09. wake me up - EpsonJace
He awoke to his own coughing fit, his dry tongue choking him as he drew his eyebrows together in a wince. Absolutely caked in a coating of something that felt like sand and dust together, Jace huffed out a small moan at the stiffness throughout his limbs.
“Ah, it would seem you’re awake.” The smooth, familiar voice mere inches above his face jerked him upright, snapped into awareness. It was dark, a swirling haze of dust clouding what little light filtered down through collapsed… parts of a building? Still, he could mostly make out the other person kneeling in front of him, straddled over his lower legs and having moved back just slightly when he sat up.
“Epson!” Jace hissed out between his teeth when opening his mouth too wide threatened to crack his lips into bleeding.
Without missing a beat, a smile twisted into his words, Epson simply said “You look cute all scratched up like this.” Of course. Of course that was the sort of thing Epson would say in a situation that clearly didn’t benefit either of them.
“As if you can even see me in this light…” Jace took in a long, shaky breath to test his ribs -everything was sore, but it didn’t seem as if anything had broken - and attempted to pull his legs back to his chest. However, with Epson still sitting on his lower legs, the attempt just jostled Epson. “Where are we?”
If he got Epson talking, maybe he could make him focus on other things and get some distance between them.
Instead of taking his gaze off of Jace, Epson tilted his head. “Oh dear, I believe you may have hit your head. This is often the aftermath of an explosion, right? Luckily, we managed to make it into a slightly more structurally sound area.” Despite his words, Epson’s tone remained light. They could have died, and he wasn’t fazed in any way.
Jace didn’t even really remember what came after the initial shock and rumble, now that he thought about it. Had Epson dragged him here?
“Well, of course. No one but I am allowed to kill you.”
Crap. Had he asked out loud?
Once again, he attempted to tug his legs towards himself, and this time, Epson actually let him take his legs back. “You need to work on that creepy attitude,” he muttered, even though he knew full well that Epson was never going to be different. As he shifted back from Epson a few paces, he looked around the makeshift room they were inside.
Drey had come with him, hadn’t he? They had separated shortly before he’d encountered Epson, but surely he was still nearby. If his partner had still been around, he could have been hurt in the blast. Jace reached for his phone, relieved to find that it had not been damaged. He would have to thank all of the tech guys for making such reliable stuff for him.
The other line was picked up after only one ring. “Jace, are you alright?” He let a small, fond smile reach his lips, but quickly smoothed his words with a confident, calm tone.
“Of course I’m good. As is something like this could bring me down. Though, I do need to figure out an exit from where I am. Everything here is collapsed.” As he spoke, he kept his eyes on Epson, who had stood up at some point. He casually moved about, pressing his hand here or there on the walls that were still standing.
“I would tell you to not do anything too crazy, but that’s how you do some of your best work.” He could hear the smirk in Drey’s voice. Right, they’d been in worse scrapes before. And besides, he had Epson, the obvious culprit, in his sights. This time, the terrorist wouldn’t be able to get out of being taken into custody. ”In any case,” Drey continued, “I managed to get outside, and we’re working on getting as many out as we can.”
“Well, focus on the civilians, and I’ll let you know if I’m unable to find a way out.” Drey made a slight sound of agreement, and Jace heard someone talking to him. “I’ll see you in a bit, Drey.” Without waiting for an answer, Jace snapped his phone shut.