Two of a Kind, tag Link

It had been a while since Aurora had been called to meet with the Director. Not that she wasn’t kept busy, being one of the few telepaths working for the Nest. Hale normally seemed to handle the combat-type missions, so those teams tended to get more face-time. Not that she was complaining. Her jobs tended to be a little more low-key, especially since she hadn’t been with the organization that long. She gave her all to her work, and it seemed like it was being noticed. A meeting with the Director usually meant a big job needed to be done. She could only wonder what that was, how her particular powers would fit into his plan for how things would need to be done, and of course, who she would be working with. She’d done missions with a pretty wide variety of colorful characters so far. It was never boring, that’s for sure.

Walking into the room, her attention was immediately drawn to a man standing in the corner with his back to her. Impressive broad shoulders, tapering down to an ass that didn’t quit, but definitely not the Director. This was definitely where she was told to go, though. She looked around the room until she spotted the man she was looking for, and cleared her throat softly. “You asked for me, Director Hale?” Her eyes flickered back briefly to the other man in the corner, wondering if he was the one she would be working with on this assignment. She was pretty certain she’d never seen him before. A backside like that was definitely not something she would have forgotten so easily.

The easiest and quickest way to sate her curiosity about what was going on would be to just read their minds. Part of her was always tempted to do something like that when she was around new people. See if she could really trust them. It wouldn’t be fair, though. Unless they knew she was a telepath and gave their permission, it would be a breach of their privacy. Not really the best way to get to know people, and she’d lost both friends and potential lovers because of her powers. Even here in this kind of place, there were people she could tell that felt a little uncomfortable around her. Didn’t have to be psychic to pick up on those kind of vibes. Maybe that was why she spent so much of her time alone outside of missions.

“Doing well, thank you,” she responded with a smile. It was nice of him to always ask how his people were doing, and he genuinely seemed to care. That quality was rare in upper management in general. Hale was different on many levels. He cared about them all, but at the same time kept everyone basically at arms’ length when it came to his own life. She knew a fair percentage of the female population of this place would love to get to know him on a more...intimate level. She certainly wouldn’t kick a man that gorgeous out of her bed. Not even so much as a rumor of an innocent work flirtation, though. If she didn’t know the man personally, she’d think there had to be something seriously wrong with him. Nope, not as far as she could tell anyway. Still, it was a damn shame...

Any slight irritation she might have felt by her potential partner’s lack of professionalism was instantly eclipsed when he actually turned around. Well damn if the front didn’t match or even exceed the rear. That was a feat in itself. Still, looking at sports news with the director of the agency in the same room? Not super smart. It seemed like this was something Hale was used to from this guy, though, considering the lack of real reprimand. They must know each other pretty well. And this guy Nick must be pretty damned good if he was putting up with it. Aurora was intrigued. And amused, especially when she noticed him checking her out very briefly before speaking. “Nice to meet you too.”

After listening to the mission, Aurora tilted her head to the side. This was different from the sort of tasks she was normally assigned. “You’re sending a telepath because… you think someone is still up there who might have information we need?” She normally didn’t like cold weather, but she was willing to put up with it for the short duration of this mission. Besides, if worst came to worst, there were always fun ways to keep warm… Ahem. Business. She had to stay focused on the mission. Nick’s next question made her chuckle. “Only terrorists don’t like beef jerky,” was her response. Terrorists and vegetarians. Same thing, really. Okay, that was probably a major exaggeration, but honestly… she couldn’t understand those people. Especially vegans. Meat was delicious. Their sad attempts at making meatless substitutes like bacon always made her shake her damn head. Of course there could be vegan dishes that were decent or even tasty. It was the imitation that irritated her. Eat plants if you want, despite the fact that humans had evolved as a species to be omnivorous. But the people who forced dogs and cats into vegan diets… definitely terrorists.

Maverick… Aurora smirked to herself. Until Hale made that comment, she’d had no idea who Nick was or what his powers might be. Now she knew exactly who he was. His reputation preceded him. She wanted to make some kind of comment to him, a request for him to just not shoot her. That probably wouldn’t be appropriate though, especially not in front of the Director. She didn’t know either of them well enough to be quite that casual. Not yet, anyway. Getting to know Nick on a much more intimate basis was now on her to-do list, even despite the rumors she’d heard about his lone wolf nature. She leaned forward a little to get a better look at the camera they were going to be placing up there. It shouldn’t be difficult to find a good place to put something that small. It did make her wonder how many of these tiny cameras populated the walls of this base. Probably hundreds.

So they were supposed to get together and do some get-to-know-you-type team building exercises tonight before they left in the morning. She couldn’t help but think there was one real quick way for them to get to know each other, but that thought was quickly pushed aside. No more dirty mind for right now. This was business. She nodded after hearing Nick’s suggestion, with a bit of a chuckle at his comment about beef jerky. “Good idea. Cold weather isn’t my cup of tea either, so I’ve got quite a bit of packing to do.” They probably wouldn’t be gone for that long, but she’d need lots of layers if she was going to get through this. She had to be strategic about what she packed though. Too many layers would mean extremely limited mobility. That would be dangerous if there was a potential enemy up there.

“Shouldn’t take me more than a couple hours. Where should we meet after?” There were a few spots in the Nest that Aurora liked to frequent, but there was also a large chunk of the base she’d never even been to. Obviously her temporary partner had different preferred hangout spots since she was pretty certain they’d never seen each other before. There was no way in hell she would have missed a glance at that ass, and even less of a chance she wouldn’t remember it. Even if she’d been drinking at the time. Things like that were too important to black out on.

Nick’s suggestions for where they could potentially meet up were luckily not too different than what she could have come up with herself. Food and drinks. There were few easier ways to get to know someone than sitting across the table from them in one way or another. And getting to know him would make it much easier for Aurora to communicate with him telepathically if that power of hers ever became necessary. Of course she didn’t plan on invading his mind without his consent. In order for him to give that consent, though, he had to get to know her a bit and give her a certain amount of trust. Hale really knew what he was doing, giving them that order.

Aurora considered her options while the Director exited the room, leaving the two of them alone. “Food should probably come first. I haven’t eaten much today, and you don’t need to see me get that drunk on the first day…” Drinking on an empty stomach was usually not a good idea. Aurora didn’t tend to be much of a drinker anyway. It could make her powers...unpredictable. There were too many times that her walls had come down a little bit and she’d heard things from other people’s minds that she hadn’t intended. Usually that was not a good thing. “So mess hall in about two hours? We can always hit the bar later if we feel like we need more time to… how did Hale put it? Build up co-existence?” She wondered whether or not his personality was really like the rumors made it out to be. He seemed pretty amicable so far, so it was a little hard to believe. Yet there was usually a reason for someone to have a certain kind of reputation, so she didn’t doubt he had at least a certain amount of that loner mentality. Maybe blown out of proportion by the rumor mill, but it was probably there.

Mess hall seemed like a very good idea, the more she thought about it. After all, who could resist the lure of brownies? Not her, that was for sure. Chocolate was its own section on the food pyramid as far as she was concerned.

Aurora liked to drink, but she didn’t get drunk very often. Sometimes it made it much more difficult for her to keep other people’s thoughts out of her head. It could get really confusing up there, and had often led to some awkward situations. That was the main reason why when she drank, she usually drank alone. These days she found herself doing most things alone. It was just easier that way. Maybe Hale had seen that, and that was why he was sending her off on a mission with a partner. Not just any partner either, but one who apparently also didn’t play well with others. So far they seemed to have quite a bit in common.

She smirked when he mentioned how fun it might be to see her drunk, an expression which did not fade in the slightest after he admitted his own social tendencies while inebriated. “Well, drinking together and making fools out of ourselves is a pretty good way to build up our bond. That will make it easier to link up while on mission if we decide we don’t want to use coms.” The closer they got, the easier it would be for her power to link their minds. Potentially to the point that they could have clear conversations over a great distance, but she'd never reached that point with anyone yet. There were a couple of much faster ways to improve the link, but Aurora very much doubted that was what the director had in mind when he ordered them to build some coexistence. “We’ll probably end up at the bar either way. Lewd doesn’t scare me.” Little did he know that she also had that tendency, depending on what she drank. That meant things had the potential to get very interesting if they didn’t watch themselves. She figured that if nothing else, she would be the one to keep her head on straight considering what the consequences might be otherwise.

It didn’t take her long to pack her warm clothes, though she did occasionally get distracted by thoughts of what looked better on her, aesthetically speaking. Ugh. So what if Nick was hot? The odds were against him even wanting to speak to her again after this mission was over. Her power tended to scare people off, and she was used to that. Why was she even bothering to hope this guy might be different? Fuck it. Time to meet up. She was actually a little early, about fifteen minutes or so. She half expected him to not be there yet, but that was where she was wrong. “Handsome guy in the corner, I presume?” He certainly was that and more. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“Oh, thank you!” Aurora was surprised when Nick rose to pull her chair out for her. Who said chivalry was dead? She smiled to herself as she watched him make his way back to the other side of the table and resume sitting. At least partially because it gave her a chance to get another glance at that perfect ass of his. Like damn, that should be illegal. Okay, focus Aurora. Food came first. “Oh, okay good. I’m starved.” She took a look at the menu to figure out what she wanted to eat. Sometimes she had a hard time choosing. “Any recommendations? Other than the brownies of course, which I’m totally getting.” If he had a suggestion it might help her choose, but also you could learn something about people by the kind of food they liked. Food wasn’t as personal a choice as something like your favorite music or movie, but every little bit that helped the two of them get to know each other was a good thing.

Where was she from? Well, that was probably the most logical first question to ask. “New Orleans,” she replied with a small but slightly sad smile on her face. It had been a long time since she’d been back there. Eagle’s Nest kept her busy. Besides, it wasn’t home for her anymore. She didn’t really have one now. “I was on vacation up here when the Omega attacked, so I guess that’s how I got my powers. Freaked my family out pretty bad when I got back home, then I came back to find answers and Hale found me.” The Director and the team here at the Nest had been instrumental when it came to helping her control her powers, but it had taken time to get her to the point where she could go out into the field. That was why she was still a relatively new agent.

“So what about you? Where are you from? How’d you end up here?” She’d told him a decent chunk of her story, but of course there were always those details you left out when you didn’t want to scare someone off. Normally Aurora didn’t care as much, but she wanted to get along with Nick. Not just for the sake of the mission either, although that aspect was definitely there. She liked him so far. Their personalities seemed to mesh well. It made her curious about how much further that could go.

Aurora laughed. “Thank goodness. The kind of guy who eats duck l’orange is a little too fancy for me.” She’d known a few guys like that back home, and they didn’t get along well. At least it seemed so far like she and Nick wouldn’t have any problems working together. She hoped that would be the case, at least. She wanted to prove the Director right, that she was ready to get out into the field more often. There hadn’t been an incident involving her powers in quite a while now thanks to the training she’d gotten here. “Oooh maybe I’ll get a cheeseburger. With bacon. And avocado. Mmmm…” She was just making herself hungry at this point. Luckily Nick was right, and Dezi made her way over to grab their orders. Aurora of course ordered her burger, making sure to get some fries as well. Can’t have one without the other.

“Right? The universe works in mysterious ways.” At first, Aurora had thought of her powers as a curse. It had seemed like she would never be able to control them. Having to leave New Orleans had been a huge blow. It seemed like the end of the world for a 20-year old girl who knew nothing else, had never lived anywhere else. How would she rebuild her life when even her family rejected her? Despair had taken her back to Sapphire City, back to where her problems started. Lots had changed for her in the five years since then. She had to believe there was a reason for all the pain she’d experienced. For the powers she’d been given. Intuition told her that staying at the Eagle’s Nest and working for Hale would lead her to her purpose. Hopefully she was right.

The way he talked about his past made her smile. It seemed like he had a lot of good memories from back then. Even the attack didn’t seem to bring him down too much. It was interesting for her that they had that even in common too as the source of their powers. “Yeah, I guess we are.” Dezi brought their drinks over, and Aurora immediately took a sip of her vanilla milkshake. Mmm, delicious. “So you said your sister was the athlete of the family. Did she get injured or something?” she asked, curious as to why Nick had spoken of his sister’s basketball skill in the past tense. It would really be too bad if something had happened and she couldn’t play anymore. Injuries were pretty common in sports, though, unfortunately.