Chapitre 35: The Captain can take care of himself

Maeve was excited to see Kellen when he entered the office, along with the other scientists. Their excitement to see him helped him calm down from the interaction he had with the Captain. The scientists stopped what they were doing and spoke to Kellen when he entered the office, their eyes glowing with their questions. After they had spoken for a few moments, Kellen noticed that there was a snack bowl practically on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Once Kellen had noticed it, he also noticed how everyone watched him, and he knew he was going to have to take from that snack bowl regularly. It wasn't a burden to him, but made his heart warm.

Finally, after Maeve noticed the time, they all went back to what they were working on, leaving Kellen to enter his office and get to work on his own project. The laptop was a big help, not that Kellen minded writing out the program by hand. But having it as a digital copy meant he could easily edit it after sending it to Casper. The sticky note Casper provided was also quite helpful. It turns out that the Guild had it's own system and each person was assigned a code and login. Kellen had to go through about 10 minutes to set up his account but now it meant if there were any papers or files he needed access to, he could through his secure login. It made sense, since Kellen hadn't seen a library or anything for secure documents when Casper showed him the Guild, or maybe Casper hadn't viewed it as important. He also hadn't seen their storage for weapons either, so maybe it had just slipped his mind.

Either way, with the new login, Kellen got to work moving what he'd already worked on into a word document on the laptop, and then worked past that. He was using programs he'd made in the past as a base level, and built on that. He didn't take any breaks and continued to work on the document until he got a knock on his door.

"Guide Kellen? Have you taken lunch yet?" It was Maeve. She poked her head into the room, frowning at the state of his desk.

"Oh, sorry. I completely forgot." Kellen laughed at himself, while she only seemed to grow more concerned as she looked over the Guide.

"Well, I'm planning to head up and grab a bite with some of the other researchers now, did you want to join us?" She asked. Kellen looked past her and saw a few others behind her, maybe three since he couldn't tell from this distance. He glanced down at the work he'd done, and the time, and sighed. He really should eat before guiding the Captain, and given the fact it was past noon now, he needed to rush it. He could only imagine the scolding he would get from Taylor if he didn't eat before their session.

He got to his feet, not even bothering to take his phone with him since he didn't plan to be gone long, and joined Maeve and the other researchers in the main office. There were three of them outside of Maeve. Two were the more secluded researchers who weren't in the main office, while the other one was on the more quiet side. It seemed the Maeve took it upon herself to take care of the really introverted ones, and that made Kellen smile.

"Let's head out then, shall we?" He offered, opening the door for them. Maeve smiled at him and they headed for the elevators as a team.

The first thing Kellen found out about the researchers is that all of them were awkward around large groups, including Maeve. Kellen had to take the lead, becoming the de facto leader as they moved around the cafeteria. He directed the others, made sure they got enough food, talked to the people serving the food, and found them a table. It was a very reminiscent feeling for him since he had led research groups into gates before. In fact, the more he talked about his experiences on the front lines during lunch, the more he found out that all of them were waiting for permission to be on the front lines.

Maeve was the only one who had gone to the front lines, but because she specialised in the flora and fauna around stable gates, she'd never needed to go into one. That wasn't the case for some of the others. But because they were civilians, they had to plead their case more. It didn't matter if they were apart of a guild, without the powers that classified them as either an Esper or a Guide, the front lines were dangerous. For Maeve, she only needed the agreement from the Saturn Guild, where the civilians also needed approval from the D.E.C. Kellen was sympathetic to them, since he'd needed that too when he went as a freelance Field Guide. Getting permission was notoriously hard, and often you had to apply several times. Lots of the researchers he'd spoken to while guiding them had ranted about how the whole system needed an overhaul.

The conversation was so interesting that Kellen had briefly forgotten about what he was supposed to be doing after lunch. That was, until a shadow fell over him and everyone shut up.

"Do you not have your phone on you?" The chill in his voice was something that Kellen also remembered from the front lines, but it wasn't a pleasant one. Swallowing, Kellen tilted his head back to look at the man behind him.

"Oh, uh, hello Captain. I guess I forgot it in my office." He lied easily, knowing if he told him he'd left it behind intentionally things could get stressful. Excuses were not something he was looking for right now. Despite his cold attitude, Kellen took a second to appreciate how dapper he looked in his uniform. His hair slicked back, his hands in his pant pockets. It wasn't until he got to his face, where his eyes were a bright, bright yellow that Kellen began to panic. He glanced back to his tray, noticing he only had a few things left on it, before standing. "We should get going. You don't look well." Kellen told him and the Captain sighed. It wasn't a tone Kellen had heard before, and he froze.

"No, finish eating. I don't want to rush you." Kellen shook himself and continued standing up, grabbing his tray as he went.

"You didn't. I was almost done. Wait there." He ordered the Esper as he rushed over to the drop off station, shoved the last few bites into his mouth and returned to where the Captain was in record time. The Captain had watched him the whole time, not moving an inch. He really was not well. Kellen waved to the researchers and Maeve. "I'll see you guys back in the office." He told them with a smile before grabbing the Captain's arm. He barely moved, and it felt like he was dragging a giant weight behind him. When they got to the elevators, Kellen took a second to check the Captain's levels and tsked. "What the hell were you doing to get this bad?" He demanded of the Esper who chuckled in response.

"I was fighting with the Captain of the Nemesis Guild for the gate rights." The Captain said calmly. Kellen blinked. What? He glanced at his face to see if he was joking.

"You weren't really fighting, were you?" He asked and he didn't say anything. Kellen grew angry. "Captain Thatcher! If you thought for even a moment that you were going to fight someone else, especially another S Class, you are supposed to let me know! What if you got severely hurt? Or what if you couldn't make it back to me before you erupted? You already fought once today. I let you leave without guiding you this morning because I didn't think you were going to get up to no good. If you had told me who your meeting was with, or what you had expected to happen at your letting, I wouldn't have let you go at the level you were at." Kellen was furious at the Captain for putting himself in danger.

"Mr. Woods, I can more than function at this level. I have and will continue to function at this level. I appreciate your concern, but it isn't needed in this case." Kellen knew with the logical part of his brain that the level of corruption was effecting the Captain's brain and therefore his responses. He knew that. That didn't mean that he was going to let him get away with it. They stepped into the elevator and Kellen had not let go of his grip on his arm.

"As your Guide, it is not okay. You have access to me whenever you want. Are you going to tell me that you are intentionally going to hurt yourself when I can prevent it? When you purposefully moved me into the apartment next door to you so that I could be accessed in an emergency? Are you kidding me?" Kellen could feel the anger welling inside of him at this stupid man.

"Mr. Woods, it isn't as if I didn't have Guides before this. I know how to take care of myself." If that Captain hadn't been so heavily corrupted, he would have noticed the hurt and anger in Kellen's glare.

"You didn't have a personal Guide before, nor a pair." The Captain turned his gaze towards the Guide, his face unmoving and uncomprehending. That alone told Kellen everything he needed to know. He knew that the Captain would remember everything said to him now, so Kellen didn't hold back. "You aren't getting my damn point. I know you're an adult. I also know you are fully capable of taking care of yourself, but I'm here now. I am your pair. Why the fuck am I eating so many fucking calories if you aren't going to use them?" Unable to contain the full force of his rage, Kellen grabbed the Captain by his crisp collar, yanking him closer, surprising the Esper. "We are supposed to be a team, we are supposed to work together. I'll easily admit that I forgot my phone, but you were easily able to find me. If you ever treat your health as yours alone again, I will not be held accountable for how they find your body after I am done with it." He growled as the door opened and a pair of stunned Espers stood outside. Releasing his collar, Kellen excited the elevator while a stunned Captain followed after him.

Kellen was on a war path for Taylor's office, which was how he didn't notice someone else was in the office. Throwing the door open without knocking, Taylor looked up at him, surprised. Kellen stopped in surprise in the doorway, noticing that sitting across from her was Miro, who was hooked up to a strange medical device. Immediately apologetic, he fumbled over his words. "I am so sorry, I didn't even think someone else would be here. I'll leave." Stepping back without checking behind him, he stepped on the Captain who caught him before he could fall.

"Oh, Miro. In for your check up?" He asked cordially, and Miro nodded. In fact, the more Kellen observed him, he seemed to be drowsy. His head was dipping as they spoke. Taylor sighed.

"You're supposed to knock before you come in, Kellen. That's basic manners." She chastised, and he ducked his head.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking about other things. I'll wait outside." He reaffirmed but Miro shook his head.

"It's fine. I'm almost done, right Green?" He asked and Taylor nodded. "Then you can go help them. I'm fine here." He said. Taylor cast him a nervous look, but Miro insisted. She sighed, getting to her feet.

"I shouldn't be gone for more then 20 minutes." She told the lieutenant who nodded with a yawn.

"That's fine. I'll see you soon." He leaned back in the office chair and closed his eyes, falling asleep immediately. Stunned, Kellen watched as Taylor gathered the few things that she needed before leading the way to the guiding room.

Today felt awkward to be hooked up since the Captain was so far gone. Even Taylor could tell something was wrong from the way we were interacting. She hooked the two of us up, the Captain and I sitting across from each other. Kellen didn't offer his hand to the Captain and instead took it. Once he was given the go ahead, he dived inside.

What awful guiding.

Unlike even the first time Kellen had guided him, when he had been sucked into the waves and tossed around, today was even more violent, Kellen couldn't even come up for hair as the dark, deep and vicious powers tossed him around. He didn't have time to mourn all the lost progress and instead focused his attentions on maintaining the same level of guiding for Taylor's charts. It was also a good test for him to measure how much control he had over his new powers. Struggling against the force of the waves, the desire to just fix the man before him, and maintain the time limit, Kellen was soaking wet with sweat when the Captain gently shook his shoulder.

"Kellen, it's been 15 minutes." His voice was soft, and concern showed on his face. Kellen was happy to see that some of his humanity had come back. He was exhausted and Taylor frowned as she looked him over.

"What went wrong today?" She finally asked as she handed Kellen a cloth to wipe himself with. Kellen sighed as he wiped himself and also took of the pads.

"The Captain is more drained than I've ever had to deal with before. Trying to keep the guiding sessions consistent is harder when all I want to do is pour my guiding into him, fix him." The Captain seemed stunned as Taylor made a face in understanding. She took the monitoring pads off of the Captain and accepted the now damp cloth from Kellen. "Are we done now? Am I allowed to guide him outside of our session?" He asked and Taylor nodded. She wasn't going to fight her friend on this considering how much he had been holding back from doing what his body wanted to do.

"I can come back and collect the data after. I should go check on Miro anyways." He nodded as the Captain went to pull on his clothes. Kellen stood up, pushing the man back into the chair, crawling onto his lap. Taylor had the distinct pleasure of watching the Captain, wide eyed, stare up at the angry, determined Guide as she left the room.

"Thanks Taylor." Kellen called as the door closed behind her with a click. Kellen took the Esper's face in his hands and kissed him, knowing that this was the highest level of efficient guiding he could do at the moment. At first, the Captain didn't respond as Kellen's lips moved clumsily on his, but then Kellen felt his warm hands on his bare back before he pressed their bodies closer together. His tongue licked at his lips, and Kellen's mind wandered as the guiding drained him and the Captain deepened the kiss. Kellen could feel his body weakening faster then he could recover, and a small part of him twinged, knowing it was still too soon. Keeping an eye on the oceans inside of the Esper, Kellen only felt relief when the multi-layered rainbows entered the caps of the waves once more.

Relieved, finally, Kellen pulled away from the Captain. The Captain opened his eyes to stare at the Guide, a flush on his cheeks and his hands had moved. One was still on Kellen's lower back, while the other had come around to grope his chest. Surprised, Kellen stared down at him.

"Is that it?" He murmured, and he nodded. Kellen noticed he'd moved his hands to grasp the Captain's hair. Unwilling to move right away, he began to play with the slightly pointy, gelled tips.

"Yeah, you're almost stable now." He told him. The Captain sighed, before closing his eyes again. When he opened them again he nodded, staring at the Guide in wonder.

"That was only from a short kiss while you were guiding me intentionally. I'm interested to see how much you can fix me when we go further." Kellen moved his hand around to slap the Captain's cheek lightly in warning.

"Do not go out of your way to put yourself in danger to get higher levels of guidance. I can see it behind your eyes. I will be very, very angry if you do that." Kellen warned, but the Captain was back to being the soft version he had started to know. He pressed his face into Kellen's hand.

"Yeah, but you'd still do it." He said warmly, his hazel eyes staring into Kellen's. "You wouldn't leave me alone like that, you care." He was pleased with that, while Kellen stared at him.

"I'm not ready for that yet, Captain." He told him, seriously, but he chuckled.

"Of course you aren't. We have to work up to that." Kellen shook his head. He wasn't getting it. He was probably still in the guiding lul, unable to register fully what was around him.

"Yes, I do need to wrap my head around it too, but physically I can barely handle this level of guiding. We can't jump steps." He still wasn't getting it. "Captain, look at me. Really look at me." The Captain was all smiles until he did was Kellen asked. It was then he realised how skinny Kellen had gotten, how he'd lost almost all of his muscle definition, and how thin his face was. The look of horror on his face said it all. Kellen went to stand, put his legs shook under him. It was from the position he had been sitting in on the Captain's lap. The Captain didn't try to help him, and Kellen appreciated that. Taking a few deep breaths, he stablised, and moved towards the small cooler in the back where Taylor kept the shakes. Kellen took out 5 shakes this time, hoping they would have near instant effects. He had wanted to work out today, but now he'd had to wait and see if he could.

"I had no idea." The Captain murmured while staring at him. Kellen paused between the second and third shake to respond to him.

"Why do you think Taylor was so serious about monitoring our guiding sessions? It was to find the base level of calories I consume while guiding you, and predicting how many I'd need to guide you at higher levels. The other things to note is the more we guide at basic levels, the less likely you are to reject my guiding at any given time. If you ever get to a point where you can't even recall yourself, if we've guided together enough your powers are not going to view mine as a threat. It isn't guaranteed, just more likely. In general, the more we guide at lower levels, the less strain it has on my body, especially at higher levels." He moved onto the next shakes and noticed at least one of the had to be helping since his hands weren't shaking anymore. Captain began to pull on his clothes again, watching him with concern.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" He asked and Kellen shrugged.

"Honestly, since you're a Captain, I thought you already knew. Why would I think you didn't?" He paused as the Captain looked absolutely horrified at his lack of knowledge. "Although, we are the first pairing in your Guild as a whole, minus the ones you guys probably contract out without any knowledge. Usually people hear about this kind of stuff from the pairs around them, but in this case, we are that pair. You should let your Esper's know about this Captain. I'm sure Gwen does, but I can't speak for anyone else." He nodded, agreeing.

"Of course. I'll schedule something with Hill later on to discuss it. Now come here and put your clothes on. I can hear someone coming down the hall." Shaking his head at the possessive tone in his voice, Kellen chugged his last shake before grabbing the empties and putting them in the recycling box. He was finishing up the buttons on his shirt when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Kellen called. In came the pink eyed lady from before but instead of civilian clothes she wore an Esper uniform. She glanced at Kellen, giving him a nod before speaking directly to the Captain.

"Captain Thatcher, we just received word from the Nemesis Guild. It we are willing to give them 10% of the products found inside the gate they are willing to stop fighting for the rights of the gate. They specifically said 10% after the government has chosen what they wanted, and also specified a variation of 10%. They've been smart in their wording, meaning we wouldn't be able to give them the same resource over and over." She was typing away on her phone even as she spoke. "I hate when Rene gets involved, but that appears to be the case here." Confused, but also interested, Kellen kept his mouth shut. The Captain seemed thoughtful.

"Ah, Rene, that slimy wench. I'm still pissed that she decided to join the Nemesis Guild in the end, but we can't be bitter about it forever. Well, we should accept their offer, since if this carries on for much longer without the first scouting the D.E.C. might step in and try to claim the gate. We'll agree to the 10% variation of items. That still leaves quite a bit of profit, and I don't want to be enemies with the Nemesis Guild. I hate making Sergei cry." Pink eyes chuckled as she typed.

"I'll make sure to tell him that after he signs. Alright, I'll let them know as soon as I have the contract finished." She paused, looking at him. "You look better than you did this morning, Captain Thatcher. Thank you, Guide Woods." He blinked, surprised she would even speak to him.

"Just doing my job." He responded with a smile and she slid her gaze to him. It felt like she was looking over Kellen to determine his value. He gulped.

"Well, yes, it is your job I suppose. Have you agreed to be part of the first team yet?" She asked and he shook his head.

"No. I need to test the bounds of my powers some more. I know I can help others, but given the emergency guidance I just had to give the Captain, I still have more to learn." She nodded at his serious tone.

"Good. I'm glad you aren't being flippant about it. Let me know when you do decide, I want to get as much of an impact out of you two being a pair as possible." She told both of them before finishing up whatever she was typing. "Alright, that's all I needed you for Captain Thatcher. Nice to see you again, Guide Woods. Hopefully we'll see each other soon outside of an official capacity." She gave a nod to each of us before leaving again. Kellen looked at the Captain.

"Is she always like that?" He asked and he nodded.

"She's been like that since I've known her. You'll never see her on the front lines, since that was her one stipulation when we scouted her. She's exceptional in PR and other types of disputes." He smiled. "Anyway, what is your plan for the rest of the day?" He asked as they headed for the door.

"Oh, I was planning to finish up my rough draft for the course, then work out after that." He nodded as he held the door open for Kellen.

"I feel like you'll probably be bored with the workout room for Guides, so don't be afraid to use the upper level gym. It's near your apartment, and it also gives me some ease since I trust everyone there as well. I heard about the incident at the obstacle course." He told him and Kellen laughed. That wasn't an incident.

"I left him in the dust, so I don't even consider it an issue. I'm used to it too. I like when Espers think they are better than me simply because I'm a Guide." He laughed at Kellen's tone, reaching out to ruffle his hair. Kellen was happy that this Captain was back.

"Then you should absolutely use the upper gym. It'll strike fear into the Espers how much you'll be able to lift." Kellen laughed at his gleeful tone, shaking his head. He didn't think he'd frighten that many Espers, especially the ones on the upper levels. Some of them had seen him work on the front lines.