exastris_scientia | retired open post // will still tag in if threads are ongoing!

[Joaquin sees it, and his heart hurts. He knew how close the two of them were, and for Chris not to remember--it would be like him not remembering Khan, and he can't even imagine that.]

You were close.

[He murmurs softly.]

Think about that for a moment. Allergies are symptoms of an overactive immune system. Like an augmented immune system trying to reassert itself after being suppressed. Aside from that, we were all built for different purposes. Our abilities are similar, not the same. Some of us are stronger, some faster, some smarter. You were--are--smarter.

[ Blue water. Falling. His arm hurting. Why does he remember that when he mentions that he and Julian were close. Why---why does he remember bits and pieces of computer parts found thrown away by others but given as a gift in a room he doesn't remember?

His head is hurting again. Headaches have been a pretty regular thing for him these days. He closes his eyes briefly, focuses on breathing, and then opens them again. ]

Basic medical at the Academy wasn't one of my best subjects. So, uh, Khan bringing me back, the introduction of still augmented blood is getting rid of whatever damage they did to me, if we're following that line of thought.

[ He laughs a little helplessly. ] You've---you've got to have something other than this. Something ---some kind of proof. You can't expect me to take you at your word about this.

It's my best guess. I'm a soldier, not a medic. Julian or Kati would know for sure.

[He goes into his pocket, pulls out an encrypted PADD. He hasn't been able to get anywhere with it, the encryption so ridiculously far beyond him even if he wasn't a couple centuries behind the times, but he'd stolen it from the facility he'd been kept in on the way out, and he knew it held information--considering he'd stolen it from the project head who'd taken particular glee in excising his calf muscles he was pretty sure it was relevant.]

I haven't been able to touch this. Like I said: soldier. You're the one who can practically talk to computers.

I'm ---so going to regret this.

[ He motions for and then takes the PADD, then looks around---okay. They can't do this here. He's going to have to get dressed and go somewhere else to try and figure this out. ]

Let me grab my glasses and get dressed, and we'll go find somewhere to take a look at this, ok? No tricks, but I'm not stirring up a hornet's nest in my pajamas.

Life is regret. And bring a bag, just in case. I'm not leaving you if they come, but we'd be better off running.

[Joaquin waits, patient, for him to come back--and he wasn't kidding about the glasses, God, this was such a mess, they'd done so much to him, and Joaquin just wanted to find whoever was responsible and shake them until the secrets fell out so he could make it right.

(He didn't care so much about what happened to him. He was built for strength and loyalty, not self-preservation.)]

This is quite easily the stupidest thing I have ever done. And I've done a lot of stupid things.

[ Joaquin had shoved a hat over Jim's head, he'd made a face but left it alone. He was wearing his glasses, and it was cold enough to warrant the jacket and the rest of his outfit, even the bag. He was mostly doing this to humor Joaquin and keep him away from his ship and crew.

There was some other, undefinable emotion that he didn't want to think hard on. ]

Okay, so I routed through another shop nearby. Didn't really need to, but I wanted to make sure if anyone came looking, they'd look somewhere not where we are standing. For the record, they don't teach subterfuge and spy games at the Academy. So I don't really know what I'm doing outside of 20th century films. So, I hope that's something you're good at, cause--- [ The PADD chirped to life, and Jim got to work, focusing more on the information than his outside surroundings. ]---there's no going back now.

Mm, I'd say it was the time you broke your arm being a showoff and diving off a waterfall.

[Joaquin really has very little interest in attacking Jim's crew. They're not his, but they're Chris's, and therefore off limits in a way that they weren't to Khan.

Of course, the other didn't know that.

Joaquin shrugs.]

If they come, I'll keep them busy.

[He says with the confidence of someone who knows he can fight like a demon and the nonchalance of someone literally genetically coded to be cannon fodder.]

That doesn't sound like me. [ A beat and his face screws up a bit. ] Nevermind that sounds like me.

No, you won't. We're here, and if they show up, we'll have enough time to get away from them. [ He stops a moment and nods towards a cafe outside of a hotel. ] They'll show up there.

Okay, I'm through the basic layers of encryption. What am I looking for?

[Joaquin snorts, amused, and keeps watch. He's very good at looking around without necessarily looking alerted, at least.]

Still. If it goes south.

[He glances at the screen, still prideful of how quickly Chris can work, even with one hand figuratively tied behind his back, points at a group of files clustered on the upper right of the screen.]

Those are reports on me. What they found, could have used on you. I don't know what else is on the thing. I couldn't break a simple encryption in 1996, this stuff now might as well be completely alien technology to me.

Still nothing. I didn't let you drag me out of my apartment and into a James Bond film so you could get caught or hurt.

[ He nods and accesses the files, unable to stop a soft chuckle from escaping him. ]

I'll be sure not to show you some of the more fun hacks I've done in my time, then. Wait, if they used it on me and ---then they had to have found you guys before Vulcan, right? Khan said it was after, or was that just for my benefit?

[ He stops, though, when some of the holos start cropping up. Holos of what they did to Joaquin, and he breathes in sharply. ] My god.

[ He feels like he's going to be sick, but he swallows thickly, then gets back to work. ] I--uh, there's---I might be able to get some coordinates off of this. There are some satellite shots, I guess they didn't think anyone would get this far.

It looks like an old military bunker maybe? I'm not sure.

[ He turns the PADD to Joaquin. ] Mean anything to you, super man?

You're presuming they could hurt me.

[They could, quite obviously, from what is being displayed on the screen. Joaquin's detached from it--he's obviously healed, and it's nothing worse than what was done to them growing up.]

They woke us at different times. I was held for three years.

[He glances over at the screen--recognizing the old Chrysalis compound instantly. For him, it hasn't been that long--but the barracks in which they were raised had seen better days.]

Chrysalis. Where we were created.

Do you think this is where they took Khan and the rest of your buddies?

[ So sue him, a part of him is still holding out hope that he does them all a solid and maybe gets them off planet, never mind his court martial and then he can go back to Nowhere, Iowa like this was a bad dream and hopefully not a penal colony.

Then the screen flickers. He reaches out, not too quickly, but quick enough, and tugs at Joaquin's elbow to pull him closer to the wall he'd been using to hide what he was doing. ]

It was monitored once I broke the encryptions. It's a good thing I gave them a fake trail, but, uh---that's your cue to go.

[Joaquin doesn't move, his eyes flash.]

You think they're going to miss you here? Or that they'll leave you be? Especially if they figure out they can't watch you anymore?

Don't be stupid, it doesn't suit you.

[ The retort that he can go back to his ship dies on his tongue. He saw what Marcus was willing to do, murder an entire ship full of innocent people, what's to say that the rest of Section 31 isn't willing to do the same? Or worse?

What's he supposed to tell them if he does go back? What can he say? Jim isn't even sure what's going on for certain anymore. Joaquin hasn't hurt him. He hasn't even really threatened him. Mostly, he's been concerned at every turn.

He looks down at the PADD, towards the area now being scoured by a few people that don't look like tourists, and then back to Joaquin. ]

Fine, fine. We go find this Chrysalis, we put whatever this is to bed, and I go back to my ship and my crew once this is over, all right?

[Joaquin is hardwired to protect his own, of course he's concerned. Concerned, afraid that Chris will never remember, that they'll never find the others alive...he's focusing all that energy on Chris right now. The others are out of his reach.

He nods.]

Ditch that thing. It's more trouble than it's worth.

[He glances around for an exit strategy. He'd rather fight, the instinct is itching at the back of his head, but they're very definitely outnumbered.

He snags Chris's jacket sleeve and drags him at a non-chalant saunter for the alley and the fire escape there, easily springing the ten feet to pull the ladder down.]

[ Jim isn't sure that is an agreement for real or if he's just trying to pacify him for the moment. He doesn't ask after it currently, they don't have the time. He ditches the PADD, and stumbles after Joaquin as he drags him by his sleeve into an alley.

It's impressive, he can't not admit, what he's capable of, and he knows this is just the tip of the iceberg. Once the ladder is down, he starts to follow him up to the rooftops. ]

So what's the plan, or are you just doing this as you go?

[He's confident it won't matter in the end. But he'd let him go, if he really wanted. It was what they wanted, wasn't it? New lives? He'd gotten that...even if it was predicated on a lie and makes Joaquin uncomfortable to think about.]

Improvisation is an art form.

[Is that enough of an answer for you? Joaquin doesn't plan, he just does. It's gotten him into trouble sometimes, but it's gotten him out of it more.]

We'll drop down a few alleys over, make for the shuttle hub. Chrysalis is in India. It'll be a bit of a trek.

So is crazy, apparently. You have that in droves.

[ Is it smart to taunt the augment? Probably not. He's slower than Joaquin, but he's managing so far. ]

How are we going to make it all the way to India without them catching on? There's facial recognition, voice scanners---they'll pick up on us before we get over the ocean.

retired open post // will still tag in if threads are ongoing!

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