Jamie McArthur

As soon as he was no longer tethered to a blood bag Scott had fought against the ever nagging pains in his side to return to his office. His sanctuary. A space just big enough for a desk, a couch, a whippet, and absolutely fucking no one else, ideally.

In all honesty, Jamie had been standing outside his door for about fifteen minutes, pacing and going back and forth on whether or not she should even bother, but ever since they last spoke in the med bay, she had been feeling icky. She hadn't meant what she had said to him, at least not where Carrie was concerned, and since then she had successfully gotten herself returned to the med bay twice! It was embarrassing more than anything, but all that aside, she had wanted to apologise to Scott.

"Stealing?" Scott recoiled at the notion that he was intentionally causing a divide between Alex and Carrie. No. The canyon separating them was of their own making, expanding every day, and Scott, while not building bridges, he was just there. For her. Had he not sacrificed enough? No. Stealing was an accusation he despised. "Get fucked," he scoffed, not wanting to divulge his feelings any further - she'd clearly heard enough to make her own mind up.

Jamie's arms were crossed, her lips pressed together in a fine line in an attempt to not saw anything else she might regret. Okay, so he had three years of experience on her, but in all that time, he had been allowed to hide down here while she had to keep attending school in what was essentially a police state! She had to live up there, experiencing the danger and the fear first hand, and he didn't get to brush of her experience. She technically might not be a real adult, but it had been years since she had been allowed to be a kid.

"Oh!" Rhiannon jumped, turning with her small but mighty fists clenched before letting out a breath. "Sorry, you gave me a fright. Don't worry, I promise I won't be kicking your ass today." @havensdalestarters

Finally, after what had felt like five hundred years, Jamie had managed to leave the Underground and come up for air. Of course, she had been in and out of med bay the entire time, but she could admit that she had also been hiding from everything that had happened. Obviously, she had still been in contact with her friends, but this was the first time she had seen Rhiannon in person since prom night and she could have cried. "Excuse us." She briefly acknowledged the person her friend had been ready to fight, and pulled Rhiannon into the tightest hug, her voice muffled against her shoulder. "Hi."

Whatever Chris was going to do - kiss her or kill her - he didn't get the chance. Whatever moment was brewing dangerously between them was cut short (quite literally). As Jamie's sword!? thrust into his gut, Chris was thrust back into the reality of his situation. With a feral growl, he looked at her with murderous intent and... something else. Betrayal, maybe? He certainly didn't have time to unpack that, not if he wanted to ever see the light of day again. If he wanted to ever see her again, then he had to leave now.

'But they did something...' He couldn't deny her words as they buried their way under his skin. They must have done something to him, right? Not everything they wanted to do but something. They hadn't managed to torture him for information, they hadn't put a chip into his head - had they? - but they had done something. Or had he escaped? Had he managed to escape before they could cut and peel away what parts of him they pleased. Chris' head was pounding, his eyes closing tightly as he tried to focus on Jamie. Her breathing, her heartbeat, her warmth as she grasped his hand. The promise in her words, the poison on her lips.

Jamie's breathing was shallow and she was struggling to get enough air with him in such close proximity. It was making her dizzy, clouding her judgement. Why did he have this effect on her? Why was she still holding his hand against her cheek? Why did it not disgust her? Why did it not horrify her? "I promise." The words came out in a whisper, sounding more like a declaration of love than a death sentence.

Joseph was totally freaking out. Seeing Samuel and Lee earlier had knocked him off his game and now his phone was buzzing - texts from Malia - and he was trying to be good tonight. Champagne wasn't gonna cut it though, was it? It was then he realised that there was a witness to his minor freaking out... Shit. "Uh, hey! How are you? Have you seen this selection of dips yet or what?" @havensdalestarters

Stella watched him freaking out for longer than a kind, caring friend should, but honestly, why shouldn't he suffer a little? He spotted her before she could say anything, but his rambling questions weren't enough to distract her. "Shenanigans finally catching up to you?"

"Oh, I swear... Andrea Beckett Parker, if I see you even thinking about touching the ice sculptures-," but before Felicity could descend on her beloved baby sister, she was scrambling away. Deep breaths, Felicity. "Oh, hi! How are you? You look wonderful, thank you so much for attending." @havensdalestarters

At Felicity's sudden presence, Stella froze. The two of them had crossed paths before, of course–Havensdale Valley wasn't very big, especially if you removed the forests–but never had they spoke more than an 'excuse me' to each other as they reached for something in a store. "Fine." Her one word verged on sounding like a question. Had she even realised it was her she was speaking to? "Thanks... It's, uh... real swell to be here. The ice sculptures are certainly a bold choice."

'Chris'. Hearing his name slip from her lips without malice was enough to stop him fully in his tracks. He should be running, making a desperate bid for freedom before it was too late. There was no time to linger. A laugh fell from his lips at her question, "You worried about me? I don't... I don't know what they did." Chris felt exhausted for the first time in a very long. He hadn't had to fight to stay alive like this before. It was almost like he was human again. Almost.

At his words, Jamie's stare hardened, a fire blazing in her eyes at the nerve of him to assume that she would be worried about him. Those guards had dragged him away from her and she'd had no idea what they were doing to him, and... she had hated that. Chris belonged to her; whatever fate befell him should be inflicted by her hands. Still, she couldn't say the words to deny his question, opting instead to focus on his next words. "But they did something..." It wasn't a question.

Chris wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to do it, all he knew was that there'd been an opening for him to run. And run, he did. In fact, he'd never run faster in all his life. Whatever these bastards had done to him, he was weaker than ever, feverishly sweating and unsteady on his feet. It didn't matter. He would heal, he would get better. He just needed to get out of here. There was nothing he needed more.

Jamie had still been pouting over being kicked out of Robbie's room, but it wasn't like she couldn't still hear them chittering away about Isabel, and she still had his sword–small victories. She had considered just leaving them to it, but the gossip had been too juicy to walk away from, and Robbie would probably kill her if she took the sword with her or left it leaning in the hallway.

"Wha--- I don't--- How dare---," Tyler could barely get his words out as Robbie's accusations came flying his way. He was caught up between trying not to look at Jamie - but their eyes met, anyway - and trying not to blush. He was scoffing his way into a full sentence while trying to process exactly what Robbie was saying. If he wasn't malfunctioning right now, he would have laughed at Jamie's 'we're all animals' comment, too. "Right, hold on! Let's just back this up for one freaking minute, please. There was nothing for me to tell, alright? There was no... I didn't... My buttons were left intact, sir!" he announced loudly.

The smile on Jesse's face could only be compared to the Cheshire Cat; he was having too much of a good time with this revelation, and could only be thankful that absolutely none of it involved him. But no, Robbie was right and Jamie shouldn't be privy to this line of conversation–there was no world that he would be conversing about sex with his sister in the room, never mind actually discussing it with her. "Yeah, you've really done a good job of not exposing this gossip to the Podcast Queen over here." He pointed to Jamie, "Come on. It's the hall for you, I'm afraid." Jesse pulled her by the arm–sword dragging along with her–guiding her out the room and swiftly locking the door. She could probably still hear them in here, but at least he wouldn't have to look at her.

"What do you mean?" Robbie's eyes narrowed at Tyler's fluster and apparent button-ownership, but tripled in size as Jesse reminded him of Jamie's weirdly popular hobby. "Shit. Hey! This isn't podcast material, young lady. You can't be spilling the secrets of the underground. That's, like, highly classified." He was too busy trying to save his own skin to even notice she was still holding onto his sword as she was escorted out. "And my uncle's the sheriff!"

He wouldn't want to find out from one of us. That was an 'us' that included Jamie, because she wasn't the one he was dating. She wasn't the one that he would want to tell him. Her spiralling thoughts were out of control, and Jamie had to scold herself for being upset over not being the girl in this fake scenario that had cheated on him. What an unhinged thing to be jealous about. But before she could shake herself out of her dissociation, Jesse was pulling her out of the room.

"I knew it!" Tyler exclaimed, shock still clear on his face as Robbie confessed. What choice did he have, really? Tyler was shaking his head, eyeing the pocket where those telltale buttons had been hidden away. Shamefully. Tyler wasn't trying to cause shit, and sure, his friends could do whatever they wanted but... this was asking for trouble. "What were you thinking? Were you thinking? I can't believe you lost perfectly good buttons over this, Robbie. Unbelievable." Of all the women in all the world - well, Havensdale - it had to be Isabel Valentine.

It was obvious. The entire situation was staring them in the face, but the way Robbie announced it was too much for him. If he'd had a drink in his mouth, it would have been sprayed across all three of them, but alas, Jesse merely blew a loud raspberry and followed it up with a cackle. "You two are hilarious. You know you can sleep with girls that don't hate your guts, right? A novel idea, I'm sure, but It could even be a different girl." He cackled again until Tyler mentioned Joey, and Jesse's eyes suddenly widened and his jaw dropped. "Oh!" He pointed frantically at Robbie, "Joey's gonna kill you." His attention turned to Jamie, "Did they break up?"

Robbie's head spun trying to keep up with the inquisition while his sword was being held hostage. Some kind of torture it was, hearing that thud against the floor, "it's for display, Jamie. C'mon. I'm begging." Tyler, still apparently hung up on the buttons like he hadn't lost something much grander to that same demon, was going to kill him - clearly his bestie had left a lot out of his retelling of that sequence of events. "Tyler, you kinky slut. Maybe I would've thought more if you'd told us what she was like, you-" Robbie turned to Jamie again, commanding, "cover your ears." Back to Tyler, he continued his dramatics, "she's an absolute animal. If you'd warned us, maybe the buttons would still be attached." Jesse made a good point through his fits of laughter, and Robbie snorted, "the bingo cards aren't going to fill themselves, okay? Noted for the future though. Besides, I think it's the beard. It's too powerful." He ran his hand over his chin, revelling in its existence while he still could, "I have to shave."

Honestly, the more Robbie protested to her playing with his sword, the more she wanted to, so she spun it in her hand again. At the words directed to Tyler though, she faltered again, eyes catching his for the briefest moment before she diverted her gaze. Jamie had spent a long time trying to forget anyone that Tyler had had relations with, and she certainly didn't need the visuals of what he might have done with Isabel. God, what had Robbie done? Suddenly he was telling her to cover her ears, and she absolutely would not. "Robbie... I don't know how to tell you this, but... minus Tyler, we're all animals..." Her eyebrow raised as he started rambling about the power of his beard; was this really what guys talked about when they were alone? How did she end up in this inner circle of nerdom?

In the harsh light of day, Tyler was surer than ever that something had happened between Robbie and Isabel last night. The fact that Jamie was here, too, might have been delaying the inevitable, but Tyler felt it was only a matter of time. Robbie, the second-biggest gossip he had ever known, had to be bursting at the seams. As they all congregated in his room, Tyler was eyeing the place suspiciously when he saw it. "Robbie... why is there a perfect pile of loose buttons here?" @broho-jesse

From the second they had walked into Robbie's room, all Jesse could smell was Isabel Valentine. From the looks she had given him, he was sure that Jamie could smell her too, but neither of them had dared to mention it. She seemed to be distracting herself with Robbie's replica of Link's Master Sword, but his train of thought was so all over the place, he almost didn't hear Tyler. He moved to stand beside Tyler, pressing his lips together at the sight of the buttons with snapped thread still attached to them–he knew exactly what these buttons were. Saying nothing, but absolutely ready to cackle, he turned his attention expectantly to Robbie.

The timing of The Boys plus, for some reason, Jamie's arrival upon Robbie's humble chambers could not have been worse. Isabel has only just made her escape in time to hopefully miss them entirely, but he'd barely even got around to making his bed. The pillows were not fluffed. His Marvel throw was carelessly draped over a chair. Embarrassing. He'd been distracted, granted, by something being quite clearly off-balance with his displays, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why or what. This conundrum had completely overshadowed the mere existence of the buttons, and as Tyler pointed them out he died. Internally. From shame. "Shhhle-" The combined embarrassment of it all had parched his throat and drained his colour. Robbie coughed, turning his attention to Jamie because first things first; "that's not a toy. Have some... respect." Opting to quickly pocket the buttons in an effort to make them all forget, he shrugged at his friends, "I'm getting a witch to, uh, look at them." Fucking hell. He couldn't keep this quiet even if he wanted to. "And... I may have... Done..." he braced for Jesse's reaction, "Isabel."

The second that Jamie walked into Robbie's room, she regretted it. Jesse and Tyler hadn't said a word about Isabel having done more than destroy them at Mario Kart, but even Tyler must be smelling her in here! Trying to get silent confirmation from Jesse was proving useless, so she had chosen to distract herself with Robbie's nerdy little sword. It wasn't until Tyler mentioned the buttons that she lifted her head, her swings slowing. At his scolding, Jamie stuck out her tongue, but the tip of the sword thwacked off the floor when Robbie confessed to his crimes. "Oh, you're telling me to have respect?" May have done Isabel–honestly! Still though, she was grinning like a maniac at this revelation.

Tyler had managed to excuse himself from the world's most intense game of Mario Kart for a minute. They were getting murdered in there by Isabel Valentine. He never doubted it, but she really was taking no prisoners. Tyler knew exactly where he wanted to go, and he was determined to get there, no matter what it took! Fortunately, he ran into a pretty helpful agent who all but escorted him to the door of med bay right away. Easy-peasy, right?

They had taken him away. Right before her eyes, they had taken him from her and she had been powerless to do anything about it. Now he was somewhere deep in the recesses of the Underground and Jamie had no idea how to find him. What would she even do if she could? Had she not proven twice now that she wasn't strong enough to kill him? What were they doing to him? Were they hurting him? She couldn't decide if she wanted to be there to witness it, or if she wanted to stop them; Chris Andrews was hers to hurt–to kill. Around and around her spiralling thoughts went, ranging from break out plans to telling herself to move on, but she was stuck, full of a rage with no outlet.

"You were plenty strong," Carmen said firmly before she leaned down to meet Jamie's eye. On a quick once over, Carmen knew it could have been worse. She knew that Jamie McArthur had given it everything she had, and there was no shame in that. It was raw talent - but now wasn't the time to get into it. Now, she needed to recover. To live with her choices and move forward. Carmen lowered her voice, reaching out to hold her gently by the shoulders, giving her full attention. "Trust me. This wasn't your last shot at that rat." Carmen's meaning was clear. Chris Andrews still had a part to play yet. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be dying down here tonight.

Percy's attention was glued to Jamie and this other woman, concern etched into his features, while he internally squealed in delight. This entire exploit had been wonderful; ten out of ten, would watch again! He let his delight show a fraction as he smiled, letting it look like he was relieved that Jamie was okay- letting it look like the woman's remark about the medal amused him. "That's okay," he looked around his cell, "I don't have anywhere to hang it."

Jamie could feel her heart hammering against her chest as she watched Chris being bound and carried from the room. This wasn't what she wanted. At least here she would have known where he was, could have... visited him? Her eyes moved back to the other Andrews, all too aware that he would be able to hear her racing heart. Did he have an opinion on what he had just witnessed here? On her reaction to Chris being taken from her? She had just tried to kill his brother in front of him and couldn't help but wonder if she had just made another enemy.

Here's the thing: Carmen wasn't going to let Jamie McArthur die. There was a certain risk factor, sure. She'd made it more than clear that she was willing to take the hits to get the job done. Carmen respected that, and she wanted to give Jamie a chance. Was it "ethical"? Was it "protocol"? Was it what the "Institute 2.0" was striving to achieve in this new world? No. But it was effective.

Chris growled in frustration as he was suddenly thrown across the room by his damned baby brother. They'd known each other for such little time, and Chris already wanted to murder him. As Percy pinned him to the ground after tending to Jamie, he snapped and struggled to no avail. Chris was feral, and trapped. When the men-in-black burst into the room, Chris felt panic build in his chest again - unwanted, unwarranted panic. A moment of humanity, a flash of fear. A weakness.

Admittedly, Percy flinched as the door was blasted open and he half expected the guards to grab hold of him too, but the woman in charge gave her orders and they didn't seem to involve him. As soon as the first guard had their hand on Chris, Percy stood with his hands raised and backed up, knowing better than to give them a reason to want to take him to the sublevel too. He could only venture a guess at the exciting things they must get up to down there.

As quickly as the other boy had disappeared, Carmen was appearing in her line of vision giving orders to the guards that had just broken through. Jamie pulled herself up, still leaning back against the wall, but now she could see Chris being pinned to the floor by the guy who looked alarmingly like him and a panic washed over her. They were going to take him away. "No." It came out as a whisper, barely even a breath. Chris was going to disappear and she would never get another chance; not that she did too well this time.