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Sam Victorio // Max Guevara ([info]notanumber) wrote in [info]thereincarnates,
@ 2010-10-18 00:05:00

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Entry tags:» previous character: jude hyler, » previous character: sam victorio

Who: Sam Victorio and Jude Hyler
What: Breaking and entering
When: Very late Sunday night
Where: Logan Cale's Penthouse, Seattle

Mix things up, she'd told him, and yet here she was repeating history. Even with a string of proxies, it hadn't been that hard to find out he was posting from Seattle. So where else would he be? Manticore had been there just like it had always been, so why shouldn't Logan's penthouse be right where they'd left it.

There were no cables or death defying stunts this time. Sam had gotten to the rooftop by leaping from one of the buildings next door. The taller, non-burnt out and fallen down building next door. Sometimes this world was so much more convenient than Max's. She paused, looking down at the skylight of the penthouse. There was a faint glow, lights on somewhere in the rooms below. She didn't know quite what she expected to find, but there was no way she wasn't going to talk to this guy face to face. She had to.

She removed one of the skylight's glass panes and lowered herself down into the familiar entryway. The sound of her dropping the few feet to the ground was the only noise to give her away. It all looked the same. Max wasn't sure what to think. She wasn't sure if she should be here. That only frustrated Sam. It wasn't like it was her idea to come here in the first place. Sometimes she had to indulge the X5 though. They depended on each other, after all. They were all they had.

Sam stalked silently down the hall, towards the lit room. Logan's office.


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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 06:30 am UTC (link)
Jude was getting a lesson in brooding. He'd never been much good at it, but Logan was a champion. Ever since they'd been confronted by Max, he'd spent a lot of time in front of his desk with a glass of scotch. Because that wasn't creepy or history repeating itself or anything. It almost made him debate moving out. He could afford to find a place of his own, even if it wouldn't be quite as nice. But he liked it here. There was a certain amount of security that came from having a fictional address. Security from his mundane problems, anyway. If White showed up, they were probably fucked.

His healthy paranoia had him bumping up Logan's security system. He didn't deal well with surprises. If anyone decided to try to break in and shuffle him off the mortal coil, at least he'd be prepared for it. The guy should have been more careful about pissing off people who could kill him with the absolute minimum of effort. How he'd survived to see the end of that show baffled him. Of course, having a super powered girlfriend had to help. Too bad they were so much trouble.

What he did have, though, was a shotgun strapped under his desk. Which is what he went for the moment he heard a thump from the other room. The penthouse was soundproofed to the extreme. There was no chance of it being any kind of outside noise. Favoring his bum knee, he crept out of the office, circling around so that he could come down the other side of the hall with the gun leveled. So maybe he wasn't completely screwed. He had a few more skills than Logan did, even if everyone with a TV knew the layout of his place.

Sure enough, he hadn't been imagining things. There was someone there, the shadowy outline of a woman. He cocked the gun, the tell-tale threatening snap echoing in the silent building.

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 06:48 am UTC (link)
Sam paused to pick up one of the statues on the hall table. Another Egyptian figure. Not Bast, but undoubtedly a valuable piece. The decorations really hadn't changed. For some reason that made her feel more comfortable about this. She knew this place. Maybe that's why she let her guard down.

The distinctive sound of a shotgun being cocked took her by surprise. The clever bastard was behind her. Sam turned around slowly, her hands up, still holding the statue in one of them. She took a moment to look the man with the gun up and down. He looked strong, and he held the gun like he knew exactly what he was doing. And he was definitely attractive. She couldn't quite pinpoint why she found that particular quality a little annoying.

Despite her initial surprise, she gave him a calm, cool smile. "You must be Jude."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 07:00 am UTC (link)
After a few long moments of staring, he decided he wasn't having some sort of weird, reincarnate-style PTSD flashback. There really was a woman in his apartment fiddling with his decorations. Well, wasn't that...creepy. When he'd become a reincarnate, he'd done a good job of distancing himself from the voice in his head. Slowly but surely, though, the bastard was taking over. Firs they were back here, getting ready to blow the top off of whatever stealthy operations they could find. Now this. If this kept up and he landed himself in a wheelchair, he was going to be pissed.

"Max." Oh, he knew her name. He'd gotten that much just out of their interaction online, even if she hadn't technically told him. But her being here like this was so completely Max that it would have felt odd to call her anything else. Jude lowered the gun, holding it loosely at his side. "Put that back where you found it." The fact that this was freakishly normal only made it more weird. How was this his life?

Scratching the back of his neck, he gave her another long look before turning back toward the office. He'd seen her criminal record. Hopefully she wasn't here to kill him because she thought Logan was an irritating bastard.

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 07:18 am UTC (link)
He called her Max. He wasn't wrong, she was as much her as she was herself in that moment, but it still threw her off. No one called her that. No one had called her that since Leon died. No one saw just how alike she and her reincarnate were. Or, more likely, no one was willing to mention it.

Maybe this was a mistake. He already knew her too well, without ever having met her. She was prepared for a lot of possible outcomes. This was not one of them. "If you insist." She put the statue back, feeling unaccountably guilty. "Nice place you've got here."

She swallowed her sudden bout of nerves, waiting to see what else he had to say. Apparently nothing. He turned and walked towards the office. She couldn't help immediately noticing that he walked with a limp. She wondered if that was the reason for his change in careers and sudden appearance in her world. In the world of reincarnates.

She followed him, acting like this was normal. It wasn't a very difficult act. "I was hoping we could talk. More. The boards aren't very secure, you know."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 07:36 am UTC (link)
"Thanks." It wasn't like she hadn't seen it before. This place was probably just as familiar to her as it was to him. He wondered if anything else had shown up for them, but didn't ask. Chances are, he wouldn't like the answer. There were plenty of places that had terrible memories for the both of them. Better to just pretend they didn't exist at all.

She followed him. That wasn't completely unexpected. Max had been impossible to brush off. It made sense that her reincarnate would be the same way. Of course, that went both ways. Logan was hard to get rid of when he put his mind to something. It had taken a lot of arguing to keep from tracking Sam down right away. Based on what he'd learned about her, that probably wouldn't have gone too well, and contrary to popular belief he valued being alive.

Jude propped himself against the side of the desk, briefly wondering what had possessed him to move somewhere so damp. It wasn't doing his leg any favors. "Fair enough." His lips quirked in something that was almost a smile. "I know. They probably watch you pretty closely, huh? Being a fugitive and all." For whatever reason, that was the least of his worries. In fact, it didn't phase him at all, because it was just so Max. "Must have been risky, coming here just to catch up."

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 07:53 am UTC (link)
"There are a few of us. Someone has to speak out and prove we didn't just disappear like they wanted us to. They can watch me all they want, but that's all they get. I'm awfully hard to catch." She'd given that cocky explanation so many times now she almost believed it herself. Almost.

Max might have felt bad about possibly bringing danger to Logan's door. Sam didn't. Jude had introduced himself to the community as a rabble rouser. She was just giving him what he wanted. Maybe he'd even be able to handle it. She hoped he could. That would be nice. Useful, that is. That would be useful. Having someone in their corner to talk to the world.

"I didn't just come to catch up." She stood in the doorway, not wanting to completely invade his space completely. That was an odd conclusion to come to, after breaking into his home, but the more she watched him and talked to him, the more she realized that he wasn't Logan. They might have some similarities, but he was still a stranger. It left her feeling an awkward mix of caution and familiarity. The sooner she did what she'd come here to do, the better. "I'm here to help you."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 08:03 am UTC (link)
He did smile at that. "Good for you." It was nice to see that reincarnation hadn't knocked out any of Max's spirit. Even if the circumstances were a little different. Or he thought they were. This was going to require a little more digging, to find out exactly how everything had gone down. He didn't even try to deny that he cared. This was Max. Logan let him get away with a lot of shit, but not keeping an eye on this woman wasn't going to happen. Jude knew a losing argument when he saw one.

When she stood like that, leaning against the doorway, he nearly had double vision. It wasn't even her being here that was weirding him out now. It was the fact that the view out of the window was of a clean and whole Seattle. "Is that so?" He reached behind him, digging a cigarette out of a nearly empty pack and ignoring Logan's continued grumbling about smoking in the building. He was determined to win that particular battle, if only because he thought better when he was smoking. "I don't need a bodyguard, but thanks for the offer."

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 08:33 am UTC (link)
"I wasn't offering." She smiled and shook her head. "You look like you can take care of yourself anyway." The little she'd been able to dig up about him indicated that too. Any soldier and mercenary who was still alive was obviously fairly good at his job. Not that she'd let him get himself hurt if she could help him. She didn't think Max could live with that.

"You want to play Eyes Only? You need information. You don't trust the Agency, and I trust Logan enough that I'm willing to trust you a little bit too." She stepped into the room. Part of her wanted to touch him, another part of her was afraid to even think about that. Maybe there was good reason to be afraid. There wasn't any way to know. "I know things, about Camelot and the Agency. I know all there is to know about the resistance. Aside from Hughes, I'm the highest ranking survivor of CORE." She pulled a slim solid state hard drive out of her black messenger bag. "And I have the most complete archive of what's left of CORE's files."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 08:48 am UTC (link)
Well, well. She did catch on quick. Only Max could pick up on what his ultimate goal here so quickly. It was almost refreshing to talk to her. There was no hinting about what their ultimate goals may be. She knew he didn't trust the Agency, and she would know better than anyone why. From what he'd picked up about CORE, they had a good idea. They just didn't always go about it the right way. But hey, no was was perfect. Even if their methods were a little skewed, he could still support the overall goal.

He let out a long stream of smoke before he laughed. "You're right. You can help me." Highest ranking survivor? Now there was a surprise. It shouldn't have been. She'd always been a natural leader, the kind that didn't back down from what she was fighting for. He didn't understand how they could have lost with her on their side. "That's a hell of an offer."

If this had been Max, all Max, he wouldn't have had to question her motivations. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't, that she probably wanted something in return. People didn't hand over sensitive information for nothing. Before he got his itchy fingers all over that hard drive, he had to know what her game was. "And what exactly do you get out of this deal?"

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 09:06 am UTC (link)
He was smart not to trust her without question. The truth was she wasn't completely sure what she wanted. She knew there was a war still going on, and she knew which side she was on, but everything else was murky. Even her alliance with other members of the Resistance was never perfectly clear. Everyone had their own agendas and their own motivations. She wanted someone she could trust. Not a pawn of Josia's or a paid free agent, not someone who had been part of the twisted thing that had been CORE in it's last days. That's what she wanted. It was a lot to ask for, she knew.

"I get the information out and another voice in the community. The underground is active, but secretive. That's understandable, but it's not enough." She looked out the window as she spoke, noticing for the first time how different the view was. The world looked so different. Yet it was the same, underneath. Some things were always the same. "The Agency is public about thier goals, or what they want people to think their goals are. No one is afraid of being persecuted for saying they support Camelot, but no one is willing to say that they don't. It's all one sided. Staying in the shadows makes us all look even less legitimate than we are. It makes us look cowardly. I can't be the only one open about this forever. Either other people join in, or eventually it won't matter how hard I am to catch, they'll find a way."

She hadn't meant to admit quite that much, but once she started talking, she couldn't stop herself. She really believed in the cause. This was her life now. It would probably be the thing that killed her, but she'd like to put that inevitable end off for as long as possible any way she could. "I get you. On my side."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 09:23 am UTC (link)
He watched her carefully as she gave her little speech. Everything she said was true. They needed a voice in the community, someone who wasn't already under suspicion. Add that to what he could do as Eyes Only, and they might actually make some progress. It wasn't so different from what Logan had done before, helping out Max and her friends from behind the safety of his computer. There would be risks, but he would have disappointed if it was an easy gig. He'd already started to get itchy in Seattle. There wasn't enough going on. He needed a new adventure, and this one was actually worth his time.

"Like that's something you think you'll have to trade for." Jude didn't know this woman, but it sure as hell felt like he did. She didn't look the same, her voice wasn't the same, but she sounded the same. With her here, in his apartment, he didn't think he'd ever felt quite as one with Logan. Did that mean that he was instantly smitten with puppy love? No. Not even close. But it did mean that he was more inclined to trust her, to look out for her, and to make sure she didn't disappear again.

Jude crossed the room, joining her at the window. He hardly noticed that his entire approach had changed. Less 'abrasive on principle' and a whole lot more understanding. "I never could down a good revolution. I'll help you. And you're friends." He'd hardly been at this a week, and he already had an exciting new list of enemies to make. No one could say he didn't work fast. "I've got everything I need here to start up the operation again. Give me some time to put everything together, and I'll get the word out."

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 09:36 am UTC (link)
"I've always had to before. Why would this be any different?" It wasn't any sort of accusation, just a statement of fact. Sam was always fundamentally alone. Even when she worked with other people, even when they were people she liked, that didn't change the fact that when it came down to it she knew she only had herself to rely on. It was one of the things she and Max had instantly understood about each other. It was part of what made her who she was.

"We need all the help we can get, or I wouldn't be breaking in to strangers' houses and giving away all my secrets." She was dead serious, but that didn't keep the slight smile off her face as she looked up at him. "Thank you."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 09:52 am UTC (link)
He shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because it's me." If she hadn't expected help, she wouldn't be here. There were plenty of people who were drastically different from their reincarnates, sure. He and Logan weren't exactly two peas in a pod, but there were some things that would never change. At least, as far as he was concerned. Everyone was affected by the person in their head, no matter how much they might try to fight it.

"That does seem kind of desperate." In comparison, he was hardly serious at all. Sometimes, there was double the sarcasm. He returned her smile with an easy one of his own. "Don't mention it. You can thank me if this works. The Agency's media department guards their channels a little better than the Seattle Cable Company." Yes, he'd already done a bit of poking around, even if he didn't have an ultimate goal. It was always nice to be prepared.

He wandered back over to the desk, stubbing out his cigarette. "So, are you going to stay for dinner or what?"

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-18 10:11 am UTC (link)
"Because it's you. I don't know you," she replied, taking her turn to point out the obvious. She felt like she knew him though. She'd hoped he'd be enough like his reincarnate to help her. He hadn't disappointed her. "But I'll be sure to remember that for next time."

He didn't know desperate. She was on the run from every major security agency in the western hemisphere, fighting an unelected government most of the world didn't even know existed with little more than a small band of misfits hiding out on an island. She'd gone past desperate months ago. This was just hanging on. She was used to it enough not to take it that seriously though. "I have faith in you. Especially if you already know that. It pays off, being picky about who I desperately throw myself at."

A few moments ago she'd been eager to get this over with and get out. Now it didn't seem so awkward. She tilted her head and gave him a coy smile. "That depends. Are you asking me to stay?"

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-18 10:27 am UTC (link)
"What can I say, I like to know what I'm up against." Even if he hadn't been planning on being a thorn in the Agency's side, he'd have wanted to know exactly what they knew. He'd barely grazed the surface, and he knew it. They had more resources, and more technologically advanced reincarnates than he. The fact that he'd managed to get anything out of their databases at all was nothing short of a hacking miracle, and definitely something he couldn't have done without Logan. They had to be expecting people like him. Going up against someone so prepared was a more than welcome challenge.

The look on her face was so familiar he very nearly reached out to brush the hair away. Too bad he still needed a few of his limbs to work properly. "Sure. I'm not a half bad cook." Okay, now he was just being weird and he knew it, even if it felt totally normal. Without waiting for an answer, he headed toward the kitchen. The place hadn't come fully stocked, but that had been one of the first things that he'd taken care of after he moved in. Jude was something of a homebody. He wouldn't have survived long without food on hand.

Sadly, that food tended to run toward the 'heat it up and eat it' variety. He dug around for the makings of an actual meal. "Tell me, Sam. How'd you even know this place was here?"

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-19 03:19 am UTC (link)
She was starting to catch on that he wasn't big on waiting for answers, he just did what he wanted to. Sam was strangely okay with that. This all felt so natural that she had no problem just going along with things. She followed him into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, just watching as he began working. A strange feeling settled over her, something she hadn't properly felt in almost a year. It was a sense of being home. The dislocation and confusion of being a soldier, a prisoner, and then a fugitive was temporarily drowned out by her reincarnate's simple contentment. It wasn't a bad feeling at all.

How had she known this place was here? Intuition, more or less, although that wasn't much of an answer. "I didn't." She shrugged. "It was a guess. I figured out that you were posting from Seattle, so I thought I'd check. If Manticore could show up, maybe other places from our world could." She wondered if there were other places. Max's apartment? Jam Pony? Crash? She wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she'd end up checking eventually. Her curiosity always got to her in the end. "It was a lot easier than trying to find you some other way."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-19 04:51 am UTC (link)
He tossed a few things on to the kitchen island behind him, glad that he actually had enough to feed two people a halfway decent meal. Jude didn't really do company. If the place hadn't come with dishes, they probably would have ended up having to share a plate. "Right, Manticore." He'd heard about that, about how it had ended up blown to bits right about the time the Agency had sent people out to investigate. Not on the news or anything, but from his very informative dive in to Agency records. Their people hadn't come back. He'd figured the very unforgiving guards had done away with them. "So that was you? Figures."

Jude started chopping up vegetables, pausing briefly to gesture toward a cabinet with the end of his knife. "Wine's if there, if you're interested. You know where the glasses are." Honestly, there was probably nothing in this apartment that she couldn't fine. If it had been anyone else, that would have been unsettling, but he was having a hard time drawing a line between Max and Sam. Which was almost entirely Logan's fault. The man always did know how to moon over a girl.

"I figured the place was here, why not move in. Besides, if I hadn't, you probably wouldn't have found me." If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was cover his tracks. Especially when he wasn't even in the country. "And then where would you go to score free meals?"

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-19 05:31 am UTC (link)
"I'm not a fan. I am getting really good at blowing that place up though." That had been a good night. Except for the Agency showing up. Still, it was better that it was gone, and she was keeping an eye on the satellite images in case it somehow got rebuilt. The last thing they needed was the Agency and Manticore working together.

Sam didn't have any trouble finding the wine and glasses or a corkscrew. She knew this place better than her own temporary home. "Got it." The sense of deja vu was so strong. She kept expecting to look over and see him in a wheelchair. She kept expecting to see Logan. Maybe Max was disappointed when she didn't, but Sam was relieved. Logan Cale had a lot of good points, but Sam wasn't completely convinced that he was a man she'd want to spend any sort of time with. She couldn't get past thinking that underneath it all, he was a rich idealist with no real sense of the world, used to having other people do his dirty work. Jude seemed far more interesting.

"Probably not. I still would have tried though. Just for the free meals, of course." She had some skills and a lot of patience when it came to tracking people down. "I guess that's part of the appeal of fictional addresses. The only people finding you are the ones who already know where to look."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-20 02:19 am UTC (link)
"Of course." It wouldn't have been the same if she wasn't planning on mooching food off of him. This should have been stranger than it was, some random woman showing up for dinner. Too bad they'd gotten too used to it in their last life. When it came to each other, there probably wasn't much that they would consider odd. Or he wouldn't, anyway. She seemed pretty good about taking everything in stride, too. That made it a whole lot less awkward.

Jude started dumping things in to a pan, not bothering to mask his smug laugh. "That was the idea. There's plenty of people who I might not want looking, but I figure I can handle that." One day, his overconfidence was going to get him killed. In fact, it was a minor miracle that it hadn't already. He was too damn lucky for his own good. "What about you? Got a fictional address of your own?"

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-20 02:45 am UTC (link)
"Anyone who found you might be in for a shock." He wasn't quite what she'd expected. In some ways. Not completely. She hadn't had any intention of staying for dinner, but now that she was here, it seemed like the thing to do. Sam poured the wine and went back to watching him. She could have offered to help, since she was capable of more than just boiling water these days, but somehow that didn't occur to her.

"Sort of. I've got a friend with an island." As much as Hughes could be considered a friend, or the Island could be considered his. "It's a nice place to hide away, but a little too cut off for my tastes." This would have been a good point to launch into her usual recruitment speech. Island, submarine, changing the world, etc, etc. But she didn't. Not yet. He wasn't just any recruit, if he was one at all. This was different. "I'd say you should come visit, but the Res isn't exactly great at dealing with unexpected company."

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[info]morethaneyes
2010-10-21 12:38 am UTC (link)
"An island seems like a way better place to hide than some ritzy apartment." He could only assume that that's why she was living there. His research had turned up that she was far from the only fugitive on the run. Knowing Max, she'd have insisted that they stick together. They would all be members of this Resistance. Whether or not they'd picked up new recruits was still a mystery that he planned to unravel the moment he got a crack at the files she was handing over. "I think I'll pass in that case. It'd suck for me to get this far, only to get capped by someone who thought I was an Agency goon."

Following Logan's murmured instructions, he moved on to the next step, not at all phased that she was just standing back and watching. That was how this worked, after all. Later, he would probably think that he'd gone insane, but for now...for now it was blissfully normal. "If you get sick of the sun and sand, you can always stay here." God damnit, he was doing it again. He needed to learn some new tricks for stifling the nerd in his head. "This place was almost as much hers as it was his."

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[info]notanumber
2010-10-21 03:09 am UTC (link)
"It's not too bad, even if the decor here is way better. I'm not so into the early seventies hippie commune look. Don't even ask." She'd stopped asking questions about the Island herself that weren't absolutely necessary. It was a handy place to run a resistance from, but it was also weird as all get out. She'd decided there were a lot of things she'd rather not know. "That's probably best. We've got a lot of talented people, but discretion and social skills aren't really their strong points."

She wasn't about to take him up on that offer. It would be okay if she could escape here sometimes. The same way Max had. It wasn't her place, but it was a refuge. "Hardly. He was the one with the family funds. This is his domain." She laughed, looking down into her wineglass almost shyly when she realized just how weird it was that he'd even made that offer in the first place. They were obviously both out of their minds. "That's sweet though. This is definitely the best reaction I've ever gotten to breaking into someone's house." It was comfortable. The familiar setting and good company. No one knew where to find her. She wondered if this was the real reason Fletcher had defected. The temptation to give it all up and try to have some kind of a normal life. Even if it was all an illusion.

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