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serene_quill) wrote2010-03-29 10:08 am
serene_quill) wrote2010-03-29 10:08 am
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AMP: Chapter 11- Grazed and Confused (Part 1 of 2)
Title: A Modest Proposal, Chapter 11: Grazed and Confused (Part 1 of 2)
Pairing: Jack/Nathan, Jack/Allison, Nathan/Allison, Jack/Nathan/Allison
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Don’t own!
Warnings: slash, threesome, spoilers through 306: Phased and Confused (But seriously ignoring half the episode because I couldn’t stand it! No superhero storyline contained within!)
Summary: When stepping in and interfering is a step too far…
Previous Parts can be found here
Come Monday, Jack had to go three rounds with Nathan about his return to work, which explained why Allison was chuckling her way through breakfast with them at Café Diem, while Zoë rolled her eyes as she topped off all three cups of coffee. “I’m fine,” Jack repeated for what felt like the thousandth time when he caught Nathan watching him from under lowered lashes—again.
Allison laughed delightedly, and Jack sighed. “I’m starting to understand how you got so crazy,” he informed her darkly. “Putting up with his worrying.”
“Joking aside, Nathan, he’s fine. Better than fine,” Allison admitted. “Although…”
Jack turned to see what had caught her eye. Lexi had made her way to the counter, ordering a tea from Vince and flirting with a kid from the recycling center while she waited. He shot a look at Zoë, who shrugged. “She hasn’t said much to me, unless it’s trying to figure out how it’s all screwing me up. It isn’t,” she added firmly when Jack opened his mouth to ask, and Nathan chuckled at her vehemence.
“Oh god, there goes Fargo,” Zoë groaned, rolling her eyes. “He’s been flirting with Aunt Lexi like crazy. Can’t you order him to stop?” she asked Nathan plaintively.
Nathan shook his head, lips twitching slightly. “Sorry, Zoë, but it keeps him from driving your father’s deputy and one of my top scientists crazy.”
“Good point,” Jack agreed, rolling his eyes when the bottle green eyes turned his way, narrowing slightly. “Oh for the love of—”
“Duncan?”
Lexi’s question cut across the diner noise. Jack spun quickly, surprised to see the familiar auburn haired doctor, knapsack still slung over his shoulder, standing just inside the door to Café Diem. “Hey, Lexi,” he greeted her, a wary quirk of his lips. “You really think I wouldn’t track you down?”
“Don’t think you would have found me without some help,” she hissed, turning on Jack. “I told you it was my choice. What, I get mad about how you’re living your life so you decide to screw with mine?”
“Whoa, hang on,” Jack held up his hands. “One, I warned you to do it yourself or I would. You’ve had far more time than I promised. And second, I’m not actually responsible this time.” He let his eyes flicker subtly, assessing the slight bit of satisfaction in Nathan’s eyes.
To his surprise, before Lexi could round on the scientist herself, Allison cleared her throat. “Not that I condone either of their actions,” she remarked quietly. “But perhaps you should look to your own life for a while and let Jack worry about his.”
“Hi, Jack,” Duncan said, offering a hand, eyes widening at the showdown, and his easy demeanor swept over it. His light Irish accent lifted the tone of voice automatically, making it hard not to respond in kind. He offered a hand to Zoë as he had Jack, but she hugged him instead, though her eyes remained wary. “Nice to see you again, kid.”
“Been ages,” Jack replied, feeling himself smile almost automatically. “Though I don’t know if I’d have recognized you with the scruff and the hair. When’s the last time you had it cut?”
Duncan stroked his goatee, chuckling. “Yeah, maybe I’ll see about it once I’ve figured out what I’ve done wrong this time with your baby sister.”
Lexi huffed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes, so Jack followed Duncan’s example and steamrolled over her. “Duncan, my friends Allison Blake and Nathan Stark,” Jack introduced them, noting that Duncan’s sharp hazel eyes didn’t seem to miss a trick as they swept knowingly over the little table.
“We’ve chatted,” Duncan observed as he shook Nathan’s hand. “Thanks for the lift, by the way.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Lexi snapped, tugging Duncan’s arm. “Come on, we need to talk.” Duncan slung his sack over his shoulder, waving at the table with a flash of a wink before he obligingly followed Lexi out of the café.
“Looks like that’s broken a few hearts,” Allison observed quietly, nodding at the counter where Fargo and Lexi’s other admirers had been abandoned.
“You brought him here?” Zoë asked Nathan in a low tone, though the café had started buzzing with gossip and speculation once more. Jack shifted in his seat to look at her, folding his hands carefully.
“Zoë, he’s got a right to know,” Jack interjected. “I know you don’t see it the same way, but he’s a good man, treats your aunt well, and she needs the chance at having his support.”
“It should be her choice,” Zoë insisted, but her eyes were narrowed at Nathan still. “Did Dad ask you to?”
“He asked me to look into it,” Nathan admitted, oddly solemn. “I may have stepped up my efforts after she responded badly. But as your father observed, we gave her more time to contact him on her own than ever promised.”
“Yeah, great,” Zoë started to retort sarcastically, and Jack cleared his throat.
“Your mom could have made the same decision with you,” Jack remarked, his words a little broken while he tried to force his thoughts in order. “You’d never have known me if she’d walked away. But she told me, and I married her, and I’m grateful for knowing you, Zoë, even if things with your Mom weren’t meant to be. While we’re on the topic, she could ask for custody any time. And you know she’d win, and I’d lose you again. Just food for thought.”
“Mom wouldn’t win,” Zoë started to argue, then blinked as she took in the sympathetic look on Allison’s face.
“Courts aren’t sympathetic to unusual living arrangements,” she remarked, and Jack watched Zoë pale.
“I don’t mean to scare you,” Jack said, squeezing Zoë’s hand. “But you need to think about it carefully, try to see why we want Duncan to have a chance with his kid.”
“Fine,” Zoë managed, shrugging out of her apron. “I still think you should have been the one…”
“Nathan’s family too.” The words were out of Jack’s mouth before he could process them, and he saw the surprise reflected back at him from the other two.
“Yeah,” Zoë agreed faintly. She shook her head, then grabbed her backpack and hurried out, looking distracted.
“Gave her an awful lot to think about,” Allison observed, carefully tearing apart a piece of toast.
“Too much?” Jack asked, thinking about the exchange.
“Just about the right amount,” Allison replied, shrugging. “She’ll either pout for a while, or may come at Nathan hard this afternoon.”
Nathan sighed, nodding. “Because I was the bad guy this time?”
“No, ‘cuz you’re the first one she’ll see,” Jack retorted cheerfully. “She’s all yours this afternoon.” He speared a bit of sausage off Nathan’s plate before the other man could stop him, grinning cheerfully.
*-*
“What’s up?” Zoë asked, stepping into the lab during her break, eyes widening when she saw why Pilar had texted her. “Whoa!”
Lucas, only a few steps behind her, came crashing to a halt when she stopped before he did, then eyed the hole. “What did you do?” he teased Pilar, who smacked his arm, rolling her eyes.
“I didn’t do anything,” she told him. “It opened on its own. There’s a secret bunker under Tesla!” She was squeaking on the last bit, and Zoë couldn’t help smiling in return as she stepped into the doorway and looked around.
“So, let’s go explore,” Zoë suggested, feeling impish. Pilar agreed with an excited little bounce and a high pitched little noise.
“Whoa, this sounds like a really bad idea,” Lucas started to back pedal, looking warily at the ancient entrance. “Maybe you should call your dad or Dr. Stark.”
“Oh good, so they can make all the decisions for me too,” Zoë grumbled, folding her arms stubbornly.
“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Pilar cajoled Lucas, then gave Zoë a mischievous look. “I think he’s scared.”
“We can go without him,” Zoë decided, giving Lucas an arch look. “If you don’t want to come.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” Lucas muttered as he followed the girls down into the tunnel.
It was about an hour in that Zoe remembered why she usually kept Pilar and Lucas separate. “God, you two bicker way worse than my dad and Nathan!” she complained, not missing the arch look Pilar sent her way.
“Excuse me?” she asked, grin turning wicked. “Nathan? Since when do you call Dr. Stark ‘Nathan’?”
Zoë’s cheeks colored a little at her slip. “He told me I should,” she admitted, and Pilar giggled.
“God, how do I get to be Stark’s intern?” she joked. “How come they don’t make them like that in our age bracket?”
“Hey now,” Lucas objected, and Zoë giggled.
“Oh please,” Pilar rolled her eyes. “You may have the brains, but the body on that man…”
“Pilar!” Zoë objected, flushing bright red.
“What?” her friend blinked innocently. “Oh come on, I stopped enlightening you about just how hot your dad is, don’t spoil my fun just ‘cuz Stark’s your mentor now!”
“He’s older than your father!” Lucas objected at the same time as Zoë giggled, “Pilar, he’s older than my dad!”
“He’s what, 38?” Pilar observed, shrugging. “That’s just a little more than twice my age, fair game for a guy that hot and that smart. Like Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. But Stark’s way hotter than Michael Douglas.”
“Oh god,” Zoë groaned, shaking her head trying to clear the bad mental images. “That’s it, Nathan’s off limits for this sort of thing too.”
“You spoil all my—eaugh!” Pilar’s complaint ended in a scream as she accidentally kicked a fallen bit of debris and released a swarm of rats.
Zoë screamed and tugged on Lucas’s arm, nails biting in as she scrambled away from the rats, down a flight of stairs, through a couple doorways and ended abruptly when her ankle turned under her, wrenching painfully. “Ahh,” she shouted, pulling out of Lucas’s grasp and halting Pilar suddenly.
“Zoë!” Lucas gasped, kneeling next to her, careful to avoid the puddle of purple liquid Zoë had slipped in. “Are you okay?”
Pilar tugged up the cuff of Zoe’s pants and shook her head. “No, this looks bad. We gotta get you back up to school.”
Zoë let Lucas help her up, then looked around, the building not looking at all familiar. “Either of you know how to get back?” she asked in a small voice.
*-*
“Hey Jo,” Jack greeted her as he entered the station, sliding on the edge of his desk to snag the phone before she could, knowing full well that Nathan had already extracted a promise from Jo to keep him from doing much work. “Sheriff Carter,” he said cheerfully, to provoke Jo into making a face at him.
“Jack,” Allison greeted him with a wary note in her voice. “Put your deputy on the phone.”
“Allison,” he matched her tone mockingly. “What’s the problem?”
“Taggart, rabbit experiment, and Jo can handle it,” she said firmly.
“Well, if it’s just a little problem, then I should handle it,” Jack teased her, even as he scribbled down the info on his pad and handed it to Jo. “I mean, I’m taking it easy. If something big should come up, then I’d be left here to deal with it.”
“Nice try, just send Jo up here,” Allison laughed.
“Hmm…” Jack pretended to think as he waved to Jo as she left, her biggest gun in hand.
“Jack,” Allison used a warning tone that had Jack grinning.
“She’s already on her way up there,” Jack informed her, chuckling. “And to think I called Nathan a worrywart.”
“Hey, we—” she broke off suddenly. “I gotta go.”
“Allie, you okay?” Jack asked, a little concerned by the sudden shift.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just have something I have to take care of,” she replied quickly. “Take it easy, okay, Jack?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, settling in to catch up with paperwork. It had been quiet since the mummy incident fortunately, so the reports from Jo were simple to sign off on. He had just started his own report on the insect horde, making a note to ask Henry to generate a statement for him, when the phone rang again.
“Jack Carter,” he answered absently, perking up when he heard a familiar sigh.
“Put your deputy on the phone,” Nathan instructed him, and Jack laughed.
“Allie said the exact same thing when she called Jo up to GD half an hour ago,” Jack replied sweetly as he pulled his gun out of his desk and stuck it in his holster. “She’s dealing with Taggart, so you’re stuck with me.”
There was a long pause, then Nathan rather cheerfully said, “Fine, I’d rather have you where I can keep an eye on you anyway.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Where do you need me?”
“Lake Front Road, just past the highway 54 bridge,” Nathan told him. “You’ll see the security tape.”
“What did you do now?” Jack grumbled as he grabbed his keys.
“Dead researcher,” Nathan replied grimly.
“Damn,” Jack cursed, and hung up the phone abruptly, hurrying out to his Jeep.
*-*
Allison stared at the phone for a long moment after she hung up, surprised by the words she’d barely manage to bite back. “Hey, we love you,” she murmured to herself, surprised by the quick little flutter in her stomach.
She smiled, a little bemused. “I love you,” she tried out, grinning a little wider. “Holy shit.”
*-*
Zoë loved her boyfriend, and she loved her best friend, but at the moment, she could cheerfully strangle them both as Lucas tried to once again tell Pilar why her efforts to find a cell signal were futile.
“Great,” Pilar sniped at Lucas rolling her eyes. “Got any idea on how to get us unlost?”
Zoë used the wall to brace herself as she walked, her ankle stinging. “That’s not even a word,” Lucas mocked Pilar, and Zoë sighed.
“Guys…”
“Okay, I speak six languages,” Pilar shot back, and before Zoë could say anything, Lucas was arguing back.
“Huh, what’s ‘bite me’ in Chinese?”
“Guys!”
Zoë leaned heavily against the wall, and Pilar was at her side a moment later, taking in her pale face in concern. Lucas squeezed her arm. “Here, let me look at your ankle,” he said as he knelt, looking at the dark mottled bruising. “Whoa, you are not okay,” he observed, and Zoë just barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
A loud clanging cut off her smart comment, and Pilar jumped. “Oh god, can we just get out of here?” she whimpered, her grip on Zoë’s hand tightening as they gazed toward the dark room the noise came from.
Lucas stepped forward slowly, peering into the darkness. “I think I see…” he started to say, then an arm darted out, wrapping him in a quick headlock.
“Boo!” Zane grinned as Pilar shrieked and Zoë swallowed a gasp, then tried not to giggle at the high pitched sound of panic that had come from her boyfriend when Zane grabbed him.
“What are you doing down here?” Zoë asked, and Zane smirked at her.
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” he replied dryly.
*-*
“Hey,” Jack greeted Nathan, grin fading when he saw the look on Nathan’s face.
“It’s not pretty,” Nathan warned Jack quietly as he lifted the yellow tape for his lover. “And I’m afraid it would have ended up being your call anyway, Jo doesn’t have a license for driving a boat.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s all me,” Jack agreed, and Nathan kept his eyes trained on Jack’s face as they approached the remains, not looking at the mess of muscle and bone on the ground. “That’s an arm and a bit of chest,” Jack observed, blanching and steadying himself by gazing at Nathan. “And it looks chewed on.”
“We’re thinking it was one of the SHARCs,” Nathan replied, unable to resist throwing out the acronym, knowing it would startle Jack.
“Whoa, really?” Jack leaned out over the rail of the bridge a bit, looking surprised as he regarded the calm lake surface. “Let me guess, you let Taggart keep them in as pets?”
“Submersible Hazardous Waste And Refuse Collectors,” Nathan replied, handing Jack his data pad with a schematic. “They’re a prototype developed by Dr. Benchley, whose arm and shoulder you just saw.”
“Big mechanical piranhas,” Jack decided, zooming in on the particularly nasty big teeth. “Just how big are these things and what are they supposed to do when they’re not eating researchers?”
“They range from about 4 feet to 7 feet long, equipped with steel compression jaws and denaturing laser technology,” Nathan started, then seeing the look Jack shot him, scaled it back. “They’ve got shark like teeth for shredding, jaw compartments that compact materials like a trash compactor, and some have developments that eventually will allow us to attach lasers that break down metal alloys and hazardous waste into base components for safe disposal. The goal is eventually they’ll be able to be released into the wild to clean up river and lake pollution.”
“Huh,” Jack replied, leaning against the railing. “In other words, someone thought Jaws was a good pick for environmental friendliness.”
“It’s a little more than—”
“And isn’t there a W in the middle?” Nathan frowned, looking at Jack blankly, so the sheriff added. “Submersible Hazardous Waste whatever, etc.? Shouldn’t it be Shwarc?”
Nathan forced back a smile, deadpanning, “Shwarc?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Jack replied cheerfully. “So why is it eating people?”
“So far it only seems to have eaten the researcher in charge of the project, and I would suspect sabotage,” Nathan replied. “Someone would have to reprogram one of these very specifically since they’re deliberately programmed to recognize and ignore organic material. Benchley would actually scuba dive to check on the machines half the time rather than calling them up to the boat.”
“So, we’re looking at someone who knew Benchley and his work well enough to know he’d be in the water after they reprogrammed one of his machines? That’s no accident then, we’re talking cold blooded murder,” Jack observed, looking out at the water. “What about the Shwarc?”
“The SHARC would still be somewhere in the lake,” Nathan corrected Jack firmly. “Which is why we’re going out in the boat. Retrieve it before anyone else goes for a swim or out boating, and once we have it, I can determine who reprogrammed it.”
“Would it be the wrong of the law enforcement officer here to mention that logically we should probably talk to the wife, girlfriend, someone like that?” Jack asked a little sarcastically, and Nathan raised an eyebrow.
“Three girlfriends and a rumor he was sleeping with his lab assistant’s girlfriend as well,” Nathan replied. “And the SHARC could be dangerous. It’s been a hot enough week for a lot of people to look at going swimming this afternoon.”
“All right,” Jack nodded, watching as Henry’s truck pulled up. “Henry. Any news on my radio?” Nathan barely avoided rolling his eyes at the fact that Jack had asked Henry to repair his old CV police radio. Henry was just as oddly enthusiastic about the job.
“Hey, Jack,” Henry greeted him, hopping out of his truck, swapping his mechanic badge for his coroner badge as he approached. “I should have it for you this afternoon. Nathan said you had a DB for me?”
“Pieces,” Jack warned Henry, jerking his head at the remains. Henry shook his head, pulling a fingerprint scanner from his pocket, double checking the ID.
“Dr. Jacob Benchley,” he confirmed, looking up at Nathan. “His SHARCs do this?”
“Looks that way,” Nathan agreed as Jack muttered, “Shwarcs.” Henry bit back a smile, waving them off.
“All right, I’ll take him back to my lab and see what I can tell you,” Henry replied. “Have fun shwarc hunting!”
“Don’t encourage him!” Nathan groaned, falling in to step next to Jack, headed down toward the docks.
They reached the boat, Jack groaning when he spotted the bright orange lifejacket wrapped around Fargo, who was waiting with a crate of equipment. “Oh, come on,” Jack objected, rolling his eyes. “Fargo gets to come shwarc hunting?”
“Uh, I do have advanced degrees in AI work,” Fargo defended himself, folding his arms. “And I got Dr. Todd to modify you some EM stun rods that will disable the shwarcs… uh SHARCs,” he corrected when Nathan glared. “It only works when their in the water, but he said some of the shwarcs… SHARCs… uh…” Nathan had rounded on Jack though.
“Look at what you started,” he sniped at Jack as they loaded the boat. Jack’s only response was to start whistling the Jaws theme.
*-*
Lucas had been summarily overruled and Zoë allowed Zane to offer her a support arm until they came to a flight of stairs, then was surprised when he easily lifted her into his arms and carried her down. “I’m starting to see what Jo sees in you,” she teased him, and to her surprise, Zane actually blushed a little.
They reached a main computer room, and Zane shifted Zoe to a low table so she could sit. “This is the quickest way out,” he explained, then grinned as the teenagers’ curiosity instantly turned to the aged equipment. “This stuff goes back to the 30’s. It’s all analog,” he added, then turned scowling at Lucas. “Look but don’t touch!”
He traded a look with Zoë, clearly underwhelmed by Lucas’s common sense, and ignoring Pilar’s comments about ‘prehistoric Apple store’. “The emergency power is holding out, we can rest here for a bit,” he told Zoë, his concern clear. “Not keen on facing your dad if I haven’t taken good care of you,” he explained when Zoë gave him a puzzled look. “Or Stark for that matter, now that you’re his favorite,” he added, bumping her shoulder playfully. Zoë allowed herself to relax a little, Zane’s gentle teasing more what she needed than Lucas and Pilar’s sniping. “Zoë, seriously, I’m worried it might be broken.”
“No, I think I’m okay,” she told him. “I just want to get out of here.”
“Okay,” Zane agreed, standing in time to see Lucas activate the computer system. “No, wait!”
“What, I think it still works,” Lucas replied excitedly, and the power flickered, then shields began to drop into place.
“No, no, no!” Zane raced for the closing doorway, shutting him away from his bag, where he’d set it down in the hall to help Zoë down the stairs. “Damnit!”
“What’s happening?” Pilar asked.
“Security system,” Zane replied. “It’s locking us in.”
*-*
Jack had gotten bored after the third SHARC had been pulled up to the boat for programming checks. Nathan was in a foul mood because two of the three machines they’d pulled to the surface had new modifications that Dr. Benchley had forgotten to mention in his reports to GD. The first SHARC had a heat compression device which was designed to melt metals, Fargo explained around his winces at the blisters he’d gotten on his wrist after it melted off his watch.
The second had been modified with razor sharp teeth which turned out to be a casing for a laser which had disintegrated a solid steel hook meant to remove it from the water. “I’m starting to see why Benchley went into the water to modify them,” Jack panted once the newest SHARC had been wrestled down and disabled. “They get really angry out of the water.”
“Agreed,” Nathan replied, pushing wet locks of hair out of his face as he tried to focus on the datapad . “And Benchley was an idiot who couldn’t document his work properly.”
“How many more shwarcs are we looking for?” Jack asked, enjoying the fact that the flicker of irritation in Nathan’s reaction had become a deep scowl.
“3 more SHARCs,” Nathan growled, and Jack grinned unrepentantly. Nathan’s voice dropped to a low, sexual rumble. “Say it once more and I’ll be sure to find something to shut you up with later,” he threatened.
“Promise?” Jack replied in the same tone. “Hey, Fargo?” he called out cheerfully. “Any sign of the rest of the shwarcs?”
Nathan growled lowly as Fargo popped up from the cabin, nodding. “Looks like I might have one about five hundred yards away, 40 degrees starboard.”
“Got it,” Jack replied, climbing back up to the driver’s seat and starting the boat again, moving slowly in the direction Fargo indicated. “Just say when to drop the lure.”
Nathan slid the data pad back into its holder on the dash, sighing. “Not that one either,” he told Jack, and Jack saw him check that Fargo was ensconced in the cabin once more before he bent low to murmur in Jack’s ear. “Too bad Fargo is here. You’d be on your knees right now if he weren’t.”
Jack barely stifled a groan as Nathan slunk back to the railing of the boat, a satisfied smirk curling the scientist’s lips. He caught himself watching Nathan for a moment, and quickly turned back to the instruments, cutting the motor at the position Fargo had indicated.
“Nailed it,” Fargo confirmed from below, then a clatter of footsteps preceded him up the ladder. “It should be almost directly below the hooks, so you can drop them. Maybe this one will come peacefully.”
“Yeah, I’m not taking bets,” Jack replied dryly, releasing the mechanical reels into the water and handing the control module to Fargo as he joined Nathan at the rail to help force the machine to the deck.
The hooks made a familiar clicking sound, and Jack braced himself as the wires ground to a halt then the pulleys began running in reverse, tugging up something heavy. The SHARC attached to the hooks was strangely passive as it broke the surface, unlike the others in the boat, which had fought the hooks the whole way up.
Well, what do you…” Jack started, reaching down for the cables just as the giant mechanical teeth gnashed upward, closing on his arm, dragging him over the edge of the boat, his added weight forcing the pulleys to snap.
Pairing: Jack/Nathan, Jack/Allison, Nathan/Allison, Jack/Nathan/Allison
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Don’t own!
Warnings: slash, threesome, spoilers through 306: Phased and Confused (But seriously ignoring half the episode because I couldn’t stand it! No superhero storyline contained within!)
Summary: When stepping in and interfering is a step too far…
Previous Parts can be found here
Come Monday, Jack had to go three rounds with Nathan about his return to work, which explained why Allison was chuckling her way through breakfast with them at Café Diem, while Zoë rolled her eyes as she topped off all three cups of coffee. “I’m fine,” Jack repeated for what felt like the thousandth time when he caught Nathan watching him from under lowered lashes—again.
Allison laughed delightedly, and Jack sighed. “I’m starting to understand how you got so crazy,” he informed her darkly. “Putting up with his worrying.”
“Joking aside, Nathan, he’s fine. Better than fine,” Allison admitted. “Although…”
Jack turned to see what had caught her eye. Lexi had made her way to the counter, ordering a tea from Vince and flirting with a kid from the recycling center while she waited. He shot a look at Zoë, who shrugged. “She hasn’t said much to me, unless it’s trying to figure out how it’s all screwing me up. It isn’t,” she added firmly when Jack opened his mouth to ask, and Nathan chuckled at her vehemence.
“Oh god, there goes Fargo,” Zoë groaned, rolling her eyes. “He’s been flirting with Aunt Lexi like crazy. Can’t you order him to stop?” she asked Nathan plaintively.
Nathan shook his head, lips twitching slightly. “Sorry, Zoë, but it keeps him from driving your father’s deputy and one of my top scientists crazy.”
“Good point,” Jack agreed, rolling his eyes when the bottle green eyes turned his way, narrowing slightly. “Oh for the love of—”
“Duncan?”
Lexi’s question cut across the diner noise. Jack spun quickly, surprised to see the familiar auburn haired doctor, knapsack still slung over his shoulder, standing just inside the door to Café Diem. “Hey, Lexi,” he greeted her, a wary quirk of his lips. “You really think I wouldn’t track you down?”
“Don’t think you would have found me without some help,” she hissed, turning on Jack. “I told you it was my choice. What, I get mad about how you’re living your life so you decide to screw with mine?”
“Whoa, hang on,” Jack held up his hands. “One, I warned you to do it yourself or I would. You’ve had far more time than I promised. And second, I’m not actually responsible this time.” He let his eyes flicker subtly, assessing the slight bit of satisfaction in Nathan’s eyes.
To his surprise, before Lexi could round on the scientist herself, Allison cleared her throat. “Not that I condone either of their actions,” she remarked quietly. “But perhaps you should look to your own life for a while and let Jack worry about his.”
“Hi, Jack,” Duncan said, offering a hand, eyes widening at the showdown, and his easy demeanor swept over it. His light Irish accent lifted the tone of voice automatically, making it hard not to respond in kind. He offered a hand to Zoë as he had Jack, but she hugged him instead, though her eyes remained wary. “Nice to see you again, kid.”
“Been ages,” Jack replied, feeling himself smile almost automatically. “Though I don’t know if I’d have recognized you with the scruff and the hair. When’s the last time you had it cut?”
Duncan stroked his goatee, chuckling. “Yeah, maybe I’ll see about it once I’ve figured out what I’ve done wrong this time with your baby sister.”
Lexi huffed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes, so Jack followed Duncan’s example and steamrolled over her. “Duncan, my friends Allison Blake and Nathan Stark,” Jack introduced them, noting that Duncan’s sharp hazel eyes didn’t seem to miss a trick as they swept knowingly over the little table.
“We’ve chatted,” Duncan observed as he shook Nathan’s hand. “Thanks for the lift, by the way.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Lexi snapped, tugging Duncan’s arm. “Come on, we need to talk.” Duncan slung his sack over his shoulder, waving at the table with a flash of a wink before he obligingly followed Lexi out of the café.
“Looks like that’s broken a few hearts,” Allison observed quietly, nodding at the counter where Fargo and Lexi’s other admirers had been abandoned.
“You brought him here?” Zoë asked Nathan in a low tone, though the café had started buzzing with gossip and speculation once more. Jack shifted in his seat to look at her, folding his hands carefully.
“Zoë, he’s got a right to know,” Jack interjected. “I know you don’t see it the same way, but he’s a good man, treats your aunt well, and she needs the chance at having his support.”
“It should be her choice,” Zoë insisted, but her eyes were narrowed at Nathan still. “Did Dad ask you to?”
“He asked me to look into it,” Nathan admitted, oddly solemn. “I may have stepped up my efforts after she responded badly. But as your father observed, we gave her more time to contact him on her own than ever promised.”
“Yeah, great,” Zoë started to retort sarcastically, and Jack cleared his throat.
“Your mom could have made the same decision with you,” Jack remarked, his words a little broken while he tried to force his thoughts in order. “You’d never have known me if she’d walked away. But she told me, and I married her, and I’m grateful for knowing you, Zoë, even if things with your Mom weren’t meant to be. While we’re on the topic, she could ask for custody any time. And you know she’d win, and I’d lose you again. Just food for thought.”
“Mom wouldn’t win,” Zoë started to argue, then blinked as she took in the sympathetic look on Allison’s face.
“Courts aren’t sympathetic to unusual living arrangements,” she remarked, and Jack watched Zoë pale.
“I don’t mean to scare you,” Jack said, squeezing Zoë’s hand. “But you need to think about it carefully, try to see why we want Duncan to have a chance with his kid.”
“Fine,” Zoë managed, shrugging out of her apron. “I still think you should have been the one…”
“Nathan’s family too.” The words were out of Jack’s mouth before he could process them, and he saw the surprise reflected back at him from the other two.
“Yeah,” Zoë agreed faintly. She shook her head, then grabbed her backpack and hurried out, looking distracted.
“Gave her an awful lot to think about,” Allison observed, carefully tearing apart a piece of toast.
“Too much?” Jack asked, thinking about the exchange.
“Just about the right amount,” Allison replied, shrugging. “She’ll either pout for a while, or may come at Nathan hard this afternoon.”
Nathan sighed, nodding. “Because I was the bad guy this time?”
“No, ‘cuz you’re the first one she’ll see,” Jack retorted cheerfully. “She’s all yours this afternoon.” He speared a bit of sausage off Nathan’s plate before the other man could stop him, grinning cheerfully.
*-*
“What’s up?” Zoë asked, stepping into the lab during her break, eyes widening when she saw why Pilar had texted her. “Whoa!”
Lucas, only a few steps behind her, came crashing to a halt when she stopped before he did, then eyed the hole. “What did you do?” he teased Pilar, who smacked his arm, rolling her eyes.
“I didn’t do anything,” she told him. “It opened on its own. There’s a secret bunker under Tesla!” She was squeaking on the last bit, and Zoë couldn’t help smiling in return as she stepped into the doorway and looked around.
“So, let’s go explore,” Zoë suggested, feeling impish. Pilar agreed with an excited little bounce and a high pitched little noise.
“Whoa, this sounds like a really bad idea,” Lucas started to back pedal, looking warily at the ancient entrance. “Maybe you should call your dad or Dr. Stark.”
“Oh good, so they can make all the decisions for me too,” Zoë grumbled, folding her arms stubbornly.
“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Pilar cajoled Lucas, then gave Zoë a mischievous look. “I think he’s scared.”
“We can go without him,” Zoë decided, giving Lucas an arch look. “If you don’t want to come.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” Lucas muttered as he followed the girls down into the tunnel.
It was about an hour in that Zoe remembered why she usually kept Pilar and Lucas separate. “God, you two bicker way worse than my dad and Nathan!” she complained, not missing the arch look Pilar sent her way.
“Excuse me?” she asked, grin turning wicked. “Nathan? Since when do you call Dr. Stark ‘Nathan’?”
Zoë’s cheeks colored a little at her slip. “He told me I should,” she admitted, and Pilar giggled.
“God, how do I get to be Stark’s intern?” she joked. “How come they don’t make them like that in our age bracket?”
“Hey now,” Lucas objected, and Zoë giggled.
“Oh please,” Pilar rolled her eyes. “You may have the brains, but the body on that man…”
“Pilar!” Zoë objected, flushing bright red.
“What?” her friend blinked innocently. “Oh come on, I stopped enlightening you about just how hot your dad is, don’t spoil my fun just ‘cuz Stark’s your mentor now!”
“He’s older than your father!” Lucas objected at the same time as Zoë giggled, “Pilar, he’s older than my dad!”
“He’s what, 38?” Pilar observed, shrugging. “That’s just a little more than twice my age, fair game for a guy that hot and that smart. Like Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. But Stark’s way hotter than Michael Douglas.”
“Oh god,” Zoë groaned, shaking her head trying to clear the bad mental images. “That’s it, Nathan’s off limits for this sort of thing too.”
“You spoil all my—eaugh!” Pilar’s complaint ended in a scream as she accidentally kicked a fallen bit of debris and released a swarm of rats.
Zoë screamed and tugged on Lucas’s arm, nails biting in as she scrambled away from the rats, down a flight of stairs, through a couple doorways and ended abruptly when her ankle turned under her, wrenching painfully. “Ahh,” she shouted, pulling out of Lucas’s grasp and halting Pilar suddenly.
“Zoë!” Lucas gasped, kneeling next to her, careful to avoid the puddle of purple liquid Zoë had slipped in. “Are you okay?”
Pilar tugged up the cuff of Zoe’s pants and shook her head. “No, this looks bad. We gotta get you back up to school.”
Zoë let Lucas help her up, then looked around, the building not looking at all familiar. “Either of you know how to get back?” she asked in a small voice.
*-*
“Hey Jo,” Jack greeted her as he entered the station, sliding on the edge of his desk to snag the phone before she could, knowing full well that Nathan had already extracted a promise from Jo to keep him from doing much work. “Sheriff Carter,” he said cheerfully, to provoke Jo into making a face at him.
“Jack,” Allison greeted him with a wary note in her voice. “Put your deputy on the phone.”
“Allison,” he matched her tone mockingly. “What’s the problem?”
“Taggart, rabbit experiment, and Jo can handle it,” she said firmly.
“Well, if it’s just a little problem, then I should handle it,” Jack teased her, even as he scribbled down the info on his pad and handed it to Jo. “I mean, I’m taking it easy. If something big should come up, then I’d be left here to deal with it.”
“Nice try, just send Jo up here,” Allison laughed.
“Hmm…” Jack pretended to think as he waved to Jo as she left, her biggest gun in hand.
“Jack,” Allison used a warning tone that had Jack grinning.
“She’s already on her way up there,” Jack informed her, chuckling. “And to think I called Nathan a worrywart.”
“Hey, we—” she broke off suddenly. “I gotta go.”
“Allie, you okay?” Jack asked, a little concerned by the sudden shift.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just have something I have to take care of,” she replied quickly. “Take it easy, okay, Jack?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, settling in to catch up with paperwork. It had been quiet since the mummy incident fortunately, so the reports from Jo were simple to sign off on. He had just started his own report on the insect horde, making a note to ask Henry to generate a statement for him, when the phone rang again.
“Jack Carter,” he answered absently, perking up when he heard a familiar sigh.
“Put your deputy on the phone,” Nathan instructed him, and Jack laughed.
“Allie said the exact same thing when she called Jo up to GD half an hour ago,” Jack replied sweetly as he pulled his gun out of his desk and stuck it in his holster. “She’s dealing with Taggart, so you’re stuck with me.”
There was a long pause, then Nathan rather cheerfully said, “Fine, I’d rather have you where I can keep an eye on you anyway.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Where do you need me?”
“Lake Front Road, just past the highway 54 bridge,” Nathan told him. “You’ll see the security tape.”
“What did you do now?” Jack grumbled as he grabbed his keys.
“Dead researcher,” Nathan replied grimly.
“Damn,” Jack cursed, and hung up the phone abruptly, hurrying out to his Jeep.
*-*
Allison stared at the phone for a long moment after she hung up, surprised by the words she’d barely manage to bite back. “Hey, we love you,” she murmured to herself, surprised by the quick little flutter in her stomach.
She smiled, a little bemused. “I love you,” she tried out, grinning a little wider. “Holy shit.”
*-*
Zoë loved her boyfriend, and she loved her best friend, but at the moment, she could cheerfully strangle them both as Lucas tried to once again tell Pilar why her efforts to find a cell signal were futile.
“Great,” Pilar sniped at Lucas rolling her eyes. “Got any idea on how to get us unlost?”
Zoë used the wall to brace herself as she walked, her ankle stinging. “That’s not even a word,” Lucas mocked Pilar, and Zoë sighed.
“Guys…”
“Okay, I speak six languages,” Pilar shot back, and before Zoë could say anything, Lucas was arguing back.
“Huh, what’s ‘bite me’ in Chinese?”
“Guys!”
Zoë leaned heavily against the wall, and Pilar was at her side a moment later, taking in her pale face in concern. Lucas squeezed her arm. “Here, let me look at your ankle,” he said as he knelt, looking at the dark mottled bruising. “Whoa, you are not okay,” he observed, and Zoë just barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
A loud clanging cut off her smart comment, and Pilar jumped. “Oh god, can we just get out of here?” she whimpered, her grip on Zoë’s hand tightening as they gazed toward the dark room the noise came from.
Lucas stepped forward slowly, peering into the darkness. “I think I see…” he started to say, then an arm darted out, wrapping him in a quick headlock.
“Boo!” Zane grinned as Pilar shrieked and Zoë swallowed a gasp, then tried not to giggle at the high pitched sound of panic that had come from her boyfriend when Zane grabbed him.
“What are you doing down here?” Zoë asked, and Zane smirked at her.
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” he replied dryly.
*-*
“Hey,” Jack greeted Nathan, grin fading when he saw the look on Nathan’s face.
“It’s not pretty,” Nathan warned Jack quietly as he lifted the yellow tape for his lover. “And I’m afraid it would have ended up being your call anyway, Jo doesn’t have a license for driving a boat.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s all me,” Jack agreed, and Nathan kept his eyes trained on Jack’s face as they approached the remains, not looking at the mess of muscle and bone on the ground. “That’s an arm and a bit of chest,” Jack observed, blanching and steadying himself by gazing at Nathan. “And it looks chewed on.”
“We’re thinking it was one of the SHARCs,” Nathan replied, unable to resist throwing out the acronym, knowing it would startle Jack.
“Whoa, really?” Jack leaned out over the rail of the bridge a bit, looking surprised as he regarded the calm lake surface. “Let me guess, you let Taggart keep them in as pets?”
“Submersible Hazardous Waste And Refuse Collectors,” Nathan replied, handing Jack his data pad with a schematic. “They’re a prototype developed by Dr. Benchley, whose arm and shoulder you just saw.”
“Big mechanical piranhas,” Jack decided, zooming in on the particularly nasty big teeth. “Just how big are these things and what are they supposed to do when they’re not eating researchers?”
“They range from about 4 feet to 7 feet long, equipped with steel compression jaws and denaturing laser technology,” Nathan started, then seeing the look Jack shot him, scaled it back. “They’ve got shark like teeth for shredding, jaw compartments that compact materials like a trash compactor, and some have developments that eventually will allow us to attach lasers that break down metal alloys and hazardous waste into base components for safe disposal. The goal is eventually they’ll be able to be released into the wild to clean up river and lake pollution.”
“Huh,” Jack replied, leaning against the railing. “In other words, someone thought Jaws was a good pick for environmental friendliness.”
“It’s a little more than—”
“And isn’t there a W in the middle?” Nathan frowned, looking at Jack blankly, so the sheriff added. “Submersible Hazardous Waste whatever, etc.? Shouldn’t it be Shwarc?”
Nathan forced back a smile, deadpanning, “Shwarc?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Jack replied cheerfully. “So why is it eating people?”
“So far it only seems to have eaten the researcher in charge of the project, and I would suspect sabotage,” Nathan replied. “Someone would have to reprogram one of these very specifically since they’re deliberately programmed to recognize and ignore organic material. Benchley would actually scuba dive to check on the machines half the time rather than calling them up to the boat.”
“So, we’re looking at someone who knew Benchley and his work well enough to know he’d be in the water after they reprogrammed one of his machines? That’s no accident then, we’re talking cold blooded murder,” Jack observed, looking out at the water. “What about the Shwarc?”
“The SHARC would still be somewhere in the lake,” Nathan corrected Jack firmly. “Which is why we’re going out in the boat. Retrieve it before anyone else goes for a swim or out boating, and once we have it, I can determine who reprogrammed it.”
“Would it be the wrong of the law enforcement officer here to mention that logically we should probably talk to the wife, girlfriend, someone like that?” Jack asked a little sarcastically, and Nathan raised an eyebrow.
“Three girlfriends and a rumor he was sleeping with his lab assistant’s girlfriend as well,” Nathan replied. “And the SHARC could be dangerous. It’s been a hot enough week for a lot of people to look at going swimming this afternoon.”
“All right,” Jack nodded, watching as Henry’s truck pulled up. “Henry. Any news on my radio?” Nathan barely avoided rolling his eyes at the fact that Jack had asked Henry to repair his old CV police radio. Henry was just as oddly enthusiastic about the job.
“Hey, Jack,” Henry greeted him, hopping out of his truck, swapping his mechanic badge for his coroner badge as he approached. “I should have it for you this afternoon. Nathan said you had a DB for me?”
“Pieces,” Jack warned Henry, jerking his head at the remains. Henry shook his head, pulling a fingerprint scanner from his pocket, double checking the ID.
“Dr. Jacob Benchley,” he confirmed, looking up at Nathan. “His SHARCs do this?”
“Looks that way,” Nathan agreed as Jack muttered, “Shwarcs.” Henry bit back a smile, waving them off.
“All right, I’ll take him back to my lab and see what I can tell you,” Henry replied. “Have fun shwarc hunting!”
“Don’t encourage him!” Nathan groaned, falling in to step next to Jack, headed down toward the docks.
They reached the boat, Jack groaning when he spotted the bright orange lifejacket wrapped around Fargo, who was waiting with a crate of equipment. “Oh, come on,” Jack objected, rolling his eyes. “Fargo gets to come shwarc hunting?”
“Uh, I do have advanced degrees in AI work,” Fargo defended himself, folding his arms. “And I got Dr. Todd to modify you some EM stun rods that will disable the shwarcs… uh SHARCs,” he corrected when Nathan glared. “It only works when their in the water, but he said some of the shwarcs… SHARCs… uh…” Nathan had rounded on Jack though.
“Look at what you started,” he sniped at Jack as they loaded the boat. Jack’s only response was to start whistling the Jaws theme.
*-*
Lucas had been summarily overruled and Zoë allowed Zane to offer her a support arm until they came to a flight of stairs, then was surprised when he easily lifted her into his arms and carried her down. “I’m starting to see what Jo sees in you,” she teased him, and to her surprise, Zane actually blushed a little.
They reached a main computer room, and Zane shifted Zoe to a low table so she could sit. “This is the quickest way out,” he explained, then grinned as the teenagers’ curiosity instantly turned to the aged equipment. “This stuff goes back to the 30’s. It’s all analog,” he added, then turned scowling at Lucas. “Look but don’t touch!”
He traded a look with Zoë, clearly underwhelmed by Lucas’s common sense, and ignoring Pilar’s comments about ‘prehistoric Apple store’. “The emergency power is holding out, we can rest here for a bit,” he told Zoë, his concern clear. “Not keen on facing your dad if I haven’t taken good care of you,” he explained when Zoë gave him a puzzled look. “Or Stark for that matter, now that you’re his favorite,” he added, bumping her shoulder playfully. Zoë allowed herself to relax a little, Zane’s gentle teasing more what she needed than Lucas and Pilar’s sniping. “Zoë, seriously, I’m worried it might be broken.”
“No, I think I’m okay,” she told him. “I just want to get out of here.”
“Okay,” Zane agreed, standing in time to see Lucas activate the computer system. “No, wait!”
“What, I think it still works,” Lucas replied excitedly, and the power flickered, then shields began to drop into place.
“No, no, no!” Zane raced for the closing doorway, shutting him away from his bag, where he’d set it down in the hall to help Zoë down the stairs. “Damnit!”
“What’s happening?” Pilar asked.
“Security system,” Zane replied. “It’s locking us in.”
*-*
Jack had gotten bored after the third SHARC had been pulled up to the boat for programming checks. Nathan was in a foul mood because two of the three machines they’d pulled to the surface had new modifications that Dr. Benchley had forgotten to mention in his reports to GD. The first SHARC had a heat compression device which was designed to melt metals, Fargo explained around his winces at the blisters he’d gotten on his wrist after it melted off his watch.
The second had been modified with razor sharp teeth which turned out to be a casing for a laser which had disintegrated a solid steel hook meant to remove it from the water. “I’m starting to see why Benchley went into the water to modify them,” Jack panted once the newest SHARC had been wrestled down and disabled. “They get really angry out of the water.”
“Agreed,” Nathan replied, pushing wet locks of hair out of his face as he tried to focus on the datapad . “And Benchley was an idiot who couldn’t document his work properly.”
“How many more shwarcs are we looking for?” Jack asked, enjoying the fact that the flicker of irritation in Nathan’s reaction had become a deep scowl.
“3 more SHARCs,” Nathan growled, and Jack grinned unrepentantly. Nathan’s voice dropped to a low, sexual rumble. “Say it once more and I’ll be sure to find something to shut you up with later,” he threatened.
“Promise?” Jack replied in the same tone. “Hey, Fargo?” he called out cheerfully. “Any sign of the rest of the shwarcs?”
Nathan growled lowly as Fargo popped up from the cabin, nodding. “Looks like I might have one about five hundred yards away, 40 degrees starboard.”
“Got it,” Jack replied, climbing back up to the driver’s seat and starting the boat again, moving slowly in the direction Fargo indicated. “Just say when to drop the lure.”
Nathan slid the data pad back into its holder on the dash, sighing. “Not that one either,” he told Jack, and Jack saw him check that Fargo was ensconced in the cabin once more before he bent low to murmur in Jack’s ear. “Too bad Fargo is here. You’d be on your knees right now if he weren’t.”
Jack barely stifled a groan as Nathan slunk back to the railing of the boat, a satisfied smirk curling the scientist’s lips. He caught himself watching Nathan for a moment, and quickly turned back to the instruments, cutting the motor at the position Fargo had indicated.
“Nailed it,” Fargo confirmed from below, then a clatter of footsteps preceded him up the ladder. “It should be almost directly below the hooks, so you can drop them. Maybe this one will come peacefully.”
“Yeah, I’m not taking bets,” Jack replied dryly, releasing the mechanical reels into the water and handing the control module to Fargo as he joined Nathan at the rail to help force the machine to the deck.
The hooks made a familiar clicking sound, and Jack braced himself as the wires ground to a halt then the pulleys began running in reverse, tugging up something heavy. The SHARC attached to the hooks was strangely passive as it broke the surface, unlike the others in the boat, which had fought the hooks the whole way up.
Well, what do you…” Jack started, reaching down for the cables just as the giant mechanical teeth gnashed upward, closing on his arm, dragging him over the edge of the boat, his added weight forcing the pulleys to snap.