Riley squinted at the computer screen, feeling her eyes begin to burn from the compounded hours from the past days of sifting through the data. Staring at a screen all day probably wasn't the healthiest decision, but oh well. She wanted to be sure she was reading the document correctly. That same phrase kept coming up throughout the data they'd gathered. At first she hadn't payed it much mind, not sure what it was referring to, but the frequency at which it was mentioned began to shift her attention.
"Huh." She muttered, mostly to herself. Barely an exhalation of breath. However Wrench, who was perched comfortably next to her on the futon he'd procured from some unknown place—she'd decided not to ask— heard her and looked over.
"Got something?"
"Maybe…" She trailed off, doing a search of the phrase in the database to pull up all instances of it in the files. With a few keystrokes, the screen changed to show everything it had found within Tidis' information. It pinged a lot more sources than she'd anticipated. "I keep seeing something called the…'ten year plan.'"
Wrench nodded, mask displaying irritated slants. "Yeah, I've noticed that too." He leaned forward and typed several things onto his own laptop, showing her the screen after a moment. "I'm still narrowing down what it could be."
"They never really specify, but I always see some mention of security along with it." She added helpfully. Wrench's mask became thoughtful, and he delved deeper into whatever he was searching through.
The brunette shook her head, reading line after line of emails exchanged between two executives discussing the plan. They kept saying it was on track, and that investors would be shown the progress in a tour next week. She frowned, putting that to the side for later. Maybe DedSec could interrupt or join the tour. Oh wait. The timestamp on the emails was three weeks ago. It was well past that point. Dammit.
At the corner of her eye, she saw Wrench's mask flicker into exclamation points, before changing into three dots on either side. He was leaning closely into the screen, reading intently. Riley thought to herself how cute he looked, but then wondered what he'd discovered.
"What is it?" She asked after a moment, giving him time to read through everything.
He shook his head slowly. "Technically, 'the goods,'" He quoted in the air with his fingers, "but nothing good." The screen was turned so she could see. It contained a few documents with official seals and titles across the top. Riley realized they were forms submitted for patents.
"What are they for?" She asked, and he sighed with irritated commas on his mask.
"I don't know, they don't say. All it states is that a previously submitted patent from Tidis was approved and filed. No actual patent itself." He gestured helplessly at the screen, no doubt frustrated that he couldn't find anything concrete. "Whatever it is, it's related to military tech though."
Riley frowned, wondering how he knew that, before peering closer at the document and seeing mention of the United States Military approving the designs. "Robotics mixed with the military doesn't sound like a fun mix. Plus, I don't like the thought of Blume becoming weaponized, if that's what this is." She finally said with concern.
"High potential for epic shit, but never used by the right people." Wrench agreed, reaching for his phone with a worried expression. He started tapping out a message. "We should probably let Marcus know. He might want to look into this a bit more. Plus, who knows how close they are to actually completing this plan."
Riley nodded, narrowing her search to things regarding the military to see if they could find anything more about the patents. A few beeps and a quiet whirring noise made her look up to see Wrench Jr. prowling about the garage happily. The face painted on the front panel made it constantly seem like he was smiling, which made her smile too.
Wrench had introduced her to him several days before, showing him off with pride. Like any father would. Riley couldn't help but feel Wrench Jr. was more than just a robot too. Wrench's hand in the programming saw to that. Plus, with the graffiti and the phrases he'd input into his coding, he seemed so much more alive than the automated robots she'd seen used for security or home surveillance. His own entity.
But of course, everyone—and everything— had their flaws. She watched with interest as he rolled slowly towards one of the pillars, never changing course. Riley raised a brow as Wrench Jr. bumped face first right into the concrete pillar, its expression changing to the angry slashes that Wrench himself used. It backed up a few feet, before turning in place and going a different direction.
The hacker looked up at the noise and produced his own irritated slashes. "Damnit, he's been doing that a lot lately. Must be something with the programming…" So saying, he stood from the futon and wandered over to him.
"Maybe there was an update to the software? It could be interfering with his environmental awareness functions." Riley offered up, setting aside her own laptop and following after him.
"Eh, maybe…" Wrench crouched in front of Wrench Jr. and inspected the front for any damage. "But I swear I broke the connection between him and the network. He shouldn't be receiving regular updates. Junior, off."
"Well…" The brunette trailed off, watching as Wrench Jr. powered down and his creator went around to the other side to open up the panel on the back. "Maybe he actually needs an update?"
"Hmm…" Wrench muttered noncommittally, inspecting the motherboard and all it's wires attached. Riley watched as his head tilted and his mask went back to the default Xs while he concentrated on the hardware. "I'll run a diagnostic anyway. Maybe something will jump out in his coding."
He replaced the motherboard back into the little bot, snapped the panel back into place, then pressed a button at the top to turn him back on. Wrench Jr. flickered to life, chirping a happy tune before the eyes switched into Wrench's normal happy symbols.
"What made you keep him around?" She asked, remembering him telling her how he'd come to get Wrench Jr. He'd originally been a test run to see if they could break the ctOS 2.0 software. Wrench shrugged, patting the little guy on the head affectionately.
"I spent so much time on the paint job, and giving him the voice lines…" The hacker looked down at him with a happy expression, "…that he grew on me. Didn't feel like getting rid of him after that. Besides, he was nice to have around on long days in the garage."
"…but not anymore?" Riley cocked her head. The way he'd said that made it seem like it was in the past.
Wrench flashed her a quick side glance, then winked. "Well, you're around to keep me company now." Was his simple explanation. She smiled, feeling strangely happy that he enjoyed having her nearby all the time. She could feel the pleased blush on her cheeks heating up.
"Well, wasn't that smooth as hell." She joked, reaching over to lightly punch him in the arm, and Wrench laughed under his breath. Those happy ^'s returned to his mask.
"What can I say? It's a talent."
Riley and Wrench had spent the rest of the afternoon looking up as much as they could about these patents, as well as anything having to do with the ten year plan. For as much documentation that mentioned it by name, there was surprisingly little description of what the plan actually was. All they could figure was that numbers and statements from the company weren't adding up after searching through all of their information. As the day wore on, the masked hacker became increasingly frustrated and agitated, concerned with the idea of a top-secret, classified, military patent technology that Tidis kept behind closed doors. He was itching to know what it was.
They had now focused their attention on possible ways of getting inside of Tidis when Ray sauntered his way into the garage. Neither her nor Wrench had been expecting him, and they looked up in surprise as the door shut behind him.
"Nice little place you've got here, amigo." The older man announced, doing a slow turn as he made his way over to them. By his expression, he looked mildly impressed. Or amused. With T-Bone, it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. Wrench's mask displayed two exclamation points and stood, setting down his laptop.
"Ray? What are you doing here?"
"I was in the area…then Marcus let us know you two had a possible lead on something. Thought I'd drop by." He explained, rubbing his hands together before turning his wandering attention back onto them. He seemed excited to find out what they'd found. "Care to share the details?"
Wrench looked to her then shrugged, but Riley responded first. "Well, there's something in a lot of Tidis' emails and documents that mention something called the 'ten year plan.' Nothing specifies exactly what it is, but it's got several military patents that were approved in order to execute it." She explained, navigating over to the documents they'd found. She turned the screen to show him, and he wandered closer to see. He read the contents for several seconds, then shook his head thoughtfully.
"Something about secret projects, they always have an ominous fucking name." He muttered as he gave her some space. Now that he said it out loud, Riley had to admit he was right.
"Wrench wants to find out what it is." She said, and the man in question stepped forward.
"First we have to find a way inside, which won't be so easy." Wrench added, gesturing to his own laptop with a shake of his head. "Tidis is a shit ton more secure than say…!Nvite or Nudle. We can't just send Marcus in to break a few door codes."
"Quite a problem you've got there." Ray agreed, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"I thought the drone would be able to get in through the vents, but everything's sealed up tightly." Riley offered, getting comfortable on the couch again. Her back was starting to hurt from sitting in one position for so long. Stretching out would feel a lot better. "Then we thought about the RC jumper, but it would be spotted almost immediately. There are metal detectors at every front entrance."
"So the question is, how do we penetrate a building we have no foreseeable access to?" Wrench pondered aloud, crossing his arms. "I already tried explaining to her that a few well-placed blocks of C4 would-"
"Alert everyone to what we're doing and get you arrested for sure." Riley finished in amusement. She looked over at his mock glare. "What? Bombs aren't the answer to everything."
Wrench grumbled under his breath and turned his face away. "…they could be…"
She elected to ignore that, and looked over to Ray again. "As you can see we've got the 'what' figured out, we just need the 'how.' Marcus is good, but something like this? How's he supposed to get in with all these security measures?"
"Ain't that the million dollar question." The older man muttered.
They watched as he swept another slow, panning glance around the garage. Wrench Jr. was rolling around at the edge of the space, whirring quietly and enjoying his existence. Ray's eyes narrowed, before pointing towards the little bot.
"You reprogrammed that yourself?" He asked, and Wrench nodded after several seconds, eyes becoming three dots on either side of his mask. What did that have to do with anything? "Maybe we don't have to send Marcus in after all."
"How?" Riley asked, not seeing what sort of connection the older man was trying to make. He walked over to Jr. and patted him gently.
"This little guy is your key inside. Take off the paint, convert him back to a few default programs, and you could probably get him inside. These things roam all over the place inside. It would blend in just fine." Ray said confidently, but Wrench didn't look impressed.
"I mean, I guess, but how would that help us? Marcus still has to get inside somehow. Jr. isn't capable of manual hacks." The hacker explained with a shake of his head. He gestured to the little bot. "He could help us get a visual of inside, but not much else."
"Ah, see, now here comes the fun part." Ray said with a grin. "Put a few parts together and you've got the makings of an EMP. We could take out the main database, and all the entrance codes get set to default. Marcus is in, no problem."
Wrench's suspicion immediate turned aggressive, and he displayed two angry slashes. "Not gonna happen. Jr.'s not going anywhere."
Ray rolled his eyes and gestured to the little bot, blissfully unaware that he was the topic of discussion. "Oh, come on. It's the safest and the best way to get into Tidis. You want to see what they're working on, don't you?"
"Of course I do." Wrench spit with heat, snapping his head up to glare at him. Riley hadn't seen him this angry before. She watched anxiously as Ray seemed unconcerned with just how easily he was pushing Wrench's buttons. Wrench pointed accusingly at the older man. "We're getting that data, but we aren't doing it your way."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really!"
"Then, please, enlighten me with your idea of a solution." The older man mocked with sarcasm, spreading his arms wide to allow him to speak. The masked hacker stared at him for several seconds in a glare, before turning away. Ray nodded once, acknowledging that Wrench had no other plan. "Now, if you're done arguing, we can start looking for places to get the right parts."
"No one's doing anything." Wrench said, leaning against one of the desks. Riley stood to the side, watching as both men commenced staring angrily at each other, both thinking the other was being ridiculous and petty.
All three of them looked up when the door opened again, revealing Marcus. He took out his headphones when he noticed the obvious animosity in the air. "Ok…something's up. What's going on?"
His gaze settled on Riley, who looked the least angry, but she only grimaced in discomfort. She honestly didn't want to be in this situation.
Marcus met them by the tables, and Wrench began to pace, trying to relieve some of the agitation. Surely Marcus would think the same way as him. He'd procured another ally in this figurative battle. Reinforcements, if you would. "Look, we want to go after Tidis, ok? But-"
"What did you find in the data?" Marcus asked to keep him on track. The man looked like he was rearing to punch something, but also quite concerned about whatever it was he'd found.
He started ticking away at examples on his fingers. "Umm…ok, well let's just say that all the taxes, and the government grants, and the…'research programs'—notice the quotey signs there—" he said, pointing to his mask, "none of it adds up."
Marcus gave him a confused look, prompted him to continue.
"They're collaborating with Blume on something they call the 'Ten Year Plan'—again, quotey signs—which is supposed to improve ctOS security." Wrench said, before his mask flashed question marks for a brief moment, leaning closer to get the meaning across. "Then why are they filing patents on military tech, right?"
Ray jumped in before Marcus could respond, gesturing to him to prove his own point. "Because ctOS is going the way of all control systems. And that's why Junior here is a bot on a mission." He indicated the robot beside them with a smug smile.
"No, he's not! That is not your fucking call!" Wrench pointed at him angrily.
Riley stood to the side, watching as the two of them argued. She didn't know what to say. Obviously Jr. meant a lot to Wrench, and she didn't want him to lose something sentimental or important to him, but she honestly didn't see another way into Tidis. What was she supposed to do? Agree with Wrench because it was something he loved, or be the voice of reason even if it meant taking someone else's side?
Ray narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "What, you think you're just gonna skip right through Tidis' front doors and steal all their dirty secrets?"
Wrench's mask went blank for a split second, before changing into three dots. He didn't answer, unable to come up with a good answer. Riley could see Marcus watching the exchange with slight confusion but major interest. Obviously he was waiting to see if the both of them resolved whatever issue was at hand before he gave his input. Ray continued on.
"Even Uncle Sam buys his biometric locks from Tidis. That's the level of security we're dealing with, amigo."
Wrench threw his hands to the side, latching onto an idea now that he had one. "The palm reader? That's easy. We just need to find a hand. I bet we could get one no problem." Wrench mimed sawing across his arm, and Riley's eyes widened. Thankfully, Marcus had the same thought and said something first.
"Hey, that's your plan? Cut somebody's hand off?"
"Isn't that a little extreme?" She added.
His mask displayed two equals signs. "What? It works."
"Not here." Ray butted in again with a shake of his head. "There are heart rate monitors and infrared scans that check for blood flow. No blood flow, no unlock, no passaran."
"Ok, fine!" Wrench jumped in with a frustrated hand gesture. "Then we get someone—alive—" he emphasized to Marcus, since he'd seemed so concerned with the first plan, "and we get them to open it for us."
Riley looked to Ray, unsurprised when he rolled his eyes. "No. The heart rate monitor will flag if he's nervous.
Wrench clenched his fists together and groaned out his frustration. The mask flashed another irritated expression. Riley could tell he was grasping at straws now. "Ugh, ok! Then we, we, we…inject someone with a…a sedative to bring down their heart rate-"
"For fuck's sake, we already had a working plan here." Ray interjected in exasperation, clearly thinking all of this was a waste of time.
"Not with him!" Wrench shouted, pointing to Jr. A heavy silence filled the garage after that. Marcus was clearly uncomfortable and still slightly confused. Ray looked just as irritated as Wrench, though less angry. Riley wanted to do something to help his anger, but she knew trying to do anything at this point would only make things worse. Especially with an audience. All of her ideas to calm him down involved holding him close, and she knew he wouldn't want anything to do with that with Ray and Marcus around.
"Jr., off." He said quietly, and the little bot powered down. As if Wrench didn't want the little guy hearing anything that was being discussed.
"Awww…" Ray said either out of sarcasm or genuinely thinking it was cute. Most likely the former. Wrench must have thought so too, because he turned those angry slashes at him again.
"Now you listen to me." The masked man said in a threatening tone, taking a few steps closer to the older hacker intimidatingly. Ray stared him in the mask, but otherwise didn't seem affected by the warning in his tone. "You don't get to walk in here like you own the place, ok?"
Wrench pointed towards himself. "This is my garage. My hardware." He then gestured to Jr. who was still shut off. Riley could see Ray was still looking rather smug. Too smug for someone who was supposed to be backing off a bit. It didn't seem like he would.
Seeing no give from the man himself, Wrench rounded onto Marcus to explain, realizing his friend still had no idea what they were referring to. "He wants to turn Jr. into a bomb."
"An EMP bomb, Trojan Horse style." Ray clarified, spreading his hands wide. Marcus' expression cleared, finally understanding what he was so defensive about. Wrench had had Jr. for awhile now, and had grown attached to the little bot.
"We hit the right hardware, fry the database, and the doors reset to the default codes. Easy-fucking-peasy." The man finished, turning to Marcus with a shrug. He obviously didn't see the big deal about it.
"Then all we need is the default." Ray nodded an affirmative, and Marcus crossed his arms, sighing as he thought about it. He really wanted to take Wrench's side. Really, he did. Converting Jr. into an EMP would mean they'd lose control once it was blown, and there was little chance of them getting him back out without security knowing. Most likely they'd be leaving the little guy behind.
At the same time, it made the most sense. They'd be saving time and lowering the risk of getting caught all in one. Logically, it was the right choice, but he knew what the aftermath of agreeing with Ray would be…He turned a careful eye onto Riley, who was observing in just as much discomfort. He was willing to bet she was thinking along the same lines as him.
Marcus turned a pleading expression towards Wrench, trying to be as gentle as he could. "It does work, man."
Wrench slowly turned towards him, and the mask went completely blank. Marcus knew he'd fucked up the moment the emoticons stopped showing. It was Wrench didn't react in a violent manner that you had to worry most. But he genuinely felt like this was the best course of action. Hopefully he could convince his friend of that though.
Ray grinned smugly, then wandered away towards some of the tools on his tables, picking his way through what was available. Riley thought Wrench would yell at him for it, knowing how protective he was of his stuff, but instead he whirled on Marcus and held up a single finger.
"One night. One night in the desert together and the two of you are best friends?" The outrage in his voice was blatant. Marcus said nothing, staring at Wrench tiredly. Obviously this wasn't a matter of favoritism or anything like that, but Wrench was seeing it that way.
"Riley?" He suddenly asked in a gentler voice. He turned towards her to seek some sort of support in all of this, spreading his hands wide in anticipation of her agreement.
The brunette bit the inside of her lip and met his stare, finally grimacing from discomfort. "I mean…Tidis is practically a bunker. What else are we supposed to do to get inside, Wrench?" She asked with a shake of her head. Before she even finished the sentence, he threw up his hands.
"Really? You're really taking their fucking side?" Those angry slashes had never been directly meant for her before, and she found it extremely intimidating and soul-crushing to know he was angry with her. She hated disappointing people after all, but there wasn't anything she could do about it this time. He shook his head, feeling betrayed, and turned back around to face Marcus again. Behind his back, Riley hugged her torso and rubbed at her arms, feeling ashamed for not supporting him.
Wrench gesturing dismissively between Marcus and Ray. "Well, you know what? Go ahead, then. Go ahead and take his side, ok? Whatever. Don't let me get in the way, alright?"
Riley thought that now Wrench was being petty just to irritate the others, as Marcus shook his head. Now it felt like nobody was in the right. She rubbed her forearms, and Ray walked back over to the group.
"Hey, grow the fuck up, son."
"The fuck you just say to me?" Was Wrench's reply, walking purposely over towards him to start something. Fists were clenched tightly at his sides, and Riley knew full well he was willing and capable of swinging if things continued in this fashion.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Hold on!" Marcus got between them and pushed the pissed off hacker back with his hands on his chest. Wrench swatted them away, but still stopped advancing threateningly towards Ray. Marcus raised his brows and looked like this was almost too much for him to handle.
"Everybody, chill out." He commanded, and thankfully the two men seemed to put enough distance between themselves. They kept quiet this time.
Wrench walked right past Riley like she wasn't even there, bracing himself with both hands against one of the tables. She tried catching his eye to apologize or something, but he purposely turned away. Riley felt another stab at her chest, and just kept to herself after that.
Marcus decided to get them back on track, gesturing towards the little bot in question. "How do we even get him inside?"
Ray wandered closer to Marcus and gave him what looked like a metal file that he'd gotten from Wrench's pile of tools. "Well, first of all, we're gonna have to get rid of all this sh-"
The masked hacker whirled to stare at Ray, daring him to call the graffiti he'd lovingly worked so hard and so long on anything negative. The older man seemed to concede, finally holding up his hands in a disarming way. "-meaningful propaganda." He finished in a more positive way, eliciting no response from Wrench.
Marcus took the tool and nodded, setting to work to remove all of the artwork that adorned the little bot. Ray joined in, the sound of metal scraping against metal now filling the garage. Neither spoke, knowing too much conversation might set Wrench off again.
Riley debated what to do, finally walking closer to her brooding partner with caution. Like he was a lion in a cage, waiting to attack. His arms were crossed, and he kept his gaze away from her. At the very least, though, his mask briefly flickered to a side glance, indicating he at least acknowledged her approach.
"Wrench," she started quietly, testing the waters to see his reaction. He said nothing, not having moved an inch, "I know how much Jr. means to you and everything, but I really think this is the only way we can get into Tidis."
Again, there was no response. She wasn't used to this cold distance between them, this animosity so thick you could hardly breathe in it. Riley didn't like the feeling, but it couldn't be helped now. They'd all decided on a plan. But maybe she could help him understand the need for it.
"Given the circumstances, Marcus would be in a lot of danger trying to get in by himself. I know you don't want anything to happen to him."
He sighed almost inaudibly, but still didn't say anything. But that was still a better sign than nothing at all. At least she knew he was listening.
Riley walked closer, planting herself in his line of sight so he was forced to look at her. However, he only turned his head a different direction. Her lips tightened into a thin line at the nonverbal dismissal, but she trooped on. "Just think about it. Jr. will be going out with almost a literal bang. You couldn't ask for a better end than that, right? He'll be taking out an entire building's network. I'd think you'd be excited it was Jr. that accomplished that."
It seemed her words were beginning to get through to him, because he looked towards the ground for a moment, three dots on his mask as he pondered the idea. Finally he sighed again and stood straighter. "Stop. Guys, stop! Just…keep the paint."
Marcus and Ray halted their task, looking up to him expectantly. Riley stood to the side, wondering what he was gonna say. The anger had been drained from his tone, instead replaced by a reluctant acceptance. Maybe she'd gotten through to him after all.
"When one of these things breaks down, Tidis picks them up from a service depot."
Ray's eyebrows raised, and he smiled. "Oh."
Wrench wouldn't look at him. "That's your way to get him inside."
The older man pointed at Wrench enthusiastically, glad he'd come around to logic and common sense. "That's good. That's very good."
"Nice, Wrench." Marcus said, walking up with a few playful punches to his chest.
"Alright, alright…" Wrench halfheartedly swatted away his hands, standing and walking a few paces away. Riley followed after, watching as he turned to his friend with a raised fist to bump it against his.
"Ready to roll when you are, Marcus." Despite his voice lacking the usual pep and enthusiasm, Riley could tell the offer was still genuine.
Marcus returned the gesture, nodding appreciatively to the masked man. Ray held up his own fist to do the same, but Wrench only glared at him in a side glance, walking away without a word.
He didn't even give Riley a passing glance as he left, brushing her off entirely. He disappeared out the side door, which shut loudly behind him. The brunette lost the small smile she'd grown once Wrench had calmed down and seen the logic in the plan, looking to the side morosely.
Ray wandered off too, obviously having places to be now that the discussion had been handled. Marcus, however, wandered up to Riley and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, offering a smile of his own.
"Give him some time. He'll come around." Was his advice. Riley thought not for the first time that this man had the uncanny ability to read someone so easily, and determine exactly what they needed to hear at that moment.
"Tell me honestly…" She started, expressing her doubts. "Should I have supported him, even though I didn't agree?"
Marcus shook his head. "Nah, you wouldn't have been true to yourself. And he wouldn't appreciate being lied to in the long run. You do need both people supporting each other, don't get me wrong. But it's important that you keep your own opinions and beliefs too."
Riley lowered her eyes to the ground, finally nodding in understanding. What he said made sense. She returned his smile, and he gave her a friendly pat before walking out of the garage himself.
The discussion with Ray and Marcus had been just after noon that day. Riley had left right after that, figuring that giving Wrench some space until he cooled off would be the best plan, like Marcus had said. Trying to talk to him while he was still angry would only do more harm than good. So she'd avoided texting him or calling, knowing if he wanted to talk he'd reach out to her first.
That afternoon had been spent finishing up chores that the brunette had put off for too long. She didn't mind much, though. When there was a lot on her mind, the best remedy was to do busy work. Something she could do mindlessly without requiring a whole lot of thought or awareness.
Because not only was she still feeling anxious about all of the tension between her and Wrench at the moment, she also hadn't come up with a decision about her mother. The brunette's thoughts hopped back and forth between the two issues, until Riley was just confusing herself with inaccurate trains of thought that had no relevance to either topic.
Was she a bad daughter for wanting to let her stay there? Was she a bad girlfriend for not supporting Wrench's love for Jr.? Riley had more than enough money to bail her out, was it selfish not to? How long would it take before he talked to her again? Why did it seem like life was piling all the shit things onto her at once? Hadn't she had enough to deal with after the whole kidnapping thing? This was getting ridiculous.
After awhile, she realized she'd been staring at the same pair of unfolded jeans for some time now, before finally snapping them with a flick of her wrist and finishing the rest of the load.
Riley didn't feel much like eating once dinner time came around. She'd gotten so much done that day that she didn't want to stop now. It felt nice being productive. After the laundry and vacuuming the living room had been finished, she moved onto the bathroom and scrubbed the tub, never having gotten around to it after the Swelter Skelter festival. The sand hadn't been that big of a problem, but there were still flecks around the edges that had never been washed away.
Riley plugged into her music and worked away, only allowing thoughts of Wrench and her mother to invade her mind every once in awhile. This was her time to just relax and enjoy herself, and all these difficult decisions weren't letting her do that.
So the brunette swept the kitchen and cleaned the last few dishes in the sink. The table was wiped down. Her bed was made. Pants' litter box was cleaned out and replaced with fresh litter. When he started meowing loudly as usual, she fed him and he was quick to chow down happily.
She nearly missed the knock at her door as she was mopping the kitchen floor because of her music. The song had just ended, during the brief pause of silence between tracks, when there were a few low taps against the door. She eyed it, frowning. Riley hadn't been expecting any visitors. After the whole Bratva incident, Riley couldn't be too careful, so she propped the handle of the mop against the wall and grabbed the largest knife from her knife block on the counter.
Riley approached the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing the familiar masked figure, she hurriedly put the knife down on the kitchen table and returned to undo the chain lock. It swung open easily, and Wrench tore his eyes from the ground.
"Wrench? What are you doing here?" She asked with concern. His mask displayed sad slashes, and he shuffled his feet on her doormat. Like a scolded child come to take punishment.
"Uh, could I…come in?" He ventured to ask, sounding as if he half expected her to say no. She stepped to the side, allowing him enough room to enter.
"Sure. Don't mind the wet floor. I was just finishing up some mopping."
He stepped by her carefully, watching to see which spots of the floor were wet or not. Riley closed the door behind him and followed him a few steps inside. He seemed uncomfortable, both hands stuffed in his pockets with tense shoulders. He wouldn't look at her.
"Wow, this place looks so clean." He commented neutrally, seeing all the vacuum lines in the living room and the shining surfaces in the kitchen.
"Thanks. I've been at it for a few hours now." She admitted, walking around to put herself in front of him. The mask still showed two sad slashes. She was worried now. "Wrench, what's going on? Talk to me."
He sighed, taking his hands out of his pockets before ultimately putting them back in. Wrench wasn't sure what to do with them. "Look, I'm sorry for…earlier." He started, finally looking back up at her face. "I just felt like nobody was listening to me, especially with Ray being a dick like he was…"
Riley gave him a reassuring smile, shaking her head to dismiss it all. "He was kind of being a hard-ass wasn't he? Not cool."
"And I thought Marcus and…you…would see it the way I did." Wrench explained. "Both of you know how much Jr. means to me."
"I know that, Wrench." She said, moving a bit closer and gently brushing her thumb over his arm. "If there was another way where we didn't have to use Jr. like this, then I'd be all for it. But I honestly can't see any other options for getting into Tidis. Which I know you also want to do."
"Yeah…I just didn't want to accept it. I kept trying to figure out some other way to do it without using him like that." He said, hanging his head. "It's douchey, I know, but I felt like you really just didn't care."
"Do you still feel that way?" She ventured to ask, worried that she'd lost his trust. Thankfully, he shook his head quickly.
"No, it was just in the moment. I've been trying to figure out how to bring it up all day but…ah, fuck, I don't know. I just shouldn't have brushed you off like that. You didn't deserve it."
Riley smiled, stepping forward to wrap her arms around him. "It's not a big deal, Wrench. Don't worry about it." And she meant it. He was just trying to defend his opinion, like Ray had this afternoon. Nobody was in the wrong, though Riley felt that Ray hadn't done a very good job of taking his victory courteously. The man had a tendency to gloat when the opportunity arose. He was a great guy, but like everyone else, he had his flaws.
Wrench returned the embrace and she tucked her head under his chin. They stood like that awhile, and Riley relished the feeling. Despite her previous anxiety, all worries seemed to disappear when he was near. She felt him exhale slowly, relaxing in her grip. Maybe he'd been just as worried as her. Did he think she'd be mad at him or something?
Riley heard Pants meow as he walked into the kitchen from the hallway, and Wrench immediately tensed. However, he didn't pull away even when she felt Pants' furry tail and body brush up against their legs.
Riley began to pull away. "Come on, Pants. Why don't you go-"
"It's fine." Wrench said in a clipped tone as he pulled her back to his chest, almost in pain. "I can deal."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. You can't expect me to like him, but I'll learn to tolerate him. He's important to you." Wrench said genuinely, and Riley felt a surge of warmth for the hacker. She gave him a little squeeze, trying to communicate her appreciation without the need for words.
"Hey, if you don't have anywhere to be, do you want to stick around awhile? We can…I don't know, watch a movie or something?" She suggested, eyeing her collection of movies tucked on the shelf of the entertainment center.
"Sure."
"Anything in particular you want to watch?" She asked, pulling away reluctantly. He looked down at her with a happy expression on his mask, then winked.
"We can watch anything you want. As long as it's Predator."
"Fair enough." Riley laughed, pulling him by the hand towards the couch. She was happy to see he reached up to take off his mask in the process. He set it on the side table by the couch and sank into the left cushion while she set up the movie.
The opening credits started to play, and she wandered over to turn off the lights. Then she took her seat beside him, scooting close. Wrench's attention was on the screen, but when Riley lanes in towards him, he turned to look at her quizzically.
She smiled sweetly, feeling bold, and reached out to grab him by the neck of his hoodie. Before he could say anything, Riley closed the distance between them. The kiss was passionate, almost desperate on her part. Despite being caught by surprise, Wrench recovered quickly and snaked his arms around her waist, pulling her tighter to him. She let out a small sigh of relief as they slowly moved their lips against each other.
Her other hand slowly trailed its way through his hair, pushing the hood off of his head in doing so. His fingers tightened against her back, and she was thankful that her ribs were healing nicely from the attack. They still ached occasionally, but she wasn't in too severe pain to have to ask him to stop.
The first lines of the movie began to sound in the background, but both of them had seen it so many times they weren't missing much. Not even Wrench was inclined to stop, too preoccupied with kissing her to care that the movie had actually started. The hand holding his hoodie let go, slowly trailing down his chest underneath the spiked vest. Riley thought she felt him shudder, but it was hard to tell.
They both separated for air, exhaling heavily and fighting for breath just inches from each other. Eyes still closed, they rested their foreheads together as the heat between them began to lessen. Finally, Riley's eyes opened to see Wrench already watching her.
"What was that for?" He asked in a slight amount of confusion, but the pleased glint in his eyes told her it wasn't unwelcome. He was just curious. She smiled, swooping in for a quick, chaste kiss before responding.
"Because I felt like it."
One of his brows raised in surprise, not expecting her to say it so blatantly. Had his mask been on, she imagined they would have shown his exclamation marks of bewilderment. She shifted position and settled herself beside him once again to watch the movie, leaving him to his own thoughts.
She tried keeping the smile at bay, noticing out of the corner of her eye he was trying to discreetly cover his crotch. She felt sort of bad after that, but mostly proud. It was nice to know she could have that effect on him. And, even if she'd forgiven him for pushing her aside that afternoon, she was still petty enough to dish a bit of payback on him. He could suffer through an unwelcome boner through the whole movie.
It was only fair.
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