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Description
Alrighty. This is a continuation of the bar scene, same characters, but much later on. I am going to try to work in the information as much as I can.
P.S. I already wrote up this entire effing thing once. And I LOST it. I'm so upset. DAMN COMPUTER VIRUS ALERT! Sorry, rant there, but it was really really really upsetting.
P.S.S. I sorta stole....a lot of this. And I really apologize to Zoe. A LOT. But I love the story she's writing, and she herself is one of the most awesome people evar, so I totally give her credit. For tons of this. Like..the warehouse idea. And the whole friends-with-guns-threatening-each-other thing. So don't think I'm creative. : )

Her footstep fell on the seventh stair warily, and Maggie hoped to the heavens that she would still go unheard, and therefore, unperceived. Warehouses, however, are not known for their forgiving nature, and the stair squeaked with protest at the slight extra weight of 5' 8'' slim twenty-one year old girl. A shot fired in her direction, and Maggie squeaked, akin to the stair, and started to run. A crate behind her shattered as the bullet tore through it. Thankfully, the marksman wasn't firing with sight, only by sound. Otherwise Maggie wouldn't have been able to run up the stairs. As it was, she started a panicked dash up the stairs. He already knew she was there, judging by the shot, and therefore she wasn't bothering to keep quiet anymore.
As the stairs turned into a landing, Maggie's feet slid to turn left into the next large storage area. The crates were stacked high, even though it was an abandoned warehouse. No one had ever thought to clean it up, until recently. Maggie's boss, Aiden, had sent her to the warehouse. It was supposed to be a routine sweep, just checking the building for squatters, toxic waste, or bugs before their agency moved in. This was Maggie's first assignment, not including all the ones she had gone on with one of the other agents, and it was supposed to be easy.
It was her first assignment because Maggie had recently been inducted into the agency. Aiden, the boss of this agency, had given instructions for another member to find a recruit, watch them, and give them training without seeming like they were doing so. Not the easiest task, but Mark, a blond-haired tall techie had volunteered. He had been an agent for a number of years, and had a shooting range/training room in his basement; his house was considered to be one of many of their safe houses in New York City. It was here that Mark had taught Maggie to shoot and fight, using the excuse of her excess amount of stress to get her to train. She had two jobs, one as a late night bartender, and the other as a coffee shop employee. Maggie had problems making rent, because her parents weren't around to help out with it. Stubbornly, Maggie had chosen one of those top floor studio apartments that cost more than she could afford on one job, and she wouldn't give it up. This is what caused a lot of excess annoyances, like climbing up and down her fire escape to avoid the landlord when she was skipping out on rent. Training was able to work off that stress, and prepared her for the job that she would later have, if Aiden eventually had his way.
And now that first assignment had screwed her over. The sweep had started out fine; first floor was empty and clear, and ready to be moved into. As Maggie had started the sweep of the second floor, she had come across footprints in the inch thick dust that blanketed the floor. They weren't hers. Anyone would be curious, and Maggie was no exception, so she followed the faint streaks in the dust, removed her gun from her waistband and held it at the ready.
Crates blocked the view of her blue eyes, but she turned the corner around them soon enough, and there stood her quarry, dressed in black, looking around just as suspiciously as she was. A quick assessment showed that he wasn't sent from Adien; he didn't have the customary wrist-com that all of their agents had, and he looked like he didn't belong there...
Maggie hadn't noticed him turning slowly. Splinters flying through the air from the crate next to her exploding reminded Maggie of the fact she was not the only one out of the two of them with a gun. Training told her to shoot back, defensive, and shoot to kill. Instinct and a strong set of moral values stayed her gun and Maggie took off, swerved through the maze of crates, and headed to the nearest set of stairs – they went up. And once again, against her training, Maggie had gone upstairs instead of down. Going down the stairs would have allowed her more exits, easier maneuverability, and more space, since the lower the floor number, the more crates had been taken out since abandonment. Bums would often filch a crate for a place to sleep, or even become a squatter until they were kicked out.
The third floor was jam packed with crates; Maggie had lost her pursuer in the stacks, and silently slipped to the next stairway – she was headed to the fourth floor, the way she kept going up. It was on that stairway the stair had creaked; the hunter was closer than she had expected, and had shot. And her feet flew again up the stairs.
On the fourth floor, Maggie again wove through the packing boxes. It was dizzying, the amount of them still left behind. Most of the boxes were empty, but a few still held random items that had failed to be shipped out before the warehouse became abandoned. A few dusty cans sat undisturbed inside the boxes for many years, and weren't about to change, even with two agents running around shooting at one another through the crates. But the twisting turns hid Maggie well; too many opportunities to turn meant that once again, she had lost her hunter.
Every agent had a com on their wrist, a mini computer that attached them to all the others. They weren't supposed to ever take it off, but no one ever listened to that rule. Maggie had hers on, and smacked it against her leg, a good way to activate it while keeping a free hand.
She whispered harshly, “Eoin! I need you! Right now! This assignment did NOT turn out the way it was supposed to, and if this guy has two people on one, he's less likely to shoot...”
Eoin was her partner in the agency. She would call him in any situation that she needed, really. Darius was spectacular in hand to hand, but this guy had a gun. Anyway, as they were a bit of an item, he would probably be too protective of her if he did come, and would be more likely to shoot her attacker if it came down to that, instead of keeping him alive for the agency to question him. Mark was a techie; as much help as he was in every situation, he'd overthink it, and that could probably get one of them shot before anything else. Unless he was drunk...But he didn't usually do that when he was on the job. Horatio, Eoin's brother...well, he'd also shoot up the entire joint. That was because he was a hit man though, and a little trigger happy, and less out of concern for Maggie. Lee was a good friend, but she was a sixteen year old who was mostly part of the agency for mechanics, and Maggie didn't want to drag her into that. And Aethelflaed, more commonly known among the agents as Erin...Well, Maggie had personal problems with her. So it was just a little iffy. Eoin was her favorite agents, as agents went. He was quirky in an odd way; seemingly completely innocent, yet he had a dead on shot, and could fight with the rest of them when it came down to it. He had brightly colored shortish hair, rainbow in fact, that was often covered by the hood of a black sweatshirt, much to Maggie's disappointment. A mask had the tendency to cover the bottom half of his face, again to the disappointment of Maggie; he looked fine without it, attractive even, and she couldn't figure out why he wore it. Black pants, Converse, and a black shirt was his usual attire, which contrasted greatly his happy, innocent attitude. He was the person Maggie trusted to have with her in a fight, because he could anticipate, think, and act faster than Mark could, and that would work countering the impulsiveness that Darius or Horatio would have. In short, he was perfect in a situation like this.
“Where are you? I thought you were in the warehouse?” Eoin's worried voice came over the com.
“I am! There is just someone else here! Who shot at me!”
Silence met her ears for a few suspenseful seconds, and his voice said shortly, “I'm down a few blocks. I'll be there soon.” And he cut out. Maggie muttered to herself, “Oh, that's wonderful, wait for the partner...I've gotta get somewhere where this guy won't find me until then.”
There had to be a way down...The man was still in between her and the stairs leading down, so that wasn't an option. However, all warehouses with more than one floor had a freight elevator. All she had to do was to find that elevator, and she should get out. It would be noisy, and it would be slow, but it only had to go four floors; factoring in the time that it would take him to find where she disappeared, and again how long it would take him to figure out just what the noise was, and then the time it would take him to run down the stairs...Yes, the freight elevator was her best option. Maggie just had to find it first...
She peaked her head up over the top of a precariously stacked pile of crates, looking suspiciously and carefully around. There was no sign of the black-clad figure anywhere, but that didn't mean anything. Yellow and piercing, a shaft of sunlight came through the window, slicing through the floating dust, illuminating the inside of the fourth floor. Maggie carefully and quickly climbed off the pile of boxes; the light had shimmered dully off a tarnished metal garage-like door: her way out. The sunlight threw shadows where it was blocked by boxes, and it was to those Maggie stayed, stealthily creeping towards the elevator door, thinking that if she ever believed in God, she would definitely be praying to him.
Once Maggie got within ten feet of the door, it was open space. A glance around told her that whoever was behind her was still lost in the crates, and with the slightest sigh of relief, she darted to the door, heaving her weight on the pull line. The door strained noisily, and Maggie jumped at the noise. No footsteps came pounding towards her though, so she looped the rope around a hook on the wall. A crack about two feet high was now the opening under the door, and Maggie fell to her stomach smoothly, starting to slide underneath. She stopped suddenly; there was no elevator left. An empty shaft stood calmly before her, taunting her. It was her only way out, and she'd have to climb down the edges, full of rough piping sticking out, and random wires and cables. Safety wasn't an issue, and she had to climb down that shaft.
Maggie stuck out her hand, grabbing onto the first protruding pipe, and swinging her feet down over the edge, and dropping into the shaft. She bent her legs so her feet were in front of her, but the impact of hitting the wall still nearly shook her loose. The pipe groaned at her weight, and her left hand scrabbled blindly over the wall for another hold. And as such, she clambered down the shaft slowly, finding footholds and cables and wires to hold her weight. It was a long way to the first floor, and Maggie hoped that there would be just as many things to hold onto as there were on the fourth.
The shaft ended about four feet underneath the floor of the first floor. Maggie climbed precariously out onto the ledge that stuck out from the door, and hauled on the pull line downstairs. She slipped under the door as before, and as she was getting up, a cold barrel got put to her head.
The owner of the gun said slowly, in a masculine voice, “Don't move. I really wouldn't like to shoot you, however much my superiors would appreciate that. Please, put your gun on the floor.”
Maggie winced. She had been trying so hard to not get caught by this guy. And somehow he had figured out that she went down the elevator...He was good. So, she reached for her gun, right handed, to pull it out of her waistband. Her ears picked up the slight clicking of his tongue.
“You give me no credit. You're right handed, and I don't doubt you could shoot me in the stomach without looking, upside down. Now. Use your other hand.”
A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled away with her right, and reached with her left. Maggie suddenly grabs the gun; finally her training was starting to kick in, way after she needed it. She spun, pointing the gun at her attacker's head. “You drop YOUR gun, because I won't hesitate to shoot you...”
Their eyes widened simultaneously. Green male to gray female, and gun barrels inches from one another.
“Oh...my....god...”
Footsteps sounded behind the man, in front of Maggie. “You're covered from here too; if you shoot her, you're dead.” Eoin was there, pointing his gun at the man's head from about twenty feet away.
Maggie's thumb hit the safety on her gun, as the man dropped his arm, doing the same, and dropping the gun. It clattered to the floor, and his arms wrapped tightly around Maggie, her gun dropping to the floor also. She threw her arms around his neck, laughing hysterically, almost to the point of crying.
“NATE! Oh my god, Nate!!”
Nathaniel spun her around, laughing like her. “Maggie! I haven't seen you in...four, five months! At least! Where have you been? I've been searching the city for you every chance I got, I've looked everywhere, I swear, I've hacked every single computer looking for you, tapped into every cell phone...” He set her down, grinning at her. “Oh, I've missed you so much.”
She looked over every inch of him. “ME? Where have YOU been? We went to your apartment a few months back and you had disappeared! Everything was gone! I mean...I can't believe you're here!”
Nathaniel had always been Maggie's friend. They had met in school, in the city. Maggie had been born and raised in the city; Nate had been coming in from the Boston area, but not the actual city. He was an incredibly gorgeous gay man who Maggie instantly fell in love with, and on that they had formed a friendship, to start. After a few years, they were the closest friends possible, and worked at the same coffee house in New York City. He was her exact opposite; dark curly hair, bright green eyes, perfect pale skin, tall, and sensibly quiet, sexy, and exceedingly intelligent. Maggie was short, dirty blonde, had a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, tanned easily but never burnt, and had enough energy and intellect to get her through school with good grades, but she didn't apply herself; she liked the energetic things. She was that adorable girl that everyone loved for absolutely no reason at all. They balanced each other out, and weren't away for each other for more than a few days at a time at most.
But then some things had happened with the agency, and Maggie had been taken with Darius, and recruited. Nate, at the same time, had disappeared, and no one had known where to.
“Nate, I've missed you so much...” Maggie pulled him into another tight hug, while Eoin looked on, confused.
“Mags, I can't believe it. I can't believe I just bumped into you like that after so long...”
The hug ended abruptly as Maggie pulled back and said, “HOLY SHIT, NATE! YOU JUST HELD A GUN TO MY HEAD! YOU NEARLY FUCKING KILLED ME!”
He blinked. Twice. “Oh. Well, I guess you got your daily dose of terror and adrenaline then...”
“Are you KIDDING me? Nate, what the fuck?”
Eoin nodded to himself. This was a little more comforting, and seemed less awkward to hold a gun still.
“Well...Honestly, I didn't know you'd be here. I had an inkling to go wandering around in some warehouses, you know. I was bored. And if you live in New York, it isn't as exciting to go do other stuff as one would think.”
“I know that, I was raised here.”
“Then we're at an agreement? Or...what were YOU doing here?”
“Why do you have a gun?”
“If you have noticed, I'm a man. And I'm gay. So technically, I'd like two, please. I have one already.”
“Nate...”
“Alright, alright. But you have to explain to me afterwards.”
“Fine.”
“It's part of my job. Your turn.”
“That's not an explanation!”
“It is so. Now a deal's a deal. It's your turn.”
There was silence for a few beats, and Maggie muttered, “Fine. You know how Darius was part of that weird government thing...And how I was kinda sorta kidnapped a while back...” She grinned. “By him, actually.” A nod in Eoin's direction specified who she was talking about.
“Yes, I do seem to remember that. It was the scariest three days of my life. And probably the first time I've ever been handcuffed to a bed by a woman.” Maggie started, and Nate winced. “Ah, yes, I didn't tell you about that. I shall later. Continue with your story, please.”
Maggie rolled her eyes, and continued. “Well, to make a long story short, the same...erm...agency that he...Oh, that's Eoin, by the way. Very nice guy. ...that he's from recruited me and Darius, and I was here on a sweep. I'm looking for squatters and such, bugs, etc...And probably shouldn't have told you that, but oh well, you're my best friend, and won't tell anyone, right?
No such reassurance came immediately, as expected, and Maggie frowned. “Nate?”
“As you can see, I'm armed. Or, I was, before I very stupidly dropped the gun on the floor to give you a hug. And...well...That government agency...after Darius...”
Eoin took that moment to see a spider on a nearby wall, and squeaked. Literally. Nate and Maggie both turned in time to see him spin and shoot it, dead on. Maggie winced, and frowned.
“Eoin, please, do not put holes in all the walls of a potential storage building. Again.”
Guilt spread across his face, and he turned to face them again. “Sorry, Maggie Cooper. It was a spider...” He had always called her by her full name. Maggie could never understand why. He didn't do that to anyone else.
“Yes, and that spider didn't hurt you, did it?”
“No...” Denial seeped his voice.
“That spider did not have six tiny guns, did it?”
“You don't know that!” He looked at her defiantly, his black eyes frustrated and adorable.
“Eoin...”
A sigh was his only response, and he cocked his gun again, retraining it on Nate.
This reminded Maggie of her lifetime friend, now dressed in another person's skin, and she turned back to him. “Nate...”
“Maggie, you wonderful girl. You have finally figured out my name, and I applaud you. But don't wear it out.”
“Look. You're working for the people who tried to kill us...”
“And you're working for the people who...didn't try to kill me, granted. They more...stole my best friend, and made sure I couldn't find her. If you see her, by the way...”
“Oh, don't do that. It isn't fair.”
“I'm sorry.” Another hug was initiated, and neither of them wanted to let go.
“We both know this is the most fucked up meeting in the world right?” Maggie murmured into Nate's shoulder.
“Of course.”
“Too bad you're gay...otherwise it would be a fucking meeting as well...I mean, still fucked up, but a lot more interesting...God, there's no way in hell that this can be fixed...”
“No, no, I gave Satan my soul yesterday, he owes me for that, everything's good. It can definitely be fixed in hell...” His mouth was next to her ear, and he laughed softly. She pulled back, and looked at him sternly. “Nathaniel, that's not funny.”
“Oh, yes it is. Would you rather me offer to fuck you?” The look he gave her was entirely new to her, not something she'd seen from him before.
“...What?”
Eyes closed, he said clearly, “Maggie. Would you rather me say, “Hey, doll. This is awkward. Wanna go have a quickie in the car?” If so, I can send Collin down, he'd probably have a blast. But with Eoin, not you...” A smile traced his lips, and he opened his eyes, looking at Maggie. “You're the love of my life, girl. Don't make me ruin that with sex.”
That was way more than she expected. How can a statement that emotionally loaded be so casually said...so...Her mind couldn't even make heads or tails of it. However, her mouth was not connected to her brain, and being so, sputtered out disbelievingly, “You're...you're THAT bad?”
Laughter rang off the crates, echoing through the first floor. “Shit, Mags, I didn't think you'd take it that way. I don't think I am. I really hope I'm not. I meant that it would be completely meaningless, and a pointless venture of pleasure and sensuality that would take up too much time, make things more awkward, and more painful to leave as is when we both have to go back to our jobs, as you know we do, and when we both have to go back to trying to kill one another...which we man not have to do...”
A pause filled the air. Eoin had climbed up on top of a pile of crates during this exchange, and was lazily holding his gun pointed at Nate still, while swinging his legs carelessly over the edge.
“Well....” Maggie grinned. “That's a bit shit, isn't it? I mean...Here you are, saying that it would be bad if sex was good...I don't understand you at all, Nate.”
“And that's why you love me. Because I'm this puzzle that you'd love to figure out. And you can't. Because I bet up until about three minutes ago, you thought I was gay as a maypole.”
“When will you learn that a stick in the ground with ribbons tied onto it is completely genderless? Oh wait...” An epiphany had just struck her.
“My point exactly. But now, you see, after what I just said, you have no idea what the fuck to do. And it drives you crazy, the whole situation.” He looked pleased at this.
“You're the crazy one here. You're the one who's going off babbling after pointing out we're supposed to be shooting each other. You forget my colleague here is still covering you.” A glance was directed pointedly in Eoin's direction, who waved cheerfully.
“There is really not much going on up here, Maggie Cooper. Do I have your permission to leave? Or shall I stay around for a while, to make sure that nothing happens?” Eoin asked politely. A sweet guy. Maggie smiled at him.
“I think we have to finish up soon anyway, Eoin.” She looked at Nate, and said quietly, “I'm really sorry this is the way things ended up, yeah?” It wasn't the best place to be making apologies for shortcomings in their occupations, but where else would they be able to?
“Me too. And I'm hoping in future circumstances, we can avoid one another. To make sure that no one really gets this...I'm not going to tell anyone that I ran into you. I feel like it would cause a riot of sorts.” A sad look nearly melted Maggie's heart, and she wanted to start bawling.
“Me either. If I tell them you're part of the other agency...My boss would flip out...Darius...I don't even know what he'd do...And Mark would pretend to not care and really would. Did you know he actually liked you as a person? After all that time...”
Nate laughed. “Is that so? Next time I'm on leave with no one watching over me, I should come see him, stop by. See if he'd go for a drink or such.”
“Maybe. He's still having fun dealing with Lee right now. She's into her “angsty teenager” phase a bit...”
A long look was exchanged, and Nate put it out in the open. “Maggie, we're prolonging the inevitable.”
Each second they looked at one another grew longer. What he had said was true; neither one of them wanted to say goodbye. The threat of “never being able to see each other again” was a real one, one that both of them were dreading was going to come true. If anyone found out in Nate's agency, they'd have his head. Anyone from Maggie's, she's have twenty-four hour surveillance. It wasn't that they were trying to keep them away from one another; the two agencies were fighting over the same things, and if Maggie and Nate consorted with one another, it would just cause problems.
“I know...”
The final words between them had been said. Maggie hugged Nate tightly, and him her. Then he walked away, heading for the entrance. A moment later, Eoin and Maggie heard the distinct noise of a car driving away from the warehouse. Maggie stood still, watching the wide bay doors with anticipation. A small part of her thought he was going to come back through them, and run to her, hugging her tightly. He would smile into her hair, stroking it, and tell her that the world was shit, and she was the best part of it. No competition. Usually that was when she had worked a terrible shift at the bar some night (it was her second job) and was smashed out of her mind, and excessively goofy, emotional, or puking. No matter what.
And the rest of her knew that now he couldn't do that. It knew that if she wanted to see him again, she needed to make that happen. And she would. They would be able to be friends, and they would work it out...Just after she reported back to Aidan not to use the warehouse. Just in case the people at Nate's agency had figured it out, and that's why they had sent him.
Eoin hopped down off the boxes, and walked in front of Maggie, pulling her into a tender hug. “Let us fly, Maggie Cooper.” She looked up at him, all six feet plus two inches of him, and smiled a small smile. “Yeah. Let's go.”
Together, they walked out of the warehouse and to Eoin's car, and started the car ride to the Agency. They pulled into the garage where Eoin tossed Lee his keys; she caught them expertly and slid into the driver's seat, pulling the car around into a parking spot. The dark garage was comforting. The elevator they had to use to get to the inner building was not. Maggie suffered a ride full of co-workers before she got to the apartment level she was on, and then walked to her room, unlocking it with a code from her com, connecting to the door. It unlocked obligingly, and she slipped inside, shutting the door behind her. Eyelids weighed heavy as she went to the desk.
Ugh, who wants to get back to their apartment to find a desk filled with paperwork you're supposed to fill out...Fuck Aidan, I'm doing that later...
Even though the was thinking the words, and they echoed in her mind alone, she rolled her eyes.
No, I'm not doing HIM later. I'm doing the paperwork later. God, I think hanging out with guys has left me permanently scarred...
The black sweatshirt she was wearing took it's customary place on the back of her chair. Red converse got kicked off already, somewhere around the door, and her shirt was off by the time she was halfway across the room. When Maggie finally got to her bed, she was in her underwear. A large tshirt was lying on the bed, and this she slipped over her head sleepily, and then climbed underneath the quilt, between the sheets. Adrenaline had overdosed her today, and it was like coming off a huge high; she was crashing. Emotional overload couldn't even describe her day, so she calmly took off her wrist com and put it on the bedside table.
The good thing about being so exhausted was that as her eyelids fell shut and her body relaxed into the mattress, her head floating softly on a cloud of feathers, her last thought wasn't about Nate, Aiden, Darius, Erin, Lee...or anyone. It was a feeling that came with coming off that high, that insane feeling of being so insanely aware of everything..
I'm so fucking hungry....
Sleep was instantaneous.

Description
Alrighty. This is a continuation of the bar scene, same characters, but much later on. I am going to try to work in the information as much as I can.
P.S. I already wrote up this entire effing thing once. And I LOST it. I'm so upset. DAMN COMPUTER VIRUS ALERT! Sorry, rant there, but it was really really really upsetting.
P.S.S. I sorta stole....a lot of this. And I really apologize to Zoe. A LOT. But I love the story she's writing, and she herself is one of the most awesome people evar, so I totally give her credit. For tons of this. Like..the warehouse idea. And the whole friends-with-guns-threatening-each-other thing. So don't think I'm creative. : )

Her footstep fell on the seventh stair warily, and Maggie hoped to the heavens that she would still go unheard, and therefore, unperceived. Warehouses, however, are not known for their forgiving nature, and the stair squeaked with protest at the slight extra weight of 5' 8'' slim twenty-one year old girl. A shot fired in her direction, and Maggie squeaked, akin to the stair, and started to run. A crate behind her shattered as the bullet tore through it. Thankfully, the marksman wasn't firing with sight, only by sound. Otherwise Maggie wouldn't have been able to run up the stairs. As it was, she started a panicked dash up the stairs. He already knew she was there, judging by the shot, and therefore she wasn't bothering to keep quiet anymore.
As the stairs turned into a landing, Maggie's feet slid to turn left into the next large storage area. The crates were stacked high, even though it was an abandoned warehouse. No one had ever thought to clean it up, until recently. Maggie's boss, Aiden, had sent her to the warehouse. It was supposed to be a routine sweep, just checking the building for squatters, toxic waste, or bugs before their agency moved in. This was Maggie's first assignment, not including all the ones she had gone on with one of the other agents, and it was supposed to be easy.
It was her first assignment because Maggie had recently been inducted into the agency. Aiden, the boss of this agency, had given instructions for another member to find a recruit, watch them, and give them training without seeming like they were doing so. Not the easiest task, but Mark, a blond-haired tall techie had volunteered. He had been an agent for a number of years, and had a shooting range/training room in his basement; his house was considered to be one of many of their safe houses in New York City. It was here that Mark had taught Maggie to shoot and fight, using the excuse of her excess amount of stress to get her to train. She had two jobs, one as a late night bartender, and the other as a coffee shop employee. Maggie had problems making rent, because her parents weren't around to help out with it. Stubbornly, Maggie had chosen one of those top floor studio apartments that cost more than she could afford on one job, and she wouldn't give it up. This is what caused a lot of excess annoyances, like climbing up and down her fire escape to avoid the landlord when she was skipping out on rent. Training was able to work off that stress, and prepared her for the job that she would later have, if Aiden eventually had his way.
And now that first assignment had screwed her over. The sweep had started out fine; first floor was empty and clear, and ready to be moved into. As Maggie had started the sweep of the second floor, she had come across footprints in the inch thick dust that blanketed the floor. They weren't hers. Anyone would be curious, and Maggie was no exception, so she followed the faint streaks in the dust, removed her gun from her waistband and held it at the ready.
Crates blocked the view of her blue eyes, but she turned the corner around them soon enough, and there stood her quarry, dressed in black, looking around just as suspiciously as she was. A quick assessment showed that he wasn't sent from Adien; he didn't have the customary wrist-com that all of their agents had, and he looked like he didn't belong there...
Maggie hadn't noticed him turning slowly. Splinters flying through the air from the crate next to her exploding reminded Maggie of the fact she was not the only one out of the two of them with a gun. Training told her to shoot back, defensive, and shoot to kill. Instinct and a strong set of moral values stayed her gun and Maggie took off, swerved through the maze of crates, and headed to the nearest set of stairs – they went up. And once again, against her training, Maggie had gone upstairs instead of down. Going down the stairs would have allowed her more exits, easier maneuverability, and more space, since the lower the floor number, the more crates had been taken out since abandonment. Bums would often filch a crate for a place to sleep, or even become a squatter until they were kicked out.
The third floor was jam packed with crates; Maggie had lost her pursuer in the stacks, and silently slipped to the next stairway – she was headed to the fourth floor, the way she kept going up. It was on that stairway the stair had creaked; the hunter was closer than she had expected, and had shot. And her feet flew again up the stairs.
On the fourth floor, Maggie again wove through the packing boxes. It was dizzying, the amount of them still left behind. Most of the boxes were empty, but a few still held random items that had failed to be shipped out before the warehouse became abandoned. A few dusty cans sat undisturbed inside the boxes for many years, and weren't about to change, even with two agents running around shooting at one another through the crates. But the twisting turns hid Maggie well; too many opportunities to turn meant that once again, she had lost her hunter.
Every agent had a com on their wrist, a mini computer that attached them to all the others. They weren't supposed to ever take it off, but no one ever listened to that rule. Maggie had hers on, and smacked it against her leg, a good way to activate it while keeping a free hand.
She whispered harshly, “Eoin! I need you! Right now! This assignment did NOT turn out the way it was supposed to, and if this guy has two people on one, he's less likely to shoot...”
Eoin was her partner in the agency. She would call him in any situation that she needed, really. Darius was spectacular in hand to hand, but this guy had a gun. Anyway, as they were a bit of an item, he would probably be too protective of her if he did come, and would be more likely to shoot her attacker if it came down to that, instead of keeping him alive for the agency to question him. Mark was a techie; as much help as he was in every situation, he'd overthink it, and that could probably get one of them shot before anything else. Unless he was drunk...But he didn't usually do that when he was on the job. Horatio, Eoin's brother...well, he'd also shoot up the entire joint. That was because he was a hit man though, and a little trigger happy, and less out of concern for Maggie. Lee was a good friend, but she was a sixteen year old who was mostly part of the agency for mechanics, and Maggie didn't want to drag her into that. And Aethelflaed, more commonly known among the agents as Erin...Well, Maggie had personal problems with her. So it was just a little iffy. Eoin was her favorite agents, as agents went. He was quirky in an odd way; seemingly completely innocent, yet he had a dead on shot, and could fight with the rest of them when it came down to it. He had brightly colored shortish hair, rainbow in fact, that was often covered by the hood of a black sweatshirt, much to Maggie's disappointment. A mask had the tendency to cover the bottom half of his face, again to the disappointment of Maggie; he looked fine without it, attractive even, and she couldn't figure out why he wore it. Black pants, Converse, and a black shirt was his usual attire, which contrasted greatly his happy, innocent attitude. He was the person Maggie trusted to have with her in a fight, because he could anticipate, think, and act faster than Mark could, and that would work countering the impulsiveness that Darius or Horatio would have. In short, he was perfect in a situation like this.
“Where are you? I thought you were in the warehouse?” Eoin's worried voice came over the com.
“I am! There is just someone else here! Who shot at me!”
Silence met her ears for a few suspenseful seconds, and his voice said shortly, “I'm down a few blocks. I'll be there soon.” And he cut out. Maggie muttered to herself, “Oh, that's wonderful, wait for the partner...I've gotta get somewhere where this guy won't find me until then.”
There had to be a way down...The man was still in between her and the stairs leading down, so that wasn't an option. However, all warehouses with more than one floor had a freight elevator. All she had to do was to find that elevator, and she should get out. It would be noisy, and it would be slow, but it only had to go four floors; factoring in the time that it would take him to find where she disappeared, and again how long it would take him to figure out just what the noise was, and then the time it would take him to run down the stairs...Yes, the freight elevator was her best option. Maggie just had to find it first...
She peaked her head up over the top of a precariously stacked pile of crates, looking suspiciously and carefully around. There was no sign of the black-clad figure anywhere, but that didn't mean anything. Yellow and piercing, a shaft of sunlight came through the window, slicing through the floating dust, illuminating the inside of the fourth floor. Maggie carefully and quickly climbed off the pile of boxes; the light had shimmered dully off a tarnished metal garage-like door: her way out. The sunlight threw shadows where it was blocked by boxes, and it was to those Maggie stayed, stealthily creeping towards the elevator door, thinking that if she ever believed in God, she would definitely be praying to him.
Once Maggie got within ten feet of the door, it was open space. A glance around told her that whoever was behind her was still lost in the crates, and with the slightest sigh of relief, she darted to the door, heaving her weight on the pull line. The door strained noisily, and Maggie jumped at the noise. No footsteps came pounding towards her though, so she looped the rope around a hook on the wall. A crack about two feet high was now the opening under the door, and Maggie fell to her stomach smoothly, starting to slide underneath. She stopped suddenly; there was no elevator left. An empty shaft stood calmly before her, taunting her. It was her only way out, and she'd have to climb down the edges, full of rough piping sticking out, and random wires and cables. Safety wasn't an issue, and she had to climb down that shaft.
Maggie stuck out her hand, grabbing onto the first protruding pipe, and swinging her feet down over the edge, and dropping into the shaft. She bent her legs so her feet were in front of her, but the impact of hitting the wall still nearly shook her loose. The pipe groaned at her weight, and her left hand scrabbled blindly over the wall for another hold. And as such, she clambered down the shaft slowly, finding footholds and cables and wires to hold her weight. It was a long way to the first floor, and Maggie hoped that there would be just as many things to hold onto as there were on the fourth.
The shaft ended about four feet underneath the floor of the first floor. Maggie climbed precariously out onto the ledge that stuck out from the door, and hauled on the pull line downstairs. She slipped under the door as before, and as she was getting up, a cold barrel got put to her head.
The owner of the gun said slowly, in a masculine voice, “Don't move. I really wouldn't like to shoot you, however much my superiors would appreciate that. Please, put your gun on the floor.”
Maggie winced. She had been trying so hard to not get caught by this guy. And somehow he had figured out that she went down the elevator...He was good. So, she reached for her gun, right handed, to pull it out of her waistband. Her ears picked up the slight clicking of his tongue.
“You give me no credit. You're right handed, and I don't doubt you could shoot me in the stomach without looking, upside down. Now. Use your other hand.”
A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled away with her right, and reached with her left. Maggie suddenly grabs the gun; finally her training was starting to kick in, way after she needed it. She spun, pointing the gun at her attacker's head. “You drop YOUR gun, because I won't hesitate to shoot you...”
Their eyes widened simultaneously. Green male to gray female, and gun barrels inches from one another.
“Oh...my....god...”
Footsteps sounded behind the man, in front of Maggie. “You're covered from here too; if you shoot her, you're dead.” Eoin was there, pointing his gun at the man's head from about twenty feet away.
Maggie's thumb hit the safety on her gun, as the man dropped his arm, doing the same, and dropping the gun. It clattered to the floor, and his arms wrapped tightly around Maggie, her gun dropping to the floor also. She threw her arms around his neck, laughing hysterically, almost to the point of crying.
“NATE! Oh my god, Nate!!”
Nathaniel spun her around, laughing like her. “Maggie! I haven't seen you in...four, five months! At least! Where have you been? I've been searching the city for you every chance I got, I've looked everywhere, I swear, I've hacked every single computer looking for you, tapped into every cell phone...” He set her down, grinning at her. “Oh, I've missed you so much.”
She looked over every inch of him. “ME? Where have YOU been? We went to your apartment a few months back and you had disappeared! Everything was gone! I mean...I can't believe you're here!”
Nathaniel had always been Maggie's friend. They had met in school, in the city. Maggie had been born and raised in the city; Nate had been coming in from the Boston area, but not the actual city. He was an incredibly gorgeous gay man who Maggie instantly fell in love with, and on that they had formed a friendship, to start. After a few years, they were the closest friends possible, and worked at the same coffee house in New York City. He was her exact opposite; dark curly hair, bright green eyes, perfect pale skin, tall, and sensibly quiet, sexy, and exceedingly intelligent. Maggie was short, dirty blonde, had a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, tanned easily but never burnt, and had enough energy and intellect to get her through school with good grades, but she didn't apply herself; she liked the energetic things. She was that adorable girl that everyone loved for absolutely no reason at all. They balanced each other out, and weren't away for each other for more than a few days at a time at most.
But then some things had happened with the agency, and Maggie had been taken with Darius, and recruited. Nate, at the same time, had disappeared, and no one had known where to.
“Nate, I've missed you so much...” Maggie pulled him into another tight hug, while Eoin looked on, confused.
“Mags, I can't believe it. I can't believe I just bumped into you like that after so long...”
The hug ended abruptly as Maggie pulled back and said, “HOLY SHIT, NATE! YOU JUST HELD A GUN TO MY HEAD! YOU NEARLY FUCKING KILLED ME!”
He blinked. Twice. “Oh. Well, I guess you got your daily dose of terror and adrenaline then...”
“Are you KIDDING me? Nate, what the fuck?”
Eoin nodded to himself. This was a little more comforting, and seemed less awkward to hold a gun still.
“Well...Honestly, I didn't know you'd be here. I had an inkling to go wandering around in some warehouses, you know. I was bored. And if you live in New York, it isn't as exciting to go do other stuff as one would think.”
“I know that, I was raised here.”
“Then we're at an agreement? Or...what were YOU doing here?”
“Why do you have a gun?”
“If you have noticed, I'm a man. And I'm gay. So technically, I'd like two, please. I have one already.”
“Nate...”
“Alright, alright. But you have to explain to me afterwards.”
“Fine.”
“It's part of my job. Your turn.”
“That's not an explanation!”
“It is so. Now a deal's a deal. It's your turn.”
There was silence for a few beats, and Maggie muttered, “Fine. You know how Darius was part of that weird government thing...And how I was kinda sorta kidnapped a while back...” She grinned. “By him, actually.” A nod in Eoin's direction specified who she was talking about.
“Yes, I do seem to remember that. It was the scariest three days of my life. And probably the first time I've ever been handcuffed to a bed by a woman.” Maggie started, and Nate winced. “Ah, yes, I didn't tell you about that. I shall later. Continue with your story, please.”
Maggie rolled her eyes, and continued. “Well, to make a long story short, the same...erm...agency that he...Oh, that's Eoin, by the way. Very nice guy. ...that he's from recruited me and Darius, and I was here on a sweep. I'm looking for squatters and such, bugs, etc...And probably shouldn't have told you that, but oh well, you're my best friend, and won't tell anyone, right?
No such reassurance came immediately, as expected, and Maggie frowned. “Nate?”
“As you can see, I'm armed. Or, I was, before I very stupidly dropped the gun on the floor to give you a hug. And...well...That government agency...after Darius...”
Eoin took that moment to see a spider on a nearby wall, and squeaked. Literally. Nate and Maggie both turned in time to see him spin and shoot it, dead on. Maggie winced, and frowned.
“Eoin, please, do not put holes in all the walls of a potential storage building. Again.”
Guilt spread across his face, and he turned to face them again. “Sorry, Maggie Cooper. It was a spider...” He had always called her by her full name. Maggie could never understand why. He didn't do that to anyone else.
“Yes, and that spider didn't hurt you, did it?”
“No...” Denial seeped his voice.
“That spider did not have six tiny guns, did it?”
“You don't know that!” He looked at her defiantly, his black eyes frustrated and adorable.
“Eoin...”
A sigh was his only response, and he cocked his gun again, retraining it on Nate.
This reminded Maggie of her lifetime friend, now dressed in another person's skin, and she turned back to him. “Nate...”
“Maggie, you wonderful girl. You have finally figured out my name, and I applaud you. But don't wear it out.”
“Look. You're working for the people who tried to kill us...”
“And you're working for the people who...didn't try to kill me, granted. They more...stole my best friend, and made sure I couldn't find her. If you see her, by the way...”
“Oh, don't do that. It isn't fair.”
“I'm sorry.” Another hug was initiated, and neither of them wanted to let go.
“We both know this is the most fucked up meeting in the world right?” Maggie murmured into Nate's shoulder.
“Of course.”
“Too bad you're gay...otherwise it would be a fucking meeting as well...I mean, still fucked up, but a lot more interesting...God, there's no way in hell that this can be fixed...”
“No, no, I gave Satan my soul yesterday, he owes me for that, everything's good. It can definitely be fixed in hell...” His mouth was next to her ear, and he laughed softly. She pulled back, and looked at him sternly. “Nathaniel, that's not funny.”
“Oh, yes it is. Would you rather me offer to fuck you?” The look he gave her was entirely new to her, not something she'd seen from him before.
“...What?”
Eyes closed, he said clearly, “Maggie. Would you rather me say, “Hey, doll. This is awkward. Wanna go have a quickie in the car?” If so, I can send Collin down, he'd probably have a blast. But with Eoin, not you...” A smile traced his lips, and he opened his eyes, looking at Maggie. “You're the love of my life, girl. Don't make me ruin that with sex.”
That was way more than she expected. How can a statement that emotionally loaded be so casually said...so...Her mind couldn't even make heads or tails of it. However, her mouth was not connected to her brain, and being so, sputtered out disbelievingly, “You're...you're THAT bad?”
Laughter rang off the crates, echoing through the first floor. “Shit, Mags, I didn't think you'd take it that way. I don't think I am. I really hope I'm not. I meant that it would be completely meaningless, and a pointless venture of pleasure and sensuality that would take up too much time, make things more awkward, and more painful to leave as is when we both have to go back to our jobs, as you know we do, and when we both have to go back to trying to kill one another...which we man not have to do...”
A pause filled the air. Eoin had climbed up on top of a pile of crates during this exchange, and was lazily holding his gun pointed at Nate still, while swinging his legs carelessly over the edge.
“Well....” Maggie grinned. “That's a bit shit, isn't it? I mean...Here you are, saying that it would be bad if sex was good...I don't understand you at all, Nate.”
“And that's why you love me. Because I'm this puzzle that you'd love to figure out. And you can't. Because I bet up until about three minutes ago, you thought I was gay as a maypole.”
“When will you learn that a stick in the ground with ribbons tied onto it is completely genderless? Oh wait...” An epiphany had just struck her.
“My point exactly. But now, you see, after what I just said, you have no idea what the fuck to do. And it drives you crazy, the whole situation.” He looked pleased at this.
“You're the crazy one here. You're the one who's going off babbling after pointing out we're supposed to be shooting each other. You forget my colleague here is still covering you.” A glance was directed pointedly in Eoin's direction, who waved cheerfully.
“There is really not much going on up here, Maggie Cooper. Do I have your permission to leave? Or shall I stay around for a while, to make sure that nothing happens?” Eoin asked politely. A sweet guy. Maggie smiled at him.
“I think we have to finish up soon anyway, Eoin.” She looked at Nate, and said quietly, “I'm really sorry this is the way things ended up, yeah?” It wasn't the best place to be making apologies for shortcomings in their occupations, but where else would they be able to?
“Me too. And I'm hoping in future circumstances, we can avoid one another. To make sure that no one really gets this...I'm not going to tell anyone that I ran into you. I feel like it would cause a riot of sorts.” A sad look nearly melted Maggie's heart, and she wanted to start bawling.
“Me either. If I tell them you're part of the other agency...My boss would flip out...Darius...I don't even know what he'd do...And Mark would pretend to not care and really would. Did you know he actually liked you as a person? After all that time...”
Nate laughed. “Is that so? Next time I'm on leave with no one watching over me, I should come see him, stop by. See if he'd go for a drink or such.”
“Maybe. He's still having fun dealing with Lee right now. She's into her “angsty teenager” phase a bit...”
A long look was exchanged, and Nate put it out in the open. “Maggie, we're prolonging the inevitable.”
Each second they looked at one another grew longer. What he had said was true; neither one of them wanted to say goodbye. The threat of “never being able to see each other again” was a real one, one that both of them were dreading was going to come true. If anyone found out in Nate's agency, they'd have his head. Anyone from Maggie's, she's have twenty-four hour surveillance. It wasn't that they were trying to keep them away from one another; the two agencies were fighting over the same things, and if Maggie and Nate consorted with one another, it would just cause problems.
“I know...”
The final words between them had been said. Maggie hugged Nate tightly, and him her. Then he walked away, heading for the entrance. A moment later, Eoin and Maggie heard the distinct noise of a car driving away from the warehouse. Maggie stood still, watching the wide bay doors with anticipation. A small part of her thought he was going to come back through them, and run to her, hugging her tightly. He would smile into her hair, stroking it, and tell her that the world was shit, and she was the best part of it. No competition. Usually that was when she had worked a terrible shift at the bar some night (it was her second job) and was smashed out of her mind, and excessively goofy, emotional, or puking. No matter what.
And the rest of her knew that now he couldn't do that. It knew that if she wanted to see him again, she needed to make that happen. And she would. They would be able to be friends, and they would work it out...Just after she reported back to Aidan not to use the warehouse. Just in case the people at Nate's agency had figured it out, and that's why they had sent him.
Eoin hopped down off the boxes, and walked in front of Maggie, pulling her into a tender hug. “Let us fly, Maggie Cooper.” She looked up at him, all six feet plus two inches of him, and smiled a small smile. “Yeah. Let's go.”
Together, they walked out of the warehouse and to Eoin's car, and started the car ride to the Agency. They pulled into the garage where Eoin tossed Lee his keys; she caught them expertly and slid into the driver's seat, pulling the car around into a parking spot. The dark garage was comforting. The elevator they had to use to get to the inner building was not. Maggie suffered a ride full of co-workers before she got to the apartment level she was on, and then walked to her room, unlocking it with a code from her com, connecting to the door. It unlocked obligingly, and she slipped inside, shutting the door behind her. Eyelids weighed heavy as she went to the desk.
Ugh, who wants to get back to their apartment to find a desk filled with paperwork you're supposed to fill out...Fuck Aidan, I'm doing that later...
Even though the was thinking the words, and they echoed in her mind alone, she rolled her eyes.
No, I'm not doing HIM later. I'm doing the paperwork later. God, I think hanging out with guys has left me permanently scarred...
The black sweatshirt she was wearing took it's customary place on the back of her chair. Red converse got kicked off already, somewhere around the door, and her shirt was off by the time she was halfway across the room. When Maggie finally got to her bed, she was in her underwear. A large tshirt was lying on the bed, and this she slipped over her head sleepily, and then climbed underneath the quilt, between the sheets. Adrenaline had overdosed her today, and it was like coming off a huge high; she was crashing. Emotional overload couldn't even describe her day, so she calmly took off her wrist com and put it on the bedside table.
The good thing about being so exhausted was that as her eyelids fell shut and her body relaxed into the mattress, her head floating softly on a cloud of feathers, her last thought wasn't about Nate, Aiden, Darius, Erin, Lee...or anyone. It was a feeling that came with coming off that high, that insane feeling of being so insanely aware of everything..
I'm so fucking hungry....
Sleep was instantaneous.