The Hub Ch. 04

Author's note: As mentioned before, this is a joint writing effort between myself and DungeonsOfDread, and begun life as a role-play on the Lit forums. Many thanks to DungeonsOfDread for breathing life into Scraps, and creating this world with me. We hope you enjoy this next chapter and would love to hear any feedback you have. There is plenty more to come after this! Thanks!



Scraps spent the next day mostly in training with Hawkeye. It was the most uncomfortable and aggravating thing he'd ever experienced. Because Hawkeye lacked an active ability they were practising close combat self-defence. Hawkeye was in an even more upbeat mood than usual and Scraps knew why. On several occasions Scraps forgot to pull back a punch or kick, as a result Hawkeye ended up with some nasty bruises.

"Whoa man! Careful, it's only training remember?" He stated happily. His annoyingly positive mood made Scraps all the more frustrated. Every time he landed a blow it felt like a welcome release to the built up tension. Hawkeye rubbed his chest after Scraps landed a well-placed kick. If they continued this way Scraps knew that he eventually hurt him more permanently. What worried Scraps the most was the fact that he didn't care too much if he did. All he could picture was Hawkeye holding Flit intimately, and that was a strong motivator.

"I'm sorry Hawkeye, I don't think I'm up for this today." Scraps acknowledged, taking a step back before he let his emotions get the better of him.

"Okay, No problem well go again next week." Hawkeye replied, he held his hand out to shake but Scraps just could bring himself to remain civil. He turned and left the room without looking back.

Scraps no longer required an escort and could freely move around the complex, his only destination this afternoon was his room. He knew with is upcoming test he should study but after the incident yesterday he could no longer motivate himself. He just lay on the bed and rested his head and mind.

After a few minutes he heard a knock on his door, it unlocked and Flit was standing there, she seemed anxious, perhaps she was going to inform him of the discontinuation of their relationship. It wasn't something he was ready for.

"Hi." he said flatly.

~*~

As soon as the door opened Flit could tell that there was something wrong. Scraps looked terrible, and when he greeted her his voice was completely devoid of any emotion. After Hawkeye had pulled her from a dark place that she thought she'd left behind, she had realised that Scraps was her second chance, just as much as she was his. However, his expression worried her, and after the emotions of last night she didn't know if she could handle losing him.

"Scraps? What's up?" Flit asked, concerned. Scraps looked up at her blankly, and the emptiness of his scarlet eyes felt like a dagger in her heart.

"I saw you with Hawkeye after dinner last night." He stated flatly and turned his head away from her before continuing, he took a deep breath as though he was steeling himself before he continued. "I thought you and I were...." he stopped himself short, "So are you with Hawkeye?" he questioned sadly.

"What?" Flit asked, eyes wide and mouth popping open in surprise. "Me and Hawk? No way!" She shook her head vigorously. "Hawkeye's like a brother to me- I've never been interested in him in that way." She said.

Flit's mind raced back to the previous night and tried to figure out when Scraps would have seen her. She didn't remember anything other than Hawkeye's voice as he talked her out of that dark place. Scraps must have seen them hugging, it was the only explanation for his dismay.

"Oh Scraps..." Flit said softly, crossing the room and sliding onto the bed beside him. She reached out and took his hand in her own, relishing the feeling of his warm skin on hers. "Hawkeye was comforting me- nothing more. He was there for me when..." She trailed off, unable to say what she knew she needed to. "Look, what Swipe said hurt me. She did it on purpose as well. She used what she knew would cut me the deepest. That is why I leapt at her- I don't normally attack people at the dinner table, you know."

Flit was momentarily distracted by the tactile memory of her nails ripping into Swipe's porcelain skin and she had to stop herself from smiling. It wasn't revenge- it wasn't nearly enough for what Swipe had said, but it would have to do.

~*~

Flits's sincerity was too pure for him to deny her words. As she touched his hand he looked back at her eyes. He felt like an idiot now, never once had he ever overreacted in a situation, he always analysed everything before formulating a solution. This girl had changed him; changed him for the better he decided as an afterthought. Without her, none of this would have been possible, just like everything in life there were bound to be positives and negatives. Even with this recent incident he still believed himself to be on top. He smiled at her.

"I understand now. Sorry about overreacting, it's not like me but all these new things and experiences have made it difficult to adapt." he explained. "I do have one question. If you don't want to talk about I'll understand, but can you tell me who Rook was?" he asked cautiously.

~*~

"There is nothing to be sorry for." Flit said sincerely, "The last couple of weeks have been emotionally draining for me; I can't even begin to imagine how it must be affecting you." Flit said.

The smile on Scraps's face made her feel so much better. She leant forward slowly and placed a soft lingering kiss on his lips. When she pulled away she let out a soft sigh.

"You're right about one thing." Flit said, looking away from Scraps. "I don't really want to talk about Rook... But I need to. You have a right to know what happened." Flit took a deep breath. "I might as well start from the beginning if you don't mind. You should make yourself comfortable."

Flit scooted back on the bed so that she was seated beside Scraps with her back against the wall. Her stomach was roiling about and her heart was already aching, but he deserved to know, and she needed to learn to talk about it.

"I met Rook just after my eighteenth birthday. He and his parents transferred here from the Eastern Front." Flit began with a heavy sigh. "He was put into the Security team straight away- he'd been doing the same thing in the EF for a couple of years so it was an easy transition for him. At that stage I had just started proper training and was working here and there. When I did my Security rotation I did a few patrols with him, and we also did our navigation and survival training together." Flit couldn't help but smile when she remembered those times. Flit and Rook had spent their patrols poking fun at each other and trying to prank the other.

"We got along really well; we had the same ideas about a lot of things and were both pretty rebellious. It wasn't long before things started happening and we realised that there was something between us." Flit could picture Rook's face when he first admitted that he had feelings for her, the memory making her eyes fill with bitter tears.

"The other thing was that his family was much like mine; they also lived their days in The Hub and their nights in the Underground. He understood what it was like to have to live in both worlds- not many people down here do." Flit said softly with a frown, sniffing back her tears.

"The years passed and things became pretty serious." Flit said, her mood slowly slipping from reminiscent to melancholy. "Then one night on the trip back to The Hub, he asked if we should put in the application with The Government so that we could be genetically approved for marriage." Flit's voice caught in her throat at the last word and she squeezed her eyes shut, holding back tears at the memory of the look in Rook's tender brown eyes as he had spoken to her.

"I said yes- of course- it wasn't even a question for us anymore. I told him to download the forms when he got home, and said that I'd quickly port back and let Digit in Intelligence know so that she could make sure our genetics would be compatible for The Government."

Flit's hands clenched the sheets and her chest began to heave. She opened her eyes and the dam holding back the tears was burst open.

"I went back and told Digit. When I asked she wasn't even surprised- she just told me that she'd already taken care of it. Apparently we were the last ones to think about it. I was so happy as I made my way back to The Hub, I was going to go straight to Rook's so we could get started on the forms."

Flit felt the familiar weight of her mourning settle over her, but she refused to stop speaking. She knew that Scraps was listening to her, and now she had to finish the tale. She would not let him go on without knowing something so important about her.

"When I got to his unit the doors had been blown in. The place was a complete mess- the comm screens shattered, the walls riddled with ammo holes. I found his Father's body first. After that there was a trail of blood leading from the dining room to Rook's room..."

Flit took a few minutes to allow the memories to wash over her. She couldn't ignore them, so she had to let them flow. Only then could she deal with them.

"Rook and his mother were gone." Flit said, the weight of her words settling on her and crushing her with their truth. She looked up at Scraps through her tears, his red eyes looking intensely into her own.

"There is something you need to understand about relationship down here, Scraps. They can be dangerous. At any moment one of us could expire- from natural causes, by the hand of The Government, because we over stretch our abilities... There aren't many happy endings down here, and the ones that do exist are hard fought for and bitterly earned..."

Flit clasped her hands together in her lap and put her head down, the tears falling against her leather pants with soft splashes. It was hard for her to think, hard for her to speak, but she fought against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm her as she spoke.

"Almost two years ago, five days after Rook was taken, Digit came and found me in my room. She had discovered a new record in The Government's Archives. PF-601. Male. Twenty Four years old. Five feet ten inches. Dark brown hair and brown eyes. A Rank 5 telecoercionist who was known to have links with The Underground. Even with the control chip he tried to escape several times. The Government decided that he was too much of a risk, and was unable to be reclaimed, so they terminated him."

When Flit spoke the final word she let the tears fall freely and she wrapped her arms around herself. Her breath was coming in soft sharp bursts and her head started hurting, her eyes burning.

~*~

Scraps listened intently as her story unfolded. Her mood darkened the more she revealed. When her voice broke and she found it difficult to talk Scraps held her hand more tightly and wrapped an arm around her. When she finally concluded her tale he brought her closer placing her head in his chest. He now understood why she initially resisted their growing friendship, he himself shared the same concerns. Although he did not share a similar experience, hearing her tale brought to light the reality of their mortality.

Flit leant into Scrap's warm embrace. It took a while for her tears to subside, but when she had nothing left to cry she wiped her eyes carefully and looked up at Scraps who remained her silent sentinel.

"Right," Flit said with a brave smile, making the corners of Scraps's lips lift slightly. "Now I've cried in front of you once don't expect it to happen again. It's a very rare thing- consider yourself lucky." She joked, even though her voice was hoarse from all of the emotion.

"No matter what happens to us from now on Flit, I will always remember each and every experience we have shared together. Thank you for telling me your story. I've always known my life would be full of risks. Danger had no meaning because I was trained to die for The Government. Now though ,being with you, I have something to live for. Every moment is precious to me now." He explained softly. Scraps shifted the hair out of her eyes and rubbed the tears from her cheeks.

~*~

Scraps spoke with such heartfelt depth that Flit's aching heart began to warm up slowly. The extent of his honesty and openness about his feelings were quite far from the norm in the underground. When she and Rook had started out they had revealed their true feelings little by little, it was a way to protect their hearts just in case the other changed their mind. With Scraps though, it was clear that he had no intention to beat around the bush. The lack of games and his genuine personality was exactly what she needed to help her heart heal.

When Scraps slowly slid the hair off yet face and gently brushed away her tears she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Yesterday you told me that I was your second chance at life... Well, I think you're mine as well." Flit whispered. As soon as the words left her mouth she knew them to be completely and utterly true.

Flit turned her face to Scraps and looked up into his eyes. This time when she slowly leaned towards his lips there was no nervousness, no question as to whether he would reciprocate. When their lips met she felt a hot rush of emotion and desire that washed away her longing and sadness.

Flit moaned into Scraps's mouth as his hands begun to eagerly explored her body. He was getting the hang of it very quickly, and her body was slowly becoming attuned to his touch. She continued their kiss for a few minutes, but then she had a sudden thought and broke away.

"Scraps we'd better stop." She said, breathing heavily. "These holding cells are subject to spontaneous video monitoring..." She pulled away from him reluctantly. "Besides, I'd better get to the training rooms. I want to talk to Post-Hoc about the Orienteering test. Will I see you at dinner?" She asked, carefully extracting her body from the tangle of limbs.

~*~

The mention of camera's monitoring the room worried him slightly. Luckily he hadn't done anything or spoke about anybody that would be considered embarrassing or incriminating.

"Sure, no problem. Now that we've straightened out our stories I think I'll get back to that study." He stated with a smile, pleased beyond all reason that she was still his.

~*~

Flit went straight to Post-hoc after she left Scraps and got the details for the Orienteering test. She needed to know exactly where the starting point was for the test. As soon as she heard where it was she was pleased. Even if he was the best navigator of them it would be pushing it to get home before a decent bed time. They would need to camp out for sure. It would probably take a while for her to get him out there, and that was using her ability to teleport them both and speed up the process.

After seeing Post-hoc she went to her room to prepare. She packed a lot of her Underground gear into a study pack and then went to her locker to get her back up weapons ready. Once her bag was ready to go she started looking through the maps of the tunnels again just to reassure herself that she knew all the markers, and then she transferred them to a smaller hand-held device and put it on charge.

Dinner that night went smoothly. It was made better by the fact that Flit and Swipe were at completely different ends of the table and didn't have to talk to each other, or even look at each other. At one stage Flit noticed that Hawkeye was moving a little more slowly, but when Scraps apologised for his behaviour in training Flit had to hide a smile because she knew both sides of the story.

When the group dispersed after dinner Flit pulled Scraps aside, but left her hand on his arm as she spoke to him, relishing the contact.

"I've got everything prepared for the Orienteering test. Chances are that I'll only see you at dinner until then. I have two really long patrols with Hawkeye over the next two nights. Study hard, okay? I want you to be able to delay our return as much as possible!" Flit said the last sentence with a wink before she turned away, sure to add a little extra sway to her hips.

~*~

"I think Swipe is interested in Scraps." Hawkeye said thoughtfully as he and Flit approached a junction in the eastern tunnels. Flit laughed loudly.

"I think Swipe is interested in anything with a co-" She stopped herself before saying the word. Hawkeye turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

"With a?" He asked slowly with an amused grin.

"With a Y chromosome." Flit said quickly. Hawkeye rolled his eyes at her.

"That isn't what you were going to say." Hawkeye laughed, "Anyway, I think that's why she said something the other night- she's jealous of the time you've been spending with Scraps." Hawkeye explained, Flit shrugged.

"It might've had something to do with that, but I think it's because she's a bitch." Flit said. Hawkeye didn't bother to defend Swipe.

"How are you doing anyway?" He asked, his tone suddenly more serious.

"Well, actually." Flit's surprise was clear in her voice "Thankfully I was over it pretty quickly- the last thing I wanted was you hanging around constantly because you're worried about me." Hawkeye laughed again and they fell into a companionable silence.

"You know, you have been spending a lot of time with him." Hawkeye said slowly, peering at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, I am his mentor." Flit said, "Plus he's a nice guy." Hawkeye's shoulders became stiff.

"Right. I suppose he is..." Hawkeye said uncomfortably. "How are things with your parents?"

Even though Hawkeye changed the topic Flit got the impression that he wanted to talk about Scraps more, but wasn't quite comfortable with it. Well, Flit thought, his loss. When he was ready to ask her outright if she had something for their newest recruit she would tell him the truth. Until then, it was nice that it was hers and Scraps's little secret.

~*~

Bright and early on Saturday morning Flit went down to the Underground and straight to her room. She pulled her small handheld comm device off charge and slipped it into her pocket then put her pack on her shoulders. She then strapped several guns and knives to the holsters over her tough leather pants and boots. She pulled on a singlet and then a grey flak jacket which she left open to display the hint of cleavage that peaked out of her tank top. She buckled up her utility belt and ran her hands along it to make sure she had enough of everything.

It wasn't until she made her way to Scraps's holding cell that she really became excited. The knowledge that they would be alone in those tunnels took a hold of her and she imagined all of the things they could do in the dark without interruptions or spontaneous video monitoring. When she knocked on Scraps's door it slid open and revealed Scraps and Acumen deep in conversation.

Big birds screeching and diving with razor sharp talons poised to claw out your eyes, sunlight glinting of razor sharp beaks, claws covered in dark granules of dirt. That was enough to distract her from the thought of what she hoped she would get to do with Scraps, and was more than enough to make her confident that Acumen would steer clear of her mind.

"Morning Gentlemen!" Flit said enthusiastically, grinning at the pair of them. Acumen returned her greeting with an eye roll.

"A good morning to you, Flit." Scraps replied, his happiness clear from his tone.

"Morning Flit, I was just making sure that Scraps is ready for his first orienteering, I trust you already know the contingency plans should anything go wrong?" Acumen asked in his most official and boring tone.

"Yes Acumen, I am well aware of the emergency procedures. The ones for the test aren't that different from the ones for patrols." Flit said exasperatedly. "Don't worry- Scraps'll be in good hands."