Daily News
As always, click here for Master List of Fics.Title: Daily News
Characters: Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber (and a few others)
Rating: Yellow Flag
Summary: Superhero-journalists-fighting-an-evil-mastermind-who-is-turning-people-into-guinea-pigs!AU.
Warning: Nonsensical plot
Disclaimer: Complete and utter lies. As far as you know.
Beta: la_vie_chanson, who makes my silliness worth reading, and M, who was my cheerleader when I started this!
A/N: This was started as a fill attempt for secret santa. It grew a mind of its own and needed to be put aside for a while before I could finish it.
“Good morning Mark,” Fernando greets, handing him a warm cup of coffee as they fall into step towards his office desk.
“Morning mate, what’s making the headlines this morning?” Mark asks as he sits back in his chair, propping his feet up on the heavy wooden desk.
“Marussia’s TakeOver IV landed on Mars,” Fernando says as he reads the paper.
Mark sips his coffee, letting his eyes wander around the cluttered office. “That’s barely news. What else?”
“Maldonado got elected president of the EU.”
Mark coughs, almost choking on his coffee as it spurts from his mouth while he gets to his feet to prevent anymore spill. “Probably paid his way into office. Fucking politics.” He grabs a few paper towels and sponges at his clothes before sitting on his desk, not even nine o’clock and already a shit day.
“What about ice block over there?” Mark says, tilting his head towards a blond sleeping form slumped over a desk in a corner of the large room. “Did you ask him out yet?”
Fernando rolls his eyes. “No, I did not ask Kimi,” he says, returning to the newspaper in his hands to avoid further discussion on the topic. “Here is a good one: Dr. Marko was seen in town, turned ten people into guinea pigs…what is a guinea pig?”
Mark laughs, forgetting that sometimes the simplest things elude Fernando because of the language barrier, making him wonder whether the paper would have hired him without his powers. “They’re…like bunnies, minus the ears. Not the point though, want to go see what we can find out?”
Fernando nods, grabbing his jacket and the camera while Mark packs his laptop. “Wake sleeping beauty, I’ll go tell Christian we’re going in the field.”
Fernando watches Mark go all the way up the stairs to Christian’s office before he moves his feet towards the sleeping Finn. He stands still next to Kimi, watching him sleep, hesitant to touch him to wake him up. He knows it’s probably the odd thing to do, to avoid contact, especially since he freely touches and hugs everyone else, but he can’t trust himself around Kimi. So handsome. Fernando wishes he had the courage to put a hand on Kimi’s shoulder, or to caress his hair, let his fingers tangle in the blond strands, brush the pale soft cheeks. He feels the persistent butterflies in his stomach just thinking about it, but today’s not the day for it, and he decides to wake Kimi in a less intimate manner, exaggerating a loud cough. Kimi’s eyes flutter open for an instant, but he closes them again, muttering something in Finnish that Fernando doesn’t understand.
Fernando decides to take a more forceful approach, putting a hand on the back of Kimi’s chair, focusing his powers to heat up the chair to a temperature Kimi wouldn’t be able to endure for long. In a matter of seconds, Kimi is jumping from his chair, cursing the heat and Fernando, grabbing him in a headlock and trying to freeze him up.
~*~
Mark climbs the stairs up and walks straight to Christian’s office, knocking on the open door, interrupting a conversation his boss is having with what looks to be a new recruit.
“Come in Mark, I actually wanted to talk to you,” Christian says as he waves him inside.
“Can it wait?” Mark asks, ignoring the young man in the room, “We’re on our way to check out the Dr. Marko story. I just came to tell you.”
“That’s fine,” Christian says, “I just wanted to introduce you to Sebastian Vettel, our new intern.”
“It’s just Seb,” the intern says, extending a hand for Mark to shake. Mark gives him a once over and shakes his hand quickly before turning around to leave.
“I’m assigning him to you,” Christian says before Mark has time to leave. “Take him with you, he’ll be a good asset. Oh, and try not to let Kimi freeze the whole river so he can play hockey again. Remember, powers are to help people, not for -”
“Childish pranks, yeah, got it.” Mark finishes, then spins around with a pleading look on his face. “We don’t take rookies with us. A candle and an ice block is already enough to deal with, I don’t need another headache.”
Christian pushes Seb and Mark outside his office. “I’m not asking,” he says, closing the door in Mark’s face, ending the argument before it can truly start. Mark grabs Sebastian by the collar and pulls him close. “Don’t get in the way, don’t slow us down. Got it, Sebi?” Mark hisses before releasing him and stomping down the stairs.
Seb shrugs his shirt back into place, muttering to himself. “It’s Seb. And I’ll show you who’s slow.” There’s a blur of motion, and before Mark is even halfway down the stairs, Seb is waiting at the front desk, chatting up the receptionist for whom he just bought roses and a box of chocolate from the store across the road.
~*~
Mark shakes his head and sighs when he gets to the bottom of the stairs, steam engulfing the whole room. Not again. He checks his watch. 9:15. This was going to be a long day. He can’t see anything with the fog but he’s fairly certain it’s his idiot partners wrestling it out again, tons of ice going up in steam, and he knows Christian won’t let him hear the end of it, since after all, he’s the senior of the group and sometimes the only adult it seems. He uses his xray vision to find them and avoid bumping into things, grabbing them both roughly by an arm and pulling them apart.
“Get your stuff, we’re leaving. I’ll meet you in the van.” And next time you want to make out, grab a sauna, Mark thinks and almost says, but restrains himself, because despite his lack of brain sometimes, Fernando is still his best friend.
Mark has already forgotten about the intern and almost walks straight past him on his way out, but Seb is quick to call after him.
“Mark, wait up!” Seb says, walking swiftly behind him. “Christian said -“
“I know what he said,” Mark says, letting a big breath out and rubbing his eyes before he unlocks the white van parked in front of the building. “Get in.”
“What are you doing mate?” Mark asks when he sees things flying up in the air with the corner of his eye.
“Juggling,” Seb answers with a smile as if it’s the most logical thing to be doing while they wait for the other two, not taking his eyes away from the objects he’s keeping in the air.
Mark tries to ignore him, wants to be annoyed by him, but there’s something about the intern in the seat next to him that makes a smile tug at his lips. “They teach that in journalism school now?” he asks, sounding ruder than he had intended to.
Seb lets the objects fall on his lap, putting them away. “No, just something I picked up in my free time,” Seb answers quietly, now staring out the window. Mark doesn’t remember having that much free time in school; either he was studying or out drinking with his buddies and he wonders whether Seb had anyone to go drinking with.
~*~
Kimi puts his sunglasses on and slings his backpack on, running a hand through his damp long hair to shake off the little icicles still clinging to it. They’re both still breathing heavily after their little tumble, and Fernando’s dark hair is as damp as his, sticking to his forehead, drops of water trickling down his temple, cheeks flushed. Kimi is glad he can hide behind his tinted glasses, hiding the fact that his gaze is fixed on his friend’s lips, currently being licked by the tip of Fernando’s pink tongue, something he does just before he speaks, or even before he thinks. Idiote.
Kimi could pretend that he feels guilty listening to people’s thoughts, but he really doesn’t. It gets overwhelming sometimes and he knows people would take advantage of it if they knew about it, so he keeps it hidden, but he enjoys hearing the things that are meant to be left unsaid, he gets to know people for who they truly are, not who they try to be. For some, like Mark, what is said and what isn’t is all the same. He’s a straightforward guy and sometimes Kimi has to be careful because he’ll answer something Mark was thinking since it all sounds the same. Fernando, on the other hand, is a mystery to him. To begin with, he mostly thinks in this weird mix of Spanish and Italian, which Kimi can sometimes google translate, but at the speed at which Fernando’s brain works, he can never get more than a few words entered into his phone before he’s completely lost. The word he always hears and understands though, is his name, and god how wonderful it sounds coming from Fernando, even when followed by a string of curses, because despite the nature of the words, the accompanying look in Fernando’s eyes is never an angry one.
~*~
“What took so long?” Mark asks rhetorically with a look that conveys the did you ask him out he’s thinking. Fernando glares at him as he buckles himself in the back seat, complaining about the new kid being allowed to ride shotgun. While they were waiting, Mark had time to find out the address of one of the people turned into a guinea pig, a man that got zapped into a furry ball right in front of his wife’s eyes, so he punches the address in the gps and follows the directions.
“I can walk faster than this,” Seb sighs after a few minutes driving in silence, resuming his juggling.
Feel free to jump out, Mark thinks, but settles for “Is that so?” while Kimi chuckles in the backseat for who knows what.
“Didn’t Christian tell you? I’m the fastest there is!” Seb says, clearly not understanding the concept of modesty, but Mark finds it endearing. Confidence is sexy. Wait. Fuck. I did not just think that. Kimi laughs some more, but when Mark looks in the rearview mirror, Kimi has his headset on, so he assumes - wrongly of course - that he’s listening to something on his phone. Mark looks at the clock on the dashboard, barely past ten.
“Here we are,” Mark says when he finally pulls in the driveway of a quaint house, adorned with blue shutters and a white picket fence. He looks at the name written on the mailbox: Grosjean. “That’s the one.”
“Who wants to interview the wife?” Mark asks, turning around to Kimi and Fernando in the back seat, knowing full well he’ll be the one doing it, because Fernando will start ranting in Spanish and Kimi, well Kimi just won’t talk. Yeah, he’s doing the interviewing again…although… “Seb? Want to do the honours?”
“Me? Yes, of course!” Sebastian answers eagerly, grabbing Mark’s tablet to look over the information he had gathered.
When they knock on the door, a stunning brunette answers. “Marion? Marion Jollès?” Sebastian asks.
“It’s Jollès Grosjean,” she replies. “Romain might not be his normal self, but he is still my husband. Can I help you?”
“We’re trying to find Dr. Marko and help return his victims to their normal form.”
“And the camera and voice recorder? That is to help too?” she asks, leaning against her doorway, hand on her hip.
“We’re journalists,” Seb admits, “but we don’t just report the stories, we make things better too. More like detectives really!”
Marion looks at him, unsure whether or not to let them in. “Detectives with no badges.”
“I’ve seen you before, no? On French TV?” Seb asks.
Marion gives him a small smile. “You watch French television?”
“Only for the beautiful presenters,” Seb flirts, making her blush, and Mark wants to tell him to be more professional, but it’s nothing he wouldn’t have done, and he wonders why it’s bothering him so much.
“D’accord, come on in,” Marion says, guiding them into the living room where a white and beige guinea pig is hanging out on a couch, snacking at a piece of cucumber.
“Is that?”
Marion nods. “Yes, this is Romain,” she says, sitting gently next to the guinea pig, picking it up and placing it on her knees. She goes on to explain that they were simply out for a walk in the city center when Dr. Marko came out of a black SUV and randomly zapped people with a strange laser gun. Sebastian managed to get a partial license plate number and a description of the laser gun from her before they went, thanking her and promising to come back once they found a solution.
Mark found it quite surprising really, how easy Marion opened up to Seb, how despite her husband being turned into a rodent, he still managed to make her feel at ease, and even laugh at a lame guinea pig joke. Working with Seb is nothing like it was supposed to be. He should be annoyed by him, by the overflowing optimism, the non-stop grinning, the overachieving and the in-your-face boyish charm. The complete opposite of him, and Mark finds he’s annoyed with himself for not being annoyed at Seb, which makes absolutely no sense, upsetting him even more.
“I was good, right?” Seb asks with his toothy smile when they’re back in the van.
“You were okay,” Mark answers, plugging away at his computer to try and track down the owner of the black SUV Marion mentioned. “Got an address,” he says when the registration finally pops up on the screen. “It’s licensed to RBR Industries.”
Mark parks the van a block away from the headquarters of RBR, which they figure Dr. Marko has infiltrated. He focuses his vision and finds the device Marion described in the doc’s office on one of the upper floors, in plain sight on his desk. There are a few hired guards patrolling the building and posted at the door, which looks to be locked.
“Kimi, you can approach the main entrance while Fernando climbs up the back and enters from the roof. I can guide him from there.”
“Kimi is better climber, maybe send him there?” There is no way I go up so high, is crazy. I will fall.
“You’re skinnier Fer, you’ll fit more easily through the air vents,” Mark explains, his tone showing his aggravation with having to explain his logic.
“Air vents?” Fernando says, twisting his neck to get a better look at the building. I can’t go in air vents. Is so tiny. Won’t be able to move. To breathe.
Kimi places a hand on Fernando’s arm to get his attention. “You okay?”
Fernando turns to him and he’s obviously not okay, his breathing quick and near hyperventilation, but he forces a smile and lies. “Si, why would I not be?”
“I’ll go on the roof,” Kimi says.
“I’ve already made the plan, let’s just stick to it.”
Fernando swallows hard and wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans, fidgeting in his seat.
“Let me go up,” Kimi tries again, hoping Mark will see reason.
“Kimi, I might not have all the fancy powers you and Fernando have but while I’m leading this team, what I say goes. Got a problem with that?”
Kimi bites his teeth over what he’d like to say. For Fernando’s so-called best friend, Mark is pretty damn oblivious when they are in a mission. This isn’t going to work if they send Fernando up on that roof.
“Mark, sending Fernando in the vents is stupid. Better if I go.”
Mark glares at him. “No, and that’s the end of it.”
Kimi doesn’t know what else to tell him so he’ll listen and Fernando is getting all worked up and sweating buckets next to him just thinking about the height and tight spaces.
“You sure you want to send a claustrophobic who’s afraid of heights?”
“Am not!” Fernando says a little too loudly and a little squeaky.
“I can read your mind, Fernando,” Kimi says before he realises his mistake and sinks under his hat, hoping noone will have heard his comments.
“You can read minds?” Mark asks.
“Cool! What am I thinking now?” Seb asks, closing his eyes and focusing on God (and Kimi) knows what, while being ignored by everyone.
“Kimi?” Mark asks again, his tone full of warning.
“Yes,” Kimi mutters, not failing to notice that Fernando has fallen silent, mentally singing some Spanish nursery rhyme in an effort to protect his thoughts. Meanwhile Mark bombards him with questions like “Since when? Can you always hear? Why haven’t you told us?”
“Ever. If I want. Because,” Kimi answers, glaring at Mark to try and get him to shut up and leave him alone. “You can stop singing,” Kimi says as he turns to Fernando. “I won’t listen. Can’t understand you anyways” he mutters while Fernando looks up at him quickly but turns back facing the window, continuing to sing, only louder, so Kimi tunes him out, tunes them all out and seeks refuge in his own mind, thinking of the stillness of a winter night in Finland, when the only sound was that of his skates on the ice, cutting the surface with each stride, chasing snowflakes as they fell. It’s the only way he can silence the voices in his head.
“So you mean all this time we spent painfully trying to get information out of people, you could have just read their mind and found out?” Mark says, shaking his head.
Kimi looks up at Mark, chewing on a fingernail. “I don’t like interviews.”
“You’re one selfish asshole, mate,” Mark tells him before facing forward in his seat, hands clutching at the steering wheel.
This is exactly why Kimi didn’t like people knowing. They wanted things from him then, wanted to use him, to use his brain, and never fully trusted him not to invade their private thoughts.
“It’s my head, I can do what I want with it.”
“Like spy on people,” Fernando says out loud, frowning at him.
Kimi casts his eyes down. “It’s not like that.”
“You read my mind before, yes?” Fernando asks, arms crossed.
“Yes, but -“
“You spy. Steal people’s thoughts.”
“Fernando…”
“I ask to be transferred when we get back.”
Mark runs his hand over his face. “Calm down Fer, you’re not leaving this team.”
“If I am not, he is,” Fernando bites back, nodding towards Kimi.
“This is bullshit, I’m done,” Kimi says as he gets out of the door and starts walking away from the van in the direction they came from.
“Where is he going?” Seb asks, “Should we go after him?”
Mark drops his forehead against the wheel, wishing he’d picked a different way to earn a living. Barely afternoon and this day has already gone to hell. “Nah, no point. He won’t be back ‘til he’s ready.”
“I could just speed through,” Seb suggests, trying to get the plan back on track. “I can’t maintain the speed for very long, but if Fernando can distract the guards enough for me to get inside, I can speed my way out.”
Mark turns his head sideways, still squished against the wheel. “How fast are you?”
Seb grins, his eyes shining bright. “Fast.”
Mark smiles, Seb’s optimism is rubbing off on him just a little, and he reaches for the laptop and opens it, pulling up the building’s blueprints and security details. “Fine. We’ll try it your way. Fer, you’re in?” When he hears no response, Mark looks over his shoulder, seeing Fernando looking out the window, still humming. “Earth to Fernando. The evil mind-reading Finn is gone, can you stop singing so we can get back to work?” Mark finishes with a light slap across Fernando’s head, which snaps him out of his bubble.
“Si, is all good,” Fernando lies, looking through the back window at Kimi walking away. Don’t leave Kimi, he thinks, hoping that maybe Kimi is still listening, but the shrinking silhouette in the distance shows no sign of hearing him.
It’s faint, but Kimi hears it. Don’t leave. He keeps walking though. He’s not ready to face Fernando, to see that look again, to be abruptly shut out, as if he was trying to pry Fernando’s most intimate thoughts.
“Here, your ear coms,” Mark says as he hands out the small devices to Seb and Fernando. “Remember Seb, we want the gun Marko used, but we still want the story, so try and find out as much as you can while you’re in there.”
Mark stays in the van, guiding Seb around the back of the building and up to the roof while Fernando catches the guards’ attention by throwing small fire balls at their feet. With his x-ray vision, Mark sees a bunch of guards being diverted from the upper rooms down to the lobby where Fernando is keeping them busy. He guides Seb inside the building and towards Dr. Marko’s office, and everything is looking like it might just work out, until Seb picks up the laser gun to examine it.
“Seb?!” Mark yells in his mic. He blinks a few times and rubs his eyes before x-raying the room where Seb was just a second ago. But Seb is gone, his form nowhere to be seen.
Wheek, wheek.
Mark adjusts his ear com.
Wheeek, wheeeeek.
“Seb? Is… is that you?”
Wheek.
“Did you just laser yourself into a guinea pig?”
The squeaking sounds a little sad. Wheek.
Mark hammers the steering wheel with his head, then takes a deep breath. “Alright, just, stay there, stay calm. I’ll get Fernando to you.”
Wheeek.
“Fernando, can you hear me?”
“Am a little busy Mark,” Fernando says as he’s throwing fire all over the place while trying not to burn the whole place down.
“Got it, but you have to make your way upstairs to Seb, he’s got himself turned into a guinea pig.”
Fernando sounds out of breath when he answers. “Dr. Marko is here?”
Mark winces, not having the heart to embarrass Seb any further by telling Fernando what actually happened. “Not quite, doesn’t matter, just get to him, please.”
“You like this kid,” Fernando teases, despite being in a fight against almost a dozen guards, by Mark’s count.
“I do not,” Mark answers, feeling oddly defensive, “but he’s part of the team now.”
“Okay okay, I go get th-“
Mark squints, trying to make out the scene unfolding in the building’s lobby, and it looks like Fernando is being assaulted by a bunch of fire extinguishers. “Fernando?” he calls when he sees a figure fall to the floor.
The silence is unbearable. “Fer? Fernando? Can you hear me!?”
“Fuck!” Mark swears, throwing his ear com on the dash of the van. He considers calling Christian, telling him to send the police, but he doesn’t want to disappoint him. Normally, when Kimi and Fernando are getting along, the only thing he has to worry about is keeping them from causing trouble, not keeping them out of trouble. They’re the muscles of the team and he’s the brains, it’s how it’s always been. But right now, he’s not sure his xray vision is going to be enough. He’ll think of something though. He has to.
~*~
Kimi. Help. Kimi’s feet freeze in place, his head looking up from the pavement he’s been following with no destination in mind. He tries to drown all other noises and voices away, searches for Fernando’s voice inside his head. Seb’s a guinea pig. Am next. Help me, I don’t want to be a rodent. I hate rodents; they squeak and show up when you don’t expect them. Kimi smiles to himself. Leave it to Fernando to send a detailed mental distress message. Kimi doesn’t waste a second longer and starts running back, switching to a borrowed bicycle as soon as he sees one.
By the time he gets back, Mark has a baseball bat in his hands and is walking, no, strutting, towards the building like he stands a chance. He calls out to him, not wanting to spook him and risk a hit on the head.
“Kimi?” Mark says, obviously surprised to see him. “Changed your mind already?”
“Fernando’s in trouble,” Kimi answers, ignoring the jab.
“I know, I’m going in.”
Kimi shakes him head. “I need you out here to give me directions, I’ll get him out. And Seb,” he adds, when he hears Mark’s worries.
Mark blushes, turning around towards the van. “Thanks.”
Kimi fights his way through, ignoring Mark’s mental pleas to go easy on the bad guys. They make pretty cool ice sculptures, those bad guys, especially the one half falling over who still manages the biggest grin he’s ever seen. Maybe when he retires from superhero business he might get into ice sculpting. Or not.
I think I found the Doc, Kimi hears. Take the next door to your left. Kimi listens to Mark, and sure enough, there’s an old man standing over a writing table. Kimi freezes his feet in place while he looks for something to shackle him with.
“What are you doing?” Marko asks. Kimi starts opening random drawers, searching for something, anything to tie the man’s wrists together.
“Need something to tie you.”
“Why?”
Kimi sighs, grabbing some scotch tape from the desk, but throwing it back in because he’d have to use two rolls for it to be of any use. “Because you do bad things and,” Kimi exhales deeply. He doesn’t want to spend all fucking day here. “You help me tie your hands or I knock you out into permafrost.”
“Use my tie,” Marko says as he loosens his tie and holds it out for Kimi. He has the look of a father who’s watching his son about to do something really, really stupid, but lets him do it anyways. Kimi tries to tune into his thoughts to find out why but it’s all a mess of squiggles and equations. Damn evil geniuses. When he gives up trying to understand it, Fernando’s voice comes back in his head. Kimi. Am sorry. Hurry. I think Seb is stuck under the door. I think he try to escape. Stupid Vettel. Kimi pinches the bridge of his nose. Good thing he likes Fernando. And Mark’s okay too he supposes.
He takes the Doc’s tie and binds his wrists separately then together, making sure he can’t slip his hands out. “Follow me,” he says, tugging the man by the hands.
“Wait! Stop! I..” Thump.
Kimi looks behind him and the man has fallen face first into the carpet.
“My feet, were still frozen,” the man explains and Kimi opens his mouth to apologize, but really, what’s the point. He helps the man up and makes sure he can walk alright, then pushes him forward.
Kimi doesn’t need Mark to tell him which room Fernando is in, because one of them has a little furry head sticking out from underneath. Kimi crouches down and pushes on the rodent’s head, which earns him a nip on the finger. Kimi grunts, tapping Seb’s nose with his finger in retaliation.
“Suck it in, I try pulling you instead.” Seb obeys, and Kimi manages to pull him from underneath the door.
Thanks, he hears Seb think. “Yeah yeah, just stay out of the way until we leave,” Kimi tells him before opening the door. He freezes the Doc’s feet while he goes in the room, finding Fernando sitting on the floor.
“You came back,” Fernando asks surprised as he presents his chained wrists to Kimi. “I did not think you would be back.”
Kimi unlocks him with the keys and help him to his feet. “That’s stupid. I like you, why would I let you be turned into a rat?”
Fernando looks up at him, eyebrows raised, and Kimi smiles and gives him a tight hug before tugging at his sleeve. “Come on, grab the files,” he says, grabbing the laser gun and putting the safety on, then picks up Seb and puts him in the front pocket of his hoodie.
They quickly make their way out of the building, Dr. Marko in tow, and Fernando defrosting all of Kimi’s targets as they leave. They are, after all, the good guys, though Kimi tends to forget that from time to time.
~*~
“Where’s Seb?” Mark asks as soon as the doors of the van open. Kimi reaches in his hoodie and pulls out the little fur ball, handing it over to Mark. “Seb?” Mark asks, bringing the guinea pig up to eye level, and it squeaks in return, his tiny claws curling around Mark’s fingers.
Mark has to admit, Seb is actually kind of cuter this way, his fur twisted in random swirls and a little too long, partially hiding one of his eyes. He thinks about keeping him this way, but Kimi is quick to clear his throat as a reminder that maybe it’s not the best idea.
“Show me the laser gun,” Mark asks, placing Seb down on the passenger seat. He turns the gun around in his hands, looking through the plentitude of settings. Guinea pig, turtle, robot. Robot? Hmm, that could be interesting.
“Mark….” Kimi’s voice warns again.
“Sorry. Ah, here, human. Seb, you ready?” The guinea pig offers him what looks like a nod, so Mark takes that as a yes and lasers Seb. The result is instant, and Seb is finally back to his human self, stretching his arms and legs out until he notices a distinct lack of clothing around his limbs and covers his privates with his hands. Mark doesn’t purposely look, it just sort of happens, and he can’t complain about the view. He finds it rather enticing, but he knows now is not exactly the best time for compliments, so he keeps his thoughts to himself, or at least between him and Kimi, and reaches for the clean gym clothes in the duffle bag behind his seat.
“Here,” Mark says as he hands over the clothes to Seb without peeking. “They might be a bit big, but it should do.”
“Thanks,” Seb says, quickly dressing himself. “Now what?”
“To the police station, then to the Grosjeans so we can undo the Doctor’s damage,” Mark says, nodding at their prisoner in the back seat.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you gents, but I’m not Dr. Marko. My name is Adrian Newey. I’m head of engineering, well, when they let me engineer anything. Helmut has been diverting all my resources to his secret projects.” Fucking idiots. I was almost done my design too. I need something to scribble my ideas.
Kimi lowers his hat further down to cover his face just as Seb turns around in his seat to face him and the older man.
“Nice try. I bet that’s what all the bad guys say,” Seb says.
Kimi looks at their prisoner and considers piping up, but the new kid looks so happy about his first mission. He can’t wait to see the look on his face when they figure out the truth.
It’s a wonder Kimi can keep a straight face during the rest of the drive, what with the mental ramblings of their captive. This is just ridiculous. Anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together could figure out what Helmut planned to do with a super capacitor, a galena crystal and carrot shreddings.
They arrive at the police station not long after, and Christian is already there, waiting for them along with Chief of Police Boullier.
When they exit the van, Kimi stands back, hinting at Fernando to do the same. Seb, on the other hand, he lets take the captive, watching them march right up to Boullier and Christian.
“Adrian?!” Christian says, the lines on his forehead creasing.
“Christian. It’s been a long time. You look well.”
“You know each other?” Chief Boullier asks, and Kimi takes another step back with Fernando as confusion breaks over Mark’s and Seb’s faces. He doesn’t want to be too close when they realise he grabbed the wrong guy.
Christian rubs his forehead. “Yeah, this isn’t Marko. Meet Adrian Newey, an old acquaintance from before I worked at the paper.”
Newey gives him a little smirk. “I remember us being a little more than acquaintances Christian.”
A mental image jumps into Kimi’s mind. It’s Christian’s and something he did not need, did not want, to know. Kimi needs a distraction and fast, so he grabs hold of Fernando’s collar and slams their mouths together, kissing him with everything he had been holding back. Fernando responds, his fingers tangling in the blond strands, small hums of pleasure engulfing them. They’re both flushed and out of breath when they eventually part.
Fernando looks at him a bit disoriented. “Why now?”
Kimi nods towards Christian and Adrian. “I needed to shut my brain off.”
Fernando smiles at him. “Am glad I could help.”
Mark frowns at Kimi’s timing but he never really understood what went through Kimi’s mind at the best of times, even though apparently Kimi understands what goes through theirs. He’s about to grab Seb and get back out there to look for Dr. Marko when a limo pulls over right in front of the police station. The driver gets out and walks around to open the door for his passenger, revealing none other than the evil mastermind himself.
“Newey!? You confused me and Newey!?” the passenger yells as he gets out of the car, rubbing a hand over his face, shaking his head. “What does an evil genius have to do around here to get noticed?! I’m not as young as I used to be, I can’t take this crap. Just release him and lock me up. I can’t deal with these morons anymore.”
He walks up the stairs and stands in front of Boullier with his wrists held out. “Please,” he says again, then turns to Adrian. “No offense, but this is getting fucking annoying.”
“Tell me about it,” Adrian says, rubbing his wrists when the tie around them is removed. “I guess I won’t be seeing you at work on Monday.”
“How about I take you out for a drink to apologise for the mistake?” Christian offers Adrian, who promptly accepts.
“I trust you gentlemen can handle visiting the victims and restoring them into humans?” Christian says, and Mark can see he’s clearly not impressed with their performance so far today.
“Yeah, don’t worry.”
“With you four? No chance in hell. It’s like babysitting children.”
Mark groans, but decides to let it go and orders the other three back in the van.
When they pull up to the Grosjean house for the second time today, Mark hands over the laser gun to Seb. “The safety’s on. Be careful where you point that thing, yeah?”
Seb nods, carefully accepting the gun. They go up to the door and Seb rings the bell.
“Sebastian!” Marion says with a smile and hugs him. “You are back so soon?”
He smiles back and shows her the laser gun. “We can fix Romain. We know it works, had to test it earlier…”
He face drops and Seb would say she looks almost disappointed. “Something wrong?”
She bites her bottom lip, playing with the hem of her shirt. “No, nothing wrong. They are playing right now. Can it wait a few minutes? I can make coffee.”
“Who’s playing?” Seb asks a little confused.
Marion waves them over to a play area where a baby and guinea Romain are crawling and chasing each other. The baby is giggling non-stop, and they look absolutely adorable.
“This is our son Sacha,” Marion says. “Coffee? I have cake too.”
Seb looks at Mark with his big pleading eyes, and Mark smiles, nodding in agreement. “Fifteen minutes only. We have others to visit after.”
Seb takes Mark’s hand and squeezes it. “Thank you.”
Mark looks down at their hands, then back at Seb. He entwines their fingers together and squeezes back, hoping his face doesn’t betray the butterflies fluttering in his stomach. The grandfather clock in the room rings six o’clock and Mark smiles. Not a bad day after all.
.