To Pick Up the Pieces Ch16 preview
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Jaime’s heart thundered against his chest. Not from exertion, Artemis and he hadn’t been running or fighting; they’d been walking at a lax pace. His heart was not beating from adrenaline in the classic sense. There was no fighting, no immediate danger. That was the keyword.
Immediate.
If Slade were to know he was being followed, then there’d be danger. Very much immediate and future. The thought that this decision might come back to bite his family in the ass was winding Jaime tighter than the steel cable of an anchor. He just hoped he wouldn’t snap under the pressure.
As if sensing his troubled mind, Artemis squeezed his hand. Their fingers were still entwined; and she pulled him this way and that, taking the brunt of the mental load of balancing distance from their target, and looking like a young couple out on the town.
Jaime was slightly unnerved by her ability to look like she was genuinely enjoying herself while tracking down the world’s best mercenary. She’d stop here and there, chatting with a clerk or a passerby as they advanced too slowly for Jaime’s taste.
Artemis showed him some knickknack from a stall, but his eyes were focused on Slade’s retreating form down the street. She exchanged words with the clerk, who perked up at the sight of customer who wasn’t brain dead. Slade was almost out of sight. Jaime’s hand tightened instinctively, and after maybe a minute Artemis was only now putting down the bauble she’d been holding.
“He always like this?” said the clerk, a woman between Jaime and Artemis in age.
“Oh, no. He caught me in bed with his brother,” Artemis replied deadpan, catching Jaime’s attention as she dragged him away to follow their target.
“What?!” Jaime and the clerk asked at the same time.
She picked up the pace, the two almost running down the street, noting the corner Slade took. Two streets down, on the left. Jaime slowed to a brisk walk, Artemis following suit and slowing down further as they neared the corner.
Jaime prayed to God that Slade wasn’t standing just around the corner, waiting for them. Knowing his luck, that’s exactly what would happen.
Artemis peeked around the red brick building. Her shoulders dropped a fraction, and Jaime panicked. Rushing around her, Jaime turned the corner.
“He’s gone!” Jaime swore. Gone… and worse, the scarab wasn’t pinging anything. No heat signatures. No cloaked vehicles. No digital trace. It was like Slade had never existed.
Jaime clenched his jaw, muscles flexing painfully as he sent out a request to the scarab; look everywhere, he pleaded, and felt the fire in his nerves as the world twisted in the telltale fisheye distortion of the scarab’s full sight for a second.
A second was all he managed; without suiting up, the scarab had less of an interface to connect with to upgrade Jaime’s senses.
The street was empty. Not ‘empty’ as in Slade being gone, no; it was oddly devoid of life. Not a single person waiting for a bus that was late, a car burning a red light, or even a cab waiting for a customer. No stalls. Just a strip of cement with shops.
It looked like a movie set after hours.
“He must’ve known someone was trailing him,” Artemis mumbled, joining him. Her shoulders were tense, and Jaime could read wariness in her coiled muscles.
Alert.
Like they stepped into a trap.
Jaime’s blood ran cold. The hair on the back of neck rose with a shiver as his eyes scanned the street over and over, looking for a hint, a clue; anything. As if some spell had been broken by Artemis’ words, people rounded the corner behind them, and the street started filling up as normal. People exited the shops and a bus came from down the hill.
“You’re vibrating,” Artemis whispered to him.
Jaime’s eyes snapped into focus. “Of course I’m fucking vibrating!” he growled at her. “We lost him! He was right there!”
Artemis tugged at his hand to make him face her. Reluctantly, he turned. “Hey, it was lucky we even bumped into him. Nothing happened, and as far as Slade goes, that’s for the best.” Her words were kind, but her tone was tight; Jaime could tell she hated losing her prey just as much as Jaime, if not more.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Jaime replied darkly. “You’re not the one being hunted.”
She stepped closer. “You’re not alone in this, Jaime, you-“
“You’re right,” Jaime cut her off. “We don’t even know if he clocked us. My family could be in danger, because-“ He stopped himself.
“Do not blame yourself for this,” she chided him. “Aside from maybe Nightwing, I’m the best tracker on this team and he escaped me, too. We’ll find him and put a stop to this.” She inched closer, caressed his cheek with her free hand.
Jaime forced himself not to recoil. He couldn’t look at Artemis, let alone reply properly. Instead he just hummed a sound between a grunt of acknowledgment or a groan.
Mollified, or at least appearing to be, Artemis started walking, gently tugging him along. “Come on, let’s get you home. ‘S that sound good?”
“Sure,” he sighed, still not looking at her.
Jaime spent most of their walk with a dark cloud over him. Angry, scared thoughts echoing in his head, as the city soundscape was replaced by a piercing headache; not the usual vague buzzing, alert at every possibility, but rather a laser-focused ringing that pointed one way. Artemis. He hated himself for thinking this, but if she’d been tailing Slade properly instead of slowly meandering throughout the damn market, they would’ve caught him escaping around the corner.
If he’d been allowed to suit up, he could’ve used his sensors to track him.
Instead, what was supposed to be a fun afternoon with the girl he liked turned out to be a nightmare.
Artemis had tried to initiate conversation with him once or twice, but Jaime pointedly ignored her attempts to lighten the mood; his mind elsewhere, focused on his family’s safety.
“We should hurry,” he said at length, sounding more tired than he had in weeks. Picking up the pace, he slipped his fingers from Artemis’.
She slowed to a stop, Jaime didn’t.
“Jaime,” she called out to him, firmly but not unkindly.
Jaime slowed to a stop, hands shaking, she caught up to him. “I know you’re worried about your family,” she started, putting a hand on his chest. “I am too.” Her voice was so soft, so gentle. It sounded like a confession, like she shouldn’t be worried for them.
He looked away. “It’s not just that,” he mumbled.
“Tell me,” she asked.
Mulling it over, he led her over to a bench and sat down like a man who lost everything. He felt like it, like he was losing himself. Jaime was not an angry, vengeful person. He didn’t have hurtful thoughts. He chose not to, chose to follow in his parents’ footsteps. The Reyes were kind people, no matter how hard of a decision it was to be nice in the face of pain and anger.
So why did he feel like yelling at Artemis? He felt like making sure she knew he blamed her for losing Slade. More than the anger and fear, Jaime was confused and uneasy about even having those thoughts and emotions. They needed to come out.
Finally, he sighed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Earlier,” he began, voice deliberately soft. “When we… when you, uh…” He paused, trying to gather himself not to verbally bite her head off.
He felt her gentle hand on his back. She left a hot trail of desire and annoyance as she trailed circles that were supposed to calm him. His heartbeat picked up the speed.
“Jaime,” she said, cutting through his thoughts with her tone more than his name. “I’m… I’m sorry, I should’ve said something sooner.”
His head shot up to look at her. His mouth opened, then closed right away. He wanted to speak but wasn’t sure what to say. She was bathed in golden light, and her eyes were open in a way he hadn’t been privy to, not since their date.
Artemis was being vulnerable with him.
“Are you… a mind reader?” he asked at length, puzzled.
She offered a small, sad smile. “No, but it’s been on my mind since it happened.” Her eyes and her fingers trailed to his shoulder, where she picked at a loose thread. “I was actually hoping you would bring it up.”
That puzzled him further. “I didn’t even think you noticed,” he admitted, feeling ashamed. Of course she would be able to read him like that, to know he was angry at her; and that the anger was tormenting him.
Gentle, lithe fingers softly reached for his chin, nudging him to look at her. Their noses almost brushed against each other, and Jaime felt her breath on him. His sight was filled with her steely greys, her long eyelashes; eyes usually filled with fury were not open and gentle. Brittle, almost.
“How could I not notice?” she whispered, and Jaime’s eyes fluttered shut for a moment. “The sparks, the… heat.”
What? Heat? His eyes opened slowly, confused, searching hers for a hint. Her beautiful eyes were crinkled with her grin - not a smirk, and not those soft small smiles reserved for the quiet moments together. She looked almost… giddy.
Artemis was glowing, the pink hue on her cheeks deepening in the golden setting sun’s light. “Jaime, that kiss… It meant something to me, more than just a cover.”
Jaime’s breath hitched. Her fingers moved from his chin down to his neck, holding onto him with her thumb gently rubbing over his pulses; every motion shooting up his beats per minute. Blood rushed through his veins, and Jaime lost sight and sound of the world.
Rather, his world focused to her; everything else faded to a mere afterthought.
“Tell me,” she asked in a whisper, voice not quite pleading. Almost ordering, as if she knew what his reply would be already. “Tell me you feel the same, Jaime.”
The anger that was burning was replaced by another emotion, another fire that blazed much more hotly; wildfire in comparison to a sun flare.
Jaime’s mouth parted, but no words came out. His eyes were fixed to hers, and thoughts of his family faded for a moment. He knew this wasn’t the time. That thinking about Artemis like this, wanting this, was selfish. But… Just for now, he thought, pleading to himself, to the world. Just for now, let me have this.
His fingers twitched, halting once hesitantly as his hand made its way to cradle her cheek . Just a flicker of tension. He didn’t know if this would fix anything—or just make it worse.
