Sweet dreams

- Part 1 -

Living in the basement of a building that, on the outside, didn't look much different from any office block in any industrial park was surprisingly agreeable. The age of the building itself might have exceeded the double-digit range. The everyday facilities, however, had been replaced only a few years ago. The wiring of the electricity was as new as the bathroom installments, the kitchen or even the carpets and wallpapers in their private domains. Maybe not always cutting edge, but it was modern enough to grant a comfortable life. As long as no intermezzos like unsupervised explosions, insane killers on the loose or a robot invasion threatened the inhabitants of the headquarters of Team King. In the end, the quality of the environment was easy to sum up - not as prim or bleak as a standard military keep or business division, but also not of the luxury of a hotel or normal residential complex.
It was a busy, sometimes chaotic and even dangerous place. It was, however, nothing to complain about for those who had once chosen a career that had not much to do with business offices or white-painted fences in front of neat, little houses.

The moment the west wing of the basement was approached the bustling atmosphere shifted. At the first glance, it was nothing but a normal, medical tract; of course sterility was top priority here. But even visitors unfamiliar to the base sensed that more than just a good doctor and a sickbay lay ahead once they looked down the narrow corridor with its tiled floor and white walls. Even for those who knew what to expect - and had gotten used to it - it was always a transition into a different world.

The sound of the Sniper's boots echoed against the walls. The armor-plated doors to the left of the visitor were passed and ignored - what happened behind them better remained undisturbed. If nothing was happening right now there was no reason to stir anything up. It had been a peaceful day so far.
Instead, the steps headed towards the door to the right and rushed through another - shorter - passage. A few hardly understandable German curses came from one of the rooms the Sniper now passed next. So the Medic had one of his tempers. Or was busy with one of his weird experiments on the Zombie. Or maybe he was just searching for his glasses.
'Just walk on... It's none of your business... You don't help him at all when your face reminds him of that overdue check-up...'

At the end of the short corridor lay yet another area. The humid air had made it impossible to renovate this place along with the rest of the headquarters. A cold, diffuse light filled the room, coming from the strip-lights on the ceiling. Placing them closer to the ground and therefore closer to the water would have been risky, so practical reasons had outweighed more cozy alternatives. Half of the large room consisted of an open basin. None of the hired mercenaries knew for sure how - or if at all - the underwater passage starting at this point was connected with the sewer system or the sources of water supply.

"I kindly ask you not to litter here. This is not the street." With a disapproving frown, the Tentaspy looked up from his book. His human half rested on the edge of the pool. Behind him, the water rested peacefully in the dark; only occasionally the smooth surface was rippled by lazy splashes whenever one of the long tentacles lazily moved around.

"Sorry." His visitor shrugged and extinguished the butt of the cigarette with the heel of one boot.

"If I didn't know it was the water I'd assume the walls were dripping with the sincerity of your apology, my dear." The Spy sighed and closed his book. "You are late. I agreed to one - ONE - hour. That was this morning, and now it's afternoon! I was not hired to be your personal babysitter, Johanne!"

"Come on, Jean. I know your schedule, and you are free today. I'd never ask you if it weren't really, really important, you know?" The woman tilted her head and winked at him.

"Pah!" the Spy snorted. "I will tell you a secret: being coquettish is not convincing with this smug grin all over your face." He re-opened his book, quickly found were he had stopped and continued reading.

"My, you really are in a bad mood today. Hey, Toby, look who's back!" Leaving Jean to his reading, the female Sniper turned around and opened her arms. From the other side of the room, a small figure ran towards her. "Did you miss your mom? Was old, grumpy Mr. Octopus nice to you?" Her grin widened when her son nodded. Ignoring the indignant grunt behind her, she picked the boy up and shivered.
The protective suit was damp on the outside from playing in 'Jean's Lair' - as the boy called it - all day, and she felt the cold creeping through her clothes. Fortunately, the material would protect the child, so she didn't have to worry about his health. However, it was about time to return to their quarters in the east wing.
"Dann mal los, mein Schatz. It's late, time for you to shower and dann ab ins Bett!"

"If you keep up switching from one language to another all the time he will end up confused, neither speaking... nevermind." Jean stopped mid-sentence when the Sniper turned around and glared at him. "It was not my intention to be insensitive, I apologize. And compared to others, I mean it," he couldn't resist adding.

"Forget it, Jean." Most other people wouldn't have gotten away with a remark like this that easily. But she had lived and worked long enough with the Tentaspy to know that he didn't mean to say anything hurtful. He really had to have a bad day today if he was inconsiderate like this, and to be honest, she had tried his patience. "Was he a bother?" she asked gently, and her features softened when he saw a hint of a smile on the man's face.

"Little Toby? A bother? Well..." He shrugged and rolled his eyes, pretending to ponder very hard on the question.
"If I say 'no', I risk you taking that as an open invitation to bring him to me on every whim, my dear Jo. Be assured, if he ever is a bother, I'll just eat him." He withdrew his lips, revealing two rows of shiny, pointy teeth and hissed. The boy giggled under his mask.

"Glad you two get along so well," the Sniper beamed at the Spy. "Well, Jean, thanks and see you later. Toby? What's that?" She hadn't noticed until now that her son's right fist closed around a small object. "Show me." He shook his head, adding a quick gesture with his free hand she read as "It's mine.".

"Toby...!"

At the sharp, adamant tone of her voice, the boy reluctantly opened his hand, revealing his treasure to his mother.
"What's this, some kind of lighter? Ew, how old is that thing?" Ignoring the protesting child, she picked the lighter up with pinched fingertips and threw it over to Jean. Despite the surprise, he caught it without a problem.

"And you are telling me I shouldn't litter? Damn, Jean, this place is a dump, that rotten thing is probably as old as you! That's not the right environment for a child!"

"First, you brought him here... no, first of all, you brought him here, to the base, put him into a fireproof asbestos suit and allowed him to play with a flamethrower, so you are hardly one to..." His gaze fell on the small object in his hand and he fell silent. "Nevermind," he ended his speech for the second time today, "please go now."

Mother and son watched him for a moment and finally, they left without another word. Jo wondered if there was something she should have said at the sudden, heavy silence. But the lightened-up mood was gone from one moment to the other, and Jean was absorbed in his own thoughts. They heard the clicking of the tiny wheel, but judging from the look of the moldy, rusty item the Sniper doubted it would ever again produce something even resembling a flame.
*

'Head hurts... Damn you, O'Conner! Damn you and your drinking games...'
The team members knew that it wasn't even worth the try to beat the Scottish cook in anything involving emptying several bottles of scrumpy, rum or whiskey. However, better knowledge and experience didn't stop most of them from accepting the challenge once in a while.
The female Sniper hardly remembered how she got back to her room and that she had fallen asleep the moment she had crawled into her bed. The first thing she knew was how the throbbing pain behind her forehead had woken her up.
She tried to open her eyes only to realize they had been open the whole time. Confused about how she could have slept like this, while staring into the darkness, she tried to blink, but nothing happened. Or maybe it did, she couldn't say for sure. Eyes closed or not, it was dark and her mind still kept spinning from the aftereffects of too much alcohol and not enough sleep. She continued staring at the ceiling, soon feeling bored by the dull black. Hopefully dull enough to let her doze off again soon.
After a while, she silently began to count, not realizing that she soon adapted the rhythm of the ticking clock on the nightstand.

A scream, a furious, angry yell in the distance.
She woke up again and listened.

Nothing but silence.
No voices, no shouts, no footsteps rushing away or doors being slammed.

'Okay, just a fucking drunk dream. Lay down, close your eyes and get some goddamn sleep.' To her surprise, she had never sat up. This whole time, she had been lying in her bed, her eyes wide open and staring into the distance.

Something was wrong.

'Calm down, Jo, it's alright, it's just fucking O'Conner's moonshine... Tomorrow, you'll get up, complain about the headache and strangle him with his eye-patch...' At least her mind seemed to work normally, as she noticed with grim satisfaction. Her eyelids still refused to close.

'No big deal, still dreaming. If this was real, you'd 'have gotten used to the darkness by now...'

As if to mock her, the darkness in front of her eyes began to move. First, it was a pulsating mass thickening around her, then becoming more and more diffuse at the edges of her peripheral vision. Like a sky covered with clouds now slowly clearing up, the white ceiling began to shimmer through. Only the spot the Sniper's eyes focused on remained black.

'Brain, you had your fun, enough with the dirty tricks...'
She watched the spot with growing uneasiness. Without a source of light and her glasses, the shape reminded her too much of something she didn't want to have in her room, especially not above her face. At least it didn't move. But if it didn't move, then it was different than the rest of the retreating darkness...

'Fuck you, dream!' she wanted to snarl at the roundish-shaped spot, certain that her voice would break the barrier between illusion and reality.

All she could do was thinking.

'Fuck it!' Angry with herself and her poor night-vision, she wanted to pull the blanket tighter around her and roll onto her side. Out of sight, out of mind.

Nothing but thinking.

She couldn't move.

Not her body, not her fingers or hands or arms.
This was not a dream. Her eyes refused to blink. Hell, even her eyeballs didn't move when she tried to stop staring at the thing above her.

'Hahaha.' A nervous laugh formed in her head along with many curse words, but no matter how hard she tried, her tongue and lips remained paralyzed. The only noise beside the clock was her heartbeat.

'Oh god, what if it also stops...'
She thought she felt how the muscles in her long legs twitched, wanting to kick her cover away and jump out of her bed. She thought she felt her whole body shivering. But nothing happened while her fingers clung to the bed sheet. She thought they would, but they didn't.

Even her breathing didn't increase when she thought it should.

Nothing. Every little natural movement was the illusion, not what hoovered above her head. As slowly as she couldn't refuse anymore to realize that she was caught in her own body, the edges of the spot on the ceiling took shape.
Horrified, she was forced to watch how a spot larger than her hand slowly stretched first one, then a second thin, stick-like limb.

It wasn't motionless.

It was black and oval and had eight spindly legs.

It moved. Not from one side to the other, no, but she could clearly see how each leg of the spider twitched in turn. Randomly at first. Then, as it became larger and larger, the legs moved in a flowing rhythm synchronized with the ticking of the clock.

'Fuck NO!' This wasn't a dream, and so it didn't become larger.

It was coming closer!

Slowly, it crawled down from the ceiling along its almost invisible, silken thread.

Cold sweat tickled down the Sniper's forehead while she saw the creature with brutal clarity. Suddenly feeling sick as she stared at the black, bulging back of the spider, she was fully convinced that this wasn't a dream. The knowledge that this one probably wasn't poisonous didn't help.
Any moment it would be down.

The command she gave her hand to move, to search for the switch of the lamp standing beside her echoed in her head together with a scared and frustrated scream. If she could only get hold of anything to throw at the beast! If she could only roll on her side, out of the bed and just leave the room.
Telling the others that the only female mercenary of the team was as scared of a little, stupid spider like any ordinary woman wasn't something to look forward to. But everything would be easier to endure than this moment here.

She was about to die.

If she couldn't move soon, she would touch the creature with her shoulder once she tried to turn.

It was so huge... Any minute, it would be there, and cover her whole face and her heart would simply stop moving, like the rest of her body. Even that would be better than feeling the creature's body over her eyes, nose and mouth.

It was close enough for her to see its head, how the faint light of an unknown source was reflected by countless little lenses of the compound eyes.
'Please, go away... please go away, just go away, please... Please don't happen...'

Soon, she would die.
She wanted to hold her breath. Her stomach turned at the idea of breathing the same air as the beast only hung a few inches above her face. Her body refused that command, too, and as mercilessly as before, she was forced to watch closely how the black thing slowly turned around.

One single leg let go of the gently swinging thread. It bent and it twitched, and it pointed directly at her right eye.
Her heart was beating regularly, as if nothing was happening at all, and she suddenly understood - she wouldn't faint or die. She would just lay here and nobody would come.
'Syd.. busy with your team and men... Jean is pissed, Ty has his own problems and...' Everyone had an excuse not to come, even if she could cry for help.
She was alone.
The thing, the fear... they would never stop.
Left alone with her fear, a motionless body and her son.

The hind legs lowered, any second they would rest on her lips.

'Toby...'

"Tobias!"

The one, single word broke the spell. She held her breath and coughed as she almost choked on the silent screams that now tried to force themselves out of her throat. Violently, she pulled her arms in front of her face and hit her own nose.
At the same time, she tossed herself around.
Her legs got tangled in the blanket. The moment her body was given back to her, she shook and kicked uncontrollably.

With a loud thud, she fell out of her bed.

Jo's head missed the edge of the nightstand only by an inch, but the pain she felt when landing on the thin carpet was enough for her to snap out of her panic.

Quickly, she rose to her feet and rushed to the other end of the room, frantically hitting the wall with her flat hand. Finally, the light flickered when she hit the switch. With one hand on the knob of the door and ready to storm out if necessary, her eyes hectically searched the room.

Nothing.

"Okay, Johanne, pull yourself together. You are not a little girl. You are not paralyzed. And you are not dreaming." The pain in her body caused by the fall on the floor were proof enough to her. "And there's no chance that you'd miss a monster of that size, glasses on or not!"

Listening to her own voice was comforting. It worried her that she couldn't actually remember the moment she had woken up from this nightmare, but right now, as she gasped for breath and heard herself speaking, she felt wide awake.

This time, staring was her choice. Tensed up and ready to leave her room anytime if she saw something move, she glared at the white bedsheets and the blanket on the floor. After a short moment that felt like several cold, slow hours she dared to glance at the nightstand.
Again, she waited a bit, then she darted forwards and snatched her glasses from the wooden surface.

On her way back to the door, she quickly picked up a pair of pants and a shirt from the floor.  She had put them on the moment she stepped out into the corridor. Eight-legged monster or not, now she would make sure that her boy was alright, then have a glass of cold water.

Once the door was closed behind her, she exhaled deeply and searched her pockets for a cigarette.
"And I won't give that black fucker the satisfaction of having me run into one of the others in my underwear. Dammit, this is as useless as Jean's trash."
Annoyed, she stuffed the broken lighter back into her pants pocket.
*


Relieved, she carefully closed the door to Toby's room behind her. The little boy was sleeping peacefully and so sound, he didn't even hear his mother entering.
He was breathing regularly; usually a good sign. Tonight however, after Jo's own nightmare, it worried her at first. For a moment she had been tempted to wake him up, just to make sure he wasn't in a similar paralyzed state as she had been before.
Her worries turned out to be unfounded. When she had made up her mind to shake him gently, Toby turned around and smiled at her in his sleep before she could touch the child's shoulder.
Careful not to wake him from apparently nice dreams, she withdrew her hand and left the room.

"Look out!"

"Fuck!"

Jo stumbled backwards and almost fell for a second time this night to the floor. Tyler, their Scout, was less fortunate - there was no wall right behind him to break his fall.

"Ouch, Ty, what the fuck are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" She offered the Scout a hand and pulled him back on his feet.
"Funny, was just about to ask ya the same," Tyler answered without much gratitude, straightening his skirt once he had stood up again.

"A secret date with Jean?" Jo grinned and chose a cigarette from a crumpled packet when she remembered she didn't have a working lighter with her. Sighing, she put the cigarette back.

The Scout blushed at her question.

'Bet he denies it any second, because there are so many other reasonable explanations to wear this stuff at night. Nice legs, boy.'
The skirt was shorter than those he usually wore at work, and even shorter as Jo would prefer it in her free-time. Ironic how Tyler was the most normal Scout on this team. And the most feminine dressed team-member, even compared to the actual woman standing in front of him. Jo frowned when she suddenly saw a very clear image of the others' reaction in her mind if she walked into the canteen in one of Tyler's outfits. 'Immature idiots.'

"It's none of your business, but no, no secret date. If ya really need to know, that fucking squid wanted to talk with me, yeah, and I didn't. But as I couldn't sleep anyway, geez... Why am I even talking to ya?" he scoffed as the Sniper's grin widened.

"Sorry, kid, go enjoy your date, don't mind me."

"Like I would."

Unsure if Tyler referred to enjoying his date or her being awake, Jo looked after the youth as he strutted past her, aiming for the stairs leading to the first floor. Barefooted, as she noticed. Now that she thought about it - his attire didn't look as dainty as usual. His hair was still messy as if he had just crawled out of his bed, and his clothes were wrinkled. So his story about not being able to sleep was apparently the truth. Briefly, she wondered if she should ask him about nightmares.

"Yo, Jo! Is wearing ya shirt inside-out a new fashion trend? " Tyler's voice called from the top of the stairs.

"Bite me, Ty."
Grumbling to herself, she looked down her front.
'Brat's even right, dammit.' Not that it mattered. After all, unlike a certain, skirt-wearing loudmouth, instead of a nightly date only a glass of water and her bed waited for her. Both were more preferable than a horny Tentaspy - she had enough of eight-legged creatures for one night.
*

Finally, Jo began to feel the exhaustion she needed to fall asleep again. The only reason she was still sitting at the table in the kitchen of the basement, holding an empty glass, was that she was too tired to walk back to her room and searched it for the would-be imaginary spider. And for coming up with a solution if she found one after all. Somehow, the chairs and the table didn't seem as uncomfortable as usual.

She almost jumped from her seat when the door swung open and a panting Scout with wide opened eyes stood in front of her. She hadn't even heard him coming.

"JO!"

"Damn, Ty, what's wrong?" She gasped in alarm.

"Something's wrong with Jean! Come with me!"
Without waiting for her answer, he was out again. She put her glass down and rushed after him. At night, even though they weren't wearing shoes, the sounds their steps made on the wooden floor seemed loud enough to wake the whole basement.

This time, Tyler hurried up the main stairs between the east and the west wing and she followed him quickly until they reached the canteen. Even with only the emergency lights on she already saw what had frightened the Scout. It worried her immensely, too.

On the floor of the corridor, right in front of the door leading to the canteen, lay a huge body, half human, half tentacle creature.

"Jean!" She knelt next to him and shook him by his shoulder.

"He won't wake up!" The Scout stood next to her, his hands aimlessly running over his skirt and through his hair.

"Thanks, I can see that!" she snapped more sarcastically than intended. Just that moment, she had turned the Spy's head into her direction.

Jean's eyes were open.

Without blinking or any sign of recognition, the Spy stared at her. She snapped her fingers right in front of his face. No reaction.
An indefinable fear rose inside of her. Less gentle than before she shook him again. Next, she took his arm by the wrist and felt for his pulse. Jean was definitely alive, but he didn't move. His chest rose slowly up and down. If it weren't for his eyes and the fact that he was lying on the floor in the middle of the corridor, she would have assumed he was peacefully asleep.

"JEAN! HELLOOO!"
Not caring if someone downstairs might hear her, she yelled into the Spy's ear - in vain. Not even one muscle in his face or body twitched. Just as she had feared.

"Fuck! Something's seriously wrong tonight..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"
Startled by the agitated voice she lifted her head. "Oh right, Ty..."

"Yeah, Ty, I just brought ya here, remember? WHAT the fuck did ya mean?"

If the circumstances had been different, she would have laughed at the sight of the young man. Tyler usually didn't miss any opportunity to express his dislike of Jean and how much the man's advances towards him annoyed him. His pale face, how he was chewing on his lip and the erratic gestures of his hands spoke doubtlessly of the great anxiety the Spy's condition caused for him. Even more than his aggressive, but shaky voice.
However, Jo, too, was very worried - it was bad enough that the uneasiness after her own nightmare returned. Seeing Jean like this made it difficult for her to believe in a coincidence.

"Nothing..." she replied hesitantly. Inwardly, she shivered. Thankfully she had been able to wake up. She thought of her son. What if Toby had been in this state? Suddenly, she felt less glee when she looked at Tyler. Actually, she doubted she would have been able to keep control if she were in his place.

"Nothing," she repeated and stood up vigorously. "Don't worry, Ty. I'll get Syd and we'll take him down, to Martin." Satisfied, she nodded. At least one person present should act reasonably, and as she couldn't expect that from the paralyzed Tentaspy or the restless Scout, it was up to her. Yet she was skeptical if her first idea of running to her big brother was really a reasonable idea at all.

"Just great, this way, he'll at least be groomed when the butcher finishes him off!"
Only with difficulty, Jo suppressed the urge to slap the Scout. Tyler's tone of voice was viciously and aggressive, but he wasn't thinking clearly. Starting a fight right now wouldn't help anyone.

"Don't be unfair, Ty! Both have their quirks, but they are doing good jobs." With some effort, her words sounded almost as gentle as she had hoped they would. True, nobody on the team felt very comfortable with their Medic, but if they were honest, this was only due to his attitude and the lack of empathy for his patients. His work as a doctor was unobjectionable.

"Wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes, okay, Ty?"

With his eyes focused on the motionless body, the Scout nodded. Jo didn't feel entirely reassured, but lacking any other ideas, she only patted him on his back and darted off, back to the stairs.
*

"Hey, Sonny, wake up!"
She knocked three times against the door of Sydney's private room, not bothering anymore if she woke up one of the others as well.
Opposite his room was hers anyway. The Scout had his quarters in the same corridor, and he was awake, too. She doubted that Tobias would hear her - her son was a heavy sleeper once she could finally tuck him in.
O'Conner's, the former Demoman and now cook, and Lukas', their second Spy, rooms were close as well, but she seriously didn't care at all if she woke one of those two men. Certainly not that O'conner with his damned fusel.
'If I wake you up, you better have the mother of all headaches,' she thought grimly.

Nobody answered her call. She shrugged and opened the door. As expected, it wasn't locked.

"Sonny?" she whispered, and when she didn't hear a sound she switched on the ceiling lamp. At the sudden brightness, she squinted her eyes, but even before she got used to it, she froze on the spot and inhaled sharply.

Sydney was laying on his side and staring at her.

This wasn't a coincidence. She didn't dream earlier. Maybe of the spider, but not of the state of her body.

Like her eyes and Jean's, her brother's were wide open and motionless.

If she hadn't experienced it by herself, and if she hadn't convinced herself that the Spy was alive, seeing Sydney like this - like dead - would have frightened her. Even though she knew wasn't looking at a corpse, it was still unnerving.
Slowly, she walked closer. She saw at once that Sydney was breathing in a slow, even rhythm. Tiny pearls of sweat ran down his forehead. His staring eyes were witnessing something that was invisible to her.

'Please, wake up...'

As she had tried with Jean before, she now shook her brother by his shoulder. Like before, nothing happened.

"God, Sonny, not you, too... Why could I wake up, but you guys... Fuck this shit! Sorry, darling, this is gonna hurt me more than you."
Sick of the worry and the nagging fear, she turned Sydney onto his back and straddled him.

"HEY! Ya fuckin' BITCH! I'm TALKIN' to YA!"

With a smack, her flat hand hit his right cheek.

"LISTEN WHEN YA SISTER'S SPEAKING WITH YA! YA GODDAMN TEAM NEEDS YA!"

This time, her hand left a red print on the left side of his face.

She held her breath and waited a few painfully long seconds. Then, her brother's eyelids flattered, and his gaze became less distant.

"Gott sei dank..." Both her head and shoulders dropped and she exhaled when Sydney blinked at her in confusion.

"Darling, what's wrong? Why did you hit me?" His voice still sounded far away. Carefully, he felt for his face. "It wasn't my fault... I didn't want to... Johanne, what are you doing here, how did you come...?"

Suddenly, she began to laugh.

"What's so funny, dear?"
At his frown, she only laughed more.

"Nothing, Sonny. It's just... everything's so absurd."
She tried to calm herself and climbed down from the Sniper. The bewildered look on his face when she pulled his blanket away made her giggle again.
After another moment, she composed herself and became serious.

"Something's really wrong with Jean. Hurry and get up."
Skeptically, she looked him over. "But first, get dressed. Tyler is already hysterical enough without seeing you in a pink satin slip with a zebra pattern."
*

Back in the corridor, Jo quickly explained the situation to her brother, leaving out a few details. Including herself, she knew of three people being caught in a weird, coma-like sleep, and she reminded herself to ask Tyler as soon as possible if there was more behind his "couldn't sleep"-remark.
Sydney hadn't been really aware of his surroundings until she had shoved him out of his room. He, too, seemed to have troubles at first to distinguishing his dream from reality. But once outside, dressed in a less flashy manner than before with sensible pants and a - of course - pink shirt, he was fully awake and demanded to know what was going on. Especially why his own sister thought it was necessary to slap him.

So she told him about Jean's condition, and how much it was like Sydney's when she woke him up, neither mentioning herself nor how drowsy Tyler was when she had bumped into him.

"I... is everything alright...?"

With Jo talking fast and Sydney listening with growing worry, they almost missed the timid voice behind them. Only when a door shut, they turned around just before they headed into the main hall.

"Lukas!" Both Snipers shouted in surprise. The Spy's shoulders twitched and he took a step back.

"Yes, it's okay, dear, don't worry," Sydney answered in a gentle, reassuring manner and smiled.

"Nothing is all right! Jean collapsed, Ty's freaking out, and this whole fucking night is just crazy!" the words burst out of Jo. She reached again for her cigarettes but stopped. "And my fuckin' lighter is broken. Syd, fire?"

"Sorry, love, in my office."

"God, I swear, if I don't get a smoke soon I'll burn this God forsaken dump to the ground!"


Confused, Lukas looked from one Sniper to the other during their conversation. For a moment, the two seemed to have forgotten about him. This wouldn't have been the first time he was ignored or overlooked. In fact, most of the time he was glad when this happened. However, he didn't miss the frowns on the siblings' faces, and Jo's words were very disconcerting.

"I... if Jean is sick, we... ahem, shouldn't we inform the Medic? I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt..." he hectically apologized when both stopped talking and looked at him.
*

"So why again did it take you guys so long?" Tyler groaned under the weight of the Tentaspy when the female Sniper let go of the Spy's right shoulder.

"Because my dear brother didn't want to interrupt his beauty-sleep," she replied and opened the door to the elevator.

The Scout gave a snort. "Great. Next time, send a prince to wake him up with a kiss."

"Ty, honey, be nice," Sydney warned him, but he also chuckled.
Together with Lukas, the Sniper had wrapped his arms around the unconscious Spy's midriff. Even with four people, carrying the Tentaspy was more difficult than expected.

"Cut that honey-bullshit, seriously. And we are taking the elevator - why?"

"You want to maneuver him through several doors and drag him down the stairs?" Jo answered in Sydney's place. "The stairs are too narrow for more than two people walking side by side. Good luck, Ty, getting him down without knotting his tentacles together."

"Point taken. Would ya be so kind and help carrying?"
The Scout's panic and insecurity from before was gone. He was more his sarcastic, impatient self, although more aggressive than usually. His worries about Jean hadn't lessened, he only forced himself to keep control.

The elevator connected the first floor of the headquarters' depot with the basement, so it would only be a ride of a few minutes once the device got under way. Nevertheless they put the heavy body down and stretched, trying to relax their muscles from the strain. Jean hadn't even twitched. He was as motionless as before and his eyes still stared hard into any direction his head was turned. The Scout shuddered when he looked at the pale face.
When they had moved the Spy, the head shook from one side to the other as the neck-muscles didn't hold it in place. Now, the head had rolled back and faced the ceiling. Gravity had caused the lower jaw to drop a little, revealing the sharp teeth.
Tyler had never really feared Jean as a creature. Mocked, cursed, insulted, provoked, yes. Felt uneasy when the Spy once had threatened to eat him, with just those pointy teeth. But now, with the vacant expression, without the usual smirks, smiles or frowns, he looked so different from the Jean he knew. Almost scary, as he reluctantly admitted to himself. Not even like a corpse. More like a hideous puppet.

"Lukas, hit the button, please."

Sydney's friendly voice distracted Tyler from his thoughts. The elevator already began to move, slowly though. At this hour, it wasn't running at full power and it took a moment to activate the generator. The Scout raised his eyebrows when Jo searched the pockets of the Spy's blazer.

"Ah, finally!" With a happy smile on her face, the female Sniper stood up, and lit the cigarette between her lips.
Puzzled, Tyler watched her. Suddenly, he recognized the familiar looking item in her hand.

"JO! This is JEAN'S! Don't tell me ya just stole it when... when..."

"Ty, babe, calm down." She took a long pull and exhaled slowly. Smoke filled the cramped place. "Ya looking like I've stripped his body. He's not dead, ya know. God, this feels good..."

The Scout gasped at her, for once not lacking the words to voice his thoughts.
"You... you... THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

"So? Okay, honey, I woke up after the shittiest nightmare, ran into your horny self, fell half asleep in the kitchen when you came crying for my help. Jean is out cold, my dear brother was caught in dreamland, and I haven't had a smoke in forever because MY FUCKING LIGHTER IS BROKEN! So, Ty, what's the point? Tell me, I DARE YOU!"

Both Sniper and Scout glared at each other. Lukas slowly moved closer to the door. Tyler and Jo both usually had calm tempers. Sarcastic, yes, but it took a while to really anger them. It was rare for them to lose their countenance at the same time, even rarer that a real quarrel broke out between them. But when this happened, especially while they were in an elevator with the paralyzed tentacle-creature between them, Lukas would have preferred to be anywhere, but here.

"Ladies, please calm down. This is nothing serious to argue about," Sydney said soothingly.

"Don't give me that lady-shit!" Tyler and Jo alike snapped at the Sniper and Sydney opened his mouth to retort.

The cabin began to shake.

The Scout and the female Sniper fell across the motionless Spy's body. Sydney tumbled backwards and tried to get hold of the handrail. Instead, his hand got tangled in Lukas' scarf and fell down as well.

"Hey, Lukas, haven't noticed ya not wearing your mask!" Sydney exclaimed in delight when he saw the Spy's face and blond hair. Far too delighted in the opinions of the others, regarding the situation, like there was nothing more important to worry about.
Blushing heavily, Lukas quickly put on his hat and adjusted his scarf, covering most of his face again.

"S... sorry, w...when I heard you earlier, I just... w...well..."

"Guess that's not the point, too," Jo sighed and gratefully accepted when Tyler offered her a hand to pull her up. "Sorry, Ty, wasn't very sensitive there." She handed him the lighter she still held in her hand, but the Scout shook his head.
"Yeah, alright, I overreacted. So, what's goin' on here? We should be in the basement, why don't the doors open?"
*

Giving a frustrated sigh, Tyler leaned against the wall with his back and slid down to the floor.
"This night sucks."

"Hear, hear." Jo followed his example and sat down against the opposite wall. The cigarette she had been smoking had gone out when they had fallen. She was about to light a new one when she looked at Tyler.
"Is it really okay?"

The Scout shrugged.
"Your lungs, not mine. He doesn't smoke anyway. Keep it if you want." His voice was so full of feigned indifference that it made the Snipers grin.

"Why does he carry that thing around anyway? Oh wait!" Jo chuckled. "This has nothing to do with all the candles in his room, does it? Ty, you sly, romantic dog!"

"Shut up, you...!"

"Ladies, ladies... and gentlemen!" Sydney sat down next to the angry Scout and patted on his shoulder. "Jo, love, stop teasing him. Ty, honey, don't take her too seriously. We are all a bit... worried and nervous. Calm down, deary."
The Sniper rose again and turned towards the door.

"Lukas, any idea what to do to get us out of here?" he asked and put one arm casually around the silent Spy's shoulders. With a frown, Sydney began to push the buttons of the elevator's control unit, one after the other when nothing happened.

"I..." Wincing under the unexpected touch, Lukas watched his boss' hands as one finger repeatedly hit the emergency-button. "Sy... Sydney... maybe you shouldn't..."

His warning came too late.
Finally, Sydney's efforts were rewarded - the technology behind the panel responded to the Sniper's stubborn tries.

The cabin began to shake again. The dim light flickered and suddenly shone so bright that the four team-members covered their eyes with their hands. Something above their heads made a cracking sound.

The lights went out.