New York -- Abandoned Lower Level Under the 42nd Street Station -- Manhattan. Monday Afternoon.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma had warned Jack to wear something he didn't mind getting a bit dirty in, but she didn't bother to confirm his suspicions, even after they'd slipped past a grate and down a tunnel, eventually taking a labyrinth set of twists, turns, and ladders.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Jack. It was just what you did down here.

"Hank?" she eventually called, stepping from a tunnel into a space that was actually brightly lit and clean. "I brought a friend, like you said I could."

Well, he'd said 'bring that boy sometime,' but close enough.

[OOC: NFB, for the person with her.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

<<This is a story for another time>>, Jack decided, with a cool, hard glance to Emma -- not from anger, but simply because he hadn't expected to get blindsided with something like that.

To Hank, he said, "I'll do my best not to do anything that would put me in a jar."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma hadn't exactly expected Hank to spill the beans either, and she clenched her hands, trying to keep from shaking before taking a deep breath.

"Hank, put them away," she said mildly. "You know I don't like it when you have them out."

Something in their body-language tipped Hank off, and he immediately replaced them before moving to Emma. "Oh my stars and garters, I made you sad," he said, clearly distressed. "I didn't mean to make you sad. I'm sorry, Emma."

The large man gave Jack an apologetic glance. "Being around people besides Emma is hard. She is teaching me about how people interact, but I am not very good at it yet." Especially given that Jack was male, and Emma was clearly fond of him. It grated on his protective stance towards the girl.

[bitten_notshy]

"It's all right," Jack said. "You just surprised me." He clasped his hands, briskly, as if rubbing the awkwardness away. He had no idea what to make of the news Hank had killed to protect Emma. For now, he was putting it out of his head -- as much as he would have loved to demand answers.

"Is there anything I can help you with, while I'm here?" he asked, glancing around the lab again. "I'm sure you don't have willing aides very often -- I'd hate to leave you in the lurch."

[icecoldfrost]

"Can you make decent mac and cheese? Emma always burns the bottom."

Hank had very, very simple needs.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had to think about it for a moment. "Give me a mix and I'm aces at it," he answered. "I'm not really the cheese sauce from scratch sort, unfortunately."

[icecoldfrost]

"It doesn't always come in the packets?" He was astounded by that revelation. "I just know what Emma brings me from the store."

"Easy Mac, bookshelves next to the stove," Emma sighed. "Hank can't cook anything that isn't instant either. He gets distracted and wanders off to do an experiment and then it burns."

[bitten_notshy]

"Well," Jack said solemnly, "Cooking is very boring. Much nicer to do instant and have it over and done with."

He was already at the stove, starting to assemble the ingredients for the simple recipe.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma went across the room to curl up in a large wing-back chair and watch Jack while Hank puttered about, talking to himself.

<<I can explain. If you want.>>

[bitten_notshy]

Jack stirred the saucepan, not glancing toward her.

<<I want>>, he thought simply.

[icecoldfrost]

<<I was leaving a party, and they decided a girl alone was easy prey.>> Emma sounded utterly detached, like describing something that had happened to someone else. <<I wouldn't give them a kiss.>>

<<I raked my nails across their ringleader's face and ran for it. They caught up.>>

<<The last thing I remember after they bounced my head off the payment was the big one saying it would be more than a kiss I'd be giving them now. And they were laughing and kicking me. When I woke up, I was here, and Hank had the bodies laid out. That was the first time we met.>>

She offered up the memory, half-removed, so he wouldn't experience any of it from Emma's viewpoint. <<I just wanted to get away.>>

[bitten_notshy]

Jack's shoulders shuddered. <<Oh my god.>>

It took most of his concentration not to say it aloud.

<<You were lucky Hank was there>>, he continued. There was more, a great formation of anger and horror, but it wasn't easily defined by something so simple as words -- let alone words in his fourth language.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma shrugged imperceptibly. <<He'd been watching me for awhile, apparently. He'd seen me once, twice, three times, and then started looking for me. He liked what he saw, and wanted to be friends.>>

<<We made a deal. I'd help him remember everything he'd lost, and he would protect me. But I protect him, too. He can't help the way he is; how he looks or his odd bits or any of that. I won't let him get in trouble for helping me.>>

[bitten_notshy]

<<I'm not about to call the police>>, Jack replied firmly. <<Just friends? Why?>>

[icecoldfrost]

<<It's Hank, who knows why?>> she replied. <<He said he liked how I 'dodged the hard times' like him, and wanted to be friends. I don't know if he even realized I was a telepath at first."