Althea Collins

“I’ll gladly track him down for you just so he can suffer. i’m very resourceful when I’m pissed off,” Cassia said, “You’d really think they’d have highly-functioning elevators at HQ.”

“Really. Why is it we haven’t teamed up before?” Because she was truly beginning to wonder. She was a woman after her own heart. “You’d think all the staff ought to have highly functioning brains too but I am still wondering about several of them.”

“Please do. Maybe find the person who answered the call too, give them the same feeling,” Cassia muttered, “That doesn’t mean that they don’t ever fall or malfunction more than they should.”

“Not sure that through a phone it’s possible. Well... I suppose it depends on what I say.” Because actually, she probably didn’t need any powers to be able to do that. “In any case, I think we might be here for a while. I feel like I ought to start packing more heavily since things like this seem to be a regular thing around here.

“Clearly they think there are more important things to do but surely a broken elevator causes a lot more inconvenience than most other things and isn’t it kind of dangerous? We don’t know why this is broken. I’m not one to be paranoid but I am not dying in a freaking elevator.”

“I am going to enjoy putting my feelings on them when they arrive. Maybe I’ll just leave them in a state of perpetual fear for the next two hours. It seems like a fair trade off.” Althea schemed in her ire. “You’d think so. Apparently it is just something they believe is a electrical fault which suggests to me this has happened before. Besides, elevators usually have back up for security to stop them from falling.”

“Could be up to two hours? Who leaves someone for two hours in an elevator?”  Althea grumbled when the person on the other end of the speaker put the phone down.

“Never thought I’d hear you say that,” Noah said with a chuckle, “Who would have thought us workaholics knew how to properly take a day off huh?”

“Honestly, it’s not something I thought I would ever say about you either but experiences change opinions.” The blonde answered warmly. “I always knew how to take a day off, I just don’t tend to show it to those I work with. I keep work and pleasure completely separate where possible. What about you though? You don’t seem the type to properly take a day off either. Is it just an image or is it difficult for you to take days off?”

“Perfect,“ Noah said, taking a drink, “You mean strong? Yeah of course that’s how I take my alcohol.”

“A man after my own heart... Make yourself at home.” She stated with a chuckle. “Not that I plan on getting completely off my face today but it’s nice to relax a little for once. It’s a bit of a change in pace from work.”

“The stronger the better, I say,” Noah said, shrugging. When it came to drink, he wasn’t fussy.

“Well one thing about pimms is you can make it strong and you don’t even notice it until it hits you.” Althea admitted with a laugh as she motioned for him to take what he wanted. “Is that the kind of day you’ve had or is that simply how you take your alcohol?”

“What kind of drinks?” Noah asked, sitting down next to her. It was an unlikely friendship but it made a lot more sense than them fighting all the time. They were too similar. He had a lot of anger for the world but sometimes it was exhausting.

“It’s a pimms kind of day.” Althea confessed. She didn’t drink often because she had to have a level head for work but it was nice to have a few every so often. “I have lemonade to mix it with but if you don’t fancy that I am sure there are some colas in there.” It wasn’t as though she was expecting company after all. 

“ I’m wounded, Collins, ” Adrian remarked, placing a hand on his heart. “ I can’t possibly do something without ulterior motives ? ”

“Wounded hm? Some how I doubt that.” She answered with a little chuckle and a shake of her head. “From experience; no, not really.”

“I didn’t have an attitude before I came here and you started with the snarky comments before I even opened my mouth,” Noah pointed out again. He liked that she didn’t just take it and apologise though. He didn’t always like being challenged but he liked it sometimes, “I was actually going to see if you wanted company but I suppose I can just leave too,” He said. He didn’t mind not having the company but given that it was his day off, he could at least spend it with someone he could mildly tolerate.

“Come and sit down.” Althea spoke, amusement lilting her words, because as much as she appeared to bite where Noah was concerned, she actually enjoyed his company nowadays. There was a time where she’d never thought it would get to that point but surprisingly, it had. “I brought drinks if you want one. I was planning on grabbing a takeaway later just to make the most of a very ‘lazy’ day.”

“Sure, sure,” Louis teased, “I’ll believe you’re excuses.”

“Excuses? You are bold Louis.” Oh, it was hard to resist kicking the ball at the other male right now. She took what she did know about soccer and began to dribble the ball towards the others net. 

“Don’t forget telling you all about the sorrows of my past when we’re trapped in a building together,” Noah added, trying to make a joke but it was difficult when even remotely talking about June, “You’re one to talk about snarky comments,” He added, knowing they were both quite good at those but also knowing she didn’t quite mean any of that in a snarky way, “You’re not the only one with a day off. Who says I wasn’t just walking past?”

“I recall.” Though Althea was surprised he brought it up himself. “I’m not the type to bring up others pasts though. Unless they do so themselves.” Like he had just done. “Hm... why yes I am but what do you expect? For me to sit and simply take your attitude without retaliation? We both know I’m not one to lie down and roll over.” Althea reminded Noah before smirking. “Oh... well keep walking then if that was your intention; shoo.”

“Alright then,” Louis said, moving forward and taking the ball off her, dribbling it towards the goal and shooting.

“You know, I didn’t realise we were starting right then.” Althea commented as she twisted to look at the man who’d ended up behind her. Shifting, she jogged over to collect the ball.

“Is that all you think I talk about, Collins?” Noah asked, not even questioning how she knew it was him. He knew when it was her too because he could not sense her emotions. Perks of being power twins or whatever they were called, Maybe I’m off the clock too.”

“Mm... No, I think you talk about work, complain about people touching your weapons and fawn over said weapons. Oh, and there is a little time to throw some snarky comments my way there too. Basically you’re an asshole that talks 99% of the time.” Still, there was a hint of something behind her words that hadn’t been there in the beginning; fondness almost. Althea would admit since that evening he’d helped her with her work, she’d seen a different side to the other man. Of course, that didn’t stop her from poking the bear as it were. She tipped her sunglasses and dipped her head to look at Noah when he mentioned being off the clock. “Really? So what were you planning to do now then?”

“You know, as much as I appreciate an excuse to get out of the office for a little while, when it comes to you Rivera, I can’t help but wonder where the catch is.”