Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[_gallifrog_]

Jay nodded in agreement. "You can say whatever negative thing you like about him- he's most definitely a liar, an arsehole and a right slippery bastard. to name a few. But the fact still remains he is FAR from stupid. We may not like him, or even trust him, but to climb to where he has gotten on the political ladder and to access the sheer volume of information he has without anybody twigging? That takes both serious skill and smarts. His intelligence and his eidetic memory combined make him pretty damn formidable when it comes to documents and evidence trails." She may not trust the man, but Jay was very much a credit when credit is due person (once she'd gotten over the initial emotional hurricane that the revelations about Zan had stirred up of course). What Zan had done over the past nine(ish) years was impressive without a doubt. This desire for revenge wasn't just some whim or ploy he'd acted on to get back in Elliott's good book when he realised his son was back it would have happened regardless of whether Elliott had come back or not.

Kay was right to thing that Jay had been doing plenty of thinking about how to ensure Elliott came out of this whole thing alive. It had been praying on her mind to a greater or lesser extent since she'd first found out that Elliott's death occurred at some point during or in the immediate aftermath of the trial. Rinaa hadn't given a date, and nor would Jay expect her to, by giving a date the daughter would completely change the timeline, maybe even moving Elliott's death further forwards, which was the last thing she, or anybody else wanted. So she was happy to work in the dark in this case. She'd been looking at the thing from all kinds of angles, though this was the first time shed actually voiced that fact. "Expect the best, prepare for the worst." Jay countered with. They couldn't just hang around waiting for Elliott to die. They needed to think of some kind of plan and soon. "I wonder if they're going to try and corner him after the trial, and if so whether it would be a good idea to go there and be around to see what he has to say for himself. Again."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay agreed with what Jay said about Zan. There were indeed many many things they could say about the man, but to describe him as stupid was not one of them. That was certainly clear to both of them and no doubt the rest of the group as well, even if they'd love nothing more than to describe the man as stupid or foolish, they knew they really couldn't. Like with Jay, it was clear to Kay, or more to the point, rapidly becoming clear to her, that this wasn't just some irrational ill thought though sudden need for revenge. This was most definitely well thought through and something that grown over the years, Zan taking the long methodical route with it. From what they saw in the apartment last night, she could tell that even if Elliott didn't come back, Zan still would have gone through with this plan of his.

When it came to getting Elliott out of Attil safely, she listened to Jay, nodding in agreement at the 'prepare for the worst' remark. It was something she had loved by a few times in her life for one reason or another, and this situation was certainly one of them. It wasn't the first time one of them had used that mantra when it came to this situation and she doubted it'd be the last. At Jay's next musing, Kay found it was something that crossed her mind as well after Cliff ended her text with she wouldn't be surprised if they did so exactly that. "the idea has crossed my mind as well. It's a touchy subject to corner Zan on, so if they did I wouldn't be surprised if it was just Elliott and Cal, rather than the whole group of them. Or just leave him be entirely for one day. He had already been cornered once today after all. I mean.. Its not an easy subject to bring up, especially when it's only come out because of a low level empath." she replied.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"It could go either way I think" Jay replied. "It all depends on how rash Cal is feeling. She's definitely going to be calling the shots on this one. If hearing Zan is suicidal has sent us into such a tailspin, I can hardly even imagine what it would be like for somebody who actually KNEW him. If she gets too het up about this I don't believe that either Ell or Cliff would be able to stop her from demanding answers. I doubt she'd care about whether there's an audience to it or not just so long as she gets the answers she wants." She then gave a thoughtful pause "it'll be interesting to see how willing Zan is to talk about it. He's been fairly open so far once his identity as a spook was revealed.... but he was also incredibly reluctant to speak about those three years they spent putting his mind back together."

Jay then gave a smirk, picking up her smashed phone from the table and turning it over in her hands, part of her quite clearly proud and impressed by the damage she'd managed to inflict upon the poor device. She'd broken phones before, though usually it was because they didn't survive her getting into a fight with somebody intent on killing her or on one particular occasion because Jay had been flung off a moving motorbike. "But either way I need to get a replacement for this thing" she shook the phone making the two halves flop like a hinge. "I can't just be relying on people to just feed me information for the rest of today and tomorrow. The others can hardly complain about me leaving the apartment to do that. And if we just happen to be outside the court when things are finishing up...." she gave a mischievous smirk "Well that's just an unintentional bonus."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay felt glad that Jay was thinking along the same lines as she was when it came to Zan and what way it could possibly go. It seemed they both thought alike quite a bit on the subjects they had been talking about during this day of it just being the both of them. "I don't doubt that not much will stop Cal if she gets worked up enough either, having a firey attitude is quite frankly, literal when it comes the likes of her, Fia and myself. We can't have fire related abilities and not have them impact on our personalities and attitudes. I know last night it was bloody difficult to not explode for us three initially" she explained with a slight smirk.

Seeing Jay pick up her smashed phone, she had to admit what an almost impressive job Jay did to the device. At most she would have thought the screen would be cracked or chips and dents on the corners would appear from someone bashing their phone at the sound of an alarm, but to utterly destroy it was something else entirely. She couldn't help but chuckle at Jay declaring either way she would have to go out to get a replacement phone, seeing the two halves dangle and wobble just making it all the more amusing. She continued listening, seeing that Jay had a very valid point to make, even after she gave mischievous smirk and cheeky remark. "sounds perfectly reasonable to me" she smirked, "if I get changed, mind for the company?" she asked, not wanting to be alone in the apartment yet again, and we'll aware that she was still in her lounge wear and oversized hoodie that she changed into after her bath the night before, went to Zan's in and slept in.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Yeah, I figured, I've met a few pyros in my time and they've all been like that." Jay nodded in understanding. It was a pretty well known fact in the circles she travelled in that pyrokinetics were hotheads both physically and emotionally while cryokinetics were cool, calm and collected. This opposition of attitudes and powers is what made a pyro-cryo team-up (like Cal and Cliff) so formidable. The assassin nodded when Kay asked if she could come., not having any problem with a bit of company. She also knew that if she left Kay alone in the apartment somebody would get pissed with her. "Don't mind at all. I should probably get changed, these clothes still have blood on them after all."

Jay grabbed one of her bags and made her way to the bathroom to change, sighing very slightly at the sight of the scratches and cuts on her face. Due to her falling asleep within point two seconds of her body hitting the couch and sleeping for about twelve hours solid she'd never gotten around to cleaning them out. There was visible bits of dirt in some of them, which she carefully removed. This was on of the bonuses of living with a doctor- they always had medical supplies around, Jay thought. The outfit she decided on was a little different from her usual one in the fact that it had ripped jeans. The t-shirt, hoodie, leather jacket and ankle boots combo was one the others were well used to. As Kay wasn't out yet she decided to do a little bit of research and see where the best tech store in the main city was located.

Spoiler: "Jay's outfit"

 

[MzHyde]

It wasn't all that surprising that Jay wouldn't have been surprised about pyro's and how it affects their personality and emotions. It also wasn't entirely shocking to Kay that Jay would have come I to contact with them before herself or Cal came into her life in one way or another. She was also glad that Jay expressed that she didn't mind Kay joining her for the company before chuckling with a smirk at her agreement that she should also change clothing. "probably for the best" she replied, getting up to head to 'her' room so she could change into fresher clothes. She absolutely hated how rapidly shhe was having to have maternity clothing retrieved for her over these weeks of being here, she missed her usual clothing so much and she couldn't wait to be able to wear what she wanted again when Fia would come into the world. As she managed to decide what to wear, she could hear Jay soon enough getting out of the bathroom and heading back into the main room to wait for her.

She finally got dressed, she found herself in some leggings that were of a fake demon print (which was her only option for the most part for day wear that was remotely comfortable), one of her vest and oversized striped jumpers that she managed to snag whilst here on Attil. She paired it with her usual oversized biker jacket and her usual combat boots before just running a brush through her hair and making herself look a little bit more awake by adding some eyeliner and her favourite red lipstick on. She just wanted to feel like her old self for a while, and this was the closest she think of achieving it. On a whim, she grabbed her old tatty beanie that she had been seen in before, but not often and headed out to meet back up with Jay. Seeing what Jay was wearing, she found it was something entirely different for the woman, and not that far off of what she herself would wear when not carrying a baby. "sorry I took a while, it takes me a bit longer to get my boots on every day" she smirked sheepishly, always feeling bad about making people wait on her but knew there was nothing she could do about it. She grabbed her phone off the coffee table and shoved it in her jacket pocket.

Spoiler: Kay's outfit

Except the biker vest is her usual biker jacket and her creeper shoes are her boots

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay dismissed Kay's apology with a wave of her hand. "Meh, I had to look up a good tech store anyway. Might pick up some other stuff while I'm there, everything's SO much better here than it's Earth equivalents" her tone changed to a more musing one as she shut down the laptop and stood up. "Can use it to bribe or Kane or A.J. when I need a favour, they're both suckers for advanced tech, Kane especially so." Just because her relationship status had changed with Elliott (both finally having admitted to each other what was so obvious to everybody else) it didn't mean that the others attitudes towards her would magically change overnight. Out of all of them Toby was the one she had first bonded with- both were adrenaline junkies. She and Scott had somewhat bonded when she helped him track down some figures from his past, but when it came to the twins and Kane things were decidedly rocky. None of three exactly trusted her and the fact that she'd knocked AJ unconscious, used Kane as a human shield and dislocated Saoirse's arm all in the space of three minutes wasn't helping matters either. In order to get either of the boys to do her any favours she had to bribe them with alien tech or acquire specific intel for them.

As they left the apartment Jay grabbed her set of keys, locked up then shoved them in her backpack. To get to Jay's chosen tech store they took the train, getting off two stops after the one they'd usually disembark at when going to the court building. Jay knew exactly what she wanted, once glance at the store floor plan and she was off like a rocket, heading right for the phone section of the store. She ended up buying two phones (one for use now and the other as a spare), as well as four pairs of earbuds because she could never find decent ones when she needed them. By flashing her military ID (which was in the name of 'Xio' Da' Yon' a Devra soldier alias Dakkon had assured her would seen to legitimate to all the usual checks) Jay proved she had the necessary rank for the shop to be able to sell her a Kevlar casing that would stop most low calibre hand guns. With her purchases paid for they exited the store and began heading towards the court building.

 

[MzHyde]

Kay nodded at Jay's reply, thinking it was perfectly valid whilst not making her feel so guilty for possibly holding Jay up for wanting to get going. She smirked with a very brief, blink and you'd miss it, amused scoff at Jay's comment about wanting other things as well and to use it as bribe equipment for the little group her and Elliott were a part of back on Earth. She waited for Jay to grab her belongings that she needed and headed out with her, gladly heading to the train station with her and going to the tech store Jay had in mind. She remembered how it had come up before that Jay's relationship with the group was a lot more unstable than it was for Elliott, so she could totally understand why Jay would still use such things as advanced technology to bribe her group or get on their good side.

At the tech store, the moment Jay was off like a shot, she followed on keeping Jay in her eyesight but let Jay go on ahead, making her way through the aisles and reaching her in the phone section. She couldn't help but take notice of the amount of phones she picked and earbuds before walking with her to the cashier, seeing for the first time Jay using her military id to get a decent case. After the death of her previous phone, she didn't blame her for wanting to buy a really good quality case that would make her new phone survive. She didn't buy anything for herself as she had no need for anything technology, she was just happy to be out of the apartment and not alone. When Jay was done, she walked beside her out of the store and toward the court building to meet the others. If it was any other building, Kay probably would have texted one of the group to say they were meeting them there as Jay needed to go out, but she knew if they were possibly still in the courtroom it would be pointless texting them as phones weren't allowed to be used in the courtroom.

"hopefully now your new phone will survive another morning beating" she chuckled as they walked.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay gave a smirk, then a shrug "hopefully it will. Pretty sure I hit the old phone with the intention of breaking it given that in my pissed-off, mostly asleep state I AIMED it against the edge of the table, knowing that would do some serious damage." Jay gave a sort of proud smirk. The damage done to the device had been impressive and now she knew if she ever needed to destroy a phone in a hurry what would be a good way to go about it. "At least the new one now has a case that's bullet proof for low calibre weapons. That's GOING to come in handy, they only have such cases in R&D labs on Earth or military places that experiment with alien tech." Jay tipped her head to one side, narrowing slightly in thought before amending her statement. "Though if you're a vigilante with either access to said lab or a know techie gadget person with some incredible skills and access to sufficiently high spec machinery and materials you could potentially get such a thing made."

Kay, jay and Cliff were right in thinking that Cal had every intention of cornering Zan as soon as the trial finished for the day. She had no real plan other than to go up to and bluntly ask 'are you suicidal?' But Zan had no plans about hanging around long enough to be cornered again. He'd only been caught up to last time because he gave in to his cravings and lit up a cigarette. He knew he'd have to talk to his son, daughter and the whole extended family that now accompanied them at some point, but he'd rather not do it here and now. As soon as the judges announced that they were shutting up for the day he was on the move and by the time Cal and Elliott had made it out of the courtroom he'd already exited the building by one of the tunnels. "Well shit." Cal sighed, looking around for her father's mop of brown hair, seeing none. "So much for that plan." Elliott sighed, slightly relieved that Cal hadn't been able to confront Zan right away, potentially in front of everybody. "We should probably get back to the others" Cliff declared as they headed down into their usual exit tunnel "then decide what to do next. You two want answers, and so do we."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay smiled in an amused manner when Jay said about how even in her sleepy state, she still managed to purposely aim for the corner of the table to do as much damage as possible to her phone, making her chuckle at the smug and proud smirk that crept on Jay's face. She continued to listen to the woman about how good a phone case she got, nodding in understanding and out of being impressed that such cases existed. She calso smirked ever so slightly at the added information about if someone was a vigilante and had the right contacts, somehow not completely surprised that Jay would know such things, especially as she kind of saw the other group that Jay and Elliott knew as a bunch of vigilantes in a round about manner. "interesting, well I guess then your new phone will live and long and safe life!" she chuckled, having enjoyed spending this relatively short but well spent time with Jay and knowing more about her, as well as getting to chat with her about anything but the trial. She truly did think that if they had more time together in these casual manners that they'd grow to get along really well. An assumption that was also subconsciously driven by the fact her future self and future John trusted Jay with their daughter when they weren't around. As her and Jay walked, she saw the court building finally come into view and people exiting it from the distance they were at, "seems like its done with, let's go meet them at the usual exit tunnel. I'll give them a text" she told Jay.

Fia walked with everyone else that she was with, not surprised that Cal wanted to corner Zan if she could, only to have that plan completely and utterly shattered by Zan managing to evade them all before they could even get out of the court room. She didn't think Cal would have been completely calm if she had managed to confront Zan, so like Elliott, she did think it was almost a slight blessing in disguise that it wasn't going to be done right here and now in the court. She headed to the exit tunnels with everyone else, walking through them nodding in agreement at what Cliff said, "what she said, just because you couldn't corner him now doesn't mean you won't be able to ever. You know where he holds up at night now, so we'll have another chance" she replied, giving Cal a supportive squeeze on the shoulder and 'half hug' as they walked before letting go of her arm and walked normally. She may have shown her absolute loyalty to Elliott all this time, but she also saw Cal as like a sister (more than ever before since coming back to this time) and she wanted to be there for her just as much as she was for Elliott.

As they walked Cliff would have been the one who received Kay's text, out of pure habit from it being her that Kay was texting all day.

'hey Cliff,
Jay and I are nearby due to Jay needing to buy a new phone.
so we'll meet you all at the exit tunnel outside.
Kay' ​

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cal smiled slightly at Fia's gesturing (which was more comforting than she expecting it to be). She then nodded, seeing the wisdom in Fia's words, not only did they know the address of the safe house Zan (and his two collaborators) were working out of, they also had Zan's actual address and for the first time in twelve years a phone number that they could reach him through. She and Elliott had more ways of finding him than they ever had these past twelve years. "Yeah, I know, he'll show up sooner or later." She was annoyed she hadn't been able to corner him, but she was also aware she'd been pushing her luck and every other day Zan had managed to get further and further away from the building before somebody managed to catch up with him. The first day he clearly hadn't been expecting anybody to come after him, but the other days, he had and had tried to an extent to avoid them, something she found kind of insulting.

As usual Cliff and the others turned theirs phone back on after exiting the court building. Cliff didn't usually have any messages, so to see the two from Kay was a surprise. "Well, scratch that plan." Cliff declared, prompting all heads to turn her way. "Why? Has something gone wrong with the others?" Chas asked, his brain too numbed by the trial proceedings for him to be his more positive self. At those words John was gripped by a fear that somebody or something had figured out what Kay was and had done something unspeakable, before the logic centre kicked in and reminded him that either he would have felt something if that had happened due to the bond (or more likely Fia as her bond was stronger and actually worked properly). Cliff shook her head and chuckled slightly "nothing bad's happened. Relax all of you. Jay just went shopping for a new phone to replace the smashed one and now the two of them are waiting at the usual tunnel entrance."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia could tell at Cal's smile that her little bit of wisdom and reassurance gesture did in fact help her, making Fia feel glad that it wasn't unwanted and very much appreciated. She also knew no amount of reassurance would fully rid Cal of her annoyance for not being able to corner Zan, but she also had faith in her that she would know it couldn't be successfully done every single day, even if Zan's attempts to avoid the lot of them was insulting to Cal and probably Elliott. Fia too turned on her phone as the others did, seeing no texts coming in so figured that everything was all okay back at the apartment. It was only when Cliff said about scratching the plan they were going to do, that she too thought 'oh shit.. Something has happened to mum and Jay is demanding help', though her fear didn't stop her from noticing (due to having technically recently seeing that same fesr hit him when Kay was taken) John's fear grip him with both metaphorical arms. Unlike John, she didn't instantly think rationally that the 'family bond' would have alerted them if something did happen.

So when Cliff calmed them all down by reassuring them that there was no danger and troubles, she sighed with relief. She couldn't deal with another case of her mother being in danger after they all were confident that she was perfectly safe on Attil. "thank fuck for that...thought it was going to be bad news for a split second there" Fia admitted, cursing on that one rare occasion. "guess it shouldn't be surprising that they both went out to get Jay a new phone" she then added, shoving her hands in her trouser back pockets. She continued walking with everyone, heading to where they would exit and to find Kay and Jay outside. When they did exit, she saw that yes, exactly as was said, both Kay and Jay were outside waiting for them, Fia going over and giving her mum a brief hug hello before letting go. "nice to set you both looking awake and not zombie esque" she teased.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John let out an imperceptible sigh of relief when Cliff said that it was nothing nefarious. Usually he wouldn't get so emotional over such a thing, both were adults after all and Jay was trained to kill in who knows how many terrifying ways, but for some reason, in that brief moment it was if the human personification of fear had gripped him right by the balls. He put it down to everything going on with Elliott and the fact that his emotions were running ridiculously high over the fact that he could so easily lose the kid. Not for one second did he consider that whatever emotions he felt for Kay were playing any part in his state (even though they most definitely were playing a role). "Makes sense, that phone was better suited to be a fuckin' hinge after she finished with it." He smirked, all the earlier panic and fear he'd felt in that blink and you miss it moment was well and truly gone, replaced by his usual attitude.

As promised the two were waiting by the tunnel entrance. Jay looked the phone manual at the sound of the others arriving. Greetings were exchanged, more so with Kay than with Jay. Both women were looking considerably better than they had earlier- Kay wasn't looking like she was going to slump over and fall asleep at any given moment while Jay was actual awake and very much alert if the glint in her eyes was anything to go buy. At a loss for anything else to say Elliott couldn't help but state the obvious. "Been phone shopping?" The assassin nodded, gesturing at the bag. "Very much so, picked up a spare as well, though I'll probably end up using it as a bribe for Kane next time I need a favour." "You still have to bribe him to do anything?" "Yep." "He still hasn't forgiven me for using him as a human shield... or for that time I beat the shit out of you guys..... or stealing that prototype he'd been working on for months..... or hacking his file to find about his connections with Bruce and with his father's mafia."

Jay gave an unapologetic shrug, while some of the others who'd been eavesdropping openly gaped at the blase way in which she was listing off her various crimes. "Yeah... I got a lot of red in my ledger with him. Did we miss much at the trial?" "Not really, just more of the same- our side blasting those articles in the constitution, the other side trying to defend them. A whole pile of experts spoke for both sides, but don't worry, you didn't miss that lawyer from Maxist-556." Jay let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods, I'd be so pissed if I did, her work is LEGENDARY. Jack always wanted to hear her speak, but since we tried to stay away from courtrooms, it didn't happen." It was no secret that Jay had a great interest in hearing one particular legal expert speak. As soon as the name had been mentioned Jay had very nearly let out a fangirl squeal. (She didn't let out the sound, but it was clear as day on her face that she wanted to).

 

[MzHyde]

The moment Elliott pointed out the obvious after a)they were told that was what happened in Kay's text to Cliff, which the woman relayed to them all and b) it was very clearly a tech store bag in her hand and a phone manual, Fia couldn't help but fondly roll her eyes at her brother's question. Under her breath quietly she couldn't resist muttering 'no shit sherlock' but made sure no one could actually hear her as she muttered it. She was just glad that both Kay and Jay looked a lot better for staying behind and catching up on that much needed sleep as she listened to the list of crimes against Kane that he held against her. Just like everyone else she looked rather flabbergasted that that was the case between her and Kane, having not heard of such a thing still being the case in her time. As far as she knew that group were very much all a tight knit group, but she did know it wasn't always the case. Hearing it just made her put that bit more of her family history into a correct timeline order more easily.

With the trial being summarised by Elliott, she glanced at Jay as she went into a fan girl mode at hearing about a certain lawyer. It was also obvious she was clearly a fan of this person by the tone of her voice expressing far more emotion than her face did, which made Fia smirk. She had always grown up believing it was incredibly difficult to make Jay react in such a manner. Kay also found herself watching on with intrigue, amazement and amusement at how Jay went from being the ever so always professional looking assassin to an utter fangirl by a mere few simple words. "never thought I'd see you fangirl Jay" Kay failed to resist saying with a smile on her face. "oh, did you guys manage to corner Zan today?" Kay then asked the others out of curiosity, remembering Cliff's comment from her previous text.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cliff, John and Chas all stared in shock at the complete change in Jay's demeanour. Gone was the stony faced, stoic, never at rest, always alert assassin and in her place was somebody else entirely. they had no idea who it was, but it sure as hell wasn't the Jay they all knew and well loved was too strong a word, got on with would be more appropriate. The only reason Cal didn't gape in shock was because she and Elliott had both seen this reaction before. It had been the night they'd received the first set of files in the mailbox. Everybody else had gone to sleep, leaving the three of them to pour over the files they'd been given by Zan and at the mention of that particular lawyer's name Jay had let out a gasp, grabbed the file and scanned it, a grin coming over her face. When asked what was so great she very nearly went into a rant of considerable length about this woman.

Jay didn't blush at the fangirl comments, instead rolled her eyes. "I do actually have interests outside of murder, torture, spaceships and telling anecdotes about being in the military. This one was more of my brother's than mine, I preferred pathology and forensics. He had a big interest in law, outside of just looking for loopholes. He was the diplomatic one, while I just straight up terrified the shit out of people." She shook her head slightly, a fond expression on her face before muttering in her own language 'ah, those were the good days'.

Cal shook her head in response and sighed in annoyance "nope, this time he managed to give us the slip. Legged out of there before me or Qui could get near him. Bastard" she swore, but not with the malice that would usually have been behind it up until this point. She was swearing out of annoyance, not out of hatred. This change in mindset was noted by her wife, who said nothing, not knowing yet whether it was a good or a bad thing that Cal's opinion was changing. "But he can't go that far, We have his address, the safe house address and his number. I still want answers. Or more precisely" she gave a look at Dan "a confirmation on what Dan found out earlier. I don't doubt that he's right, but like everything else, I want to hear him say it to our faces."

 

[MzHyde]

Neither Kay or Fia ever thought of Jay as a one dimensional character, but that didn't mean when those rare moments of openly expressing them didn't shock them both. Though after the day of talking about families and such with Jay earlier on, Kay found it nice to see this other side of her yet again, even if she had seen more of Jay's more casual side probably than a lot of their group. Fia just smirked at Jay's reply and come back, "that's what makes you awesome though" she grinned at Jay as Kay then asked about Zan, shaking her head as Cal took the lead on giving the answer. To her it was only right that it was Cal who answered the question, as it was Cal who was a lot more openly annoyed by the situation than any of the others.

Listening to the answer and hearing the annoyance in Cal's voice, Kay could understand why Cal would be frustrated that she didn't get to corner her birth father once more. Having heard what Dan found out earlier, she could only imagine how important it must feel to Cal and Elliott to hear it from Zan's mouth for themselves. "I can imagine. As much as I can kind of see why Zan would have done a runner today after his talk with Dan, I also can understand why you'd be annoyed by it. But like you say, it's not like he can run far." she replied, "just give it a short while and I'm sure he'll explain everything once you do pin point him down to one place. It's not like he can get away with avoiding you and us for long. We've proven that to him perfectly well the last few days in particular" she added, trying to give Cal some kind of reassurance and comfort with words.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Hearing that Jay was the twin who straight up terrified the shit out everybody was hardly surprising, the woman instilled a healthy dose of fear in anybody the first time she met them. It wasn't something she could turn off, and even when dialled down there was always an underlying aura of something that made people's hair stand on end and think twice before doing anything stupid. Hearing that her brother was the diplomatic one was something that Elliot found very interesting. Jay didn't speak much about what her brother had been like, only saying that they had complimenting abilities which made an excellent team and shared a twin connection that meant they had each other's backs far more than a normal due of partners in crime. He hadn't pegged either twin to be diplomatic- terrifying the shit out of people and manipulating them yes, but diplomatic about things? He hadn't seen that one coming. With the topic now having moved on he didn't press Jay for further answers, even though she seemed to be in a more amenable mood to talk about her brother.

With no other plan being offered the group headed back to the train station, taking the scenic route back so Cal and Cliff could point out a couple of places and tell some anecdotes from the time Elliott hadn't been around. In return Elliott and Jay told a few stories from the things they'd gotten up to on Earth. They'd just reached the train station after a very pleasant walk when both Cal and Elliott's phones went off. Almost in unison they pulled them out and looked at the message. After glancing at each, confirming without speaking that they'd got the same message other Elliott read it aloud.

"My two collaborators are still in the safe house, the last bit of encryption around the financial records is proving quite the challenge, so unless you want to go an interrogate them about their motives and intentions too, I'd recommend staying away from it. I'll be at my own place if you want to interrogate me instead."

 

[MzHyde]

Kay and Fia walked with everyone round the scenic route back to the train station, listening to the stories about things from both Cal and Cliff's memories of when Elliott wasn't here, and Jay and Elliott's stories of Earth. They both knew the Earth stories would be mostly for Cal and Cliff's benefit as out of them all, it was those two and Dan who knew next to nothing about Earth. Kay was also just enjoying having the fresh air for a while, mentally making the most of each and every day she could be out and about, knowing as each day that came and went, it was one day closer to glorified house arrest in The House until unborn Fia was in the world. So for her it was all about these little moments and the simplest things like fresh air, nature and people walking around doing their best to get from a to b during their busy days. She knew it was only temporary, but she also wasn't so naiive to think that once Fia was born, it didn't mean she was suddenly safe from any danger. That danger would only escalate, she knew that deep down. Having a young phoenix mage hybrid come into the world was in so many ways, more rare than when she herself was born. Which meant that could only create some seriously large power to come into the world.

As they reached the train station, and both Cal and Elliott's phone went off at the same time, it wasn't difficult to figure out that they had been sent the same text as a bulk group text and it could only have come from one person with the timing. Listening to Elliott read the text out loud, it was clear that her (and Fia's) assumption on who it could have been was indeed correct. "I guess that gives you two a plan for what to do next. Or all of us, whichever way you two want to go about it." Fia commented, not sure if Cal and Elliott would went to corner him at his home alone, or with all of them together. Like with everything about this trial and trip, it had to be down to the siblings decision in her eyes. "Fia's right, we're all behind you both whichever you decide" Kay added, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets and pulling it taunt round her casually. Not that it was proving too much to do, with her bump making the way too big jacket start to not look so oversized. The only real clue was in the shoulders and arms that it wasn't a fitted jacket at all.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The fact that it was only Cal and Elliott's phones that chimed with incoming texts told everybody that it was Zan contacting them. If it had been just Cal and Cliff's that went off it would probably have been Deke with an update on something or another and if it had been only Jay's it would have been an update from...... who even knew. Even though the man didn't sign his texts, it was blatantly obvious from the content that it was Cal and Elliott's estranged birth father. Jay let out a huff of annoyance upon hearing that the financial records had yet to be decrypted. There was always a money trail, and if Zan could prove it existed, he'd have every piece of evidence needed to make his case watertight. John also let out a huff, but at the tone of the text. He couldn't describe what exactly it was about the tone that pissed him off, but he was annoyed by it none the less. (Or maybe it was just the fact that it was Zan that was annoying him).

Cal meanwhile glared at the phone slightly. As cramped as the safe house had been with all of them in it, there was no way she was going to invite Zan over to her place. That was a gesture of friendliness suggesting a trust in the man that she most definitely did not have. On the other hand meeting Zan on his home turf was a whole different ball game. While he'd clearly spent a lot of time in the safe house it was also clear that he wasn't completely relaxed there. She couldn't help what angle the man was playing that he'd given an open invitation for them all to come round and 'interrogate' him. An apt choice of word on Zan's part, it wasn't any old normal conversation, they were demanding answers and he was giving them.

Elliott gave a slight shrug, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets, the stereotypical action of a moody teenager who was feeling particularly insecure and needed to do something with their hands to keep their minds off their insecurities. "I gotta admit, I am kinda curious to see where he actually lives" he said, slightly sheepishly, part of him thinking it was an almost shameful thing to be curious about. Up until the point where Zan had declared in front of the whole court that he'd been in witness protection, Elliott had given minimal thought to his father as a person. But after the discovery of all he'd been through in his life, Zan was slowly but surely turning back into a person in Elliott's mind and not an unperson to be scapegoated for everything that was wrong about Attil with regards to magic users. "It's obviously not the house that we grew up in. That was sold, there's new people living there. You can learn a lot about somebody from their house." Cal picked up on the sheepish note in her brother's voice. They may not have been around each other for almost twelve years, but that didn't mean she'd forgotten his tics and idiosyncrasies. "Well I want answers, simple as. So we might as well go over and pay him a visit."

 

[MzHyde]

John's annoyance didn't go amiss on either Kay or Fia, both knowing him well enough by now that anything Zan related was going to piss him off greatly, no matter how big or small the relating subject to Zan was. They too had their annoyance with Zan but it wasn't nearly as visible this time round as it was on John. They also were very much aware of the glare that Cal was giving her phone, or more precisely the text on her phone, both able to tell that she was deciding on what direction to go with when it came to the text in question. Not to mention the whole big fact that the financial information was proving harder to decrypt than Zan's collaborators initially thought. So to them, leaving the whole decision on where to go from they were to Cal and Elliott seemed like the only logical solution. Hearing that Elliott was curious about where Zan currently resided outside of the safe house was of slight surprise to Fia, but her rational mind knew deep down it was only a matter of time before that kind of curiosity did surface. She knew if she was in Elliott's shoes, she would get curious as well.

Kay understood Elliott's curiosity more than Fia as she compared it to when she knew she had to go back to her childhood home in London, where although she never openly expressed it she did have a moment of 'I wonder if my father ever came back here, or if anyone else bought the house'. Yet that curiosity very much disappeared when she saw that a) no one had bought the house as it looked exactly how it did when she was nine years old and b) her father did indeed show up but as a demon from Hell. Neither said anything this time, just letting Elliott and Cal decide between them, until Cal decided that they should all go to Zan's to get answers. "then let's head over there" Kay commented. Fia nodded in agreement and understanding, having a feeling that Cal wouldn't let this drop until she got her confirmations and explanations for what they had found out during their lunch break.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John also picked up on the sheepish curiosity in Elliott and once again cursed Zan's existence. John was far from thrilled that Elliott was starting to get curious about his birth father. John was still very much convinced that the man would let Elliott and Cal down again, and do so in even more dramatic style than last time. Zan was far from trustworthy in his mind and the last thing John wanted to see was for Elliott to get hurt again (be it physically or emotionally). But he also knew that Elliott was an adult and no matter how much John wanted to say 'fuck him, let's not bother and go back to Cal's place, drink alcohol and be merry' he couldn't. He knew that all the questions whizzing around in Elliott's mind would eat away at his adopted son if they didn't get answered. Unanswered questions were far more dangerous than answered ones and had far more potentially to grow into toxic 'what if?' thoughts that couldn't be shifted.

There was a part of John that wanted to ask, no demand, if Zan really was suicidal. Despite Dan's insistence and Cal and Cliff's complete certainty, John was still sceptical, thinking that this was some kind of elaborate ruse on Zan's part to illicit sympathy from his estranged kids. If it was John would finally have a legitimate excuse to punch the man. One didn't joke about being suicidal, as somebody who'd been there and succeeded, John felt it was well within his rights to punch somebody who was lying about being suicidal. A smaller part of John was suspecting there might be something to it, Zan had mentioned in passing a suicide attempt and it was blatantly obvious that the man was unhappy. John gave a shrug "I'm with Cal, answers would be bloody nice for a change."

Zan's place was located right on the other side of the city, a residential area where Cal and Cliff had only been a few times. After consulting a map online the two figured out that they could take the train most of the way as there was a commuter line that serviced the area. Unlike the train that ran between the military base and the main city, this train was not a decommissioned military vehicle, just a standard one. The area wasn't as grotty as the one John lived in (and nowhere near as bad as the one he and Chas had grown up in), but neither was it as nice and upscale as the one Cal and Cliff lived in. There was some graffiti, as they passed through the estate they passed two 'justice' murals. Zan lived in an apartment block as opposed to a house (hardly surprising given that, to the best of their knowledge he lived alone). Again they only needed to go as far as the first floor something which Jay couldn't help but comment on, knowing that a first floor apartment was the easiest to jump out the window of when you needed a quick escape route.

 

[MzHyde]

If either of Kay or Fia picked up on the annoyed stance John took on the sheepish curiosity of Elliott's, they didn't let it show. If they were also thinking it, it probably have been of the opinion that neither could blame him for feeling that way when he saw Elliott as his son, and his son alone. Yet out of the two of them, it probably would have been controversially Kay who would have also thought that John couldn't fully be this possessive over Elliott now he was an adult, and as an adult he had every right to be this curious and would no doubt have the sense to keep his guard up to not get hurt again. Or at least, as hurt as before, showing that she could as she had a knack of doing, see both sides of everyone's emotions in this particular situation.

Like John, Kay was also curious if Zan was truly suicidal. Like John, she went through he down moments of feeling it, did it but unlike John, she had Fee and her phoenix genes to bring her back even if she cursed it at the time as back then she didn't know why it was happening. So for her, getting answers and some truth was incredibly useful and wanted right now. She and Fia all willingly went with the others to Zan's place, Kay particularly keeping her guard up a little bit more than before as it was an entirely new part of Attil they were going to. Just like when they first arrived to Attil, and even back on Earth going to AJ's underground place, she got that internal defensive anxious wall up in her. Sure, when they got to the area it proved nowhere near as grotty as John's area (and most of London) but it still was grotty enough to make her keep her guard up. She also subconsciously put it down to partially being pregnant and not wanting to have anything happen to her and unborn Fia.

Reaching the apartment block where Zan resided, her and Fia looked it up and down, also noting how his apartment was on the first floor, more so when Jay pointed it out, both nodding in agreement. There was no way it was a coincidence and this was all methodically thought out choices by Zan or whoever he worked for/got him the apartment/safe house. "here goes nothing I guess" Fia spoke up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Let me do the talking initially, yeah?" Cal told them, wanting to have the first word. Elliott nodding, having no qualms with letting Cal go first, fearing his sister might explode if she didn't ask the question on everybody's mind- 'Zan are you suicidal'. Cliff, Dan and Elliott all gave her reassuring nods. Cal then squared herself up, pulled back her shoulders, then knocked on the door. Whether or not Zan had been expecting them nobody could say, Cal hadn't texted ahead to say they were coming..... but the door was opened very quickly. Zan gestured wordlessly for them to all come up. Since leaving the courtroom he'd rolled up his shirt sleeves to his elbow, undone the top button of his shirt and completely done away with shoes and socks. Up close there were visible dark circles around his gold-turquoise mottled eyes, evidently he hadn't slept much either, if he's slept at all that was. There was also a plaster across the palm of the hand he'd been digging his nails into last night.

There wasn't much difference in size between Zan's apartment and the safe house, but since Zan's place wasn't filled with file boxes, stacked furniture and pieces of tech equipment it felt far more spacious. The apartment had a very distinct feeling of being lived in. The carpet was worn flat in places where Zan had paced back and forth, one of the two armchairs was significantly saggier looking than the other, there were rings on the coffee table and the desk where a mug of hot drink had slopped and stained the wood. His leather jacket was thrown over the back of a chair, a brightly patterned woollen throw over the back of the other, the motorbike helmet was on the table beside a rough wooden carving that could have been a fish but also have been a leaping horse, there were keys on a hook on the wall, along with an ID lanyard. There was a half-eaten, clearly home-cooked meal on the coffee table, metal chopsticks discarded to one side. The numerous bookshelves were bulging with books of all shapes and sizes (at a quick glance Jay saw titles in at least three different languages). The books were worn and battered in a way that suggested they were both second hand and well loved. Elliott had to refrain from reaching out a hand and running them along the spines. He loved the feel of worn books and when he'd been brought to The House for the first time he'd spent hours running his hands along the tomes, loving the feel of old, worn leather under his fingertips. It was abundantly clear that this was a home not a place for Zan to crash after working himself to the brink of unconsciousness.

At one end of the room there was an archway leading to the galley-style kitchen where two mugs were draining upside-down by the sink alongside a set of soapy pots and cooking implements. To the right were two doors (bedroom and bathroom Chas guessed). One corner of the room contained some form of home office with a decent computer set-up, a metal jar filled with an assortment of writing implements, a set of post-it notes, in all seven colours of the rainbow a knee-height shelf of organised files to one side and a pinboard containing various timetables and a calendar (the photo for this month was a moody black and white shot of a derelict train station). Each day of the trial so far had been neatly marked off. There was a distinct lack of any personal photos in the place (Cal couldn't help but look for them, part of her wanting to see a photo of her or Elliott, or at the very least, their mother, thinking that the presence of such a photo would prove that Zan did in fact care). But none of them were there. There was only one personal photo, a small, slightly blurry, slightly out of focus thing almost tucked out of view in the corner of one of the bookshelves. It showed a now-familiar shaggy haired teenager leaning against a motorbike. Teenage Zan wasn't looking at the camera, instead he was laughing in the direction of something that had happened to the left of him at a point out of sight of the camera. The other three photos in the room were prints, hung on the spare wall space. All professionally taken black and white shots, which all of the non-Earth borns recognised as being the work of a very famous photographer.

 

[MzHyde]

When Cal asked that she do the initial talking, neither Kay or Fia had any issue with it. In fact they were expecting it to be Cal who spoke first, especially Fia as she had seen Cal be the one to try and find Zan at the courtroom to try and pin him down. Ever since the frustration of not being able to, she just knew Cal would be the first, no, should be the first one to speak. So like the others, both Kay and Fia silently nodded their agreement and let Cal take her time to mentally prepare herself before seeing her knock on the door and Zan wasting no time in opening it and letting them all inside. Walking inside they looked around instantly to take in the sight of the place Zan lived, taking note of the lack of family photos around the place, or any hint that he was even a father to two kids at any stage of Cal and Elliott's lives. Fia could only imagine how much that must hurt the two of them, knowing that if there weren't any of the photos (or portrait done by future Kay) anywhere in John's apartment, it would have killed her and made her feel like neither her parents loved her. She just couldn't wrap her head around how a father would show any hint of caring about his kids or ex wife, especially as it seemed that wife was only an ex due to an assassination.

Kay looked around taking note of Zan's dishevelled appearance, the wear and tear on what belongings he did have a laying around, the stains on his coffee table, the washing up that had been done or still needed to be done, the stacks of worn well loved books, the one photo of Zan as a teenager and the prints. Sure it looked like a home and actually lived in, but something to her personally still felt cold and empty. She wondered if it was because of the lack of family photos or not, but it definitely screamed typical 'single man living'. She refrained from mentioning anything, keeping her promise to Cal that she would let Cal have the first words, but that didn't mean she wasn't going through a few remarks of observations in her head. She also had a brief thought of how seeing such an apartment in such a way made her strangely start thinking about how much she missed the safety of John's apartment.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Neither Cal nor Elliott had nay idea what to expect from Zan's place of residence. It was becoming abundantly clear to them that Zan was a complete stranger to them. Both had half been expecting an all white, all open plan almost showroom like residence or a copy of the safe house with clue boards, files and tech everywhere. The relative neatness of of it caught them by surprise as did the very homely feeling of it. It wasn't too unlike the house they'd grown up in as kids, what with It having books everywhere (both their parents had been voracious readers and nurtured that trait in their kids). The black and white prints Cal recognised, they'd hung in their parents bedroom (though all three had been in different frames). The absence of personal photos was something that Elliott also picked up on, completely missing the single shot of teenaged Zan as it was blocked from his view by the side of the book shelf. Their childhood home hadn't had loads of photos of the family on display, but they'd been there none the less and, like his sister, Elliott was both saddened and angered by the lack of them. Nothing about the place said that Zan was a father, but then again John's flat in this timeline didn't advertise that fact either (also not being the kind of man to festoon his walls with photos of his kid, and because putting up such photos would run the risk of some eagle eyed visitor seeing them and threatening their safety by threatening to reveal the existence of John's family to the world). With the exception of Jay, everybody in the earth group was comparing Zan's apartment to John's flat. Despite the politician's being smaller, it was nicer than John's which was suffering both from the general grottiness of that section of London and the fact that John couldn't be arsed to do any form of DIY on it. (In Fia's timeline it was Leah who finally cracked and had, just a few weeks before Fia left, announced her intent to overhaul the place with the help of various DIY and building skills she'd picked up as well as paying her friends to help with the really heavy lifting).

"Well is it true then?" Cal asked once they'd all assembled in the main living space. There was an anger in her tone as well as an edge of 'I will fuck you up if it comes to it'. Cal's anger wasn't directed at any one thing, it was just the all-consuming kind. Her arms were crossed, making it clear she meant business. Once again Zan had picked the spot in the room that meant he was as far away as possible from the others and also near the window if it did become a situation where he needed to bolt. Currently he was leaning against the desk, his arms also crossed in a stance identical to that of his daughter. No flicker of surprise went across Zan's face at his daughter's bluntly phrased question, nor did he ask for any clarification with regards to what 'it' was. Instead he gave a solemn nod and a very slight sigh. "Yes, it is. I'm suicidal."

Even though she'd been expecting an affirmative answer, hearing Zan say it so bluntly shocked Cal into a momentary silence. He wasn't blase about it as such, but he didn't stutter, stammer or try to evade the question like he had when they'd been pressing him to tell them what happened to their mother. Cal wasn't the only one stopped in her tracks by that admission. Everybody in the group had believed to a greater or less extent that Dan's diagnosis had been right, but hearing it confirmed by the man himself was something completely different to hearing it in abstract. Jay was the first to regain the power of speech. "How long?" She asked, face giving nothing away about her inner thoughts, narrowed grey eyes scrutinising his face, looking, waiting for any slip up in his voice or facial expressions that could indicate he was lying.

Zan let out a long slow breath, tipping his head to one side as he considered how exactly was the best way to answer the question. "It's hard to put an exact figure on it. I was probably somewhat suicidal during the period after I came around from being shot, but one could, and people have put it down to survivor's guilt and PTSD, both of which I definitely had." His tone suggested that he believed these people had a point. "There was a time during my stint in the army where I ended up on the psych ward as they thought I was a suicide risk. Once I started living on Attil properly, started to actually have life my mental health considerably improved. The brainwashing just completely cut me off from all emotions- good or bad. But once they put my mind back together and I remembered everything that I'd done..... it returned with full force."

"So how'd you try to kill yourself then?" John asked, a blatant sceptical edge to his voice. With his sleeves rolled up it was clear that Zan didn't bear the kind of scars that John himself did, but John also knew there was more than one method to top yourself- overdosing on drugs, hanging yourself, electrocution.... the list went on. "Arms were too obvious." Zan replied with a slight shrug, and John just knew that the man was making a reference to John's own scars. (Elliott's birth father had seen them the night before as John had rolled up his sleeves during the game). "I went for the leg instead, one of the major arteries of the body can be found just below the hip. Slit that open on both legs." As he spoke Zan made a gesture indicating the path of said artery. "Unfortunately somebody and stemmed the bleeding before I could fully bleed out."