Late-Night Coding (Wisdom)

[Sage]

Sage sat at her desk in the classroom, her virtual computer pulled up in front of her. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard, entering lines and lines of code that should hopefully serve to crash the computers in Famine's base. They needed a distraction to draw her out? Well, hopefully crashing her entire base (hopefully literally, not just figuratively) would serve to draw her out... where they would then ambush her and kill her.

She could see the flaws in the plan. She hated that this was the best idea that they could come up with. They had spent countless hours trying to come up with something better and with more positive odds, but to no avail. She was rather wary of bringing some of the students along, ever since what happened back in Washington, D.C. five years ago. But they needed a teleporter for instant transportation and as many hard hitters as they could get... so there wasn't any choice in the manner.

She shook her head, pausing for a moment to rub her temples and then peer over at the clock on the wall. She'd been working on this for hours and it was now late at night, but she couldn't rest until she created the computer virus that would hopefully be the start of the end of Apocalypse.

[wisdom]

Sage wasn’t the only one up at this godforsaken hour, Pete, too, had yet to find some semblance of sleep. Instead the former spy found himself prowling the halls, taking full advantage of the late hour to smoke, the familiar sensation of anxiety that he got before every mission swam through his head. His top lip curled back in distaste and he took a long, slow draw on the thin, cancerous stick of nicotine delight held firmly between his thumb and right index finger in an attempt to settle his nerves. He’d sent people to die before, sometimes even on purpose, yet dragging his former students into this operation weighed heavily on his seldom used conscience.

Pete halted midstride as he caught sight of Sage out of the corner of his eye as he passed her classroom, backtracking slightly to stand in the doorway. His exact nature of his relationship with the beautiful technopath was a mystery to many, and mostly consisted of light flirting, a few outings, and a lengthy string of not-so-one night stands. That wasn’t to imply he didn’t care for the woman in question, in fact it was very much the opposite, it was just that being together like this suited both of them in many ways, allowing them to have the benefits of being in a relationship without actually being in one.

“You’re up late, luv.” He spoke, gesturing to the virtual computer in front of her with a slight grimace. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have some skills in that department, (you didn’t serve with MI6 and not learn a few tricks here and there,) it was just the simple fact that, given the choice between technology and the old fashioned approach, Wisdom went with the latter every time. He did however envy her prodigious skill, especially considering the sheer amount of times it had proven to be useful during a mission, having saved his bacon more times than he could count. “Any further luck?”

[Sage]

Sage tucked a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear, then smiled slightly as she turned to face Pete.

"Not the only one up late though, aren't I?" she responded, waving her hand over the computer and dismissing it. She wasn't surprised to see him though- she knew he felt just as strongly as she did about the mission and what it entailed. Had she not been working on this virus, she probably would have been reprogramming the Danger Room from scratch- anything that would settle the nerves, just as he was.

“If by luck you mean twenty-three ways that won’t work?” she continued, then sighed and shook her head. “There’s got to be a better way. I just need more time…”

[wisdom]

“True enough. But I’ve never really been much for sleeping anyway.” He replied, matching her smile with a thin, tired one of his own as he moved away from the doorway and into the classroom. Even without the foreboding he had about sending students into the upcoming fight the former spy probably wouldn’t of found rest, his mind buzzing with the details and trying to isolate any problems beforehand. “’sides, you know what they say, Tess. Sleep is merely a symptom of caffeine deprivation.”

“And it's better to find those twenty-three ways that don’t work now then later, luv. You’ll find it” Pete said with a small shrug. There was no hint of doubt in his tone of voice as he said that, he truly did believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that if there was a way to create a viable computer virus, Sage would be the one to do it. “You haven’t let us down before, and this time will be no different. It’ll come to you.”

[Sage]

“There are much better things to be doing at night than sleeping.” Sage replied with a smirk. She tilted her head to the side as he continued, her smirk softening into another slight smile. He had so much faith in her… and although it was the truth (she was the best, after all), it was still nice to hear.

She sighed quietly, looking down at her hands which she clenched into fists, thinking back to what happened five years ago. True, she had been hurt- but her injuries had healed in a couple of months. Kelly, though, had been in a wheelchair for a year… and this fight had the potential to be much, much worse. “Is this really the right thing, to bring them along?” Pete would know who she was talking about.

It wasn’t like Sage to keep second guessing herself like this. She had run through this scenario, plus the other plans they had come up with, through her head over and over again. This plan had the highest chance for success… But there was still a significant risk that they would be injured or worse.

[wisdom]

“Oh, and what might these things be exactly?” Wisdom replied with a matching smirk adorning his face as he approached the woman’s desk. Of course the smirk slowly began to vanish as reality sunk back in and ruthlessly usurped the flirtatious atmosphere, disappearing all together as Sage spoke up once more and gave voice to the same question that was running in his mind.

He wordlessly taking her hands in his and slowly uncurled them so that her palms were face up and visible, his expression turning unreadable as he regarded them quietly for several long and drawn out moments. He refused to meet her gaze with his own when he finally did speak up, his voice kept at a steady and neutral level that didn’t betray the inner turmoil that was whizzing around his head. Not that it probably mattered, besides being a telepath Sage probably knew him all too well and probably knew exactly what was going through his mind. “Depends on what answer you want to hear, luv. Should we get them involved? No. Do we have to get them involved? Yes. We can’t do this without them, instead we’ll just have to hope... No, know that we can keep them safe.”

“We won’t lose anyone.” He added softly, suddenly feeling each very much older than he was. When it came down to it, this was going to be his responsibility to make the call to have them on the team. He couldn’t ask anyone to share that cross with him, no matter how much he wished it were possible. “We can’t lose anyone.”

Oh how he wished it were possible.

[Sage]

On any other night, their banter and that smirk of his probably would have led them to either one of their bedrooms- or even on the occasional desk. Not tonight, though. Not when the shadow of what they needed to do hung over them...

Sage looked down at her own hands, brushing her thumb across his. She could still see the faint scars on her right hand left by the electrical burn- a permanent reminder of what she had done and what she had failed to do. She swore to herself that she would never let that happen again...

"We have to keep them safe." she replied softly, once Pete finally spoke. "We have no choice in the matter." She continued, turning her hands over so her palms were down. She squeezed his hands gently as he continued.

"You're not alone in this, you know." She answered simply. It was true, she did know him well enough to know what was running through her head without using her telepathy.