Jet Link in the Alley with the Lead Pipe

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Jet Link in the Alley with the Lead Pipe

WHO| Jet and Felicity || Jet and Venus
WHAT| Getting on the wrong end of a monster and navigating thick fog leads to running into allies
WHEN| Week 1
WHERE| Arena 10
WARNINGS| Likely violence, cursing and other things, will update as needed.

He'd built up a nice little plan in his head by the time they'd led him to the tubes. He'd find Albert as soon as the countdown finished and they'd do what they could to survive without having to kill anyone. As much as was possible, anyway; he wasn't against self-defense or defense of his partner if it came to that.

Of course, all of that flew out the window when the platforms raised and there was nothing but fog all around. He had pretty good vision, normally, but there wasn't even a vague shadow nearby that would indicate something around him. It made him hesitate, even when the gong sounded to announce the beginning of the games, he remained stationary for one beat, two. Long enough that, later on when he was scavenging for supplies, he would think back and wonder if he'd have had better luck with faster reflexes.

Probably.

As soon as he was off the podium, he was running, intent on finding something to help his chances of survival since the 'cornucopia' had provided him nothing. As long as he kept breathing, he could keep searching for Albert and maybe some of the other people he was coming to perceive as friends.

His search seemed to stretch on forever as his sight fought with it's limits, even as the fog thinned in some areas. But he didn't come up empty-handed this time around. A search through an ally next to what must have once been a business of some sort produced a long metal pipe. It was too long to wield, but the rusted spot near one end proved brittle enough to snap off and make the pipe more manageable. Plus, now he had a bit of a sharp end.

As he turned to leave, a rustling behind him caught his attention, causing him to turn just as a large and ugly as sin bug flew for his face. He yelped and stepped back, swinging the pipe as he did, though it only caught air as it whistled past. The bug turned and Jet got a better look at it, particularly the rather large pincers protruding from it's face.

It lunged for him and Jet swung again, this time a satisfying thud accompanying the jerk of the metal bar as the thing shrieked it's pain. He smirked triumphantly...only to feel his smile slip when that same rustling sounded behind him, louder and in more than one spot. There were more of them.

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Felicity's head has been in the game this time. She'd done fairly well last time, in the safety of the indoor arena, but now that she was outside and lost in the fog, she was finding it difficult to focus on anything besides the upset surrounding her exposé and the humiliation which had followed. It was like the fog she was mired in had somehow found it's way into her faculties and now masked every tangible plan she could come up with in a thick shield of mist.

It wasn't until she heard something shrieking through the mists that she was able to shake herself out of her meandering thoughts and regain her focus. She froze, looking around, listening for the source of the sound until she saw something move in the corner of her eye. It was a shadow of a figure, lunging and leaping, and for a moment, she almost thought it might be Jet. Fee was about to call out when she felt something zoom past her face and toward the man in the fog. What the hell was that...?

"Look out!" She heard herself call out as she dashed toward the mystery man. "There's a swarm coming!"

"Fucking bugs!"

She's managed to keep it together in front of her allies, but as soon as she's out scouting on her own, Venus' fear of bugs seems to go into overdrive. She's almost used up her can of bug spray, a feat which she finds disconcerting for a variety of reasons. It shouldn't have gone that quickly; she shouldn't be scared enough to use it up within the week.

She slaps one away and tries to calm herself in the fog. She can't just close her eyes and breathe; though the fog makes seeing anything difficult, somehow closing off her sense of sight completely freaks her out more. And she should be too competent to be freaked out.

The gap between her estimation of herself and her current capacity will drive her insane. She hikes her bag up higher around her shoulders and takes a deep, damp breath. The humidity here makes her clothes stick to her in a way that makes her feel trapped, like she's inside a gloved hand and can't wriggle out.

She pauses when she sees something - someone - swinging something around. She hears rather than sees the pipe cut through the fog, the keen of air flitting past the edge of the makeshift weapon.

"Friend or foe?" she yells, unwinding the heavy length of chain from around her waist.

'There's a swarm.' He was fairly sure that was Felicity's voice, but that warning was the only thing he focused on for now. There were more of these fuckers and they were fast too. One was easy enough, but more would be difficult.

He listened for the approaching ones, but the sound was thrown with the weird acoustics this place had. Still, he swung and felt something solid hit near the end of the bar.

Something heavy hit his back and crawled up, throwing him off balance. He could feel those large pincers near his neck and shoulder. "Shit."

Jet grunted a little at the exertion as another bug went down somewhere in the fog. The air in this damn place was so thick it was like breathing water, making him feel sluggish and heavy. He was supposed to be the agility guy but right now he felt like a drowned dog.

The call made him pause. "Friend. Who's there?" It wasn't wholly a lie, there was no one he was willing to kill on sight. No one female, anyway.

The insects were already surrounding them both when she was finally able to confirm Jet's identity. Instead of having the opportunity to greet her friend, she found herself swept up in the swarm, buzzing ringing through her ears and in her head. She swatted at the small bugs tangling in her hair, only letting out a shriek when she saw the one with the massive pincers about to rip into Jet's back.

"No!" Felicity cried, swinging a fist, making sharp contact with the horrible insect. Did she just punch a gigantic insect in the face? Yes, yes she did.

The massive bug fell and Jet planted his boot in the thing's gut with a disgusting, wet, crunch. He turned and swatted at any bugs attempting to crawl in his friend's hair or onto her shoulders, most of them meeting their end by way of the pipe or by hitting the ground hard when hit.

When it seemed calm for at least a moment or two and the echos of wing beats appeared to drift away, he finally turned to look at Felicity.

"Thanks. You alright?" He was a little winded, but ultimately fine.

"Venus Dee Milo." She doesn't recognize Jet's voice, has never heard him speak a word. As such, she doesn't relax. Anyone can say they're a friend.

Her clothes feel soaked through. The fog chills at night, wells up in the heat of the day with the sweat. A trickle of sweat rolls down her lower back and she swats at it, mistaking it, for a second, for another one of those damn insects.

"I'm not in a killing mood."

"Well, good, cause neither am I." He felt like he'd suffocate with all the moisture in the air, exerting himself to defend his life sounded exhausting.

'Venus' though...the same Venus Enjolras was with? That really mad her someone Jet didn't want to kill, he still considered Enjolras an ally even though their interactions were few.

"Jet Link. I'm not interested in killing you at all, Venus, if that helps."

"Yes," she panted, clearly shaken from the experience. Sure, Fee could be fearless as all get out, but there was something truly disgusting about having to come that close to oversized and vicious insects. "You're not hurt are you? That thing had pincers the size of gardener's shears!"

"For now, it does. If I have to kill you later it might stick in my craw." At the very least, she's honest. She's already expanded her list of allies further than she's comfortable with, partially from necessity and partially from softheartedness. Eventually, if she lives that long, she'll have to start making ugly decisions.

These people won't all murder themselves, and that's a dark thought. She bats another fly away from her, emerging from a cloud as if from a battlefield, only her only foe so far has been the swarm of insects.

"You're the Jet Link Albert's...engaged to? Or married to? The tabloids were a bit unclear."

"I don't think so."

He swiped at a warm spot on his cheek and only came back with a tiny amount of blood, nothing more than a scratch. He was fairly certain there were a few of those from where the damn thing had landed on his back too, but nothing life-threatening.

"I think I preferred the museum." At least there he could see. "Lucky me you were nearby."

He hesitated a moment then nodded in the direction he'd been intending to head. "Heading my way or do you've got somewhere to be?"

They were supposed to be against each other, he'd known that would be the case the moment he realized he cared about Felicity, but the fact remained he did care. He wasn't going to hurt her and if she hurt him...well, he'd probably try to defend himself, but he ultimately wouldn't mind if it was her.

Edited 2014-06-11 02:34 (UTC)

He appreciated the honesty, it was nicer to say 'I might kill you later, but not now' than to promise something impossible. At least in his mind.

The second part of that made him start a little. Of course that damn broadcast had gone out to everyone under the sun, but no one had ever asked him about it and he hadn't told anyone either, so it was a little jolting to hear. But not unpleasantly so.

"Engaged...yeah. You've talked to Al? Don't suppose you've seen him since the arena started, have you?"

"You're quite lucky indeed," she said with a smug grin. It felt wonderful to be acknowledged as having saved the day. "I was just passing through, actually. Though in all honesty, I'll admit I've become rather lost in this fog. I'm all turned around it seems."

She feels a bit of sympathy when he reacts to her question; she doesn't necessarily find the media exploitation of her own relationship entirely unpleasant, but it's certainly a strange field to navigate. She preferred it when the media's portrayal of her was confined to her own person and not to her romantic interest.

"I did yesterday." She wraps up the chain and slides it into her pocket. The dark sticks out, poking upwards from the jut of her hip.

"So you can be assured that as recently as yesterday, he was doing okay. He was in a house but unfortunately," she gestures at the fog around her, "I couldn't point you back in the right direction if I tried."

"Yeah, you and me both. It doesn't seem to be clearing up at all either."

Jet looked around them, half hoping he'd be wrong and the fog would clear up before their eyes. It didn't.

"This direction seems as good as any, for now at least." He pointed North and began walking, assuming Fee would come along. "Don't suppose you've seen Albert since the gong."

"That's helpful enough. Thanks."

It was good enough to know his fiance hadn't been killed right off without his finding out. Not that he thought Albert couldn't handle himself and would die that easily, but still.

"So, what now? Do we stick together a little while since we've already said we're not out for each other's blood, or do we split?" Both options made sense and he really didn't know which one seemed better. He kind of wanted to stick together and get to know her a little more, but maybe this wasn't the right time or place for that.

"No, I haven't," Fee said, brows knit with concern. She couldn't imagine Albert would leave Jet all alone in the Arena. In fact, she often found that she considered them a unit, two puzzle pieces which fit together perfectly, rather than two entirely separate entities. That Jet had not seen his fiance was worrying indeed.

She had to stagger a bit in order to catch up with her friend, having shorter legs and all. "I have hardly seen a soul. Mostly shadows and eery, horrible noises. I hadn't even actually seen those spiders until just now. How dreadful that those things are scurrying around, just out of view."

"I'm alright with a little company, to be honest."

The truth is that Venus doesn't like to be alone, and this fog is like a blanket of isolation. It's like floating between wakefulness and sleep, that moment when the part of your brain that controls balance turns off and the bed seems to rock. Everything is surreal, and heavy, and seems so, so locked inside her own head.

She was off her medication in the last Arena, but she's more terrified of going crazy here than there.

"I just think it'd be easy to go in circles for hours here without knowing how long you've been out there. It's like this Arena is made to get under your skin." She wrinkles her nose. "And not just the bugs. So, um, since I told you about Albert...any chance you seen my guy?"

"It's doing a pretty good job of it."

That was the closest he got to admitting the fact he couldn't really see was messing with him. He hated it, it made him feel vulnerable like almost nothing else could.

He shook his head at her question. "Enjolras? No, sorry. Including you, I've only seen two people."

He and Fee had gone their separate ways nearly half an hour ago, there was no telling where she was by now. If it had even been half an hour ago. With all the fog around making him feel like he was in a dream, he didn't know if he could trust his internal clock.

"Let's go look for them together. At least for a little bit." He nodded towards a direction he picked at random, deciding the best way to try and not get lost was to keep walking straight.

Jet faltered, but tried to cover it by just slowing down his pace a little.

"Spiders? What kind of spiders?"

Not that he was scared or anything, but the bugs that had attacked them had been freakishly huge...what if the spiders were like that too? Spiders weren't supposed to get that big.

His mind oh-so-helpfully supplied the instance he first came across a tarantula in real life and how he'd nearly shrieked and hid behind Albert as though the thing had come after him directly.

It had just surprised him, that's all.

"How-um-how big are they?"

Even through the mist, it was easy to spot the devilish look in Felicity's eyes. Of course there was an arena to win, but why not have a bit of fun at her friend's expense? Surely he would find it all amusing, too!

"Large spiders. Hairy ones. With two dozen eyes and countless legs. They are larger than I am, and four times as ferocious. Oh, Jet, they're dreadfully nasty. I think I should faint if I saw another one."

"Would either of them happen to be Ellie or Kankri?" She's worried about them, especially Kankri. Ellie, at least, has a healthy network of adult figures looking out for her, and a background in horrifying survival scenarios. Still, Venus doesn't look all that hopeful; there are too many people in this Arena for either of them to have good odds running into who would be, to them, a stranger.

Her shoulders relax a little bit when they head back into the fog side by side. She doesn't leave her back to Jet, more out of habit than because she's worried about him being a liar.

"Hey, so." She raises an eyebrow. "You know what gets good air time besides killing people? Talking about love. Tell me about Albert?"

It would hardly seem possible with Jet's complexion, but the American went even paler with Felicity's words. Yet he valiantly tried to glare at her.

"Bull. You're just tryin' to get a rise outta me."

He huffed and crossed his arms...and maybe took a small glance around...just to make sure there were no giant spiders running around.

You could never be too careful.

"No, sorry. I don't know either of them." There were a lot of people he hadn't met, but that was partially due to design. It was hard enough going into these games knowing the few friends he'd made were there with him, it would only get worse the more people he got attached to.

When she spoke again a small trail of color traced his cheeks as he debated with himself. He didn't usually talk about his love life to others, not even Joe or Francoise who would be the most likely. But she was right and this was a game in which popularity was important. Of course, that also just made him want to clam up more. They valued their privacy and there was very little of it left in a place like this.

"Okay...but only if you tell me about Enjolras. Something specific you want to know?"

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?" Felicity's laugh was high and almost mocking. "I would never, sir. Not about enormous spiders, at least. Just you wait, Jet Link. You shall see them. I have no doubt."

She nods. She isn't surprised; neither of them spend the Arenas cavorting with as many strangers as possible. Ellie has survival instinct, and Venus thinks she's put the fear of God into Kankri.

"Oh, you drive a hard bargain. It bothers him that the Capitol takes so much interest in our romantic life." And it bothers her, too, no matter how used to it she is, but the smile she shoots Jet is positively mischievous.

"And there, that's one thing about him. My turn. Tell me about your first memory of Albert."

"I don't blame him."

As it was, he could imagine that his and Albert's wedding was hardly going to be as private as they'd like, then all the details would be everywhere and it would all be a mess. Not that that would stop him from marrying his fiance, it just sucked.

He's quiet for a moment as he considers straight up lying to her, but decides there wasn't much of a point after that stupid 'exposé.'

"My very first memory of Al? I thought I'd gone crazy. We met in the lab where we were turned into cyborgs like that dumb show said, but I'd been there for at least a year, maybe more before he ever showed up. I'd been alone for a really long time, so when I heard someone through the vent in my room I figured I'd just lost it. It turned out it was him in the room next to mine.

I don't know if that really counts, though cause for several weeks all I got out of him was his cyborg number and the fact he was German; mostly I talked and he listened. I didn't actually get anything from him until...something happened and I stopped talking. I guess he got worried or something cause he started talking to me instead. That's probably the first time I was able to convince myself I hadn't made him up."

He hadn't met Francoise yet and Ivan really was a voice in his head, so he'd thought for a long time Albert was just a side-effect of Jet fully losing it. Not exactly romantic when he thought about it, but there wasn't really anything romantic about how they met or those first few years of knowing each other.

"What about you? How'd you meet your guy?"

Edited 2014-07-04 00:11 (UTC)

The expression on her place is pure sympathy. Venus is good at shutting out her empathy, but it's an active choice; her default state is to feel, to automatically imagine what it must have been like, examined on, experimented on, that lonely. Even at her lowest she had other human beings around her.

"So he helped you survive. Mentally."

And then he asks her. She laughs, running her hands over her bare arms. She's cut the sleeves off her jacket and is using them as bandages.

"He thought I looked like a prostitute. I thought he was gay." It seems like ages ago, and in a way it was. She was a different person, focused only on getting to her next glorious death. He wasn't a worn down spirit yet. "I felt bad for him for being so- so out of time. And he told me to put on pants."

"Yeah, I guess so. We both did that." Jet had continued doing it and was still doing it to this day. Every time his partner's mood got too low and those thoughts Jet wanted to rip apart with his bare hands would filter back in, Jet was there to chase them back out as though he were the guard dog of his fiance's mental state.

What Venus had to say, though, made him laugh. He could just imagine it. Venus seemed like a woman from about the same time Jet and Albert had been from the last time they'd been home, but Enj was clearly from long before even when the two cyborgs had been born. All he had to do was think about he and the other first generation cyborgs having to deal with modern day and then multiply that times a hundred to get a good idea.

"You two sound like you got along great at first. Obviously it turned out alright, though."

A thought occurred to him and he smiled warmly at the memory. She hadn't exactly asked him, but he'd thought of it, so he might as well offer it.

"Al and I were like that too, sort of. We fought a lot. There were four of us that were made decades before the others and he was the oldest so I guess he kind of felt like he had to look out for us, even after we met with the other five. But, see, I was eighteen and had been living on the streets of New Y--the city I grew up in, so this thirty-something 'old guy' trying to act like the authority figure rubbed me every wrong way, so we weren't exactly best friends for a while. I'm pretty sure he thought I some reckless and stupid kid who ran his mouth before his head. I guess He wasn't really wrong."

And now a little less than seventy years later they were going to get married. He could just imagine how well that would have gone over if someone had told him that back then.

"I fuckin' hope not." He mumbled and crossed his arms moodily. He spoke a little louder when he said: "I bet you they like chicks more. Sweeter taste or something like that."

"We had a feud. A legitimate feud. I think everyone on District Five was ready for us to just either punch each other or kiss already." And as happy as she is with how things eventually ended up, there's a current of unease, like a riptide beneath her waves; it's been that way since they slept together.

"God, and I thought Enj was a cradle-robber." It's better to talk about the details, the revised histories of their love lives, than to dig into the deep end of the romances. They'll get all the airtime - and likely, the necessary sponsors - but not have to actually bare their souls. "I lived in New York for a little, you know. But I ended up in Santa Monica. I guess I just needed an ocean and calm winters."

Her laugh was even louder then. "There is nothing sweet about me. Not even my taste. Besides, I reckon they can smell the fear on you."

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Jet Link in the Alley with the Lead Pipe

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