WIRED (dan howell au)

chapter twenty-seven ~ trustworthy

A tall man with short black hair and glasses opens the door. His head is just barely touching the top of the doorframe.
"Hey hon." Claudia says. He bends down slightly and kisses her forehead. This must be-
"Hazel, this is Robert, my husband."

"Um, Claude? Who is she? What is she doing here?" His voice is quite deep, but you can hear a hint of panic in it.

"This is Hazel. I met her while I was out on the food run this morning. Don't worry, we can trust her." She's enthusiastic about me being here. The tension in Robert's face washes off... well, most of it does.

He looks Claudia straight in the eye. "Can I talk to you?" He glances at me quickly and I realize that they are going to discuss whether or not I should be here.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" She steps inside and turns to me before closing the door, "Mind if you stay here for a second?" I nod my head.

Can these people trust me? Can I trust them?

I know I can trust Claudia right now. But if she does turn on me, I have the upper hand. I'm much younger and probably faster-

No. I shouldn't be thinking this. Nothing can go wrong right now, I can feel it.

But, if Robert helps, he can probably take me out. He looks muscular and I'm way shorter than him. He's probably even taller than Dan...

I should stop.

I try to eavesdrop on the conversation. I can't hear much, they are probably whispering. Robert raises his voice and I clearly hear what he says. "But what if she's working for COI?"

My fathers company?

My fathers good for nothing, pain in the ass, worthless, stupid company?

They are worried that I'm working with him?!

I laugh at what he just said. Why would I want to work for someone like him? He's a son of a bitch that can't tell between what's right and wrong or up and down. He's a fucking psychopath and I wouldn't work for him in a million years.

Claudia and Robert open the door.

Claudia has a sad look on her face... What did they talk about?

"Hazel... I'm going to need to ask you some questions. I'm sorry I didn't think this through." I can't tell if that last sentence was for me or Robert.

"It's no problem. Really."

She smiles, "Okay, come on in. Just be quiet, everyone is still asleep. And if you wake Gabe up, he will not hesitate to kill anyone who disturbed him from his beauty sleep." I chuckle even though I don't know who she's taking about.

We walk in and she directs me over to a room across from where I am now. I look around me and there are five people sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. They are all huddled around a fireplace. Two sleeping bags on the outside are empty.

Once we reach the room, Claudia turns on the light and we sit down on creaky old chairs placed around an equally old table. Everything is covered in a small layer of dust, looks like it hasn't been used in a while.

Robert and Claudia are seated on the opposite side of the table. I'm alone on my side.

I take a quick glance at Robert. I didn't realize he was so attractive-

"So, Hazel." Claudia snaps me out of my trance. I must've been staring a little too long. Shit. My face goes red and I look down to conceal it, pretending to be interested in fidgeting with my hands.

"Do you know a man who goes by the name James?" She continues.

I look back up after the heat from my face disappears a little.

"James? That's a bit vague, don't you think?" I know they are talking about my father. I'm going to have to pretend I don't know him so they can trust me. It's not like I'm going to turn against them. I'm glad I've got a chance at making some allies... friends.

"Do you know anyone with that name?" Robert speaks up.

"No. I don't."

Lies. You are full of lies, Hazel.

"Do you know the Cyber Operating Industries?" Claudia's turn.

"I do. Why?"

"How do you know of it?" Robert asks.

I look down and hang my head. "Someone working for it... he killed my family." The image of my mom and brother dying flash in my mind.

I here a sharp intake of breath, causing me to look up. "You poor thing. I'm so sorry to hear that." Claudia looks like she actually cares. Does she? No one has given me much sympathy in my life.

"Do you know why we're asking these questions?" It feels like Robert is interrogating me. Like, he's bad cop and Claudia is good cop.

"No, I don't."

He runs a hand through his messy hair and answers, "Because the boss of COI has made these creations who seem like ordinary people. We met one a few years back. Maybe 2 years ago?" He looks at Claudia and she nods. "Yeah, 2 years ago. We trusted it. We believed that it trusted us. One day, we woke up and Gabe's son was gone, along with that... that thing. Just disappeared, the two of them. We went looking for Gabe's son, Al, straight away. Later that night we found nothing but a trail of blood leading to the corpse of Al. We were lured into a trap and it tried to take us out. We managed to gather the information that it was made to kill all humans. It was programmed to get us to trust it so it'd be easier to kill us. We destroyed it eventually. But we were all badly injured. Good thing we have Leilani around or else we'd probably be dead by now.

So, you see? There's these things roaming around out there with the mutants and with the same intentions. I don't know why the guy who started COI thought it'd be a good idea." He slams his hand of the table, "If I meet him one day, I will murder him for what he's done to us."

He's speaking the truth. There's fire in his eyes. Eyes hungry for revenge. I've seen it before many times.

In my own eyes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A/N:

Oh man oh man oh man. This chapter was kinda fun to write! Idk why, I've been reading some good fanfics lately and it's inspired me? And if you're wondering how much longer this will go on, I'd say there's at least 8-15 chapters before I finish? Aiming to get at least 35.

Hope you are enjoying!
-Han