Track Ops: 'Reflection'

He heard her loud and clear but didn't care to answer her at all. For one, Marce was not a psychic nor a mind reader. He always had to assume that they were right on their heels. Its assumptions like that that kept his team safe and secure. One does not assume that the enemy is far behind or has been out gunned. That kind of thinking can land you with a bullet through your head, or a bullet through another. Of course, Marce was only thinking and acting out of experience, and even with Ace swimming directly behind him, he didn't feel safe whatsoever. Leaving the boat was the first part of their plan. The second was making it to his house. Only then, nestled deeply in his dining room with his precious M4 in his hand, will he feel safe enough to ransack Ace with questions and other means of finding information. He was itching to do it the moment he grabbed her from the stairwell. Realizing she was a she only caused a minor detour.

The shore loomed closer and closer to the two and the explosions had finally come to a stop. They had been swimming for a good minute or so, Marce booking it through the greenish water with Ace somewhere behind him. He had to look behind him every so often to make sure she wasn't swallowed up by the depths. The blood loss should not have been put off for so long, but there was little he could do when he knew the Merenzo's were chasing them. He had read the reports on them and have also seen the aftermath of their plans. Apparently, they did not believe in the Mercy Rule in the tiniest molecule. If they did not have what they wanted, the killed for it. Those men were notorious for leaving a clearly defined trace to them at crime scenes, some object with the symbol of a snake coiling around a dagger, fangs ejected into the handle. The symbol led the government on chase after chase after them, never yielding any information. A wild goose chase much like the one that he was sent on by--

"Reflection, yes?"

Marce froze body as best as he can while continuously kicking his feet to keep himself afloat. The Italian slur that came from a large, shadowy figure standing on the bank of the shore that he was about to heave himself into. Realizing he was in standing depth, the tips of his feet touched a cragged rock beneath the water's surface. The night was too dark to make out his features, but he was staring in a serious manor. The blue light of his eyes were visibile enough to the Merenzo before Ace finally made it up to him.

"That is what water does when you stare into it. Who are you?"he commented, playing the confused card.
 
Paddling along behind Marce like a good little puppy, Ace was starting to think long and hard about her situation. Now that she was assuming she wouldn't see the sun rise, she couldn't help but think of all the things she had done in her life and wonder if there were things that she could have done differently. A few years ago she had sworn to herself to live without regrets. Life is too short to drag around the dead weight of remorse and guilt. However, it is also impossible - or at least it had been for her - to live completely without a conscience. A delicate line to walk, to be certain. There were no major transgressions in her own mind. She had nothing that she felt she was leaving undone or needed to be fixed before she was killed. Marce would get her information, and then her time here would be up. That was that.


Acceptance is a funny thing. Instead of counting down her living minutes as she swam slowly in the black water, she found herself calm.


That is, until she heard her name from somebody who was most definitely not Marce Jove. She blinked and looked up, seeing that Marce had stopped and was looking up at a Merenzo. Not one that she recognized right off, but the shadows made the quick glimpse nearly worthless. One detail she did gleam was his gun. Shit. She moved up somewhat near Marce but not really since there was no point hoping he'd save her ass again. Not if his life was on the line. His wisecrack nearly made her laugh, and that's when she had an idea.


She giggled and swam over to him, looping her arms around his neck in a clumsy way that both suggested drunkeness and hid her injury. Placing a kiss on his cheek, she giggled again and smiled at him, chancing a faint wink since her back was half turned to the Merenzo.


"Oh, honey, you're so funny! What're you doing back in here, I thought we were gonna go skinny dipping now that it's dark out!" she declared, giving a very faint Southern accent to her words. "Pretty please? It's supposed to be our anniversary," she added with a cute pout. She was banking on the idea that since she didn't recognize the Merenzo, she had never met him. In which case, it was possible that he didn't know what she looked like and was only looking for a man and woman in the water. Along this river, though, there were likely dozens of couples. Maybe they could play this off.
 
When Marce heard the laughter he felt every internal organ inside of him drop about 5 feet. Knowing that a Merenzo was in front of you and gracing them with a high-pitched, slurred laughter did not call for a good sign at all. You would either have to be extremely intoxicated (in which that was clearly not the case with Ace) or down right mad. Marce gripped his fist against underwater, praying to whatever form he prayed to that the woman did not lose her mind. He still demanded information from her and was going to get it one way or another. In that case, Marce needed Ace to be alive and sane for the most part. Another slurred and gurgling chuckle reached his ears, closer that time. in fact, it was too close to be ignored, so he forced a smile while a pair of wet, dripping lips slapped across his chin, the laughter becoming muffled.

By that time Marce's eyes had shot back to the man in front of him. A long lush of black hair snaked around a solid black suit, save for a crest near the pocket of his blouse: the snake and the dagger. Marce ignored Ace's words and decided it was better to scrutinize the threat in front of him. The Merenzo's brown eyes, lit by the near by street lamp, held a distant hunger and triumphant glaze beneath its depths. The man was built and burly enough to look like he could easily snatch both he and Ace clean out of the water and have his way with them. no matter how much skill Marce had with his training, it was only common sense to recognize the differences between him and his opponent. Not mentioning that he still had a disoriented and wounded woman to look after, the last thing Marce was willing to do was test his own theory. Therefore, he had no other but to go with the flow that Ace had made.

He only hoped she was as good as an actress as she was courting herself off as being.

"You're not getting a peek that easily. I promised you nothing. Half the time you were too busy begging then getting ready to go swimming in the first place!"he hawked, grabbing her close by the waist with the arm that was shrouded underwater. The two of them had both made it to the most shallow part of the shore, standing directly in front of the Merenzo that was looking down at the two of them. Marce knew it wasn't wise to make sudden movements while in front of a potential threat (in this case, a given threat), but Ace was playing the intoxicated role quite well.

"Don't play dumb with me, Jove. I don't find BAD swimming on any regular night like this one." Marce's lip curled into a sidelong grin.

"We had no other choice but to swim. Our boat, right there, broke down. And my lovely woman right here has had one shot too little, you know what I mean?"he asked casually while halfway carrying Ace out of the water. His little statement was meant to sound as non-threatening as he could have it seem, and apparently, it worked, for the Merenzo backed up to allow the two of them to step out of the water. Reaching his remaining foot out of the water and onto shore, Marce ignored the fact that the drenched clothes was weighing him down. Just like any other mission, he kept his eyes focused solely on the Merenzo.

"Your woman, huh? She looks a lot like that Reflection lady we...business men...have just been chasing down."he grunted. His features were now clear as day. Skin the color of light caramel, he had a chiseled jaw with a goatee that reached down to his mid chin. A piercing on the side of his nose and deep, furrowed eyebrows, he certainly did not look the part of business man. Marce chuckled at the statement, not wanting the Merenzo to tell that he was staring intently at his features for future reference. His first priority was to get both he and Ace to his home. Preferably alive.

"If I knew who you were asking for, man, I'd gladly point her out. I don't wanna come in the way of men and their business. But me and my lady here haven't seen anyone else this far down into the complexes."he said with an innocent shrug and a tight squeeze around her waist that he refused to let go. She didn't complete trust him and may have been dumb enough to grab her things and sprint off for all he knew. The Merenzo grunted again, circling them in a crescent moon pattern, a scowl clearly visible.

"So, she's your woman."

"Yes, and I'm glad for it."

"Prove it." Marce scoffed, still remaining in character by shooting the Merenzo an "are you kidding me?" look. When the Merenzo didn't budge and grunted instead, thrusting his chin up in a motioning manor, Marce was left with no other choice. Giving her waist one last warning sneeze to not freak, Marce grabbed the side of her damp face full in his palms and placed his lips on hers, kissing her fully. His eyes closed as he was forced to take in the scent of her and the lake mingling into an fragrance of femininity and fresh water. He maneuvered his lips to mask hers fully, kissing her with a passion he forgot he had.

"Alright alright...That's enough..." Marce simply ignored him, continuing the kiss just in case the man caught wind of how wrong it would seem if he simply pulled away from her on one mere order. The hand that cupped her cheek had now found its way to the back of her wet, stringy hair, curling the tips of his fingers in the luscious waves of brown, probing her skull with his finger in soft, circular motions. In his head, he was screaming for her not to panic and go along with it.
 
Ace kept up the charade with an easy smile as she watched Marce, giggling appropriately as he 'reminded' her that he had made no such promises. He was actually going along with it! She was a little surprised, but in a good way. The Merenzo above them, from what she had noticed before she turned her back on him, was probably strong enough to bend them into pretzel shapes. Still, she did note that he hadn't said anything yet. That was a good sign.. right?


"Aww, but honey, I was only so excited because I thought we'd get to play," she whined playfully, giving him another little pout as she pleaded with him to hurry up and get naked. It was hard to remember both the southern accent and the drunken slur, but she managed fairly well since she was refusing to focus on anything else. She fell silent as the Merenzo responded, noting the way that he spoke and the fact that he very obviously recognized Marce. Marce was a public figure - the Merenzo's knowing him was something she had expected. He hadn't mentioned her again yet, though.


"Shots? Oh, yes, I had a few. I think I even managed to outdrink you tonight for once, honey," she said, her voice low as if telling a secret even though she knew they both would hear her. She moved with him as he climbed out of the water, thanking her lucky stars that she had gone with acting like a drunk since she was so dazed by now that she stumbled every few seconds. Relying on Merenzo heavily to guide her, she moved with him to approach the Merenzo. As he spoke of her true identity, she just smiled at him, then tipped her head and looked back at Marce. Two men discussing some business that she didn't understand or care about, that's what she was thinking the whole time. Just don't listen too obviously.


Prove it.


"What?" she asked automatically, confusion washing over her features to mask the shock that she felt. How were they supposed to prove it?! She was too out of it to really think and comprehend what they were expected to do in front of the Merenzo. That is, until Marce squeezed her waist again.


She looked up at Marce and had to force herself to calm down when his hand cupped her face. Oh god, there was no way that he'd- She couldn't even finish the thought before his lips were on hers. A tiny gasp escaped her, small enough to avoid detection by their watchful Merenzo, but there was no doubt that Marce felt it on his lips. She closed her eyes and kissed him back without really thinking about it, allowing his passion to guide her own to the proper level that would be in a loving relationship. Her hands rested on his chest, tugging him closer against him by his shirt. The second that she realized she might be enjoying this more than she should, she pulled away.


"If you keep that up, I'm going to strip you naked right here whether you like it or not," she teased with a smile, slurring her words appropriately as she giggled up at him. Inwardly, her mind was still reeling from what had just happened. She had kissed the one man who probably hated her most in the world. What a messed up night this was turning out to be. She laid her head on his shoulder weakly, feigning nauseousness as she tried not to pass out again yet.
 
The same nonchalant grunt came from the Merenzo's mouth even when Ace pulled away and broke the kiss. In all honesty, Marce was going to wait for her to do it, aiming to make it seem like she was enjoying it a little too much. Her next statement was right on the mark. Marce pulled her closer to him with the hand still wrapped around her waist before placing a kiss on her head, smiling innocently at the man.

"I don't suppose you want us to get bare as well, do you?"he asked rhetorically with a chuckle before letting Ace go. Holding her had suddenly gotten a lot harder in the past few minutes. The kiss should not have happened and definitely shouldn't have made him feel like that. It was hard to determine the difference in acting or curiosity. The Merenzo was looking for clear and obvious facts that Ace was indeed the woman in his life and even went as far as forcing him to prove it, giving weight behind his sentence. Little did the two of them know, Marce was without that person for a very long time. He tended to keep to himself and stay away from women if he could help it. Alex was the only woman in his life, and she was shoved behind the job title more than anything. he had no feelings to her whatsoever and didn't plan on having any of the sort with any other woman.

He had a few before. They always left in a casket.

There was a lingering tingle on his lips from the kiss that he tried desperately hard not to wipe off. The Merenzo's jaw clenched when Ace laid her head tentatively on his shoulders. From the looks of the glare behind the Merenzo's eyes...too tentatively.

"Don't buy it." he said before pulling out taser like weapon. The braaaaccckkkk sound had already reached his ears by the time Marce registered what was going on. Unconsciously enough, he whipped Ace's sluggish body behind him while cupping his stomach forward just in time to avoid 1900 volts of electricity searing his body. The Merenzo wasn't slow either. The recovery from the miss was so great that Marce had to yell out in surprise at the sudden adrenaline that caked his body. Left foot at the ready he kicked directly at the man's shin, avoiding another swipe of the taser. And a good thing to. One touch and he'd be gift wrapped straight to Merenzo's headquarters.

Which...at the second...didn't seem like much of a bad thing. he'd be getting more information, whereabouts, and some damn answers, that's for sure. He was cunning enough to make it through torturous interrogations, if they operated that way, and even sly enough to keep mental notes in his head for months on end. The plan was a spontaneous one, and even though those were the best, he still had one problem...

And that 'problem' her body slumped against his back and too close to the taser current.

"Run, now!"he barked out, following his kick with careful punches to the man's shoulder, callously avoiding the pathetic waving of the taser. If the Merenzo wasn't careful enough, he may have slipped around and tased himself! With white knuckles flaring hot after each punch, Marce could only hope.
 
As soon as she closed her eyes, Ace was basically asleep. She was too exhausted to follow what was going on around her. So, when Marce suddenly turned and threw her behind him, she was barely able to yelp before tumbling to the ground in shock. She laid there on her back and looked up, watching as Marce fought the Merenzo. Seriously? Even after all of that, he hadn't believed them? How was that even possible? Why would she kiss Marce Jove if not because she was his lover? Well, other than the obvious reason of conning a con.


She heard Marce yelling at her to run and reacted without thought. Scrambling to her feet, she started running away from the shore. Her steps were leading her in a somewhat straight path back to the sidewalk, but she had to dodge a few benches and tables, along with overturned canoes that were drying out for the night. Looping around a large group of those, she looked back at Marce, then looked forward. A movement caught her eye and she faltered, staring at the moving shadow until she realized it was a person.


Another Merenzo. Shit.


She turned and started running off to the side instead, reaching behind her. Her gun was gone. Had she lost it? No, wait, Marce had taken it from her. She'd have to slap him later for that. A glance behind her told her that the man was heading for the one already fighting with Marce and hadn't seen her, so she looped back up toward the sidewalk and finally came to a rest beside a large tree that sat behind a streetlight.


Sitting there in the shadows, she leaned her head back against the tree. Assessment time. Now that her leg was too numb to feel, her arm was aching pretty badly. It had stopped bleeding, but was sore enough when she poked around it that she was fairly certain it needed to be cleaned out. Her leg was much worse off. Somehow it was still trickling blood, and it was swollen and numb to the point where she couldn't even feel herself pinching her knee. She knew for a fact that it was infected, given that she had fallen down a flight of stairs with it, sat in a boat, gone swimming, been pushed on the ground, and was now sitting on the ground again. However, she was still conscious, though barely, and had no other injuries.


Maybe Daddy should have named me Miracle instead of Grace..
 
Marce was having a very difficult time with his current mission. The status of both him and his enemy was close to a stalemate, and one he would have been willing to accept. He was all too happy to accept the fact that the Merenzo had a lethal weapon in his possession while Marce had nothing but his fists...which he assumed could be used as a lethal weapon, but there were already two murders he had on his hands already. The Merenzo swung the electrical blue current his way, nearly zapping the bristled brown hairs on his arms before Marce managed to slug him across the forehead with his elbow. The force hurt both him and the Merenzo when the man let out an enraged gutter of pain. Every so often Marce would look behind him to see if he could follow the path that Ace took away from the current situation. If he made it out of the fight, which he planned on doing smoothly, he had to have some sort of idea where she could have gone. He put her in the category of a smart woman. Ace didn't seem like the type to go rushing back to where they had just came from, her apartments.

A blast of white lights were brutally knocked in the back of his head out all of a sudden, mouth opening unconsciously as a few strays of spit and some other fluid flew forth. There was a loud crack across the back of his head that snaked its way into his ears, vibrating his eardrums violently until all he heard was the ringing throughout his cerebrum. the blow had come as quick as his head had whipped forward giving him no room to find the host of the attack. The taser was the only sound in his ears, the blow across the head the only pain he felt. All of Marce's sense had been skewed to many different directions, multiplying and bouncing off of one another like molecules in an atom. Thoughts became disoriented and his mobility had been depleted to a high extent. Smells were beginning to mingle with sights and the only thing he could taste was a hot, sour blood that dripped on his tongue after his teeth clamped hard down on it.

The Merenzo beneath him somehow managed to escape Marce's grappling jabs and elbows, struggling to crawl from beneath him. The street light above them gave a faint light as to where the sudden attacker had come from. Marce had enough sense in him to notice that he came from the direction Ace ran. Apart from the irritation of being beaten in the back of the head, Ace's disappearance made him feel a little more than uncomfortable. He was the one who ordered her to flee and didn't think twice about it in the least. Now she was lost somewhere with Merenzo's sprawling around from each and every angle. If he head Bryson and Alex with him, the current scenario would have been ended in a breeze. Alex would not have hesitated to shoot them both in the corners of their asses if it was to save her leader. With the light still blinding his eyes as he blinked repeatedly, wiggling his body to the right to avoid the sheer sound of the taser, he thought back to when Ace shot the other two without even batting an eye. The only top he had was now running somewhere else, while he still held the--

BRAAAAAAAAAAAACK.

Nothingness.
 
Ace sat there against the tree, unable to see what was going on, even though she could hear sounds of the scuffle. With that other Merenzo running down there, Marce was going to be outnumbered and she had no doubts that he would have lost the gun in the water. So he was unarmed, against a pair with guns and tazers and who knew what else. Fantastic. Government trained, maybe, but Marce was no ninja. She frowned and tried to think of something to do, taking in to consideration that she couldn't get up and run in to help him like she might have normally if she hadn't run away by now. Her thoughts kept wandering in useless circles until the answer fell from the sky.


Literally. Well, sort of.


Somebody fell right beside her, and it took her a moment to work out what had happened. A Merenzo, one that she faintly recognized, had apparently been looking for her. He didn't see a root from the tree and had sprawled thanks to being less than graceful. In less than a second, Ace had snapped up the gun that he dropped. Game on. She shot him in the side of the head and took a couple of deep breaths. Okay, think, Ace. Steady hand. She forced herself to stand and peered around the side of the tree, all of her weight on her uninjured leg since she couldn't feel the other. After a moment, she realized she could make out the Merenzo pair carrying Marce's unmoving body between them. Time to play heroine.


She took aim and killed them both, then checked the rounds. She only had one bullet left, and there was bound to be a driver waiting in the car. Already she had killed four Merenzos. She was dead. Sighing, she went to walk over to Marce and collapsed. It was the end of the line, she just couldn't do it anymore. She hurt too badly. Laying there, she didn't even hear somebody walk by and start yelling for the cops to be called, or the screech of tires that could mark the driver escaping before authorities showed up. All she heard were her own thoughts, pulling her into her own mind with an icy grip.


Seconds later, she passed out.
 
"I have to get in there to ask some questions, that's all."

"Sir, the two of them are under a very distinct amount of care, and..."

"We know Marce Jove. We're with the BAD. I'm pretty sure there would be no problem with you letting us seem him for a minute."

"No, mam, you misunderstand me..."

"Sir, please. The two of us know Jove like the back of our hands. If we are causing him any real physical damage by asking him a question or two, he'd tell us to shove off. It's a government thing." Alex's last sentence hit the nail directly on the head by the way the balding doctor slumped his eyes in fatigue. The poor old man looked like he was ready to kick the bucket any second then, staggering and swaying here and there while trying to put up a fair a debate with Alex and Bryson who were standing beside him, peering through the poor excuse of a cleaned window. Bryson scrunched a nose at the foul odor that seemed to be secreting off of the old doctor's aura. If it were him in that bed other than Marce, Bryson would not have felt very secured knowing that his life was in that arthritis filled hands.

Not that Marce was in a life or death tangle. He was sitting promptly in the hospital bed, fully dressed in the same lake drenched clothes he had on an hour or so ago, hair now having dried out from the quick ride to the hospital. He hadn't remembered much about that ride at all, having regained consciousness when he was getting wheeled into ICU. Apparently, one of the clerks in the Main Lobby of Decatur Elm General noticed that he was Marce Jove and quickly began panicking at the thought of something going horribly wrong within him. The paranoia swept through the ears of the hospital quick, and if it wasn't for him barking at them to take care of Ace more than himself, they may have put him in a cryo-chamber to keep him from being hurt any longer.

He was an Op. Not a God.

The old doctor gave one more look at both Bryson and Alex before letting out a sigh through a couple of hacked coughs. Bryson made sure to steer clear from the germs that were spewing from the man's mouth. If he were back in Tennessee, he'd definitely have better hospital service than they all were receiving. The doctor had clearly given up the argument, making room enough for the two agents to enter into Marce's room at there well. They both arrived in Georgia approximately 9 minutes ago and were anxious to hear the stories he had to tell them. Marce Jove being hurt by trying to protect a female? That was likely. But being tased and knocked out in less than a minute? Now that had to have some weight behind it.

Once the door opened, Marce nearly popped out of his lounged position in his bed, swinging his full and entire head towards the entrance of the door hoping to see his enemy alive and well...but not expecting to see Bryson and Alex in their casual clothes of tees and blue jeans. After fighting hard not to show the look of disappointment on hi face, Marce managed a small smile, scratching at nothing in the back of his head but nervousness filled the gesture. Bryson and Alex exchanged puzzled looks before choosing their seats on the chairs beside his bed.

"One day back and you're already in the old ice box, huh?" Alex began, trying to sooth the awkward knowingness over.

"More like one hour back. Didn't even get to change my boxers." Marce replied. It was nice to have the two of them there, even though he was expecting someone else. Someone with an hell of a lot of answers. Bryson nudged the edge of the bed Marce was on, a smile tugging on his lips.

"Heard you got knocked up."

"You heard right."

"Care to explain what tactic you failed to use so I can know what not to do the next time I'm in an easy scuffle?"

"Bryson." Alex snapped but Marce simply waved it away. The kid was young and looked up to Jove in a way. He expected the kid wanted some answers as to why his idol was in a hospital.

"Mind just wasn't in it. It was on another potential victim I had to protect." He disregarded telling them she was a female. They already knew. "Better me than her. Anybody."he added quickly. Alex lifted her brow and smoothed her fingers through her short crop of hair. Her face drew up in a motherly kind of fear than a friendly 'are you okay' expression. Marce cringed at it.

"Do you know her?"

"Are we supposed to?" Bryson interjected, eyes shooting straight through Marce's blue one's. He's like a damn Sherlock.

"No and Yes. It's Reflection."
 
Waking up in a hospital is never a pleasant experience. It was one that Ace hadn't experienced in a very long time. She slowly opened her eyes and just stared at the ceiling for a little while, listening to the bleeps and faint hisses that told her where she was. So, she wasn't dead yet. Maybe Marce wasn't either. She was hooked up to oxygen, which she immediately pulled off in an irritated gesture. What was she, eighty? She threw the mask on the floor and half sat up, looking over herself. Well, her skin looked snow white in these lovely lights and the johnny made her look like she weighed as much as a rhino, but that was beside the point. A slender bandage was wrapped around her upper right arm, and she knew the cut had been cleaned and stitched. Her leg was in a thicker wrap with more padding, but all she could see along the edges were a bit of redness. No doubt the edges of a rash from infecting it so badly.


She sat up fully and looked around a bit more, slightly surprised that there was nobody else in the room with her. Did that mean that they had no idea who she was? The government wasn't waiting to ambush her and drag her off to the slaughterhouse? No victory jig from Marce at watching her hang? She frowned a bit and pressed the nurse call button, sick of having to draw her own conclusions.


"Can I help you?" the thin woman asked as she walked in, clearly moody and nearing the end of her shift. It was obvious she'd rather be anywhere else than helping a patient.


"As a matter of fact, you can. I was wondering if I'm free to leave now, and where the bag that I had when I showed up here is," Ace replied, purposely being sweet. The nurse didn't even bat an eye before pulling the bag from the closet and dropping it carelessly on the nightstand, then she stopped and turned to Ace with a cocked eyebrow.


"I'm sorry, you aren't permitted to leave yet. The doctor needs to check your bandages."


Ace's reaction obviously wasn't what the nurse expected. When she ran out about a minute later after getting everything from the television remote to a vase of flowers thrown at her, she was loudly cursing the 'damned woman' who was apparently the 'worst patient she had ever had'. In her own defense, Ace was mostly angry about the fact that her things had been soaked through, and not about not being able to leave. Oh well. She sighed and opened the bag, trying to decide what was worth keeping and what would need repair immediately.
 
It did not take Marce long at all to realize that what he had done was horribly and irrefutably wrong. Alex and Bryson made it hard for him to come to that conclusion with their questions. He had been friends, partners, and comrades with them working around a good 11 years. This was even before they all met up in the last fringes of their college careers. They all majored in Criminal Justice, graduating from Auburn State University while they were living in a small town by the name of Florence. Bryson was a freshman at the time, exceptionally promoted from high school after his Junior year. His intelligent was unmatched and definitely uninterpreted by the board and other members of AU. Marce and Bryson had known one another since High School, picking up Alex along the way in CJ classes. Years passed, degrees came, and the trio found themselves in basic training, waving their arms like maniacal herons once departing the Gas Mask training. It was a long ways coming, but they made it through every single enduring project on the way. The one thing that Marce knew about his two comrades, was that they refused to be left behind on anything that could potentially be dangerous.

He spent his time sitting listlessly in the hospital bed explaining all that had happened after Bob contacted him and told him about Reflection's whereabouts. He was careful to use the name 'Reflection' and not 'Ace' only because he didn't quite believe that was her real name. She knew of all the trouble she was in with the government, and even if she was at an odd ends with the whole drowning facade, for what reason would she blurt out her name with a man that worked for the BAD? And not just any man, at that. If it were Bryson, it wouldn't have been as serious as Marce Jove made it out to be. He had taken the Kelly kidnapping more than personal, and to be honest, saving Ace from those Merenzos did not save her from his wrath.

"Where is she now?"Alex asked with little to no concern in her voice for Ace's state. One way or another, the woman was going to pay for what she had put the BAD through. A little wound here or there didn't matter to Alex in the slightest.

"4 rooms over by what I heard. She had to have the wounds cleaned and decontaminated." Marce said, scratching at the prickled stubble on his chin. The small hairs grew faster than he planned them to on doing. He hated the full beard look. He, along with a couple of other Ops, thought it made him look like some Brad Pitt wannabe, not the vision he was aiming for. He enjoyed the clean shaven look and didn't mind the stubble he wore at the time. He was a man and facial hair was going to catch up to him sooner or later. Besides, he had no one to impress.

"She being watched?"Bryson asked, shattering Marce's thoughts.

"By nurses."

"...Nurses?" That is when it hit Marce. He had left Reflection alone in the care of a nurse. He had left the woman who held the key to his mind's dungeon in her very tongue. He had left Ace and her sly mind alone without his keen eyes. Bryson's almond eyes and Alex's identical colored one's flicked to Marce's before the three of them leaped into a sprint, pushing their way out of the hospital room. The door cracked against the wall, alerting a nurse, a clerk, and some other person who was possibly a family member of a nearby patient. Regardless, Marce swore inside his head when he reached Ace's room, 343. The door was wide open. Not a good sign.

"Dammit!"he swore again, wheeling off to run down the hallway. Both Alex and Bryson exchanged glances before a doctor barked at the two, demanding to know why they were causing so much ruckus in the hospital wings. Marce was already long gone before the doctor to catch him as well. He passed the elevator, swinging open the stairwell door and skipping down the stairs with ease. For an Op, he put little to know thought about Ace's guarding. She was probably a shy away from the city by all he knew! Still, Marce broke through the bottom door of the stairwell, legs pumping passed the Main Lobby, passed the gasps of the late night clerks, and passed the entrance door to a cramped parking lot.

He stopped in his tracks, making not the slightest sound and glancing around for any sign of movement.
 
"I'm offended."


Ace was leaning back against the building, her right foot pressed back against the wall while her left supported her weight. She had her arms crossed over her belly and her bag slung over her shoulder. As soon as she had inspected her belongings, she had dressed. A pair of formfitting jeans, a plain white tank top, and an army green cargo jacket. Add some clean undergarments and a pair of shoes, and she was done. She had made it past the nurses station without even a blink. Apparently they expected her to be unable to move. It was obvious that the nurse she had hurled everything in the room at hadn't spread the story of the dangerous patient.


"After all we've been together, you think that I would just book ass at the first golden opportunity. It's hurtful, Marce. I thought we had something special. In love and all that," she remarked with a faint smirk, emerging from the shadows and meandering over to Marce as she tossed an empty gum wrapper aside. Mmm, mint. "Actually, I was going to leave, but you don't seem like the type of person to just let a girl get out after working so hard to save her ass, so.. Here I am. Also, I decided that I would rather lead you around a little more," she continued on, then paused and looked up at him seriously.


"There are a lot more Kelly's out there, Marce.."


She sighed and stepped back, then turned and looked at the door as it opened again and a man and woman stepped out. Judging by their expressions and how worked up they seemed to be, she immediately assumed that they were buddies of Marce. Just fantastic. She eyed them both, trying to decide which one was likely to snap on her first.


"Good evening."
 
Marce held his hand up before Bryson and Alex could bombard the female with questions. They were with the government, so they would be all too quick to ask Ace every question in the book, from full name to shoe size. Marce had trouble enough getting a name out of her alone. He doubted seriously that Ace would be open to any and every question the other two had to ask. Besides, this was his show. He had successfully caught Ace (if one could call it 'caught') and had already found out her name and a few attributes she held. There wasn't much Bryson and Alex could do for him except help piss her off.

"You say you're offended in my thought of you escaping and you were going to escape regardless? How strong were those drugs they gave you?" His eyebrow lifted up to spell out his confusion. Alex was the first to take a towards Marce, giving her his all famous "you sure you know what you're doing?" looks. He was accustomed to them and didn't see why the look would help him in a time like this. They were all in a tentative situation seeing as though Ace was not prone to being questioned. Her identity was sealed for a good amount of time before she slipped and got pinpointed by Bob. No one ever evaded Bob for long.

Her words had Marce worried for a second. There were a lot more Kellys...

"And you would know?"he replied, raising his black eyebrow even higher upon his head. Bryson and Alex remained quietly, letting Marce do all of the work. From here on out, his plan was to sweet talk her enough to getting her to agree to reside with him for a while. Either that, or she would be residing in a prison. Any one would have worked. He just preferred for her to be near and under a watchful eye.
 
Ace rolled her eyes but said nothing as he questioned her at first, not caring if he understood or not. She could easily be across the state line by now, and he should know that. In her opinion, he really should just be grateful that she decided to stick around. Of course, she'd likely come to regret that decision, but oh well. Her gaze drifted to the other female in the party and noted her expression. Oh, this was good. Clearly miss secret agent man didn't trust the criminal. Well, that made sense, but it was irritating. It wasn't like she was going to explode into a fit of psychotic rage and strangle Marce before the other two could move.


It was a pleasing fantasy, though.


His next question caught her attention more than the first ones had, because this one was serious. He didn't really doubt her. There was no way that he could, not after he had seen the state of Kelly. Besides, he, of all people, should know just what the Merenzos were capable of. She wasn't going to go about this the wrong way. Baiting BAD had turned out alright but it was useless unless she was in hiding. Now she needed a more direct approach. More importantly, she needed a guaranteed escape route.


"I'll make you a deal, Marce. Are you a gambling man?"
 
"Depends on what the stakes are."

Actually, Marce was not much of a gambler at all. He couldn't really pick up the past time in his young years. It just didn't appeal to him like holding a gun waist high and firing into a human body did. To bet and put something on the line was not the thrill he needed, yet people of his generation loved doing it. The Merenzo's, for a very prime example, were gambling with their own lives. The BAD was sure that the Merenzos knew good and well that the government were on their trail, even if that trail was a cold one. The moment any sort of hideout or main leader was found, they could consider the group null and void. If Marce worked with a secret evil organization he would not be putting his life on the line just to obey the rules of some stupid boss.

However, Ace didn't seem the type to put his life on the line, but he was all too sure that her freedom and identity were on it. She only cared about herself as far as he knew. All she had done up to that point was things to save her own ass. Even that disturbing (he used the word lightly) kissed they shared in the bed of that lake, she only did it so the Merenzo wouldn't kill her. He didn't believe she gave two shits about him. As a matter of fact, when he was sluggishly yanked to the ground by the Merenzo, telling her to run, she didn't hesitate at all to peel off. Marce eyed the woman with wary eyes, still ignoring the presence of his friends.

"I wouldn't play games with three BAD that aren't more than 15 feet away from you, A...Reflection."he warned, catching himself before he slipped her name from his lips.
 
"The stakes? How about the lives of forty-seven little girls, some of whom have been missing for over three years?" Ace offered, falling silent for a few moments after that. If she could have, she would have put a stop to the Merenzos a long time ago. Those girls didn't deserve the horrid things that they were put through every waking moment, but Ace was in no position to help them. She could free maybe one, perhaps two, but then she'd be killed and no help to anybody. So she had worked, tracking them all down and keeping up with where they were moved to. Now, there wasn't a single girl that wasn't pinpointed, and she knew all of their identities. The local police would have fudged it up, but BAD? They had the power to really take down the baddies.


"You can tell them my name. It's only fair since I know all of yours," she commented offhandedly, giving a half smile to the two that were silent so far. "Hi, I'm Ace. And, no, that's not my real name, but it sounds a lot more realistic than Reflection does since we're not in the hippie era anymore," she said, not offering a hand to shake since she thought that they'd just ignore it.


"Here's my offer, Marce. I will tell you anything that you need to know or even want to know. I'll explain any detail that you desire and hand you the Merenzos on a shining silver platter that no judge could question. I will also tell you the location of every girl that I mentioned. I just have two conditions. One, that I tell only you. No recording, nobody else sitting by listening, no testifying in court.. No other witnesses to who gave it up to you," she said, pausing to let that sink in for a moment before continuing.


"My only other condition is that I don't want a publicized execution," she added quietly. She didn't say that she wanted a deal for no jail time, or that she didn't want to be put to death for what she had done. There was no hope for her to go free after this and she wasn't going to force Marce to swear to it. No more hiding away in some free apartment. Time to face the music and go down in flames.


"So, are you in or out?"
 
"No."

"Marce!"

"What!? I'm not dealing with a criminal who sets those kinds of terms!"

"Listen, man, she just said they had 47 girls. You really gonna let them die like that when you have all the answers you want right in front of your face?"

Marce didn't like the way Bryson emphasized the word 'girls' at all. He knew exactly what he was doing to Marce when he said that. An entire can of memories opened up along with some fresh wounds. Ace's words rung in his head like church bells on a wedding day. She knew the location of all of the 47 girls she mentioned were kidnapped, some even up to 3 years. And there he was, thinking they only wanted to hurt the government by stealing the Senator's daughter. Little did they all know....

Ace still held her hand out that Alex took gracefully. The woman was quick to assume someone was dangerous, but her job required a level head and a clear mind. Ace had given that to her by telling her real name. Alex heard Marce's slip before so she was sure Ace was telling the true. Real or not, it was what she was addressed by and that was good enough for her. The handshake was over by the time Alex managed to look back at Bryson and Marce who were talking lowly among themselves.

"Fraternizing with the enemy..."Marce said, darting looks to Ace. He saw no enemy when he looked at her, but knew one dwelt in the inside. Behind those pretty little eyes and those vivacious curves that he swore to keep his gaze off of, Ace was something far more dangerous than he imagined her to be at first sight.

"It's not technically the enemy here. She isn't Merenzo."

"She knows as much as one."

"Which is good." Bryson was to right for his own good and for Marce's will as well. Her deal did not sound half bad. Keeping it a secret among himself was the only difficult part. He worked with the BAD for Christ's sake! Who's to say they wouldn't find out regardless! Still, he had nothing else to go for. Living on a prayer was still not an option. Marce exchanged looks with both Alex and Bryson who only gave him confirmed nods. Marce took out the exhale that seemed to have been wating in his throat for quite some time, placing a hand around Ace's waist.

"Fine. Let's gamble."
 
Marce's immediate rejection was not what Ace expected, but she simply cocked an eyebrow as Bryson attempted to reason with him. She knew that eventually he would cave. There was no way that he couldn't, not with how personally he had taken the Kelly case. It was still a mystery to her why it struck him so soundly, but she didn't care. The bottom line was that he did care, and he would do something about the rest of the girls. That was all she needed from him. A desire to set them free, and he had it. Now she just had to sit back and let Bryson get Marce to realize that he didn't have the option of backing out. She knew that he viewed her as worthless trash, but this wasn't about how much they hated each other.


Though, she didn't hate him.


"Alright. Consider it a deal, then," she said, looking up at Marce for a moment before looking at the other two. They had all left the hospital in a rather large hurry and she could only imagine the fits that the nurses were throwing at losing two patients in under an hour. Undoubtedly they were searching. She sighed at the thought and wondered how much time she had before Marce cornered her alone somewhere and began the interrogation.


"So, are we going to go back inside or leave? I'm starving."
 
Marce had just made a very tough decision of agreeing to work with Ace about the whole entire kidnapping case, even after he swore to kill her on sight when he would encounter her. She was the reason he had lost so much sleep in the past few months along with some other things he was not yet ready to describe aloud. And yet the minute he agreed to help her, she didn't bat so much as a single eyelash in though about the entire thing. Bryson must have have been thinking the same way for he laughed aloud while he stepped up to Alex.

"You two go. We have to give some sort of explanation to the doctors." He said while sending a pinch to Alex's forearm. The woman neither hissed, nor blinked, sending her foot slamming down on his toe instead. Bryson knew she was not too fond of leaving Ace in the care of Marce, and only in the care of Marce, at that. The deal did require for the two of them to be the only ones to know about the Merenzo information. As infuriating as it was, Marce agreed to it so Alex had no say so on the matter. She blew out an annoyed breath into the darkening parking lot before turning on her heel and towards the hospital entrance.

"Don't touch me anymore."

"Oh, now it's a problem?"

"Since when was it not a problem?" The two stayed on that subject while the walked away back through the double doors, leaving both Marce and Ace alone in the parking lot. The instant the door closed, Marce snatched his arm away from her waist and clamped down on her elbow instead, pulling her into a brisk stride. Unfortunately, his car was no where near the hospital, but Alex told him that he could borrow her black Crown Victoria for the time being while she hitched a ride with Bryson. It did not take him long to find the car at all but he was stalling by slowing his steps up. He did is best to keep his eyes out for the car and away from her face, because at that moment, he was absolutely livid at her.

"Look. I don't care how much you know. When you're in my house, you will do as I say when i say it. You can cut the sneaky bullshit too. Nothing will be hidden under my roof. Got it?"he snapped, hoping his harsh words would snap into her head before they wheeled off.
 
Ace didn't react to Alex and Bryson fighting, or to Marce shifting his hold on her to one that she expected more than the other. She followed his lead with no hesitations. Once they were in the car, she merely glanced at him while he snapped at her. It was actually rather irritating that he was just now deciding to treat her this way, and she decided to let him know right then that if he was going to act like a prick, he wasn't going to get anywhere.


"Stop acting like a hardass, Marce. You're a liar and I know that you do care how much I know, because if you didn't, you wouldn't have made a deal with me. If you want to take a swing, pull over and we can get out and fight until you're satisfied. I seriously don't give a shit. But don't you just sit there and say I'm being sneaky when I just offered you more than you could ever discover on your own," she snapped back at him, crossing her arms over her belly after she tossed her bag on the floor by her feet.


She knew he'd probably explode on her for snapping back at him, but he was going to burst sooner or later. Running away from the Merenzos almost seemed like a pleasant experience in comparison to this. She almost regretted stepping in and killing the pair who had been about to cart him off to their headquarters. Not that he'd remember that, of course, since he had been unconscious and useless to everybody.


"I'm here because I want to help you. I could have run. Just keep that in mind," she murmured after a little while, looking out the car window to watch the scenery pass by.
 
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