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starsficThis is the sixth story in steering you home, and it takes place the night after "Prisoners" ♥ I was going to make some icons of the last RPM episode too, but I couldn't figure out how to contain it in one-inch by one-inch form. So if you want some silly "And... Action!" screencaps, I posted a few here at the_morphin_grid* and also the tale of the action sofa at my own journal.
*I just typo'd this as "the morphin grin," which is so awesome.
the one in the know
Ziggy knew Dillon wasn't cool with the wonder twins sleeping in auxiliary control. He also knew Dillon and K didn't talk about the possibility that her friends were evil Venjix war machines, despite the fact that Ziggy had done his best to spread the word. Since Dillon had only told him not to tell Dr. K, he'd gone ahead and alerted the rest of the team, and he'd repeated back to Dillon what K had said about knowing they weren't human.
The worst part about it was that, as far as he could tell, they all basically agreed on this. Scott had backed Dillon, starting an informal rotation with Flynn and Summer to make sure the twins were left alone as infrequently as possible. Ziggy thought he and Dillon had been left out until he realized they were in charge of keeping an eye on the twins whenever they left the garage. Shortly after that, he figured out that even K was helping: by coming to find one of them whenever she was alone.
She made it look incidental, of course. But none of the rest of the team would intrude when she and the twins put their heads together, which was often, and that meant they didn't always know when Gem and Gemma wandered off. Dr. K would make it obvious by putting in an appearance, often brief and usually scathing, that let at least one other member of the team know they weren't with her anymore.
So they all agreed, and they still couldn't talk about it. Her and Dillon, her and him, her and anyone. Dillon and anyone who didn't bring it up first--and even when they did, his participation was largely limited to single syllables. At least he hadn't gotten mad at Ziggy for mentioning it to the rest of them, K excluded.
Obviously none of them discussed it with Gem and Gemma. Whether the twins actually were evil or not was a moot point. They liked or pretended to like everything, but there were two things they were extra enthusiastic about: blowing things up, and defending Dr. K.
It was this last that gave them free range in the garage, despite the misgivings of almost everyone. There just weren't enough of them to go around. It annoyed Scott and Dillon most of all, but the five of them couldn't possibly assure her safety. Seven on one made for better odds--as long as it wasn't the twins they ended up having to defend her from.
The scene in auxiliary control tonight made that chance seem almost laughable. There were pillows scattered everywhere and the covers had been stripped off both beds, jammed and tucked and stretched across the floor. Three people with black hair and white alphabet pajamas were sprawled out with markers and paper and little plastic bins of art supplies--writing in the journals Gem and Gemma sometimes left lying around the garage.
Except there were three journals, and three little plastic bins. And Dr. K's blue puppy slippers had been kicked off, leaving her barefoot with her shoulder pressed up against Gem's while he showed her how to paint a watercolor... sky.
Or maybe ocean. A lake? It was hard to tell.
"Yes?" Green eyes stared up at him as she craned her neck, and two sets of identical brown immediately followed. Not that it was the first time they'd looked at him. He'd seen first Gemma, then Gem, look away from the door the moment he came in.
"Hi," Gemma began.
"Ziggy!" Gem finished. "Have you come--
"To journal with us?"
"Uh, well, that's very kind," Ziggy said, "but I was actually looking for Dr. K."
"And you," Gemma said.
"Found her!" Gem nudged K's shoulder and she actually smiled, even if she did look down to make it less obvious. "Did you want to--"
"Borrow her?" Gemma asked.
"It's not me, so much," Ziggy said. "I was just thinking that... well, the problem is--you know how the people we were hoping to find at the factory weren't exactly the people we found? One person in particular?"
"Dillon's sister." Dr. K didn't sit up, but she twisted her paintbrush away from the sky and frowned. "She wasn't there. The odds against it were high; it wasn't a surprise."
"Yeah, but he wanted it to happen," Ziggy insisted. "I don't know if you noticed, but he ran back into a burning building to find someone we'd already told him wasn't there."
She dipped her paintbrush into the water and let it go, resting against the side of a tumbler Ziggy recognized as one of their drink glasses. He thought he knew where the twins were getting the idea that everything in the kitchen was fair game. "I noticed," she said.
"Well, he's up on the roof," Ziggy told her. "Staring at that key Summer found."
"That's a stupid place to be," she said sharply. "The roof is the least defensible location on base. At night there's no sun to disguise the infrared signature of his body."
The twins were looking from him to her and back again, waiting expectantly on each reply. Ziggy raised his hands in surrender. "I know," he said. "I know; I tried to tell him, but it's not like he doesn't know that, right?"
Staring down at her, he added, "He ran into a burning building."
She was still frowning. "He's a cyborg. He can tolerate significantly higher temperatures than you or I. And he can certainly see better than any of us."
Yeah, Ziggy had his suspicions about that, too. Their test results were measured against the standard she had set? She'd never mentioned it again, but he didn't forget things like that. He knew for a fact that Dillon didn't either: he tested her idly, for the fun of it, all the time.
"Regardless," Ziggy said. "He's on the roof and none of us can make him come in. He let Summer sit with him as long as she doesn't talk, but Scott and Flynn went to bed hours ago and you know he won't listen to them anyway."
"Why can't he just," Gemma began.
"Stay on the roof?" Gem wanted to know.
But K was sitting up now, leaving her half-painted sky in the journal behind her. She held out her hands, maybe for balance as she stood. No one reached for her but Ziggy saw Gem shift slightly. Bracing himself. Ziggy knew that posture from training with Dillon: he was ready to catch her if she stumbled.
While Gem watched K, Gemma was watching Ziggy, and he figured the day they moved in was the day this had become the most secure place in the garage.
"Are you coming?"
The impatient question from the door made him turn around, and he pointed back over his shoulder at the twins. "Uh, should I--" He'd thought he would have to stay and make excuses, or maybe entertain them in her place, but she sounded like she expected him to follow her. Now.
"I mean," Ziggy said, looking from her to Gem and Gemma. "Um, sorry? To interrupt?
"Coming," he added quickly. "Really, I'm right behind you. Lead the way."
In her pajamas. Which was kind of adorable and also way more creepy after seeing Gemma and Gem dressed exactly the same way. He'd wondered where her pajamas came from. Now he thought any of his guesses would have been better than the truth. Why did they even still wear them?
"So, do you really want me to--" He waved vaguely at the stairs, not that it did any good, since she still wasn't looking at him. "It's just that he's pretty much ignoring me right now, and I thought you might want to--"
She interrupted him in a way that, for once, indicated she knew exactly what he meant. "If I go alone," she said over her shoulder, "it will look like I'm bullying him."
"Okay, leaving aside the obvious humor value of you bullying anyone," Ziggy began, reaching out to grab the railing as he amended, "not that you can't; you do... but not in a bad way. I'm just saying--right. If we both go together, it'll look like we're ganging up on him."
She glanced back at him as she turned the corner onto the landing. "We are."
"Oh." He considered that. "Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense."
She didn't deign to reply. He wasn't totally convinced, either, since by the time he got to the top of the ladder she was already at the edge of the roof, frowning down at Summer and Dillon. Or he imagined she was frowning; he couldn't really tell in the weird shadows cast by the city lights.
"Hey, Doc," he heard Dillon say. "Come to take your turn?"
Summer looked up at Ziggy as he joined them. "That's already more than he's said to me all night," she murmured.
Ziggy didn't answer, well aware of the glare Dillon shot his way. He knew who was responsible for getting K here.
"Give me the key," she said.
Ziggy and Summer exchanged glances. Okay. That was unexpected.
Dillon was staring up at her. "Why would I do that?"
"Because I asked you to," she said, like it was a ridiculous question. "Obviously."
"You didn't," Dillon pointed out. "As a matter of fact."
But he was holding it up, chain slipping through his fingers as he offered her the key. Just like that. Like she really had asked, and that was all it took. Like her telling him to do something wasn't always his cue to do exactly the opposite.
Dr. K caught the chain with her little finger, teased it apart, and put it over her head. "I'm going to bed," she said.
Then she turned and walked away.
"Hey," Dillon said. He raised his voice to reach her through the shadows. "Doc. I want that key."
"You know where to find it," she called over her shoulder.
Ziggy could practically feel Summer staring, so he looked at her and she looked back, eyes wide and his expression probably wasn't much better. Dillon didn't move for a count of maybe one and a half. Then he swung around, rising and striding off as smoothly as a shadow himself.
They were gone from the roof a moment later, and Ziggy still wasn't sure quite what had happened.
"Well, that was... interesting," Summer said. "Does Dillon sleep in your room?"
"Yeah," he said quickly. "When he sleeps, which isn't really that--I mean yeah. Of course he does."
"Really." She sounded way too thoughtful for his peace of mind. "You'll let us know if that changes, right?"
"Oh, sure," he said, and the promise was reckless and reflexive and detached. He felt like he was standing in ice water and he hadn't figured out how cold it was yet. "You can count on the Zig-meister. The one in the know, that's me."
"I'm out of control like a runaway train
With the wheels barely touching the rails
I'm in a tornado, in a hurricane, got a tiger by the tail"
--Susan Ashton, "Breathless"
the_morphin_grid* and also the tale of the action sofa at my own journal. *I just typo'd this as "the morphin grin," which is so awesome.
Ziggy knew Dillon wasn't cool with the wonder twins sleeping in auxiliary control. He also knew Dillon and K didn't talk about the possibility that her friends were evil Venjix war machines, despite the fact that Ziggy had done his best to spread the word. Since Dillon had only told him not to tell Dr. K, he'd gone ahead and alerted the rest of the team, and he'd repeated back to Dillon what K had said about knowing they weren't human.
The worst part about it was that, as far as he could tell, they all basically agreed on this. Scott had backed Dillon, starting an informal rotation with Flynn and Summer to make sure the twins were left alone as infrequently as possible. Ziggy thought he and Dillon had been left out until he realized they were in charge of keeping an eye on the twins whenever they left the garage. Shortly after that, he figured out that even K was helping: by coming to find one of them whenever she was alone.
She made it look incidental, of course. But none of the rest of the team would intrude when she and the twins put their heads together, which was often, and that meant they didn't always know when Gem and Gemma wandered off. Dr. K would make it obvious by putting in an appearance, often brief and usually scathing, that let at least one other member of the team know they weren't with her anymore.
So they all agreed, and they still couldn't talk about it. Her and Dillon, her and him, her and anyone. Dillon and anyone who didn't bring it up first--and even when they did, his participation was largely limited to single syllables. At least he hadn't gotten mad at Ziggy for mentioning it to the rest of them, K excluded.
Obviously none of them discussed it with Gem and Gemma. Whether the twins actually were evil or not was a moot point. They liked or pretended to like everything, but there were two things they were extra enthusiastic about: blowing things up, and defending Dr. K.
It was this last that gave them free range in the garage, despite the misgivings of almost everyone. There just weren't enough of them to go around. It annoyed Scott and Dillon most of all, but the five of them couldn't possibly assure her safety. Seven on one made for better odds--as long as it wasn't the twins they ended up having to defend her from.
The scene in auxiliary control tonight made that chance seem almost laughable. There were pillows scattered everywhere and the covers had been stripped off both beds, jammed and tucked and stretched across the floor. Three people with black hair and white alphabet pajamas were sprawled out with markers and paper and little plastic bins of art supplies--writing in the journals Gem and Gemma sometimes left lying around the garage.
Except there were three journals, and three little plastic bins. And Dr. K's blue puppy slippers had been kicked off, leaving her barefoot with her shoulder pressed up against Gem's while he showed her how to paint a watercolor... sky.
Or maybe ocean. A lake? It was hard to tell.
"Yes?" Green eyes stared up at him as she craned her neck, and two sets of identical brown immediately followed. Not that it was the first time they'd looked at him. He'd seen first Gemma, then Gem, look away from the door the moment he came in.
"Hi," Gemma began.
"Ziggy!" Gem finished. "Have you come--
"To journal with us?"
"Uh, well, that's very kind," Ziggy said, "but I was actually looking for Dr. K."
"And you," Gemma said.
"Found her!" Gem nudged K's shoulder and she actually smiled, even if she did look down to make it less obvious. "Did you want to--"
"Borrow her?" Gemma asked.
"It's not me, so much," Ziggy said. "I was just thinking that... well, the problem is--you know how the people we were hoping to find at the factory weren't exactly the people we found? One person in particular?"
"Dillon's sister." Dr. K didn't sit up, but she twisted her paintbrush away from the sky and frowned. "She wasn't there. The odds against it were high; it wasn't a surprise."
"Yeah, but he wanted it to happen," Ziggy insisted. "I don't know if you noticed, but he ran back into a burning building to find someone we'd already told him wasn't there."
She dipped her paintbrush into the water and let it go, resting against the side of a tumbler Ziggy recognized as one of their drink glasses. He thought he knew where the twins were getting the idea that everything in the kitchen was fair game. "I noticed," she said.
"Well, he's up on the roof," Ziggy told her. "Staring at that key Summer found."
"That's a stupid place to be," she said sharply. "The roof is the least defensible location on base. At night there's no sun to disguise the infrared signature of his body."
The twins were looking from him to her and back again, waiting expectantly on each reply. Ziggy raised his hands in surrender. "I know," he said. "I know; I tried to tell him, but it's not like he doesn't know that, right?"
Staring down at her, he added, "He ran into a burning building."
She was still frowning. "He's a cyborg. He can tolerate significantly higher temperatures than you or I. And he can certainly see better than any of us."
Yeah, Ziggy had his suspicions about that, too. Their test results were measured against the standard she had set? She'd never mentioned it again, but he didn't forget things like that. He knew for a fact that Dillon didn't either: he tested her idly, for the fun of it, all the time.
"Regardless," Ziggy said. "He's on the roof and none of us can make him come in. He let Summer sit with him as long as she doesn't talk, but Scott and Flynn went to bed hours ago and you know he won't listen to them anyway."
"Why can't he just," Gemma began.
"Stay on the roof?" Gem wanted to know.
But K was sitting up now, leaving her half-painted sky in the journal behind her. She held out her hands, maybe for balance as she stood. No one reached for her but Ziggy saw Gem shift slightly. Bracing himself. Ziggy knew that posture from training with Dillon: he was ready to catch her if she stumbled.
While Gem watched K, Gemma was watching Ziggy, and he figured the day they moved in was the day this had become the most secure place in the garage.
"Are you coming?"
The impatient question from the door made him turn around, and he pointed back over his shoulder at the twins. "Uh, should I--" He'd thought he would have to stay and make excuses, or maybe entertain them in her place, but she sounded like she expected him to follow her. Now.
"I mean," Ziggy said, looking from her to Gem and Gemma. "Um, sorry? To interrupt?
"Coming," he added quickly. "Really, I'm right behind you. Lead the way."
In her pajamas. Which was kind of adorable and also way more creepy after seeing Gemma and Gem dressed exactly the same way. He'd wondered where her pajamas came from. Now he thought any of his guesses would have been better than the truth. Why did they even still wear them?
"So, do you really want me to--" He waved vaguely at the stairs, not that it did any good, since she still wasn't looking at him. "It's just that he's pretty much ignoring me right now, and I thought you might want to--"
She interrupted him in a way that, for once, indicated she knew exactly what he meant. "If I go alone," she said over her shoulder, "it will look like I'm bullying him."
"Okay, leaving aside the obvious humor value of you bullying anyone," Ziggy began, reaching out to grab the railing as he amended, "not that you can't; you do... but not in a bad way. I'm just saying--right. If we both go together, it'll look like we're ganging up on him."
She glanced back at him as she turned the corner onto the landing. "We are."
"Oh." He considered that. "Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense."
She didn't deign to reply. He wasn't totally convinced, either, since by the time he got to the top of the ladder she was already at the edge of the roof, frowning down at Summer and Dillon. Or he imagined she was frowning; he couldn't really tell in the weird shadows cast by the city lights.
"Hey, Doc," he heard Dillon say. "Come to take your turn?"
Summer looked up at Ziggy as he joined them. "That's already more than he's said to me all night," she murmured.
Ziggy didn't answer, well aware of the glare Dillon shot his way. He knew who was responsible for getting K here.
"Give me the key," she said.
Ziggy and Summer exchanged glances. Okay. That was unexpected.
Dillon was staring up at her. "Why would I do that?"
"Because I asked you to," she said, like it was a ridiculous question. "Obviously."
"You didn't," Dillon pointed out. "As a matter of fact."
But he was holding it up, chain slipping through his fingers as he offered her the key. Just like that. Like she really had asked, and that was all it took. Like her telling him to do something wasn't always his cue to do exactly the opposite.
Dr. K caught the chain with her little finger, teased it apart, and put it over her head. "I'm going to bed," she said.
Then she turned and walked away.
"Hey," Dillon said. He raised his voice to reach her through the shadows. "Doc. I want that key."
"You know where to find it," she called over her shoulder.
Ziggy could practically feel Summer staring, so he looked at her and she looked back, eyes wide and his expression probably wasn't much better. Dillon didn't move for a count of maybe one and a half. Then he swung around, rising and striding off as smoothly as a shadow himself.
They were gone from the roof a moment later, and Ziggy still wasn't sure quite what had happened.
"Well, that was... interesting," Summer said. "Does Dillon sleep in your room?"
"Yeah," he said quickly. "When he sleeps, which isn't really that--I mean yeah. Of course he does."
"Really." She sounded way too thoughtful for his peace of mind. "You'll let us know if that changes, right?"
"Oh, sure," he said, and the promise was reckless and reflexive and detached. He felt like he was standing in ice water and he hadn't figured out how cold it was yet. "You can count on the Zig-meister. The one in the know, that's me."
"I'm out of control like a runaway train
With the wheels barely touching the rails
I'm in a tornado, in a hurricane, got a tiger by the tail"
--Susan Ashton, "Breathless"
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 09:16 pm (UTC)But K was sitting up now, leaving her half-painted sky in the journal behind her. She held out her hands, maybe for balance as she stood. No one reached for her but Ziggy saw Gem shift slightly. Bracing himself. Ziggy knew that posture from training with Dillon: he was ready to catch her if she stumbled.
Evil robots or not, they know how to protect a friend, good on them.
In her pajamas. Which was kind of adorable and also way more creepy after seeing Gemma and Gem dressed exactly the same way. He'd wondered where her pajamas came from. Now he thought any of his guesses would have been better than the truth. Why did they even still wear them?
Well, duh, Ziggy, those are the only PJs they own, which is more than the rest of you, since you all wear the same outfits every day! I'd say the apocalypse makes it hard to go clothes shopping, but y'all go grocery shopping rather easily, sooo...there goes that theory!
She interrupted him in a way that, for once, indicated she knew exactly what he meant. "If I go alone," she said over her shoulder, "it will look like I'm bullying him."
"Okay, leaving aside the obvious humor value of you bullying anyone," Ziggy began, reaching out to grab the railing as he amended, "not that you can't; you do... but not in a bad way. I'm just saying--right. If we both go together, it'll look like we're ganging up on him."
She glanced back at him as she turned the corner onto the landing. "We are."
"Oh." He considered that. "Yeah, well, I guess that makes sense."
It's kind of hilarious that K is the one that knows how to deal with Dillon now.
"Give me the key," she said.
Ziggy and Summer exchanged glances. Okay. That was unexpected.
Dillon was staring up at her. "Why would I do that?"
"Because I asked you to," she said, like it was a ridiculous question. "Obviously."
"You didn't," Dillon pointed out. "As a matter of fact."
But he was holding it up, chain slipping through his fingers as he offered her the key. Just like that. Like she really had asked, and that was all it took. Like her telling him to do something wasn't always his cue to do exactly the opposite.
*squee!*
"Hey," Dillon said. He raised his voice to reach her through the shadows. "Doc. I want that key."
"You know where to find it," she called over her shoulder.
Ziggy could practically feel Summer staring, so he looked at her and she looked back, eyes wide and his expression probably wasn't much better. Dillon didn't move for a count of maybe one and a half. Then he swung around, rising and striding off as smoothly as a shadow himself.
*squee again!* Yeah, he's got to go teach her a lesson
by screwing her senseless, of course!♥!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-19 04:43 am (UTC)Squee!
Ziggy is great!
Dillon and Dr. K have this trust between them, its so amazing.
There should be a scene where he, K and Ziggy have sex.
Squee!