away.”
Hugo chuckled, “Right, and you saved my life even before being appointed as my official bodyguard, and almost anyone would have enough sense to choose you after that.”
“Right!” CJ agreed, and then seemed to be satisfied, because she turned her focus on her pancakes.
The Sound of Wind Page 106
