Desperate Times (OPEN)

[Nicholas Kells]

Operation Patriot was no more.

His ex-wife had relocated to Pilot Ridge.

His daughter was...a meta.

Yeah, things were looking pretty bleak for Nick these days. When his boss had first told him they were having trouble with funding, Nick had still been in a haze from finding out about Rachel to care much. But luckily, he'd managed to save everything worth saving before the office officially closed down.

After that, he'd taken some time off. Traveled a bit. Put out some feelers about where to get a new job. And tried to figure out just what he was doing with his life. Because so far it didn't seem like much had changed in the years he'd decided to do something...anything...about the meta problem.

He was rewarded. He discovered that he was not the only one out there whose eyes were blinded to the problems. And just when he though he would have to give up on Pilot Ridge, PUSE started to appear. True, they were more concerned with the politics of it all, but at least they were doing something.

He considered a moment that he should apply there. But decided against it. He liked being his own boss. That way no one could tell him he was going to far.

And right now, too far didn't seem like a possibility. Everything had changed so quickly. His job...his daughter...

But he couldn't think about that right now.

Right now, he had to at least put on the front that he was doing his job. At least the job he was being paid for. It had taken some string pulling, but he'd managed to get an Army Recruitment Center set up in Pilot Ridge. It was just a little hole in the wall near the center of town. But he didn't really care if it was hard to find. Most of the time, he had other things to work on.

So when the bell on the door jingled, he had to try hard to summon up a facial expression that wasn't a scowl. "Hello," he said. "Would you like to learn more about serving your country?"

[Cee Cohen]

This was…not the building Cee had meant to walk into. He’d been wandering around downtown for about an hour without his contacts, looking for the little hole-in-the-wall electronics store where he bought all his cables and gear in the interests of supporting local businesses. Unfortunately, the lack of contacts or glasses was making things a little difficult, as he was completely unable to see the marks on the walls unless he was standing right in front of them, and that was not always the easiest thing to do. He wasn’t even sure he was in the right part of town at this point in time. It was a small place, and tiny, and he seemed to be in the right part of town for that. He paused by a door and pressed his glasses closer to his eyes with a well-applied finger to the bridge of the glasses before leaning in to inspect the store.

The colors seemed right—dark and slightly camouflage, as people who sold things like spy watches tended to use militia surroundings. More professional than he remembered, and fewer wires, but perhaps they were redecorating. It was worth a shot. Cee shrugged and stepped inside, then paused at the question, looking around.

“Bob, you haven’t begun recruiting for the CIA or something, have you?” he inquired, then blinked. “Oh. I sincerely apologize. You’re not Bob. I’m Cee. I was hoping for something related to programming…?”

Oh Cee. This won’t end well.

[Nicholas Kells]

The moment Nick looked up to see who had walked in, he was fairly certain the man wasn't here to inquire about joining the military. Most of Nick's recruits were young men just out of high school. And although he sometimes had older people walk through the door, they were usually in great physical shape. From the way this man was squinting, it was obvious his eyesight wasn't the best. And he was so scrawny and...well dorky looking. Nick had to suppress a smile at the though of him wearing thick army issued glasses and fatigues while trying to crank out a few push-ups.

For a moment of two, Nick wondered if this man was all there. He looked a bit like some small woodland creature who had just been thrust in front of oncoming headlights and was still trying to figure out what those bright lights were.

"This is the army. Not the CIA," Nick said, glaring a bit. He figured even if they man could make out his facial features it was no great loss. He didn't bother to return an introduction to Cee.

[Cee Cohen]

Cee had once been able to do pushups. He’d once been a decent athlete, mostly because after tripping and falling so many times you had to learn how to pick yourself back up again, and sometimes that was hard work because things would’ve fallen on top of you. But Nick was right. Right now, Cee was definitely scrawny and unimpressive.

And no, not all there. Definitely not all-there. He was totally the kind of guy to get fascinated by the bright lights coming toward him at a pace that wasn’t at all likely to be healthy for him.

“Oh, really?” Cee grinned. “I did some work for the army once. Pentagon security after the big hacking fiasco. I left a back door in for myself, of course, but their information is not useful, so I’m still working my way into the CIA.” He looked around. “Is this recruitment, then? I can’t think you’d have a lot of luck here. I’m not sure how the army feels about metas.”

[Nicholas Kells]

As the other man continued to blabber on, Nick rubbed the frustration building behind his eyes. It wasn't so much that he though every stupid idiot should be killed to protect the gene pool, but couldn't they at least stay out of his life? Or at the very least, his workplace?

He hadn't expected Cee to be a military man. He was too...disheveled. But the fact that he did some computer work for the Pentagon made Nick raise and eyebrow. Really? The government trusted this moron?

Nick almost rose from his chair in anger. Not only what the man flaunting his attempts to hack the CIA, but he had to bring the M word into the conversation. Still Nick took a breath, unclenched his fists, and collected himself before answering. "Well, good for you," he said, with no emotion in his voice. "And thank you for your concern about my choice of career location." He didn't want to go into the military's view on meta freaks at the moment.

"Where did you say you were trying to get to?" Nick asked, hoping he could remind this imbecile that he wasn't supposed to be in here in the first place.

[Cee Cohen]

The answer was no, not really. But at least the gene pool was safe. It was highly unlikely that Cee—despite a once competence with women—would ever have children. For one, he recently hadn’t had much luck with women. For another…

…well, sometimes Cee thought that caring hurt too much. Besides, he was worried about what would happen to his kids.

Cee might’ve been a bit clueless, but he did notice the aborted attempt to get up, and he shuffled back a little bit. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come across that way, truly. I just—well, I am attempting to make conversation. I have never been very good at it.”

He brightened. “Ah, yes! I’m looking for a…well, he prefers to call it an Intelligence Shop, but basically it has computer components and tiny cameras. Logical for a small town—no room for a proper spy shop. I don’t recall the name, though. Do you know it? As a military man?”