The Rabbit and the Hacker

[Kalen]

This story started as a part of another post and then continues as noted below:

06/20/2013 .. The City At Large .. Finish the Meeting White Rabbit / Switch Scene to Rabbit Meeting Kalen
06/21/2013 .. The City At Large .. More Rabbit and Kalen
06/22/2013 .. The City At Large .. More Rabbit and Kalen (Not Suitable for Work or Small Children)

Post by Rabbit

06/23/2013 .. Under the Radar .. Big Brother Goon, Rabbit to the Rescue

[Kalen]

The next day he woke up groggy with pain and unable to move at all except to roll slightly onto his side (which caused the broken ribs to object) and curl his head down almost fetal against his chest. He wanted to die. It hurt too bad! His hands throbbed and that pain radiated up his arms. His face really showed the beating he'd gotten the day before. His jaw was swollen and the bruise spread all around his jaw up to his temple and across his cheek.

The old woman managed to get a couple of pills into Kalen that settled him down and put him into a semi-awake, partially asleep sedate state. There was no pain and there was no time either. The old woman managed to get him situated onto his back again and that's where the trippy hacker stayed. He didn't notice when she fed him or when she got him to take another couple of pills around noon. The afternoon was much like the morning, him existing in this cloud of no pain and crazy dreams. At some point, he slept.

[White Rabbit]

Just as he'd said, Rabbit didn't wake Kalen up when that third rapid-beeping alarm of his watch went off. He merely slid his arm free from beneath his head, and moved right off the bed to go about getting ready. He showered, and got dressed -- which didn't consist of his quirky layered shirts, but a black shirt with a vest of some sort to hold all the things necessary. His pistols were holstered, and he threw the blazer over his shoulder before doing a literal pat-down of all his pockets to make sure everything was in place. David was out the door before the sun was even up.

Of course, the older woman he stayed with was very dutiful when it came to following the orders he'd given her as far as watching over Kalen while he was gone. The pain medicine, making sure he ate - or at least, drank - something throughout the day. And at some point, he even put in an untraceable call to her just to check on his status before the pills he'd been given really kicked in.

From there on out, though, it was like he said. He was entirely under Freidrich's control, and this day was no different than the others; some sort of plan to dissect another's life discreetly, sans the whole going out of the facility to do so. Apparently, a few of the devices that were necessary had broken-- and, well, who was the one that was capable of tinkering with them and making them work again? David. 21. He was. And it took the good portion of the day before the highly-rated, highly controversial weapons and unspeakable devices were back in working order; capable of dropping a sky-scraper at free-fall speed, if one desired to do so, and would leave no evidence but dust. Or, if focused on a single person, would leave them entirely incapacitated.

Afterwards, Freidrich wasn't far off from mentioning a certain agent; Jack. The one who'd inevitably went missing-- he was a risk. A huge one, simply because Dr. Antmann hadn't been able to get into his brain like he had the others. He wanted him down, but was rather easy-going on the when's and how's.

By the end of the day, David punched right out and slunk out the double, plate-glass - and bulletproof - doors and back into the parking lot. Not that he drove, it was just the easiest way to get back to where he was going. He did make a couple of mindless-seeming stops along the way, to grab a newspaper on the way back to the alley that had become his safe-haven of sorts. Though his head still didn't feel right, he managed to get himself inside and - as per usual - was forced to sit on the couch so she could get rid of the vest and the holstered weapons. Glass after glass of water, and then a cup of coffee were set in front of him as if he were some kid who'd gotten mixed up with some wrong drugs here and there and needed to dilute them. Flush them out, so to say. And while she had him occupied, she made her rounds right back into the bedroom to check on Kalen. It'd take David a few minutes, at least, until he didn't seem more along the lines of a zombie.. but he'd get there.

[Kalen]

Yeah, the second day was always worse. The caretaker had earlier managed to change the bandages that were wrapped around Kalen's chest. If it weren't for the pills it would have hurt like a bitch. As it was, there was some throbbing. His face had continued to swell for part of the day and then began to ease off although the bruising was glorious in color of blues, blacks, and deep purples. When he was checked on, his eyes fluttered open and he took a few seconds to just blink before he lifted his head a little to ask, "Where's David?" He didn't bother to wait for the answer. His head settled back to the bed. He felt a little more clear headed but that didn't mean the hacker wanted to move. He had to visit the can though and after a quick sigh to steady himself, he managed to push himself up. Destination, bathroom.

He took care of that routine business including making slow use of a toothbrush and toothpaste that were left out for him. Then he shuffled his way to the couch where David was sitting in his half-zombie state. Kalen eased down next to him and studied him for several moments before looking at the woman. No words were exchanged but Kalen said a lot with that look. He said he didn't like how David looked. He said he was going to find out why and how to stop it. He put his still-swollen and freshly bandaged right hand on David's forearm. "Hey." He just whispered it, purple and black fingers squeezing ever so gently.

[White Rabbit]

The older woman hadn't strayed far from where she left David seated with all the water and coffee, and in fact, had returned with some blue bottle of antiseptic wash and some gauze. ..Hey, best to make use of the times when the quirky one was more compliant, right? Wouldn't bat her hands away, or fuss at her for fussing over him. She'd only just started, though, to dab at the should be healing stitches-- if he'd just stop scratching at them! When Kalen made his way over, she gave him a look that conveyed the fact that he shouldn't have been up walking, but only briefly. She wiped between the stitched gashes until there was no more red tint to the gauze cloth she used, and then left him be, though did nod once or twice - rather solemnly, too - at the look Kalen had given her. She only could rasp out a sound though before she'd gathered her supplies up and went to put them away again.

David had at least taken one of the bottles of water, but he hadn't said a word as of yet. It was a strange thing, honestly, being in between having your own will.. and being under the effects of ol' Freddie's miracle drugs (not that Rabbit would have considered them such). The light squeeze to his forearm had his gaze shifting slowly, over to Kalen, and even if he hadn't completely snapped out of it, a faint grin formed."You're not supposed to be up," he pointed out right before tipping the bottle up for a slow drink. Once it was lowered though, he kind of sunk back. Heavy. "Either you had to get up, or you're stubborn." Not that it mattered much. He sat the bottle down and reached over with an all-too steady hand to gingerly take up that black and blue hand.

Yes, it was almost like being high-- but nowhere near as pleasant. Too serious, and no fun involved. Few more minutes, though, and he'd be good to go. And that was made obvious when the woman returned with a double-strength ibuprofen, and all but pushed it into his mouth to prevent him from saying anything else along the lines of calling someone else stubborn. David scowled, but took the water right back up and swallowed the pill. Ah, see, she knew! He was going to have a headache in a bit, and that would at least dull it.

"You're feeling a wee bit better, yeah?" he asked, turning his head so he could look Kalen over.

[Kalen]

"I had to xx." He lifted his shoulder but then winced and shook his head slowly. He knew he shouldn't be up but a guy had to answer the call of nature. Kalen took in the process of pulling David out of the drug induced funk he was in and shook his head a little. He really didn't like seeing him like that. It's no way to live and it really irked him that some government guy thought it was okay to do this to people. Did we or did we not live in America!? He made a motion toward the bottle with his other hand. "Keep drinking." But there was a little smile offered.

"I feel a lot worse, actually. It's not all fresh and hurting. It's day two hurting." He wrinkled his nose a little then touched his face. "At least nothing here is broken." Yeah, like his nose or jaw. He drew in a very slow breath. "I'll be fine in a day or so." That would probably earn him a look or two considering the extent of his injuries. Chalk that up to stubborn. He might need some of those really good pain killers in a while.

[White Rabbit]

He could give him that much, of course. Sometimes, there was just no ignoring the call to duty by nature, and.. well.. he offered up a faint shrug in response, and went as far as to lean forward and work out of the vest that had, apparently, all of his little tinkering tools inside. Real tools, to the garrote wire, spare clips.. whatever. He tossed it over the back of the couch, then glanced to the water when Kalen motioned to it. "Oi, now, don't you get bossy on me too.." he kidded, but did take the water back up for a few more sips or so. Coffee was better, obviously, but.. this was routine, as shitty of one as it was: America? Yeah. Unless you were government property by sheer association with a particular group.

Still, it was hard to take those nearly too-green eyes off of Kalen when he admitted he was feeling worse instead of better. Absently, he reached up and rubbed at his forehead with the knuckle of his thumb, still hidden by the black glove there. "There is that, ey? But you're incredibly.. utterly daft, if you think you'll be 'fine' in a day or two. Honestly.." the last word was drawled out, and right on target, the older woman was indeed settling a look on Kalen that was quite in agreement with David, at that point.

Another sip from the water bottle drained it, and he tossed the empty thing spot on, right into the waste bin in the corner of the room. "Maybe a few days." And that was pushing it, too. But it was more along the lines of how David thought.. so.. that he could work with.

[Kalen]

"It's all I can do right now; tell you to drink water." And he couldn't even back it up if he had needed to. But ahh well, such is life. Kalen shifted his eyes away from David and the old woman so he didn't have to catch their looks about his announcement of being better in a day or two. He knew the looks were there though. Kalen carefully flailed his arms, managing not to wince too badly. "I have to be better in a couple of days. I need a shower man." He gingerly chuckled at his own joke.

The chuckle didn't last. He went all sullen with his shoulders drooping some and a sigh huffing out. "You guys .. I feel like I'm freeloading off you." True, he had nobody to take care of him but he figured if he got to the pit, he could rest there and everything would be all right. But then, he was still on those lovely pain killers that Granny was force feeding him. Call it delusions of grandeur.

[White Rabbit]

If Rabbit really had a problem with the water, he didn't show it.. well, not more so than not gulping the whole damn thing down at once as his would-be grandmother usually insisted. He didn't like it, but it did always seem to dilute the ..whatever-the-fuck-it-was.. that made him feel all whacked out, once it started wearing off. And the coffee? The coffee was what brought him right back up to speed. To some sense of normalcy; blame it all on the caffeine. And, speaking of, even after giving her look of disapproval to the flail, granny there went off to gather two more mugs-- one for herself, and one for Kalen. Upon her return, the settled his in front of him on the table, and gestured at it.

"Ah, bullocks, bullocks, bullocks.. shit. There's ways to shower without messing up bandages." He knew this, but he didn't quite elaborate just then.. even if only because Kalen stopped his chuckling and sighed.

For a long moment, both David and the lady stared at him. Rabbit glanced over at her, and just kind of shook his head before leaning his head back against the back of the couch. "You're not," he said, finally, before reaching to snag up his mug of coffee too deftly. Still too steadily. "I invited you to stay, and believe me, if you weren't welcome to be here-- well.." The older lady looked as if she were laughing, but she did indeed smile a little. "You would've been pushed out the bloody door by now, busted up or not."

[Kalen]

And from there we jumped into the public chat:

06/24/2013 .. Under the Radar .. Visiting Kalen's Upscale Apartment