Who: Jane, Neil, and Mal When: mid-March, afternoon Where: Word of the Redeemer Fellowship church Status: Complete
When Jane had contacted Mal to let him know that she would be bringing Neil by the church to talk, he’d felt the weirdest surge of excitement. He knew they needed more than two or three people willing to go to battle against AIR to truly take it down, and every victim who got involved in their cause was a step in the right direction toward really building something. Mal hadn’t been genuinely enthusiastic about much in his life, but this was a possibility he could really sink his teeth into. He felt energized in a way he hadn’t before, and he suspected part of it was coming from the idea that there were others out there like him, who were free now. He’d even caught some thoughts from a new visitor to his congregation that had been intriguing ... Mal was keeping an eye on the dark-haired man, hoping to find another ally.
Mal had set up his small office for two visitors, complete with chilled water bottles on the desk, but he was waiting for them in the small front area of the church, glancing up from the open book cradled in his hand to the glass doors in front of him. He was sure they wouldn’t want to talk in the sanctuary, and neither did he. This issue felt completely separated from his religious views in his mind, compartmentalized into his other life. Mal had always known he would turn back to that life in some capacity, the anger and determination there just lying in wait for a spark. The spark was here. He was back where it had all started and finding others who’d been through the same hell, and he was feeling keyed up and anxious to really get started.
Neil had gotten used to the fact that when Jane wanted something, Jane got it. He was perhaps not quite as reluctant to go with her today, his life had gone so crazy lately that he almost felt resigned to the fact that it would stay that way. She wanted him to meet someone and he half expected it to be one of the people they had escaped with all those years ago but she wasn't being terribly forthcoming so that was just a guessing game. His face nearly dropped when they arrived at the Word of the Redeemer Fellowship and he gave her a long suffering and exasperated look. "A church, Jane?" he asked before she opened the doors to head inside. "Please don't tell me it's that lunatic preacher I keep seeing out on the streets." That was just what they didn't need, a religious nut, twisting all the weirdness into some fanatical belief that GOD was punishing them for their sins. Neil didn't believe in any of that stuff and he had very low tolerance for people who insisted on indulging their 'wisdom' to people like him.
Jane had purposely omitted the church part, simply because she knew Neil's protests would be slightly more aggressive if he knew the location. To Jane, the church meant nothing. It was just a building where they could talk in private. It wasn't Sunday, after all. Still, Jane expected Neil's huff and puff when they arrived, but she merely flashed him a smile as they walked towards the front doors. "All preachers are lunatics, Neil. They take a work of fiction as truth and pray to an invisible being in the sky. Anyway, Mal isn't going to push his religious buffoonery on us, okay? We're not here to get saved by Jesus. We're here to... well, you'll see." She didn't want to show her hand just yet. She'd let Mal do that.
Jane opened the glass door and gestured Neil inside, her smile never wavering.
Mal had stood up when he saw the figures arrive at the door. He set his book down on the chair behind him and waited only a little impatiently for the door to open. Then there they were, a man a few inches shorter than him stepping in with Jane behind him. He looked like he didn’t want to be there, and the impression Mal got from a quick scan of his surface thoughts was wariness and annoyance. That was all right. Mal gave the guy a smile and offered his hand out. “You must be Neil, hello,” he greeted. “I’m Mal.” He didn’t know what Jane had told Neil, if anything, and while he was tempted to launch right into what the purpose for their meeting was, he knew he should start with introductions.
Neil shook his hand but he didn't have to look happy about it so he didn't. Knowing Jane this was related to AIR or something else but most likely AIR. He highly doubted the preacher could fix the mess he and the dreamers had made and if he could it was too late for that. "Neil Wainscott," he muttered before withdrawing his hand and sticking it in his pocket. "I'm not sure to what I owe the pleasure, Jane can be quite secretive when she wants to be." He gave Jane a pointed look because it was well due for her to tell him what they were doing there.
Jane beamed, as if Neil had given her a compliment. In her mind, it had been. She could be secretive. It was one of her best attributes, if you were to ask her. Being mysterious was fun. "Mal found me through Vex," Jane explained, well aware that the mention of Vex would tip Neil off to what they were doing there. She didn't want to tell Mal's story, but she felt like it might not be so bad coming from her. "He was taken by AIR when he was young too. He needs allies, Neil. We all do. So here we are."
For being secretive, she didn’t hesitate to talk about things out in the open, did she? Mal gave a tiny wince, still smiling a bit, and gestured to the door to their left that opened on the hall that led the way back to the office. “That’s the short version, yes,” he said, his eyes more on Neil than Jane. “Would you care to come back into my office to have a discussion with us?” Every librarian he’d ever known had been a stickler for manners and good grammar, so Mal would make sure to watch those while they talked. Luckily he hadn’t had much to do in the isolation of his childhood for so long but read.
Neil was a little surprised to find that he was relieved to hear this was AIR related. Maybe because he'd worried this was some brand new thing - something else to add to the already insurmountable pile of shit that life kept heaping on him. "Fine," he muttered with a sharp nod, knowing full well Jane wouldn't really let him just leave without tormenting him for it for an unseeable future. At least Mal was polite, correct in his assumption that it would soften Neil up - even if only a tiny bit. Allies, that was a laugh, Neil supposed Jane was still set on doing something about AIR but Neil had a feeling they were untouchable and their survivors were just lucky if they didn't disappear.
While Jane enjoyed watching Neil squirm every now and then, the torment was all in his head. At least that's what she believed. She was pretty sure he would consider it torment if she did something so simple as asking him to have coffee with her. She followed Neil and Mal into the other room, grateful that Neil wasn't pouting too much or being overly rude. Though, she had a feeling Mal could handle it. And since she had given him the short version, Jane figured Mal could tell Neil everything else. Hell, maybe they would even get along and Neil would stop being so fidgety about stopping the people who ruined their lives.
Mal’s office was small, with some cheap second hand furniture and a simple cross hanging on the wall behind the desk. Instead of sitting behind it, he perched on the front edge of it, facing the two chairs intended for Neil and Jane. Once everybody was comfortable enough, Mal gave them both a faint smile. He didn’t need his powers to see that Neil was uncomfortable and didn’t want to be there at all, so he skipped the pleasantries of offering them coffee or tea. “I appreciate you meeting with me,” he said, directing it mostly at Neil even though he appreciated Jane’s presence too. “And I regret that this might dredge up bad memories that I’m sure you would rather not have at all. I feel much the same. But I believe that if we’re going to make an impact and stop this from happening to other children, we need as many hands on deck as we can get.”
Neil wasn't terribly surprised to hear Mal knew how to talk to him in a polite and soothing manner, the man was a preacher after all with some following, even if he seemed like a crazy person out in the streets sometimes. He was fully prepared for Mal to start telling him about the will of God or some shit and so he stayed alert even as he nodded his agreement. "Jane keeps saying much the same," he muttered, glancing over at her with bemused accusation in his expression. "I'm just not entirely sure what we can do. We don't know if they're up to anything illegal this time around, we have no grounds to contact the authorities - if the authorities can even be trusted. I'm just not sure what your endgame is here." Those last words were aimed at Jane and for a cringeworthy moment this whole setup reminded Neil of some kind of couples' therapy.
It was fine that Mal was taking a soft, soothing approach with Neil. That was probably the wisest route to take, but it didn't work for Jane. She was pretty sure Neil would see right through her anyway, even if she attempted it. "Endgame is taking down AIR for good," she replied, a hint of annoyance seeping into her tone because duh, he should know that by now. "We don't need the authorities. We can do this on our own. We were just getting started before Vex went crazy. You know they're back, Neil. Do you want to keep living here, paranoid that they'll show up on your doorstep at any minute?"
“Authorities would be useless,” Mal added with a small nod. “Too many questions we can’t answer without becoming science experiments again under different hands. And we already know they’re good at skirting authorities. If AIR is active again, then I have no doubt they’re up to old tricks.” He went quiet and gave Neil room to answer Jane’s question, even if it might be rhetorical. He could understand the impulse to hide and hope that all of it just went away, he’d done a lot of that himself. But now was the time to act, or begin to act at least. Mal felt that deep in his bones. Whether it was God telling him it was time, or something within himself, he didn’t know. But so many survivors converging on the town again couldn’t be coincidence. They were here for a purpose, he felt.
"It's not like we can just burn it down again," Neil grumbled through gritted teeth, his words directed at Jane before he realized how that sounded and paled a little. That did sound like they had burned it down the first time around - which was true but Mal didn't need to know that. "The first one burned down," he muttered to Mal as an explanation for his words and it might have even made sense if he didn't look so fucking guilty about it. He hadn't set the fire, he'd had very little to do with any of it. He'd been eleven years old! But the guilt was still there because he'd kept the secret and he knew exactly who'd started the fire and why.
"He knows about the fire," Jane said simply. And even if they hadn't talked about it when they met, Mal was a telepath and could have sussed out the guilt from Neil's mind at that moment anyway. Of course, Neil didn't know that. She was pretty sure once he found out he would flee so fast that there would be a Neil-shaped hole in the door. "And we could burn it down again if we wanted to. I'm going to reach out to Shane and ask him to come home and help us." She had no idea if Neil remembered Shane or not, but it didn't matter. Jane was sure the memories would return once they were all together again. "Anyway, we can do whatever we need to do. I want to make sure that they can't rebuild again. We have to take them out for good."
Mal had known the original AIR building burned down, and that some of the captives had caused it, but he plucked the whole truth out of Neil’s mind very easily. He hadn’t really meant to, but with it right on the top of Neil’s thoughts, it was hard to avoid. If Jane hadn’t told Neil why they were even coming, Mal was sure he didn’t know anything about Mal’s telepathy. It was the first time Mal had heard Shane’s name, and he made a mental note of it, especially if that was someone with destructive powers. “It’s going to be difficult, and people are going to die,” he told Neil, his voice solemn. “We just want to do everything we can to make sure it’s them and not us. Jane didn’t tell me what you could do ... but anything at all you can contribute would be appreciated.” It would be a big undertaking, and Mal wanted everyone with them on board one hundred percent. If Neil didn’t want to be on board, they would just move forward without him.
Neil did remember Shane, a chubby cheeked boy covered in soot who'd joined them outside the building looking haunted and tired. Then again they'd all looked haunted and tired and Neil's memories were no doubt tainted from all the years that had gone by. He was finding it hard to imagine what his lightning could do in a fight like this. "I can make pretty lights that seem to scare off large creatures," he muttered coolly, not liking this development at all. They could burn the building down again but they were adults now and the consequences would be so much more severe if they were caught. Neil didn't want to burn anything down at all. He just wanted it all to go away, preferably in a way that wouldn't bring the law or the press down on their heads. Maybe they could get Jules to open a portal and swallow the building whole. Fat chance.
"It's lightning," Jane corrected, glancing at Mal. "I've only seen it once, but he's right that it scared off those fog creatures. There's probably more he could do with it if he wanted to." Which he didn't, she was quite sure. "If those things were scared of it, then I imagine Neil's capable of a lot of destruction. Those people in the facility won't have a chance." Assuming they could convince Neil to help them. Jane was pretty confident that they could. She would terrify him into helping them, if she had to.
Lightning was definitely different than pretty lights, and Mal was distantly curious as to why Neil wanted to downplay his abilities. The obvious fear and reluctance to be involved in the first place probably had a lot to do with it. He gave a slight nod to what Jane said, but he was still mostly focused on Neil. “Are you adept with it, able to control it?” he asked, his tone still soft and neutral. Mal wasn’t concerned about any authorities who might get involved -- if AIR would even risk such a thing, most mundane authorities had no idea what they were looking at when it came to people of their ilk. If someone could burn the building down for them from afar, what evidence would even be left behind? Mal wasn’t worried about getting caught, just completing their mission.
These abilities were a nuisance to Neil who wanted to live a normal life, do his job, read a lot of books and not have to worry about evil institutions, fog monsters and uprisings so Mal was right, he didn't want to be involved and having these abilities meant he didn't have much of a choice. Chances were, if he had found out about his lightning some other way without Jane in the room, he would have buried the knowledge deep and gone on with his life as if it wasn't a part of him. "I can control it," he muttered. "For the most part." There was that night when he shared a dream with the others and started a small fire in his room but those were extenuating circumstances, so to speak.
"He was part of the reason why the entire town didn't get overrun by that fog again," Jane told Mal, since she felt like Neil was being too modest. Or, more like he was downplaying his ability to try and weasel his way out of this. "Those things hadn't wanted to go anywhere near him. He could probably do it now, if you wanted him to, but... he might try to light us both on fire." She smirked at Neil and reached over to pat his arm. "I meant to ask if Vex had any other names on his boards? If I get Shane to come, that's good but we need more help if we're going to take them down." She still had no idea if the teenager would be willing to help them, though she knew they would have to ask.
Controlled lightning sounded like a powerful weapon to Mal, and he was sure that Neil could become a force to be reckoned with, given some practice. Funny that such an intense force of nature had been put inside of such a meek, sulky little man. “That’s all right, I don’t need a demonstration,” he murmured, probing his way into Neil’s mind to find a glimpse of him using this power. There weren’t many to choose from, and Mal could tell all the memories that were there were tangled up with so much more fear and trauma. Neil had been through a lot, and recently. Mal pulled back and focused on Jane’s questions. He shook his head. “There were two others, two women, but they went missing quite a few months ago,” he told her. “I don’t know if it was related, but they’re gone. There is someone else I’m keeping an eye on, however. He’s been to the church several times now, and I’ve caught some glimpses of memories of AIR. I wanted to speak with you two before I approached him.”
Another person might have felt pride at Jane's words but Neil hated that possible label of being a savior, a hero. Those labels didn't fit him at all and he cringed a little at her admission. It wasn't untrue, that was possibly the worst part, it was just unpalatable to him. He was somewhat relieved when the topic turned to someone other than him and he didn't know that many people from the old days. As much as he didn't want to be involved it that decision was long since out of his hands so he sighed quietly and grasped his hands together on his lap and tried to be helpful for a change. "Naomi and Nicole went missing. Toby still lives in town but I haven't talked to him in... Ever. I've never talked to him after the fire. From what I know of him he doesn't really strike me as a church going kind of person though." He gave Jane a questioning look. It was very likely he had forgotten someone, she'd always had more contact with everyone than he had - free to roam between their minds when they were sleeping.
Someone else. Jane liked the sound of that. It was a shame Vex was gone, but if they could find others to take his place, it wouldn't be too big of a loss. Mal seemed like the leader type so maybe he could take over where Vex had left off. "I can talk to Toby. I think he'll remember me. You should talk to Jules," she told Neil. "Since you two had the brain thing..." Jane gestured to her head. "She would be useful too." Given that Jules was a teenage girl, Jane figured it would probably be easier if she spoke to her, but Neil had been connected to the girl first and honestly, Jane figured he would squirm or get haughty about it, which was just a bonus to her suggestion.
“This man’s name is Diego,” Mal offered, because why not. If he was truly an AIR survivor and he was game to meet with them, Jane and Neil would know his name soon enough anyway. He obviously wasn’t this Toby they were thinking of, but Mal made a mental note that there was yet another possible ally in town. “Who is Jules? What brain thing?” He quirked an eyebrow and looked at Neil. Mal could just pull the information out of his head, of course, but that was rude he supposed, and he’d promised Jane he wouldn’t do it to her, so he would try to extend the same courtesy to Neil. Mostly, anyway. But the ‘brain thing’ sounded intriguing.
Neil wrinkled his nose and shook his head firmly, absolutely mortified that Jane had brought up the dreamers at all and the 'brain thing' which she saw as just another superpower when in reality it was more of a curse - or at least related to a curse. "She hates me," he retorted reflexively. "She does not want to talk to me. And her father worked for AIR, I'm not so sure she'd be willing to help us." This all went beyond his discomfort at talking to a teenage girl, there were a million reasons for them to leave Jules out of this and one of the lesser ones was that she was still just a kid. A high schooler. "I don't think she's even eighteen yet, it'd just be wrong to involve her. I suppose Nic Castell might help us but I wouldn't count on it. We didn't exactly part on the best terms." He did not want to get into the 'brain thing', it had nothing to do with AIR and if none of the other dreamers were helping, it didn't really have any significance anyway.
Jane shook her head with a brief roll of her eyes. "She's the one I told you about," she told Mal. "The girl who opened the doorway where all of the people disappeared... Vex included. She's a senior in high school so she's got to be eighteen, or at least close to it. If her power was something silly and small, then I'd agree that we shouldn't involve her. But I think it would be a mistake to not use what she can do." She didn't really care that Jules Cooper was a teenger. They were all kids when they were used and between Neil, Jules and Shane, they could totally destroy AIR, at least physically. And who knew what this Diego man could do. "Nic Castell is a witch," Jane explained to Mal. "But I don't know how many people you want involved that have no real stake in this fight."
There had been so many names tossed around lately, Mal had forgotten Jules’s, but as soon as Neil mentioned her father, he remembered what Jane had said about her. Father dead in the fire, a power that opened doorways into other worlds. She’d been instrumental in making a group of people disappear, and apparently so had Neil. Interesting. “None,” he confirmed to Jane firmly, glancing between the both of them. “No outsiders. They wouldn’t understand, even if we explained it all to them. Only speak to other AIR survivors about this. You never know who could be working for them, and we need to stay invisible until it’s time to make ourselves known. Mal’s gaze landed on Neil. “And you won’t help us speak to the girl?” he asked directly. Since he knew her name, Mal could easily find Jules Cooper if Neil refused to help. It just might not go as smoothly if he showed up without someone she already knew. “Do we know if she has any loyalty to AIR? She must have been young when her father died ...”
"The last time Jules used her power we nearly had the town overrun with monsters again," Neil said, his voice a touch sharper than normal. "I'm not sure how that can help us with AIR. It's a chaotic skill at best and I would hesitate to call it a skill at all. More like a curse. I don't think she has connections to AIR presently but out of everyone in town, isn't she most likely to be on their radar? Her father worked for them. Maybe they made her this way but I would never go so far as to call her one of us." It all sounded more reasonable than his initial reaction where he would have disclaimed 'use it how?' at Jane with exasperation to rival grumpiness. He'd swallowed it down as Jane and Mal kept talking but it felt like his head was about to pop with the building frustration. "So no, I won't help you speak to her, I'd request you leave her out of this."
"You have a chaotic skill," Jane snapped. "You could burn someone with a crisp if you don't practice and learn how to control it. She could be the same way. And yeah, maybe AIR has her on their radar, so why shouldn't we try to use her before they do?" Neil was starting to irritate her and she realized she didn't really want to lose her temper in this place. But fuck, did he always have to argue? Jane shifted her gaze to Mal. "We can try to talk to her. Or, if you want to leave her alone, we can. But even if she wasn't kidnapped and tortured, she was still changed like we were. We should at least keep an eye on her. Maybe you should talk to this Diego person first and we can go from there. I just think that once we get going on this, it's going to be impossible to keep anyone out of this... anyone connected to it, anyway."
Mal was very curious as to how AIR had experimented on the daughter of one of their own when she’d been so young. Even if they didn’t end up involving her in this building resistance, Mal wanted to meet this Jules Cooper and have a look inside her mind. Her power sounded dangerous, so maybe it would be worth keeping an eye on her from afar. Mal watched Jane and Neil snap at each other, his expression still only mildly curious as he glanced between them. He nodded a bit at what Jane said to him. “She can stay a question mark for now,” he said. “Let’s find out more about her, if she’s more dangerous than useful, and if she would even be on our side. I’ll speak with Diego, you’ll reach out to this Toby?”
Neil was visibly frustrated, very much so, but Mal's words put him halfway at ease. They'd leave Jules out of it for now and he wasn't even sure if he was relieved for her sake or his own. She'd told him flat out that he was an asshole and that was the last time they'd spoken. Teenage girls were crazy and Neil had no interest in finding out just what she might say or do when and if they met again. He also had no desire to be a part of this mad plot Jane and Mal seemed to be concocting so the less there was for him to do, the better. Jane would drag him here again though, he knew that much. He'd long since lost hope that his lack of cooperation would lead her to give up on him and the next time there might be more people, a really weird group of people who had nothing in common. Yes he knew Toby, or knew of him. Where Neil had retreated into himself after AIR, Toby had gone the other direction and become very flamboyant. Three years was a big age gap in high school so they hadn't talked but Neil knew who he was, how could he not. He was admittedly a bit curious about this Diego person since he wasn't one of their group but not enough for him to really want to return.
Jane thought it would be foolish to ignore the girl completely, so if they kept an eye on her, that was better than nothing. Once AIR got wind that they existed, if they didn't know already, then she had a feeling anyone connected to the facility would be sought out. They needed to be several steps ahead by then. "I'll talk to Toby," Jane agreed. "Neil probably won't do anything helpful, but he'll be there when we need him to be. Right?" Her eyes focused intently on Neil. She had helped him with his dream problem, she had let him sleep on her couch when he thought that cop was hunting him. So now it was time for him to help her and if he didn't? He had to know she would make him regret it.
"Of course," Neil muttered begrudgingly, well aware of just how miserable Jane could make his life if she wanted to do so - it wouldn't be the first time either. "I would just prefer it if we left Jules out of this, although yes, I'm fine with keeping an eye on her if you do it. It's less... creepy." It wasn't as if he could listen in on her thoughts without her knowing about it, that wasn't how their psychic connection worked (and he was very grateful for the fact!) and he had no interest in being labeled as some stalker of teenage girls, a shady librarian lurking around the high school. No thanks. "You understand," he added, glancing at Mal who no doubt felt the same way. It was nerve wracking being around underage girls these days.
It took Mal an extra few seconds to figure out what Neil meant by creepy, but it clicked into place when Neil spoke directly to him. As aware as he tried to be of what society saw as appropriate vs. inappropriate interactions with teenage girls, sometimes that sort of thing slipped his mind. He glanced between Neil and Jane. “If one of you can point her out to me, I can find out what she knows about AIR and how she feels about it,” he said. “I don’t have to make direct contact with her.” All of them would no doubt eventually know he was a telepath, so why not be honest about the ways he could be useful himself. Mal didn’t shy away from using his powers, that was for sure.
Unable to help herself, Jane rolled her eyes. "Neil, you would think keeping an eye on an eighty year old man would be creepy. It's not like you have any creepy motives, okay?" Huffing, she returned her attention to Mal. "I'll send you a picture..." Jane trailed off before lifting a brow at Mal. "Unless you can see her in my head?" She wasn't sure what the specifics were of his telepathy. Could he see images she thought about? Or was it merely thoughts he heard. Either way, Jane would make it work. They had other people to bring in and talk to. The teenager was just another piece to the puzzle they were putting together to take the entire facility down.
Neil had been so busy being defensive and aloof it hadn't even occurred to him to ask what AIR had made of Mal but that became pretty obvious now and he suddenly felt like crawling out of his skin - or at the very least get out of this office. A telepath, or mind reader or some kind of psychic by the sound of it. Had he been listening in on Neil's thoughts this whole time? Neil felt nauseated suddenly and weirdly like he was back at AIR with someone studying him. True to his nature he did little to hide his discomfort, shrinking a bit in his chair and going paler. Oh he hated this and he hated Jane for bringing him here with no warning whatsoever.
Mal wasn’t quite trying to listen in, but Neil’s sudden spike of anxiety and aversion to him was impossible to miss, even without his bodily reaction. Mal wasn’t used to telling people what he could do -- when he did they either wrote him off as crazy or had that reaction. Jane already knew, and Mal couldn’t lead anything without everyone knowing what he was, so it was what it was. Neil would just have to get used to it, or count himself out of this little endeavor. Mal wasn’t sure the mousy man would get much of a choice with Jane around, he just hoped it wouldn’t become a problem. Mal ignored him for the moment though, focusing on Jane with a small nod. “I could, with your permission,” he said. He’d promised not to intrude on her thoughts, after all. They had an agreement. Hopefully Neil would see such a thing was possible.
Jane knew Neil would be angry with her, once he realized that Mal was a telepath. But she also knew he would have never agreed to come if he'd known before all of this. Sacrifices had to be made, she supposed. Neil was going to have to get used to all of this because there was no way he was sitting out. He was too useful and far more powerful than Jane was. Ignoring Neil's silent anger, Jane nodded at Mal and closed her eyes to visualize Jules without being distracted by Neil. Given their mutual promise to stay out of each other's heads, Jane figured he could get a good look at Jules and then get out of her brain. She was eager to talk to this Diego person now. Eager to track down Shane and bring him home. And maybe there were others they would find. The more, the better.
Jane was rather good at visualization, it seemed, so it was easy enough for Mal to dip into her mind and see the mental picture of Jules Cooper. She was pretty and blonde, if a bit developed for his personal tastes, and he studied her for a couple of moments, his blue eyes glazed over in the outer world as he focused inward. Once Mal felt that he could recognize the girl in a crowd, he pulled back and blinked a few times. Neil was still silent and tight-lipped, and Mal got the sense that this initial meeting was coming to a close. He wasn’t sure he would ever see Neil in his office again, but who knew. Mal hadn’t expected to find any of them at all, so he would just make use of what he could get. “Thank you,” he said to Jane. “I’ll try to get a sense of where she stands.”
It was weird knowing what was taking place and Neil almost expected to see the air ripple between the two but of course there was no visible sign of what was happening. It was just creepy and weird because it was completely undetectable. He didn't think Jane even needed to close her eyes for this. He had the awful feeling that she was showing Mal something more than just Jules, that they were having a secret little joke that he wasn't in on, probably about him, and he was somewhat relieved when Mal spoke again. He still hadn't the faintest idea what exactly they wanted to do about all of this and the idea of meeting with a bunch of outfits in the dark of night - vive la resistance~- was laughable and terrifying all at once. "Now what?" he asked, looking at Jane warily. "Have you found out anything about the institute at all?"
Jane opened her eyes and then shifted her focus to Neil. "Not much beyond what we already knew. Wilkes's son is running the place now, but I haven't found out where he lives yet. Vex apparently had a ton of notes at home, which is how Mal found me. Now that we're all finding each other, we can put a plan into place to find out more. We're not going to storm into AIR tomorrow. We'll get a plan together and do whatever we need to do. You work at the library. Why don't you start doing your own research? Find old newspapers or whatever... anything that mentions the facility. They were pretending to be some legit research institute, so there has to be something. Even if you just have to search for things that mention Wilkes."
It was possibly the first time ever that Jane suggested Neil do something he was good at and it almost cheered him up a little. It would have made more sense if his stupid ability had something to do with his love of research and history instead of being such a disctructive and flashy thing like lightning, he might have embraced it more easily if that was the case. This though, this he could do and he nodded. "I might be able to get my hands on some of their public records too," he said, thinking of the county offices and his connections there. AIR's more nefarious side was obviously all going to be off the records but they would still have some records with the local government that might come in handy. Constructions came with permissions and plans and there was a small chance those records were available to him.
The change in Neil’s demeanor didn’t require telepathy to pick up on, and Mal had to control his face not to smirk over it. It was kind of cute. Mal hoped that he would find something that would fire up his interest in this whole thing. Everybody had their niche, didn’t they? And the more help they had from all directions, the better. A lot of minds could cover a lot of ground. “That would be helpful,” he agreed with a nod. “Especially if you can find blueprints, building plans. I’m sure they built their facility bigger than whatever they turned in, but it would be good for us to have a rough layout of the place.” He found himself pleased with how this was going now, like they could really get some solid recon going.
Well, at least he wasn't pouting anymore. Jane knew Neil would actually follow through on the suggestion because that meant he could spend more time in the library or town hall, and less time with her. But having Neil on board was important, so if this is how he would contribute, that was fine with Jane. "That's settled, at least." Jane smiled, all signs of irritation gone from her face. "Maybe let us know when you talk to Diego. I think it's important that we all get to know each other before we make any big plans."
"It'll be easy to compare the blueprints to the actual size of the building using satellite images online," Neil mused, more to himself than the others, now deep in thought about how this could be helpful. He would much rather be the nerd back at base than one of the 'field agents' so to speak, it was where he felt useful and it was less dangerous. "If it's anything like it used to be there will be sublevels though." He sighed and straightened up a little, relieved to hear this little meeting seemed to be coming to an end.
Of course there would be sublevels. And sublevels to the sublevels, surely. Mal had never gotten a good sense of how big the facility was, strictly kept to only very specific sections of the place, even when he was being escorted out of it. He was vaguely interested in seeing those blueprints, so maybe Neil would be more useful with research than anything else. He nodded his agreement to Jane -- they all needed to meet up, as soon as possible. “You try to bring in Toby and your fire friend, I’ll do my best with Diego,” he said. “We’ll go from there.” Mal stood up straight since they did seem to be wrapping up. “Thank you both for meeting with me. I hope we can accomplish something together.”
Now that Neil was starting to lose himself in blueprints and the like, Jane felt much better about their situation. At least now she knew he would be involved and put some effort into what they were trying to do. As much as Jane enjoyed showing up at his doorstep and tugging him out into another adventure, his sullen demeanor could occasionally get frustrating. Jane stood and placed her hands on her hips, smiling between the two men. "We'll be in touch," she told Mal. "Hopefully sooner than later."
Neil didn't exactly share that sentiment so he wasn't about to chime in with pleasantries about how nice it would be to meet again and how nice it had been to meet now. He did have something a little less unpleasant to focus on so his mood was slightly improved but he still didn't do much more than give Mal a terse smile and an awkward nod, ready to get out of there and go home. If Jane didn't have any other annoying ideas, he wouldn't put it past her.
Mal supposed that was all he would get out of Neil, and he was okay with that. Jane was fully on board, and that was enough for now. They would just plan around the stuffy librarian if they had to. He gestured them out of his office so he could escort them back to the front door, and said another brief round of goodbyes. Mal watched the two of them walk out and head toward Jane’s car, slightly amused as he briefly considered listening in on the conversation that was sure to happen once they were alone again. What a group they would make. Mal didn’t care how ragtag they were, all that mattered was whether they could get something done about AIR. It had to happen, and soon.