Dan was hydrated and rested before late afternoon. And when that happened, he immediately got out of bed and told Phil he needed to see Louise. He was done lying around and healing and letting other people do his job for him.
Jesus. It was the little things with leading a team.
Now showered and in clean clothes, Dan walked briskly through the halls of the facility to find Louise. Phil assured him she was in her office, that she hadn't left since he was taken. He made it all the way up the stairs without loosing his breath, which was surprising because that meant he was more in shape than he was when he first arrived. That meant his training was working. That was basically the best news he's heard in a few days.
Dan didn't knock on the door when they arrived at the office; he just strode right in and up to Louise. Phil was only a few steps behind, his hand intertwined with Dan's. In the small room, Louise and Jim looked very busy. There was a blood pressure cuff around Jim's right bicep, and he sat on the desk while Louise looked very interested in her computer screen. Jim noticed them right away and waved a little, but it took Dan clearing his throat for Louise to look up.
"Dan!" she squealed, bolting up, "You're okay!"
She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed, and he let out a soft 'oof' at the impact but didn't fall over. He put his free arm around Louise to hug her back but the other one stayed firmly in Phil's grasp, as neither of them was quite ready to let go yet.
"Yes, I'm okay. What are you doing in here?" he asked as she stepped away.
"We're studying Jim's blood. He let me take a sample and all went swimmingly," Louise said, adding the last part as if she could hear Dan's heart lurch uncomfortably, "I found a few abnormalities."
He tilted his head curiously and Phil piped up, "Like what?"
"Well, first of all, heightened blood pressure," she replied and Jim helpfully held up the arm with the cuff on it, "While it's not exactly unhealthy, it's a bit of a concern considering the blood was forcibly mutated. I've also been closely moderating the sample I took to make sure it wouldn't mutate further."
Dan passed a look over at Phil. He looked equally as worried. "Is that possible?" the former asked.
Louise took a breath. "I'm not sure. It could, especially if Jim were to be put in another high stress situation. But there's no saying what could happen to him," she said.
"So..." Dan said slowly, trying to understand.
"If Jim were to be in a life-threatening situation at any point in the future, his mutation could get out of control because his body is now conditioned to react that way," she supplied.
Jim interjected. "So I could die."
"You'd probably die," Louise corrected.
Huffing sharply, Dan shook his head. "The point of the experiments was to make the mutations further adapt for self preservation. So why wouldn't that keep happening? Why wouldn't the mutation keep him from dying?" he said. Just talking about what he went through caused a spark of anxiety to flare up in his chest. He was glad Phil's hand was still in his, so he had something to focus on.
"I've thought about that too. I tried it with Jim's blood sample," continued Louise, "His mutation isn't natural, like the lot of us. In nearly every case, you and I would keep mutating to stay alive. But Jim's body isn't prepared for that, so if his blood were to mutate further it wouldn't be able to react fast enough. So, that spells coma, if he's lucky, or death."
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jim said sardonically.
Dan took in another steadying breath. It was shakier than it should have been. He knew for a fact that Jim wasn't the only agent who was, well, infected with mutated blood. "There's a lot of you, aren't there?" he asked.
Solemn, Jim nodded. "And I don't think any of the MI5 scientists have figured this out," he said.
Once again Dan and Phil exchanged a look. Dan gave a little nod. "We need to do something. Those agents can't be sent out into combat just to have their own bodies turn against them," Phil said.
"You're not going to get anywhere near them," said Jim, "Page hoarded us for special ops. When we did go out on missions, they were short and bloody. When we weren't doing that we were training. Besides, most of the others think their powers are great."
Louise snapped her fingers and hurried over to her computer. "What kind of powers did your colleagues get?" she asked.
The agent pursed his lips, thinking. "A lot of them got invulnerability like I did. Others got x-ray vision, or the ability to pass through walls," he said.
"Is that all?" asked Louise while she typed.
"That's all."
They were all silent for a few minutes while they let Louise figure it out. Obviously she saw something that they didn't, but that wasn't surprising. Dan didn't know where they would be without their resident super genius.
"Of course," Louise said, cutting into the silence, "There's a range of three possible powers for enhanced MI5 agents to get. Three mutations and three mutants who gave blood. So that suggests-"
"Each blood sample is different," Phil interrupted, as if the thought was just coming to him, "We're not all mutated in the same way."
Louise nodded. "Precisely. Here's what I'm gathering; Jim and those with his power were given blood from Jack. All of Jack's senses are hypersensitive, including touch, so the invulnerability just comes from the gene the mutation attached to, causing the opposite to happen. The x-ray vision must come from Tanya, and the passing through walls from Troye."
Phil sighed. "What are their powers then?" he asked. Sometimes Louise thought so fast that she assumed others could read her mind. She and Marcus must have odd conversations.
"Tanya has tried her best to explain it to me, but I think she can manipulate visible light. She makes herself invisible by making the light around her invisible so she can't be seen," she said, still typing at her computer, "And Troye can produce clones. They're not /actual/ clones, they're illusions, so they look real without actually being real. That's where the phasing through walls comes from. All the genes are just slightly different."
Suddenly Dan went rigid. "They have my blood too," he said, "If they use that on the agents it would create an entirely new power."
Louise nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. I have no idea what that could be," she replied.
"Well, whatever it is, it's not going to be as simple as the others. My abilities came to me hard and fast and I set a lot of things on fire before I came here," Dan said worriedly, "We have to destroy the samples. We're not stopping the atrocities when they have ways of duplicating our genes, even without the enzyme."
Phil tugged on Dan's hand. "You want to go back?" he asked.
Louise and Jim looked on expectantly. The thought of even seeing the Thames building again kind of made Dan want to vomit, but he didn't see another way. This was their original mission, now with a second part. "We have to. I don't see another way," he replied.
Phil squeezed Dan's hand again, getting his attention. "Let's talk to the team before we make a definite decision, okay?" he said gently. Dan nodded his head. Naturally, he was right.
About a half hour later, the rest of the team had been filled in on everything they needed to know, which could be put under 'the shit our fucktwit government is really up to' according to Dan. They explained the experiments, the blood samples, and the enhanced agents. That apparently cleared up a lot of awkwardness between Jim and the others, because they had previously no idea why he was there. And after all that, Dan told them all he wanted was to go back and destroy the blood samples so they couldn't turn anymore agents.
"What are we going to do about the ones who already have powers?" Alfie asked.
Dan shook his head. "I haven't gotten that far yet, I just need to know what you all think about going back into London. But, Jim says the enhanced agents are kept very busy and it would be hard to get to them," he said.
"Most of them are completely sided with the prime minister," Jim added.
Alfie nodded and Marcus put up his hand to attract attention. "I think we should all go. Just storm the Thames building," he said.
"That brings back the risk of making everyone even more afraid of us," Phil said, "Imagine it; a group of super powered strangers attack a government building? It would be terrifying for your everyday Londoner."
Dan crossed his arms, staring at the wall. Once again, Phil had a point. But Dan really didn't see another option. Obviously sneaking in wasn't going to get them anywhere, as now they've done it and that's predictable. And he wasn't about to let anyone else get taken; as it was too horrible and it would put them all back at square one.
"I agree with you, Dan," Marcus said, jolting his attention to the telepath. Obviously he had heard Dan's thoughts. "I don't see another way to end it all for good. Does anyone else have an idea?"
Dan and Phil each surveyed the room. No one said anything for several minutes. There were no other ideas. "So we do it. Siege MI5," said Phil.
"It's up to you, boys," Zoe told them from her place beside Alfie. They were also constantly touching now, Dan noticed.
Dan looked at Phil, who was already looking in his direction. Dan raised his eyebrows in question. He knew Phil really didn't want anyone else to hate them, whether it be because they were different or because of their actions. But if Dan knew him, and he did, he knew Phil would see the severity of the situation. So, just as he was hoping, Phil nodded once.
"It's a plan, then," Dan said, turning back to the room full of their counsel, "We're going to attack the Thames building. As a team. We'll figure out details later when we can get everyone in one room to discuss."
There were nods all around. That's when Jim hopped off of the desk he was sitting on, getting everyone's attention. "I think this is a good time to remind you, Hawk and Dove, that none of you are trained to even hope to bring down an MI5 agent. I can help there," he said.
"Fine," said Dan, "You can start hand to hand combat training tomorrow. It'll be a, uh, rather large class."
"Anyone else have an idea?" Phil asked the room.
A hand went up in the corner of the room. PJ. "I think I have just the thing to help us out with this plan."
Soon they were all outside in the junkyard. It was drizzling and slightly chilly, but PJ ensured them that this was 'integral to the invasion plan'. So they braved it, even through Dan's incessant grumbling that it was messing up his hair. PJ had one of his tablets (how many he had actually made, no one had any idea) out and ready to go, and he seemed completely unconcerned by the rain.
"Now, these are prototypes, but I'm quite proud of the way they turned out. There are only two, so take turns," he said. Before anyone could ask any questions PJ had tapped something on his tablet, and the sound of engines revving echoed off the hills.
From around a couple wrecked cars, two motorbikes driving on their own sped towards them. PJ tapped away again and they braked right before them, their engines still purring quietly. They looked and sounded brand new, as opposed to built from scraps of metal in the junkyard.
"How did you build these?" Dan asked, walking over to one of the bikes, but not touching it.
"I broke down some of our surveillance system, since we don't really need it anymore, and used the tech to add some upgrades to some old motorbikes we had sitting around," PJ replied, "I started them right after you got taken, Dan. Thought we might need a faster way to get around."
Dan didn't understand a thing about building vehicles, but he was thankful that knowledge fell under PJ's umbrella of abilities, like hacking. Now Dan did touch one of the bikes, running his hand over the handlebars. It hummed under his touch as if it were alive. "What are the upgrades?" he heard Phil ask, though he was mostly distracted.
"Like I said, they're prototypes, but most of the upgrades on these two will work. They have handprint memories, which means once they're programmed they'll only run for that one person. That prevents theft, you know, just in case." Louise scoffed indignantly and PJ continued. "They can also be controlled remotely, as you probably gathered with my tablet, but anyone who needs a bike will get a little pad on the combat suits to control it. There are also weapon compartments and cup holders!"
Dan looked over at PJ and gave him a bright smile. This was just so cool. This would definitely up their intimidation factor when it came to going to the London, if they had more of them.
"Want to take one for a spin?" PJ asked.
And Dan's smile fell. He could probably count on his two hands the number of times he's driven a car. He could ride a bicycle, but he assumed this would be much different. "I would probably kill myself," he replied.
"We can work up to it," the technopath replied with a little nod.
"I'll try one," Phil said with a grin.
Everyone looked mildly surprised, but Phil's expression remained. PJ shrugged and nodded, donning an unconcerned expression. Phil bounced over to the other bike and just as he was about to climb on, Alfie called "Wait!"
Phil paused and Alfie walked over, removing his jacket and handing it to Phil. "Wear this. It's kind of chilly and even though you're naturally cold, doesn't mean you can't get windburn on your arms. We can't have our other fearless leader hurt, can we?" he continued.
Dan narrowed his eyes as Alfie walked away, who simply gave him a good-natured wink. Phil slipped on the jacket, and although it was a bit too big, it was also leather. Dan had never seen Phil wear leather before. Honestly, it worked, and Dan was sort of mesmerized as Phil climbed onto the motorbike and then waved PJ over to ask him how to go about operating it.
Soon he stepped away and asked Phil if he was ready. When he got the thumbs up, he pressed something on his tablet and the engine roared again. Phil pressed the clutch and gas, picked up his feet, and sped off. Anxiety flared inside Dan as he watched and he clutched his hands in front of him. What if Phil crashed? What if PJ made a mistake in the construction and the bike explodes?
However, before he turned around a corner, Dan did see him smiling. But then, a few seconds later...
Crash. "Phil!"
------
"Dan, I'm fine."
"Seriously, Phil, shut up. I'm wrapping an ace bandage around your sprained wrist."
So Phil shut up. They were back in their room, after Phil's bike had collided with a truck in the junkyard. A parked truck, that is. All that happened was Phil falling off and onto his wrist, but with how scared it made Dan feel it was like he was in a coma. Phil himself would have complained more if Dan's warm hands hadn't been there to ease the pain.
He looked on bemusedly while Dan was on his knees between Phil's knees, the offending wrist being held between them. He carefully secured the bandage once he was finished with it. He sank back on his heels while Phil remained sitting on the edge of his bed. He tilted his head. "That was really fun," he said, referring to the bike ride.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack," Dan retorted.
"Funny how you freak out over my sprained wrist," Phil said, studying the bandaged appendage, "While I look at you and see the bruises all over."
On instinct, Dan replied, "I'm fine."
"That sounds familiar."
Dan narrowed his eyes. "That's not fair."
Phil leaned forward on his knees, effectively leaning his face closer to Dan's. "No, but we're even now. Although you were tortured and assaulted, you're fine, and even though all that happened to me is a sprained wrist, I'm also fine. We're fine."
Nodding, Dan looked up and met Phil's eyes. Tortured and assaulted. Things were added to and taken from his body without his permission. Dan's breath suddenly came in shallowly. Phil's expression changed. "You're not okay, Dan," he murmured.
Dan shook his head and then the tears came. Phil reached out, taking Dan's arms to lift him off his knees and pull him onto the bed. Phil was right; Dan was not okay. Ever since he got out of captivity he had been holding it in because he needed to be strong, he needed to figure out a way to get home to Phil, he needed to be a leader. But now it was just the two of them and his emotions were catching up. Plus, Phil could read him like an open book.
Holding him close, Phil let Dan cry into his shoulder. He gently rubbed Dan's back, and the other arm was securely around his shoulders and squeezing. "You don't want to go back to the Thames building," he said. It wasn't a question, but he was right. In fact, the very thought of being in the MI5 labs again gave him an overwhelming feeling of anxiety.
"There's no other way, Phil," Dan muttered through his tears.
"I know. But you don't have to go," Phil said quietly.
That was not an option. "Of course I have to go. This is my job just as much as it is yours," he said firmly and lifted his head to meet Phil's eyes again, "We're a team, remember? I'm not breaking that promise again."
Phil frowned, then brought the hand that was previously rubbing Dan's back to his cheek. He gently cupped it, brushing his thumb to blur some of the tear tracks. "You are the bravest person I've ever met," he told him sincerely. Dan's heart skipped a beat. "And it's okay to feel this way. You went through a traumatic experience that only a tiny amount of people here understand."
"I'm not giving up," Dan said decidedly, "Even though I never, ever want to go back there again I will not leave my team. Or you."
Phil cracked a smile and leaned forward, giving Dan their second kiss that day. This time it was much less rushed, and Dan could actually take the time to memorize how nice it felt. How uniquely Phil he tasted, like frozen fruit.
"They won't touch you again, Dan," Phil said after they split, their foreheads pressed together and their lips still ghosting together, "Over my dead body." Dan didn't know when more tears started to fall. He also didn't know if they were happy or anxious tears. "You're fine. We're fine."
And they would be, Dan knew. Together they could move mountains, or at least try. That's what Hawk and Dove was all about.