THE FIRST EXPLORER

                “They don’t care about your apologies. As awful as it might sound, you are not going anywhere until they generously decide you are free to go.” Something Finn himself has little say in, not that he very much cares about the man in front of him. He just hopes they will not kill him – or drink from him. That would be a disturbing image. “They need to make sure you will not return; Elijah is too important to have someone looking just like him running around.”

               Does Finn sound sarcastic? Perhaps a bit. Truthfully, he doesn’t even know why Kieran is still there.

                “Whoever she is, you should hope she will not come for you.” Finn finally looks at him and takes in HOW TIRED the man seems – there is something about his exhaustion, the sadness with which he says the word HER, that feels familiar. For whatever reason, it makes Finn think about Sage. “They would use her against you.” Not that they need to go that far, not when they are holding all the cards; but his brothers have always loved their games. “You will be there for a while, Kieran. Perhaps you should consider getting some sleep.” The human surely seems to be in need of it.

           THAT brought a humourless chuckle from Kieran. “Reminds me of someone.” While he was sure - actually not at all - that these people didn’t have a secret torture laboroty hidden somewhere, the IDEA that he wasn’t allowed to leave until someone else gave him permission, holding him here with FORCE, well, it wasn’t hard for Kieran’s mind to jump to another man in a suit. He wondered if Zavier and this Elijah would get along - then he decided, no. They would not. They would not like the other being in charge. “Then why not tell me to leave and never return? I assure you, even without this compulsion, I would be glad to do so.” 

            But the answer was simple. “The reason your brother has not let me go yet is clear to me. I’m an ODDITY. He’s curious. I cannot blame that, though I can blame the way he handles that curiosity. At least it is better than how my former employer handles his.” another bitter chuckle, but then Kieran frowned and looked up at the man; “He is not planning to experiment on me, right?”

@scngless

@scngless (meme.) 

     the safe house was empty. kieran dumped his bag containing the small amount supplies he'd taken (not enough, some would say, the food would not last a week. too much, he'd say. the organisation needed their supplies more than he did) and just stared.he stared at nothing in particular, and also everything at once. 

     "you fucked up, cooper.” kieran said, his voice soft. oh, how badly he did. he should be angry, he should he RAGING - zavier is the reason all this happened, he should be angry at his former friend, his current enemy (oh he was, he was angry at him but ---) 

     sadness prevailed. kieran sometimes wondered if he burned away all the anger he was capable of when he was a teenager, and left only a hollow cave that sadness sat in. He kept staring.he knew this was a part of zaviers plan. isolate kieran, cause him pain, make him come running back to him. oh kieran has spent too much time around him, he knows exactly what his plan was.

     but that did not matter. kieran would not run back to him.

@dcmncticivs

@scngless

a memory about WAR. ( @lessereviltm. meme. accepting. )

     kieran should not hold any concerns when he was called to zavier’s office. after all, he was zavier’s right hand man, his confidant, someone zavier trusted. he’d been called to zavier’s offices many times before, and he’d never been concerned before. of course - those times he’d never been actively working against the man. those times he’d put a FILTER on what was RIGHT and what was wrong. he no longer could do that. 

     so yes. concern. if zavier had found out about kieran’s gambit against him - well, he knew of a certain lab that contained special DRUGS that could play with a persons mind, mush their freewill away, turn their mind into a putty for zavier to reshape the way he wished. the thought terrified kieran (what would the monster he had called a friend turn him into?) and he knew that he would choose death over that.

      he scanned his security card, and the door to his boss’s office opened up, and he was greeted with the view overlooking nox city from large windows on the far wall. He tilted his head and the thought of ‘i wonder how the people would react if they knew the great and wonderful zavier tasker was torturing people in his labs’ passed through his mind, but he banished that quickly. he couldn’t let any hint of him being anything BUT loyal be shown (not even in his thoughts) as he turned to face zavier, sitting in his desk, with a greeting smile.

      “zavier. i was not expecting you to call me up here. how can i help you?” kieran asked, tilting his head a fraction.

      “kieran, i’m afraid i have troubling news. please, take a seat.”  zavier gestured at the seat opposite his desk, so kieran sat with no fuss. he was hyper aware of his WED, in his jacket. it was his only escape option should this turn south (he’d left his gun in his apartment).

       “what’s wrong?”

      instead of answering with words, zavier turned the monitor of his computer to show some security footage. it was grainy, like the world that this had been taken from did not have decent recording technology yet. the contents of the security footage - well, grainy or not, kieran would recognise leslie anywhere. he squinted. “is that the dead visitor?” he asked, glancing up at zavier.

     “it would appears so - except she’s less dead than i recall.” zavier turned his monitor back. “leslie searle, alive and well, apparently.”

     “that’s not possible.” he’s frowning, as if confused. oh it was entirely possible as HE’D been the one to get her out of the labs before the SICK experiments had actually ended her. “i checked her body myself.”

      “yes, you did. forgive me kieran, but i MUST ask this. did you set her free?”

      kieran scoffed. “of course not.” 

      zavier nodded his head. “which has me wondering if there is someone in the visitor labs working against us. i want you too look into this kieran. we cannot have this happen again.”

      kieran nodded his head as he stood from his head. then he paused. “what did the visitor do?”

      zavier turned the monitor around again, showing footage of leslie leaving what appeared to be a warehouse. a warehouse kieran knew to hold a shipment of special materials that was only on that world, and was going to be collected by explorers the next day. it went up in flames. adstrum’s materials burned.

      “it’s an act of war.” zavier said, with a shake of his head. “that foolish woman believes that we will be intimidated so easily? that she can go to battle against us? if she wishes to PLAY a game she knows nothing about, then so be it. if it is war the visitors want, it is WAR they will GET.”

       kieran frowned. “and one they will lose.” sadly, the truth unless they could get outside help. help like kieran. “i’ll get started on this investigation, zavier. i’ll let you know what i find.”

      “thank you kieran.” zavier smiled warmly at him. “i know you will do your job to it’s full effect. you always have.”

🌈- A memory about when they first fell in love

🌋- A memory about their first heartbreak

🏠- A memory about their childhood home/where they used to live

📷- A memory that comes with a picture they have

💡- A memory that comes with an object or keepsake they have

🔪- A memory about a dangerous situation

🎈- A memory about a time they were safe and relaxed

📔- A memory from a journal/diary entry

📝- A memory of them getting to know/meeting my muse

🔗- A memory about their proposal/wedding

🐥- A memory about their children (past, present, or future)

👘- A memory associated with an article of clothing they have

⚔️- A memory about war

🌅- A memory associated with a certain location

🏚- A memory about exploration

🛤- A memory about traveling

🌠- A time they wished upon a falling star

🐕-A memory of teamwork

🐺- A memory about being alone

🌟- WILDCARD

              It was supposed to be a regular resource run she’s sent him on, nothing out of ordinary. Something that could still go deadly wrong but normally DIDN’T. And so she didn’t expect she would be getting such news instead. It’s a good thing he takes so long to get back; otherwise, she might have punched him at hello ( she doesn’t want that. she hates HOW ANGRY she is all the time; kieran used to take some of that anger away, bring out the softer version of her she didn’t know still existed. )

              I CAN EXPLAIN are the last words Leslie wants to her. Up until now, she hoped it wasn’t true – Tasker is a fucking liar and would do anything to screw them over – but Kieran admits it. He’s not just some Explorer, he is the first. He’s the reason Tasker even knows about them ( he’s the reason she is still alive. that they have gotten as far as they have, saved as many as they have. but has any of it been real? )

              Leslie turns towards him but doesn’t look at him. Her whole posture is guarded, deep into fight or flight mode; out of phase, too.

              “Talk, then.” Her voice is stone cold, none of the fondness she’s grown to feel towards him. “But no more lies –  ONE lie, Kieran, and you’re out.”

        she’s angry, and he cannot fault her. he forces himself not to look away (look away from mistakes of his own making.) kieran sighed and nodded his head. the TRUTH, it is what leslie deserves and she’s deserved it long before now. no lies. never a lie (never again). it was... difficult to explain, without going back to the beginning. “my father was arrested when i was fourteen.” after all, that’s where this story began, isn’t it? “i was scared and angry, going to be lost in the foster system. no one wanted the son of a murderer. my salvation came in the form of zavier tasker. he made me a deal - he needed someone for a job, and it’d get me out of there.” in his 14 year old mind, had there been any other choice?

        “sixteen when i first went to another world. the first person from world beta to make it out into the multiverse.” this is the part he looks away from her, he isn’t able to see her reaction. he can’t. “nineteen when i found the visitor. she’d trespassed on one of the adstrum hubs on another world - she... attacked me. i killed her.” self defense, but he still killed her (killed one of leslie’s kind) “it was because of that the existence of visitors were discovered. because of me.”

         that’s not even touching on the list. oh, the LIST. what a fool he’d been! complete and utter trust his boss, in his FRIEND, that he would do the right thing, only capable of the right thing! “i made a list.” a quiet admission (one that he’s sure zavier made sure she’d hear.) “i went to world alpha. found some visitors. i did not - i didn’t do anything other than write their names down. but zavier -” he’d USED his list. for deeds that leslie knows only too well.