no such animal

Lulu was never going to be the peppiest member of the whole underground crew, but she was pretty good at keeping a neutral face on. At the very least, she certainly was far from the crankiest person on the team (it'd be hard to say who that was; it really was a race for first place most days). Still, it had been one of those days where nothing seemed to go right, starting from when she'd woken up and realized her favorite shirt had an unexpected stain on it. And then, once she'd gotten to the lab, she'd realized she'd forgotten her headphones and couldn't listen to music and then at lunch time, someone had eaten her leftovers and then...

When Carmen realised it was Lulu, she hesitated. It's not like she'd ever said it out loud before, but she did care about her. They were in this together, no matter what. They were all in it with the Resistance, but those who were left from the original Institute had a bond no one else did. Carmen had always been a pain in Lulu's ass, there was no denying that. She lived to push her buttons. And if she really thought about it, all she'd truly craved was her attention. Things had changed, sure, but Carmen still wasn't sure if she was capable of saying any of that out loud.

"i don't know why everyone is doubting my abilities? carmen, you know i've got this. it's me, henderson. i can really nail this. look, i did drawings and everything"

"i know you shouldn't give up your day job. hey, how about this? you get ana to sign off on it and i'll get you all the straw, sticks and bricks you need to live out this fantasy. until then, you're coming with me."

"guysguysguys...i think i can rebuild some of the buildings around here. it's like some bricks, cement and wishful thinking, right? i'm telling you, i could really rock this"

"c'mon, henderson. i just got here... let's can the dumbass ideas for ten minutes?"

"I feared as much." Scott sulked at the confirmation of his looming misery. He eyed the stack wondering what the fuck the other members of their so-called 'team' had been doing the entire time he'd been gone, or if Carmen had purposely held these back for him. She could be sweet sometimes, after all, though she was unlikely to admit it, and he was unlikely to acknowledge it. "We can discount 80% of that if Robbie Wilson's reports are in there." He sat back in his chair, a humoured smile creeping up on him at the mention of their newest addition, "I did. I've concluded that he's an arse but I didn't really need to meet him to make that judgement. It's in the name."

"You can handle it," Carmen grinned, placing the stack down on his desk. She raised a brow at the over-sized card and gift basket pushed to the other side of it - the boys really had gone all out, huh? "Well, you gotta feed the shredder something. Kept 'em mixed up so you never know what's coming next." Carmen snorted at his swift assessment of Percy Andrews. "When you know you know. Can't say I'm a fan of his whole Little Orphan Annie schtick but time will tell. Speaking of assholes, file 431-," she tapped the top of the pile- "Andrews comma Christopher. 'Escaped' as planned, tracking info's on the last page."

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.

Carmen knew the second that Scott had been discharged from med bay. He could have done with a little longer, but she wasn't going to scold him for being stubborn. Carmen had no doubt that Scott would bounce back from this. She would be diving out of the shadows at him again before they both knew it. She would be able to look at him without seeing blood dripping from his chin. Soon.

"Henderson? Dude's got two left legs! Well... One now, I guess." She took a bite out of her carrot, contemplating feeling guilt about the situation but there was none to find. Her property was lined with warning signs - what more could she reasonably do? She snorted then at Carmen, enthused. "Aren't I always?"

"Henderson's come back from worse, trust me. He's on unlimited lives," she laughed fondly. When the Institute fell, Carmen's whole life - her entire history - fell with it. Rebuilding was fine, but she still clung to surviving pieces of her past. And yeah, that included goddamn Henderson. "I can send someone around to clean up any leftover blood, too. You are, and I wouldn't have it any other way," she winked.

"I need to... leave. I need to be up there again. Just for a a few hours during the day. I want to see my home." Faith sat down in the spot Carmen had made for her, laughing at the ridiculousness of feeling homesick for something just above them. An empty house with nothing but memories. Even so, it would be a reminder of the future she used to have. A reminder that she needed. She pointed at Carmen's bike, speaking longingly, "mine's at the McCreery garage. If Dylan hasn't sorted the valves after all these years I'll smack him."

Carmen was immediately going to say 'no'. It wouldn't be the first time she'd have to shut down a request like this, she doubted it'd be the last. Faith knew damn well why she couldn't just wander up there. She'd never make it obvious, but she did feel for her. Of course, she did. It was bullshit she was stuck down here, that she couldn't feel the sun on her skin or hold tight to her own motorbike. This was her life they were talking about, though.

And just like that, Annelise was in. She had the upper hand over the hunter, and she was sure the hunter knew it; there was no denying it. She allowed herself to smile, nice and wide, all of her teeth visible. She leaned in, mouth right next to Carmen's ear. "Good ni-" she began, and then, suddenly, truly out of nowhere, there was a noise, unlike anything Annelise had ever heard before, more painful than she could imagine. She was not sure how long it lasted; all she could do was grab her head between her hands to try to block it out and stumble back.

Her body ached, or as much as the body of a vampire could hurt when faced with a bullet. Still, despite the pain, Annelise wasn't about to ignore the taunting laughter. It was just too tempting. She lunged again, and this time, she managed to make contact, pulling herself closer to the other woman. "Well, you should make time," Annelise replied. The stake hit her side, and Annelise growled again, slapping Carmen in response.

Carmen tasted blood on her tongue and knew she had to get the hell out of here. This was fun and all, but she had a job to do. She needed to find Scott, now. "You hit like a little bitch," she hissed through gritted teeth. This close, Carmen was running out of moves. As talented as she was, some shit just came down to luck - like now, realising she'd left one of Xavier's prototypes in her pocket since playing with them back at HQ. She struggled but managed to wrap her hand tightly around the little sucker. It looked like a small, metal, disc - nothin' special, really.

Lua watched Carmen navigate her personal minefield from the comfort of her makeshift porch. Actually, it was a proper porch. A year back she'd spent the better part of a month disassembling, transporting, and reassembling it from one of the many houses lost to the dome - their owners wouldn't miss it, having forgotten about Havensdale altogether, so no harm done there. It was, without a doubt, the most impressive structure on her claimed property, and it is where Lua would spend most of her downtime, snacking on homegrown produce and watching suckers like Carmen trial their way to her doorstep.

Carmen couldn't help laughing at her unfortunate yet true evaluation. Her boys could handle a lot, stand up with the best, and get the job done. Mostly. "I keep telling Henderson he needs to learn when to leave well enough alone," Carmen chastised regarding Lua's latest victim. "Or at least to try zigging instead of zagging, fuck sake." Carmen flashed a playful grin at Lua's question, "Are you threatening me with a good time?"

The other woman was on the ground, and Annelise felt a rush of victory, was ready to pounce on her. Before she could, though, wooden bullets were flying in her direction. Annelise managed to dodge the worst of them (thank you vampire instincts) but one did hit her arm, causing the vampire to snarl in pain. "Well, so far, I'm not that impressed," she hissed. A piece of her wanted to stumble back, but she ignored that urge, instead propelling herself forward to meet Carmen.

Carmen knew her best bet now was to let the vampire get as close to her as possible, which fucking sucked. A dangerous grin flashed on her face when the bullet hit, though, and she barked out a laugh at her words. It only fuelled her forward. Carmen braced herself for the brutal impact, shoving her fist into Annelise's gut as hard as she could, deploying the stakes from up her sleeve as she did. It wouldn't kill her, but Carmen hoped it hurt like hell. "I told you, I don't have time for your shit."

It had been a while since the night of the implosion, and the walls of the underground were starting to close in around Faith in an all too familiar way. Suffocating. The death lurking above would be kinder. Yet, there was something about the way Piper's actions before they'd parted that had stuck with Faith as a flicker of hope in the madness she'd instilled in her. She'd let her live. She could have so easily ended it right then and there, but here she was - walking towards the garage in search of Carmen. Exactly what she'd say, or do, or even fucking think, hadn't quite taken shape, but she knew she had to try. To get back there, to see daylight.

The tone of Faith's voice made Carmen set her tools down, leaving her bike to another time. "Well, she's a tough gal. Nothin' she can't handle," Carmen countered, raising a pointed brow in Faith's direction. She shifted a few boxes of scraps out of the way, so Faith could sit, if she liked, before turning back to her. Carmen knew a few things about Faith Hunter, most important of which was that she had been ready to go topside the night of the implosion. Carmen didn't regret that, she'd sign off on it again. But what exactly had happened that night... She didn't know.

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.

Carmen held a neutral expression as Percy recapped the highlights (although 'neutral', in her case, really meant 'scowling'). She would reserve judgement until they knew more about him. Carmen would review the footage later, ask Corey and Alex what their take on him was. Well, assuming they'd be in a chatting mood. All the shit aside, Chris Andrews was still their brother too. Carmen wouldn't know personally, but she'd seen the way family could fuck things up.