Chapter Text
-1- So the world is not ending
(Sure there will be another occasion for that)
The world after the (missed) end of the world is... silent. Solitaire. Maybe boring.
At least for that day, or for those hours.
That cat which has finally managed to sneak into the building turns lazily on its other side, on a step of the spiral staircase. He even seems to let out a feline sigh, although Axel isn’t sure whether cats could sigh in the true sense of the word. But maybe this one can.
Leland had said something about a vague suspicion of his about the cat being a spy, when they returned there, after managing to slip away through teams of police and ambulances trying to intervene in the homeless camp.
Jill crossed her arms and planted her feet on the ground, claiming they would not, a small group of other people who live there gathering behind and backing her up. The first intervention troops hesitated, until Hersch managed to talk to someone in some upper level, making them give up.
There was no emergency in the homeless camp, just a dead man to bury.
They returned to their base, Axel snickering when he heard that policeman trying to ask someone if he could just leave like that, wasn’t he a fugitive after all?
«A spy? Who?» Eleina’s eyes widened a little.
Maybe all of them were still a bit disoriented. It had been an… interesting month.
Doug made a skeptically amused sound, followed by a slight grimace of pain. He didn’t seem to be in so much better shape than Axel, despite his habitually, almost-flawless appearance.
«You mean, that cat would be a spy?»
Leland looked away, a tad mortified. «Well, maybe with a bug hidden on him?»
«Now, come on. In the worst case, he has some fleas.» Chris shrugged and went to bend near the cat, offering it her hand to sniff. The cat allowed a few scrapes behind one ear, and she beamed unconsciously, looking a little relieved at least. Axel smiled reflexively to himself.
Then that guy appeared from another room, eyes wide, and asked, all anxious and upset «So?? The world is still ending or not?»
There was a bit of turmoil, Axel on the verge of at least pushing him, Doug asking why the hell he was there. But Chris, Eleina and Leland explained that apparently it was effectively that guy - ‘Doctor 909’ or ‘Donald McDonald’, whatever - who had found Skinner.
«What a stupid name.» mumbled Axel, crossing his arms and keeping to look at him unconvinced.
But Doctor 909 was having some kind of epiphany.
«Hey, wait a sec! This means I practically saved the world?!»
Several of them had words and sounds of annoyed protest at that, but Elizabeth said she needs to join Abel and Hersch to help them, and passed out something along the line of summary instructions: Eleina would help (or supervise) Doctor 909 while he fixed the security systems he'd hacked, and Doug had an appointment with the doctor for a more thorough diagnosis of his current condition.
«What about us?» simply asked Chris.
Elizabeth looked at her, Axel and Leland with her somehow inscrutable expression.
To Axel’s eyes, she seemed a true bureaucrat. One who doesn’t seem too much shaken even after a last-minute near-ending of the world. Her mood doesn’t look like the outside detachment he’d seen in people who'd been through too much. There was something melancholic about that, like Chris, or disenchanted and perhaps a little biting at times, like his own.
«Free, for the moment. Be available for further arrangements, please.» Elizabeth simply said, leaving with Doug to purchase a ride for him to the hospital for the very rich people.
Axel assumed that means now they have top-notch health coverage. He unconsciously raised a hand to his wrist, where until recently he'd been wearing a technological bracelet capable of killing him if he tries to disobey or run away. It hadn't actually happened, but the word 'free' still sounded strange, unlikely, potentially dodgy maybe.
Chris sighed, walking toward the kitchen. «Who wants some tea?»
«Actually… Guess I should go to do a thing or two.» Leland hesitated for a moment. «To see my sister.»
Chris stared at him, impressed, and Axel remembered their conversation at the hospital. The two of them don’t seem to have anyone else. But at least that isn’t true for everyone in the team.
Chris smiled, nodding as she began heating water. «Great idea.»
Leland went to change his clothes, and Chris brought tea and cookies into the room where Eleina and Doctor 909 were working. Coming back, she plopped down on the couch next to Axel, handing him a cup of tea.
«Thanks.»
«Mh-mh. No problem.»
They drank in silence for a while.
Axel wasn't sure what the word 'free' meant or could mean, exactly. Maybe just because he hadn't been free for a long time, or had never truly been.
He wasn't even sure where the two of them stand now, not after those moments in the hospital they'd thought were their last hours alive. She'd kissed him. He wasn't sure what that could possibly mean. Regrets, a goodbye, a thank you, a you’re welcome.
He supposes they've saved each other life several times, all of them of the Lazarus team. Even though the world was about to end, until it stopped trying to do that.
«So the world is not ending anymore.» Chris said lowly, sounding like it was just an offhanded statement.
Axel smirked a little. «Sure there'll be another occasion for that.»
Chris made a small, amused noise. «Do you think they'll give us an award or something?»
«Doctor 909 seems convinced he deserves one.»
Chris grimaced. «What he deserves is a kick in the nuts.»
Axel nodded. «There'll be a chance for that too, sooner or later.»
Chris snorted, a corner of her lips lifting in a knowingly amused yet somehow softer smirk.
He likes when she smiles like that. Axel felt a subtle but persistent urge to kiss the corner of her lips, but he didn’t, obviously. It wasn’t like just because she’d kissed him when it might have been the last time they see each other, now he could kiss her whenever he felt like it.
Leland reappeared from another room, all dressed up and groomed, definitely more elegant.
Chris blinked and half-whistled. «Hey, look at this young prince.»
Leland looked down at his feet, moving them a bit, and tried to say «It's nothing special.»
Axel beamed slightly but genuinely. «You look brand new.»
Maybe he too felt quite like that, despite the wounds under the bandages still hurting. Would the scientists do researches for other painkillers, after the Hapna experience? Would they turn back to some conventional pre-Hapna painkillers, at least?
«I'll be back as soon as possible.» Leland said, hesitating before leaving. It sounded like some kind of a promise.
«Take the time you need. Hey, the world almost ended.» Chris said.
Leland got a little stunned by that, as if he was still processing. Axel supposed it’s the same for all of them, or perhaps for the entire humanity. Someone somewhere was probably screaming, sighing in relief, regaining or losing some lucidity, while facing the news that must already be leaking into the media.
It was just him and Chris again, drinking tea in silence. Axel wasn't sure if they were trying to realize the world hadn't end or that they now have some sort of life ahead of them, even though technically the two things are closely linked. Two sides of the same coin.
«You think they’ll have enough time to develop and dispense the antidote to everyone?» asked Chris.
Axel shrugged. «They'll do their best. It's not like they haven’t plenty of resources at their disposal.»
«Yeah.» Chris stared blankly ahead. «They'll probably make it. Either way, we're not going to die anyway, right?»
Axel nodded, feeling a vague instinct to reach out for one of her hands, but again he didn’t. It wasn't as if he could touch her now, just because they’ve developed something like a singularly quiet confidence. He wasn't sure he has actually had something like that with anyone before.
«Who was Lazarus, anyway?»
Chris smirked, thinking he was joking, before looking at his face and realizing he means it. She laughed a little, shaking her head. «My gosh. Seriously?»
Axel pouted slightly toward the floor, but the truth was her laugh wasn’t derisive at all. It sounded crystalline and sincere. He liked it.
«Another mythological creature or something, like that Hundun? Why the obsession with mythological tales? Trying to show off how cultured they are?»
Chris shook her head again, but now her smirk seemed appreciative. «Maybe. Anyway, Lazarus is a religious character who’s resurrected by... another religious superstar.»
Axel stared at the ceiling for a while, leaning back against the sofa. «And what he does?»
«What?»
Axel turned his head slightly, looking at her. «What does he do after he's been resurrected?»
He was actually a little curious. A story is a story, everyone becomes curious to know how it ends, or at least how it carries on. It's the suspense, when it's not being driven mad by an obsession someone instilled in you, Axel supposed; like that murderer who thought he was a monster. However, the story they told him was cruel and sad, perhaps specifically chosen for heartless murderers. If Lazarus's story was different, maybe just with a little happier ending, perhaps they could become something better?
Chris looked at him for a moment as if she could understand.
What are they, or what are supposed to be, if all they have now was a team named after a character who had been reborn? The world wasn't ending anymore. How to fill the rest of their lives now? What new choices were there exactly, and which ones weren't?
She looked away, standing up. «He just... gets up and walks along.»
Axel watched her finishing her tea with a sip and putting the cup in the sink. «I have to go to do a thing.»
«What thing?» asked Axel in little more than a murmur, because of something in her voice, distant and meaningful. Pained. Otherwise, he probably shouldn’t have asked.
The fact is, he was a little sorry she was leaving. It was like being in the hospital again, maybe even more so now that the world wasn’t ending. He don’t mind when she’s around.
«To… say goodbye, I guess.» said Chris, with a small, bitter and sad smile turned away.
Axel just nodded. He had an half-idea of who it might be, someone who died aboard a Russian ship days before. This was surely something that belonged only to her, at least until she eventually decides to share.
Chris stopped in the doorway, looking at him. «At least try to rest, if you really don’t want to go back in the hospital.»
Axel shrugged, holding back a painful grimace. «I already feel better.»
«Clearly.» Chris rolled her eyes with a sort of patience, and left.
Axel finished his tea and laid down on the couch, closing his eyes.
The cat rolls over onto its other side again. Then it seems to opt for standing up and stretching, yawning enormously. The spiral staircase creaks.
Axel opens his eyes a crack and looks at it. «You're probably overweight, huh?»
«What?»
Axel shifts a quite annoyed gaze to the guy who’s just come out from the computer room, followed by Eleina.
«Are you still here?»
«Hey, listen...» Doctor 909 holds up his hands a little. «I know we didn't get off to a good start...»
Axel just looks him, and Eleina sighs and shakes her head.
«But, hey, I'm the one who saved the world, okay?»
Axel looks at him for a moment longer, then back at Eleina.
«Um, he's leaving. We've re-set up the cyber defenses, and Elizabeth says she's got him a hotel room for now.» she says promptly, as if a little relieved.
Axel nods, and Doctor 909 complains «I searched online. It's such a tasteless place.»
Axel looks back at him flatly. «Shouldn't you be in prison?»
Aside from the fact that the same question could been directed at him, of course.
Doctor 909 becomes a little nervous, tries to say something else, and finally leaves in good order. Exactly what Axel has hoped. He rests his arm over his closed eyes. Another thing resolved, at least for now. But an unhappy thought occurs to him.
«He's not part of the team now, is he?»
Eleina shakes her head. «Uh, I don’t think so. Hum, how are you feeling?»
Axel shifts his arm slightly to look at her. «I’m fine. Any news on the antidote for Hapna?»
Eleina nods promptly, with that expression that says you can bet she’s already got at least most - if not all - of the available news.
«Yes, they’re setting up an emergency production on a vast scale. All the private pharmaceutical companies and national or international institutes have been recruited, and they’re organizing a global distribution.»
«Wow.» Axel rests his arm over his eyes again. Maybe Chris is right after all, and he needs some rest.
Eleina decides on herself that she may as well make him some toast, too. Axel stares at it in surprise when she hands it to him on a plate, and he sits up, thanking her.
They eat on the couch, while Eleina checks the news on her device, reporting further details of how the network of production and distribution for the Hapna-antidote is proceeding so rapidly that even she is genuinely impressed.
Axel suggests she should get some sleep, when he notices her eyelids growing heavy. Eleina stirs and stubbornly tries to keep reading more news, wondering aloud if she couldn't lend a hand with her computer skills.
Something rings, and Eleina seems startled for a moment, then like she’s remembering something, almost blushing as she pulls out from her pocket a small, old-fashioned and very pink cell phone. Axel looks curiously at it.
«Hum, it's... a colleague, sort of. I think I should answer.»
«Go ahead.» Axel beams, watching her retreating swiftly into another room, the pink cell phone clutched tightly in her hand. Something tells him that on the other end of the line there might be a certain... what’s her name again? Something about popcorn and magic.
He slides back onto the couch and closes his eyes again.
Doug and Leland would probably be still busy for some time, not to mention Hersch, Abel, and that Elizabeth. Saving the world could be a lot.
Not to mention goodbyes.
Axel drifts into a sort of shallow, dreamless sleep, remembering the way Chris has paused in the doorway and told him to rest, as if she already knew he may try not to.
The cat shifts again, making the spiral staircase creak, seeming a little restless, like him.
Axel wakes up fully when the cat begins meowing insistently.
He tries to ignore it for a while. «What's wrong? Just go back to sleep.»
But the cat keeps meowing. And he can't get back to sleep either.
Axel gets up with a sigh and tries to open the door, seeing if it wanted to go out. It's nighttime outside.
The cat sits on the doorstep, peering outside, as if wondering what exactly they need to check. Axel yawns and shakes his head, while going to look for something to eat in the kitchen.
«When have you decided this is your home, exactly?»
That sounds a bit too much like a double-edged question.
He finds a can of tuna and opens it, opting to put it in a large cup before setting it on the floor; the edges of the can look worryingly sharp. The cat begins to eat enthusiastically, and Axel rolls his eyes and lay back on the couch with a grin.
«There you go. As if you need to put on any extra weight, you fat cat.»
Moments later, something heavy lands on his chest and starts purring. Axel winces at the pain of the wounds beneath the bandages, and frowns down at the cat, who’s calmly cleaning its face by licking one of its paws, as if nothing has happened.
Axel sighs and pushes it off his still-aching abdomen. The purr takes on a protesting tone for a moment, but then the cat seems to find acceptable staying on the couch beside him, contentedly purring and cleaning itself.
«Okay... I guess it's not such a bad place, as a home.» Axel closes his eyes with a small smile.
Another undetermined amount of time later, he hears the front door opening. He stiffs a little and cracks his eyelids, but even in the dim light he recognizes with surprising familiarity the silhouette, a small flutter of blond hair as she turns to close the door.
Axel exhales and close his eyes completely again, hearing footsteps approaching the sofa.
Chris reaches out to give the cat a scratch, and it purrs again. «Hey. Did you miss me?»
«Yes.» comes the automatic response in Axel's head, startling him. But he make sure to open his eyes again and give her a playful smirk. «Just a little.»
Chris rolls her eyes and almost throws something at him. «I was talking to the cat.»
Axel hesitates a moment, then opts to keep his tone playful. «Too bad.»
He curiously examines the paper bag Chris threw at him, while she takes off her boots.
«They're conventional painkillers. I called Doug, and he let me talk with the doctor. She wants you to return to the hospital tomorrow for a checkup.»
«If it's absolutely necessary.» he opts to sigh, all in all compliantly, while swallowing a couple of pills.
Chris stops to look at him. «You’ve almost died.»
Axel keeps his gaze lowered while putting away the rest of the pills. «Almost.»
«You're impossible.» concludes Chris, shaking her head patiently, even as she smiles a little to herself.
She disappears into the rest of the building, and Axel assumes that’s all, that she’s just going to sleep.
However, Chris returns shortly afterward, and Axel doesn’t even open his eyes, figuring she’s getting a glass of water for the night or something like that. But then he feels her starting to settle down on the couch next to him, or at least trying to.
Axel opens his eyes, incredulous. She’s trying to coax the cat to move, wearing a comfortable T-shirt and long trousers, and she has armed herself with a blanket.
«You're really bulky, furball.» says Chris lowly, finally succeeding in persuading the cat to find another corner of the couch. «And you, can you move a bit further at least?»
Axel does it, feeling a little disconnected, as if in some kind of dream. A particularly pleasant one, as is the sensation of Chris settling next to him to sleep, pragmatically throwing the blanket over them both.
«Does it hurt?» she asks softly, carefully placing an arm across his chest, trying to avoid the bandaged stitches under his clothes.
«No.» simply says Axel, his eyes closed. Not at all. It’s so incredibly pleasant. And perhaps comforting.
As if he could truly fall asleep now, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Leaving even the world behind, whatever it might still be trying to do beyond the confines of that room, or that sofa. The cat seems to be able to purr even in his sleep. Perhaps it’s the feline equivalent of snoring.
Chris moved slightly, smoothly, like she’s relaxing too. Her scent carries traces of sea breeze and rubble. Axel still has that last scent on him too, crumbs of a huge angel fallen from a Tower of Babel. But the pendant is still resting against his chest, as is Chris' arm. His good luck charm, his salvation. His state of (temporary) peace with the world.
No, it isn’t all to be thrown away. He meant it, when he answered Skinner. He didn’t say how much of that feeling had simultaneously rooted and took fly in a few moments in a hospital. Lazarus.
«Was that an angel, the one who resurrected Lazarus?» he asks calmly, almost as if speaking in his sleep.
Chris yawns and adjusts her head slightly on part of his shoulder, as if simply trying to make herself more comfortable. «Nah, some kind of… deity, temporarily incarnated to bring hope to the world.»
Axel frowns. It sounds an excessive mission.
«We didn't set a salary, did we? With our… former kidnappers and current employers.» asks Chris.
Axel makes a small, amused snort. «No, I don't think so.»
«Damn.» complains Chris sincerely.
Axel tries to chuckle without evoking a stab of pain from his wounds, or inducing Chris to shift even a millimeter from where she’s settled against him, the cat somehow wedged between them.
Anyway, the pre-Hapna painkillers are kicking in, and the feeling of Chris so close is helping even more.
It feels just about perfect. Maybe they haven’t died after all, but it feels like heaven.