197 Interlude: ...And Brace.

Tampa, Florida, February 28th, 18:00.

Simultaneously, from one coast to the other, four hundred and eighty-nine bodies experienced the exact same full body twitch.

And John, in four hundred and eighty-six minds, has for the first time ever, only a single thought.

Fuck.

The thought passes and he sends thirty bodies to sleep, saving up some processing power to focus on the current dilemma he's facing.

That being the report now sitting on the desk of his body in Tampa, working for the PRT. A report handed up from the TampaPD, regarding a response to a report of suspicious noises called in by the neighbours, only for the responders to find a busted open door and a dead guy leaning against the far wall.

Further investigation into the room found a number of masks, stashes of money, weapons and a laptop that had already spontaneously combusted before they arrived.

With all this evidence pointing to a parahuman activity, the case got pushed up, and the report ended up on John's desk.

Normally that would just be another day in the life of Kyle Jackson, that body's identity, but this time, he recognised the body.

Goddamn double fuck.

Throwing the report back onto his desk, John gets to his feet and stretches slightly, getting the attention of Nancy from the desk over.

Turning to meet her look, John gives her a smile. "Just going out for a quick smoke break. You want me to bring back a bagel or something?"

Letting out a small chuckle, Nancy gives him a mock glare. "You know I hate the bagels here, just get me a Coke, will you Ky?" She says as she roots around in her pockets, pulling out a couple dollar bills and offering them to John, who pockets the money with a joking smile.

"Got it, one Coke and bagel coming up." He says as he takes a packet of cigarettes of his other pocket, pulling one out and putting the rest away.

"Whatever, it's your money at that point, I only gave you two ones," Nancy rolls her eyes at him, before giving the cigarette now in his mouth a look, "those things are gonna kill you one of these days."

Waving her off as he walks for the elevator, he calls back his response over his shoulder, "not like lung cancer is the most likely thing to kill me here!"

"You work at a desk! You're not gonna get caped!" She yells back as he turns the corner, and with a slight smile, she turns back to her monitor, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she does so.

John meanwhile, makes it to the roof in record time. It's not technically the designated smoking area, but almost everyone who smokes prefers the view anyway.

And as he walks over to the edge of the roof, lighting the cig in his mouth as he goes, he pulls out his phone, opens the back, takes out the battery and flicks a tiny, barely noticeable if you're not looking for it switch, before returning the battery, closing the case and dialling a certain string of numbers.

Tapping his foot impatiently, John takes a drag of his cigarette, waiting for his immediate superior to pick up.

The line connects. "Jackson? What is it?" 

"A family emergency Sir, I'd like to request some time off." He says, allowing his current anxiety to concentrate in this body to sell the image.

Luckily, his superior is a decent guy. "Sure, you've got more hours saved than anyone else on staff. When will we see you back?"

"Just a couple of days, a week at most, Sir."

"Sure, I'll get Max to fill in for you 'till Friday. Let me know if you need longer."

"Thank you Sir, I'll be going now."

"Alright, wish you the best."

Hanging up the phone, John leans over the edge of the roof and pulls aside a fake brick, revealing a small hole drilled into the wall, where he deposits the phone, now active with a beacon that another one of his bodies is currently connecting to in order to get the files on Jinx's death.

With that out of the way, John finishes his smoke, and heads back down, all the while dozens of other bodies move, making phone calls, sending emails and most importantly,  trying to find where the fuck Lusia is.

He's already called her, that was the first thing he did with the news, but the line never connected, which is very very bad news. 

It seems that all he really can do, is prepare for the worst, make sure everyone  else is prepared for the worst, and then to simply... brace.

With a sigh he feels down to his bones, John returns to his desk to grab his coat.

"Hey, where's my bagel?" Nancy asks as he reaches the desk, but he just gives her a tight smile that has her frowning in worry, "are you alright? Did something happen?"

"Family emergency, I'm clocking out early." Folding his coat over his arm, John walks for the exit, pushing the door open with his back, "you mind kicking those files on my desk up to Karl? Thanks!"

Spinning around as he goes through the door, John ignores Nancy's response in favour of running a hand down his face.

Goddamnit Jinx. You just had to go on and die, didn't you?

In the privacy of his home three hundred miles away, John lets one of his bodies break down, compartmentalising his emotions to keep from being distracted.

You didn't even have the decency to wait for our anniversary.

His Kyle body starts making his way to his The Elite contact in this city, all the while one of his bodies chokes out a half laugh with a sob.

The fuck am I supposed to do with all these lucky charms now?

///

Indianapolis, Indiana, February 28th, 18:00.

Ring-ring. Ring-ring. Ring-ring.

"We should probably pick that up." Harlequin, no,  Yumiko's words get a soft hum from the smaller woman in her arms.

"It's probably not important," she says, snuggling closer to Yumiko under their blanket keeping her eyes on the movie playing in front of the couch.

"Lucy," is Yumiko's bland response, as she gives her a deadpan look, "both of our phones are ringing. It's probably important."

Letting out a huff, Lucy breaks away from Yumiko, sitting up and causing the blanket to roll down, exposing both of their naked bodies. Neither of them are shy about it, having seen it all and more already, though they still let their eyes wonder. "If this is just those two doing something stupid, then you're cooking dinner."

"Oh please," Yumiko says with a fond roll of her eyes, watching Lucy's ass sway as she moves to pick up their phones, "you say that like you  can cook. And we both know that if Lusia and Fool were doing something stupid again, we'd hear about it from the  news, not a phone call."

"Point," Lucy says with a nod, tossing her phone over even as she answers her own, "John, what's up?"

At the same time, Yumiko answers her own phone. "Hey John, what's up?"

Glancing at each other, they decide by silent mutual agreement to pretend that they aren't in the same room.

"I heard Harlequin answer me from your phone, just put me on speaker." John says to Lucy, voice dry as a desert, while Yumiko's phone just goes dead.

"Hello? John?" She asks, confused.

"Don't bother," Lucy says, aggrieved, while putting the phone on speaker and laying it on the table, causing Yumiko to give her a  look, "he heard you answer through my phone."

"Damn," Yumiko says, flinching slightly before turning to the tabled phone, "listen John, we can explain-"

"I don't care." John's terse words cut through Yumiko's half panicked explanation before she can even get started. "Well, no, I  do care. Lucy's a minor, this is funny, but now  really isn't the time."

Frowning, the two of them exchange a glance, though only Yumiko seems worried, Lucy just gives her a bland shrug. "Alright... What's up then?"

She doesn't bother trying to argue her case, because if it really wasn't serious then John would have spent at least half an hour laughing at her, then he'd call Fool and Lusia who'd call at least March, and they'd all laugh at her and it would be a whole thing.

And she's glad she didn't.

"Fool is dead."

His words, delivered with the tone of someone discussing the weather, bring an almost unnatural silence fills the room as the both of them stare uncomprehendingly at the phone in front of them.

Lucy is the first to speak.

"No. That doesn't make any sense. His power sucks, but it's not done anything that could  kill him, and  everyone knows how tight he is with Lusia, there's no way anybody would be dumb enough to kill him."

A sigh comes through the line. "I've seen the coroner's report myself. He's dead. I have a suspicion on who is responsible, but even then, as you said, they wouldn't be stupid enough to  actually kill him. It was genuinely probably an accident, a misfire of a power. Fool had an old rival, a guy who's power never worked on him. If he visited, and got 'lucky', for a given definition of the word, well... That's my current theory."

"Somehow," Yumiko says, her voice hesitant, "I don't think Lusia will see it that way."

"No. No she will not, which is why I'm trying to find out where the fuck she is. If either of you have a way to contact her that isn't just her phone,  please use it immediately."

Both of them shake their heads, belatedly realising he can't see that. "No, no we don't."

"Haaaah, figures. Well, I don't know what she's gonna do, but get your shit sorted, we'll probably need to call a Walpurgis soon. Later."

Without another word, John hangs up, leaving the two of them staring at the phone in silence.

Reaching out, Yumiko takes hold of Lucy's hand, pulling the younger woman down onto herself and starting to stroke her hair. "You ok?" She asks.

"Fine. We weren't really close." Lucy says, staring ahead.

But Yumiko just shakes her head a little, shuffling the two of them until Lucy is sitting on her lap, back to chest. "Then why are you looking so glum?"

"I always look glum."

"Not this glum, you're looking glummer than normal. If it's not because you cared about Fool at all, then what is it?" Yumiko asks, hugging her close in an attempt to be comforting.

Lucy stays silent, and for a long moment Yumiko thinks that she just isn't going to respond. "It's just..." she lets out a sigh, relaxing back into Yumiko's hold, "it's just bringing back memories... I'm not sure how to feel. Should I be smug? That now it's  her friends that are dying? Or should I feel empathetic, because I  know how much it  sucks?"

She doesn't really know what to say to that, as she sort of feels the same herself, though to a lesser degree.

After another short silence, Lucy speaks up again. "What about you?" Yumiko raises a brow as Lucy turns her head enough to look her in the eye, "you're hardly unaffected yourself."

Letting out a little huff, Yumiko gives Lucy a light smile and a kiss on the back of the neck. "I wasn't particularly close with him either, but it's still... strange, to hear of his death. I'm not sure why; I think, it's Lusia's fault." Her smile grows a bit bigger and slightly sardonic at her own words, "then again, when is it not?"

Tilting her head in question, Lucy regards Yumiko. "Which part?" She asks, before remembering to specify, "is her fault, I mean."

Letting out another sigh, Yumiko turns her gaze up, eyes unfocused, as if looking beyond the simple ceiling. "It's just that she's always been so...  unflappable, y'know what I mean? It's like she always have everything in hand. Like she's always ten steps ahead, playing chess while we're all still deciding which board game to buy. It just feels... unreal. I don't think I ever even really considered the option of her  losing. And I mean  actually losing, losing in a way that doesn't just make her win somehow anyway. It's just weird."

Nodding her head slightly, Lucy lets out a slight chuckle. "No, I get what you mean. Especially since the Gesellschaft thing. I played chess with her once, it took like seven moves before she started frowning. She didn't say anything, but I'm pretty sure she saw her checkmate then, some thirty-odd moves beforehand. This doesn't seem like the kind of mistake she'd let happen."

Humming at the though, Yumiko gives a pondering answer. "Maybe it wasn't a mistake then? Maybe it's just like what John said. Just an accident, a bad roll of the dice."

"Checks out with his power," Lucy cracks a smile for a moment before returning to neutral, "the real question, is how she will react."

"Poorly, I'd imagine. With a touch of overkill and escalation."

Some more time passes in silence as they both watch their movie, not really paying it any mind as they lose themselves to thought.

"Fifty bucks says she gets in a fight with the Triumvirate by the end of this."

Turning speculative eyes down upon the younger woman in her lap, Yumiko lets a grin grow on her lips. 

"Oh you are on."

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Get hit by the DOUBLE GAY bitches! That's right! Jinx and John dated! They were kinda on a break, 'it's complicated' would be the understatement of the century, cuz when you're with someone like Jinx, a relationship is never gonna go well. 

Jinx used to be incredibly self destructive, and John got attached trying to keep him together, they had a fight and stopped talking for a while until Lusia accidentally brought them back together. They still hadn't gotten back together, John just wanted to use their old anniversary anyway as a way to celebrate Jinx's improved mental health without letting Jinx know.

Shame that.

Also, Harlequin and Nutcracker, Yumiko and Lucy. They weren't a thing in my mind, but a reader with the illustrious name of Stinkyfard brought it up from an earlier chap, and I figured fuck it, why not.

Also, early chap cuz it's midday and I'm too tired to stay up for another 4 hours and am gonna go sleep now

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

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