The Hub Ch. 06

Flit's mind swirled about as she slowly became conscious of the sound of Scraps shifting about on the bed behind her. It wasn't long before she also became aware of the feeling of his morning erection pressed against her gently. She opened her eyes tentatively, pleased that the lights were dim, and then pushed her behind against him.

"Good morning," She whispered, her voice croaky from sleep. "What were you planning to do with that?" She asked, rubbing herself against his erection suggestively.

Scraps didn't speak his response, instead he grinded himself against her more enthusiastically. Flit moaned at the heady sensation an rested her head back against his chest as he eagerly kissed her neck. After a few minutes of this teasing Scraps pulled back from her and then gently pushed her onto her back. He climbed on top of her and used his knee to spread her legs open. They were both still naked from the night before, and when his hips came to rest Scraps's manhood was poised at her entrance.

"With your permission?" Scraps asked, lips whispering against her own. His tip was pressed, hot and round, against her entrance and he made sure to keep tantalizingly beyond her reach as she bucked her hips towards him.

"Seriously?" Flit chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Get in there before I have to take matters into my own hands."

Scraps's grin as he pushed into her made her heart flutter. The look of pleasure on his face strengthened her affection for him as he kept his strokes slow and strong. Every thrust reached deep within her, and each retreat was drawn out, making her desperate for more of him again. When she moaned his lips would find her own and his tongue would caress hers.

~*~

Despite his desire to continue making love to her for ever, Scraps soon found that she felt too good. His peak arrived on the back of a long and sensuous session of intercourse where his hands explored her glorious curves just as surely as his tongue explored her own. His seed burst forth into her and her moans of pleasure were music to his own as he struggled to keep thrusting through his release.

Love. The word still seemed strange even thinking it, yet he knew that it truly represented how he felt for her. In time he was certain that it wouldn't seem so foreign but for now he revelled in the uniqueness of the whole experience. Their second coupling was as much about love as the first had been about passion. After spilling his seen inside of her his body collapsed against hers, and her legs and arms wrapped around him in an attempt to keep their bodies intertwined.

"Wow, that was amazing," Her voice was hot in his ear, echoing what he had told her the night before. He grinned as he enjoyed the intimacy of the moment and the gentle teasing in her tone. Eventually Flit let out a long sigh and Scraps lifted his head to look at her.

"We'd better get going," She said, reluctance saturating her tone and expression. "We'll need to head back to where you fought the Officers to gather some information before we head back to the Residence. It'll be one hell of an interrogation when we get back there, you can count on that."

Even though he knew it was coming, the truth of her statement was sobering. As his mind and body left the serene fantasy that their coupling had created, the reality of their situation hit him hard. Scraps had no desire to return to the blood bath of his own making but he knew that they needed to. If The Government began to mass produce such a weapon they needed to know how it worked to combat its disastrous effects.

"You're right, hopefully I didn't do too much damage to the weapon," Scraps responded, knowing that it was an ill-founded hope.

They repacked their gear and headed back to the junction of death with Scraps leading the way. When they arrived, evidence of the massacre had been cleaned by the flowing sewage water and the other resident scavengers. Scraps tried to recall where the weapon would have been thrown in the scuffle. The events that took place flooded his mind and he felt a cold sweat form on his body. The gruesome vivid images were still fresh and so were the strongly negative feelings. After a slight shudder he looked over to the edge of the junction to where he estimated the weapon would have fallen. Sure enough, in several pieces, lay the smashed components of the enigmatic gun. He pointed it out to Flit upon his discovery.

~*~

When Scraps began looking for the gun amidst the blood-washed tunnels she saw small beads of sweat welling up on his skin. She took a step closer to him and put a comforting hand on his back. She was certain that he had seen a dead body before, and just as certain that he had taken a life, but the most likely cause of his reaction was the fact that he had literally torn apart a human being. Flit had guessed that Scraps was powerful, but she had to admit to herself that his strength was impressive. His inhibitor was doing him a great disservice, and she had to wonder if he or The Government ever knew the true extent of his abilities.

Flit hid her disappointment upon seeing the shattered weapons behind a shrug and a small encouraging smile. She took the pieces from him and slipped them into her pack carefully. It was better than nothing.

"That should give them a good starting place," She said, looking up at him reassuringly and taking his hand. She hoped that her well-honed tone of confidence would reassure him. "Those components alone will give them a lot of information."

Flit got to her toes and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"It is kill or be killed down here Scraps. All of this," she gestured around the tunnel "might have been pretty horrific, but you're alive.... and so am I. Thank you," she kissed him again before she wrapped his arms around her body. "Now what do you say we high-tail it back to base so we can let the others know about this new weapon? Tell me if you need a break," she said before beginning a series of long and quick jumps back down towards the Residence.

When Flit and Scraps finally got back to the Residence they checked in with Post-hoc and Harmony and had given him as much detail as they were able to remember. They were grilled thoroughly on the events, and Flit was pleased that she had used the time to journey back here to replay everything in her mind and prepare for the inevitable questions. Flit had been able to do it with ease, replaying the fight in her mind and trying to think of anything that was of particular importance. Scraps, however, seemed to have a bit of trouble with this. There were a couple of times where he stopped speaking, rethinking what he was saying, before continuing. Harmony and Post-hoc had been pleased with his explanation, but Flit could tell that there was something that he was holding back. The whole event had shaken him more than she had expected, and she had to put it down to his explanation the previous evening. He had been confronted, for the first time, with the prospect of losing someone that he loved. That would be enough to shake almost anyone.

When the interrogation was finally over Flit and Scraps were told to take the weapon components straight to the research and development facility in Intelligence for further analysis. After that they were given a quick check over, and later an okay, by Patch. Knowing that her mother would be frantic with worry, Flit kissed Scraps goodbye for the moment. Flit couldn't help but feel a little sad when she said farewell to him. She had been lucky enough to be down in the Underground for the night, but she knew she would have to go back up to the Hub with her parents. After the previous evening and their intimate morning, Flit could think of very little worse than knowing that she had to go back to an empty bed.

After reporting Flit had returned to the Mess hall to grab a bite to eat before she met her parents for the trek back to the surface. Scraps wasn't there, but all of her other colleagues were. They greeted her with enthusiasm as she sunk into a seat at their regular table.

"Flit! Are you okay?" Hawekeye asked before she was even seated.

"All good." Flit replied with a smile "Just had a little encounter with some Officers. No big deal." She said with a casual shrug. Harmony and Post-hoc had asked that they keep the full details of their ordeal private for a while.

"The message from the Emergency Shelter said that you'd been hurt." Hawkeye's voice cut through the chatter and Flit turned to face him, his green eyes assessing her carefully.

"Well, I was. I got knocked out for a while, but Scraps had it under control. I'm fine now." She reassured him with a smile.

"If I was there you wouldn't have been hurt at all." Hawkeye said bitterly, "I would have seen the Officers before they had a chance to get close."

Flit rolled her eyes.

"Well you weren't there Hawkeye, and there is nothing that can be done about it now. Scraps and I did the best we could, followed procedure, and came home alive. That is all I dare ask for." She said.

The rest of dinner went by without a hiccup, Flit learning all about the group training exercise she had missed out on. When she got up to leave, Post-hoc walked into the room and called her aside.

"How are you feeling, Flit?" He asked, concerned.

"All good," she replied with a bright smile.

"And Scraps?"

"Not too sure. He just went straight to his room. I think it was a little harder for him than it was for me. I don't think he's ever really had to come to terms with his mortality before, or that of the others around him," She said.

"You're probably right. I might send Acumen in to check on him later tonight. They seem to get along quite well," Post-hoc said, Flit nodded her agreement. "Now, the reason I am here is to ask that you and Scraps report to Intelligence as soon as you arrive tomorrow evening. We've had a meeting and we have decided that we need to talk to you two again."

Flit frowned but agreed to meet up with Post-hoc and the others tomorrow evening.

~*~

Flit's mother was terribly pleased to see her. After forcing Flit to allow her to use her abilities to ensure that Flit was, indeed, healthy her mother had finally pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Her father arrived a few minutes later and had given her another hug that left her feeling as if she was a wrung out sponge.

It was a true testament to her mother's mood that she didn't grill Flit about the events of the previous evening, or carry on about her assignment to the Security team again. Tinker had even stated that she was pleased that Scraps wasn't hurt. While her mother was in a good mood Flit considered stretching her luck and asking if she could fake her death and go down to the Underground full-time, but decided better of it. She had a stressful couple of days as it was. It would probably be better to let sleeping dogs lie.

~*~

After Scraps returned to his room he immediately proceeded to unpack and organise his belongings. He found the ritual soothing and familiar; compared to the previous night stressful incident he needed something to keep his mind calm.

When he was satisfied that everything was in order he ran a shower to wash all the muck from the sewers off his exhausted body. He wished that Flit could have stayed with him for the night but he knew that she needed to be with her parents after their ordeal. As hungry as he was he decided not to go to dinner, the last twenty four hours had been stressful enough and the last thing he wanted to do was answer more questions from his well-meaning colleagues. Scraps also knew that he wouldn't be able to keep the memories of making love to Flit from his mind, and he knew that staying in his room was the safest way to avoid sharing them with any probing mind-readers.

Later that evening when Scraps was relaxing on the bed he heard a knock at the door. Acumen stood at the threshold awaiting permission to enter.

"Hey buddy, do you mind if I come inside?" Acumen asked politely, Scraps didn't feel like visitors tonight but Acumen probably already knew that.

"I know you don't feel like it right now, but you need to talk about what happened to you out there," Acumen said trying to convince him. Scraps sighed. There was little chance that Acumen was going to let this one go, so he stepped to the side to let him in. Acumen went over to the nearby desk chair whilst Scraps laid back on the bed.

"Look, we all have those 'oh shit' moments in our life. Especially if we end up in a situation like yours. I know it sounds redundant but folk like us can't afford to dwell on bad experiences, we have to move on," Acumen attempted to console him.

"I know what you're saying Acumen, I really do. Even before I came down here I'd already seen and been in many life threatening situations but this was different. It wasn't me who was in danger; it was Flit. I just snapped when...when I heard what they were going to do to her. They spoke like she was just a scrap of meat." Scraps explained sombrely, trying to keep the memories from digging their unrelenting claws into his tired mind.

"We all lose control Scraps, you're not alone there. Hell even I've been in some bad shit that's made me wanna really lose it, really rip something apart," Acumen replied, his hands mimicking tearing to add effect to his speech.

"I don't doubt that at all and since you've been without a control chip much longer than I have you've probably dealt with it on more than one occasion. But when you want to rip something apart you have to actually use your own limited physical strength. When I rip something apart, it literally rips apart. Those men down there didn't stand a chance, they were dead before they even knew it. I even remember thinking about how much pain I could cause them if I pulled at specific parts of their body. Needless to say none of them died with a smile on their face," Scraps explained without a hint of pride or achievement in his voice. Acumen sighed.

"You're not the monster you think you are Scraps, I would know. Also Flit doesn't think of you that way either and I don't need to be a mind reader to pick up on that. We all have our demons Scraps, I know better than most. If it's any consolation, I think I would have done worse if I had your ability; the human mind is capable of thinking and picturing images worse than anything in reality.

"You take the time to rest buddy and if you need to talk to anybody I'm always around... especially if you don't want to voice it out loud," he finalised. Scraps nodded in understanding and Acumen stood up to leave.

"Oh one more thing; talk to Flit about it as well. She is worried about you and she needs to know that you're okay. Plus, you'll find that she is good to talk to about this because she was there with you." Acumen added as he left the room.

Scraps spend the next day in quiet contemplation, he did manage to get a few hours training with some of the others but he mostly spent time in his room. Later in the evening a knock on the door broke him out of his trance. Flit stood before him with her happy smile, all the negative emotions he felt washed away as they embraced each other warmly.

~*~

As requested, Flit made her way straight to Scraps's quarters he following evening. As she knocked on her door she hoped that he had been able to get a good night's sleep, and that his day hadn't been too busy.

Flit closed her eyes and rested her head on Scraps's chest as they hugged each other in greeting. The relief that she felt at being back in his arms almost overwhelmed her. She had missed him greatly. The pleasure of being able to sleep in his arms the previous evening had spoiled her. Sleeping alone after the tender night they had shared was disappointing indeed. Eventually Flit pulled away from Scraps and smiled up at him.

"We've got to report to Post-hoc and the others." She said. "For some reason they want to talk to us again." Flit tried to keep her nerves from her voice.

She had spent her day at work worrying about what this meeting was going to cover. She and Scraps had already recorded their statements and given their superiors their full reports, what more could they want? Flit reached out and took Scraps's hand in her own, hoping her need for contact didn't betray her nerves. Just as they had begun walking, Flit felt Scraps tugging at her hand, and she turned to face him, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

"There's one more thing I have to tell you Flit, it's about last night," everything about his tone and demeanour were hesitant and it took an encouraging smile for him to muster the courage to continue. "I told you that I lost control of myself when I came to rescue you but I didn't explain myself properly. When the retrieval team were dragging you back they spoke about killing you instead of bringing you back with them... Not only that, they wanted to rape you as well. I just couldn't bear the thought of those men abusing you. As you know I have already witnessed the aftermath of similar attacks and the terrible images overloaded my mind. I tore those men apart and I made sure they suffered as I did. I wanted them to hurt so badly for even thinking about hurting you." he recounted.

Flit's eyes widened as anger surged through her veins at this news. She was as angry about the men's intentions towards her as she was about what they had put Scraps though. She couldn't even imagine how horrible it had been for him to hear that, and then to live with the repercussions of his own anger.

"Do you think I'm a monster for thinking and acting that way?" Scraps asked her earnestly, as though it was really a possibility.

"No," Flit's response was quick and firm. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "Scraps, listen to me now, and listen carefully. You are not a monster. There is not a single part of you that could ever be considered monstrous," she stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes with a fierce determination, hoping that he would listen to her.

"You were angry. Someone that you love was threatened and what you did was completely natural. Plus, you didn't completely lose control, you were in control enough to stop yourself when they were dead, you knew why you were doing what you were doing, and you had enough of your wits to get me back to safety and to tend to me. Then, you even remembered protocol and sent a message back to base."

Flit looked up at Scraps, his crimson eyes looking sadder than she had ever seen them. It made her entire body ache to console him, not wanting him to persecute himself for even a moment more.

"I love you and I think of you no differently because you have told me this. You did exactly what you needed to do to keep you and I alive, and to be honest, I'm grateful that you did it even though it came at great personal cost." She grabbed his face with both hands and pulled his head down so that she could kiss him softly, reassuringly.

When Scraps and Flit finally pulled away from each other Flit could see that Scraps was already looking more relaxed. His eyes had turned from tormented to grateful and he smiled at her.

"Thank you Flit, it means a great deal to me. For a moment I thought I had lost myself but I think with the two of us together we can solve any problem," he replied.

"Now let's get to the meeting, we don't want to keep them waiting." Scraps said with a sense of confidence that reassured Flit.

~*~

When Flit opened the door to the meeting room there were already several people waiting in there. Post-hoc was the first that caught her eye; he nodded his greeting with a small smile on his face. Acumen was also there, however he didn't look quite as pleased as Post-hoc did. Harmony, Divvy from Control and Shadow from Intelligence were also seated at the table, all looking at them expectantly. When Flit and Scraps shut the door behind themselves Divvy got to her feet, standing up on the opposite side of the large round table, and motioned to the two empty chairs nearest the door. On top of the table there were two handheld computers with blacked out screens and two paper files.