LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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backup
Jun 13, 2022 21:20:13 GMT
Post by LEX CAMERON on Jun 13, 2022 21:20:13 GMT
 ━ one click and you are overwritten ━
He figured it was a good fail-safe since Will didn’t fully trust him yet or give Lex access to all his shit (not that he needed it). If he had, this wouldn’t have happened. Will probs thought you could just change your password and then kids like him couldn’t break into your shit. Naaah, wrong-o. A five-year-old with their parent’s iPhone could do more with technology than William Carnegie.
Maybe this was the kick in the ass he needed. Honestly, though, Lex felt a little bad that it was gonna involve the chick.
Dragging himself out of bed to tend to his blaring computer, Lex groaned and reached over, lazily smacking the fingerprint scanner just as Winter started to complain. Shit, man, it was six in the morning. Who breaks into someone’s personal data at six a.m.? Fuck.
Lex shifted on his bed and leaned against the headboard, dragging his computer onto his lap. He stuck the little earbud in, a match to the one he’d gifted Will, mostly ‘cause he’d need it later and he didn’t wanna reach over again. He started tapping away, finding the breach at the root and beginning to block them out. It wasn’t long before he realized it was too late, though━they hadn’t gone for Will’s bank records or anything, just straight for personal info. AKA ex-wife, Zoey Washington, the one who lived in Mystic Falls (fuckin’ sucks for him, huh?).
This was targeted as fuck. Before he could start finding out who did this, though, Lex bled his consciousness into the internet and started rummaging through it to find her. They hadn’t broken in at six, they’d done it an hour ago, and Zoey was already out of her house and━shit, shit, shit. He found her phone as it pinged off a cell tower, and dove into the thing, trying to memorize her exact location. She was somewhere… just outside of Mystic Falls, near Whitmore━it was a home. She’d called for backup as soon as she neared the area in the tip delivered by the people who’d broken into Will’s accounts, and Lex cut off the communication before it made it back to the station.
Quickly, he started calling Will, but when a couple of rings went unanswered, Lex started projecting his voice through the alarm clock radio. “Ayyo, dude! Wake the fuck up! Your dumbass doesn’t know shit about cyber security, and now Zoey’s about to get Liam Neeson’d! Well, I guess you’d be Liam Neeson in this scenario… whatever, doesn’t fucking matter! Get up and call me!” He could probably just talk to his clock, but Lex had a feeling Will wouldn’t like that very much. Not that he’d like any of this.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | I figure we'll do a couple rounds before we bring in Zoey? |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Jun 22, 2022 11:29:33 GMT
The coffee cup still stood on his nightstand, remnants of the double espresso he’d downed somewhere around one in the morning encrusted near its rim. In the morning it’d leave disgust rolling up in his throat, any hope of waking slowly tossed aside like the Egyptian cotton sheets. He wasn’t one of those OCD nutjobs who had to touch every door handle seven times before they would walk through it. God forbid they miscounted. God forbid anything was out of place in the apartment. Only everything here was now, though, wasn’t it?
Last night he’d braced himself against the headboard, legs stretched out on the covers, one foot tapping slowly as he’d kept one eye on the clock. Photocopies spread across his thighs. A diary, photocopied by the owner of a Parisian café, and uploaded to a site containing historical accounts of what had happened when the Germans had rolled into France in mid-1940. An occupying force happy to strip the place bare, and kill his great grandfather when the old man, already crippled by the Great War, had tried to stand up to them. The café stripped bare, only reclaimed after the war, but what had been in there hadn’t been. The art taken in payment for glass after glass of absinthe from Toulouse-Lautrec himself. Will’s throat had tightened as he read about how the man’s son had joined the resistance. Zoey’s family’s past could have been laid over it, the details of one story almost a mirror image of the other.
Eventually, at midnight, he’d set the pages aside, taking one last gulp of the coffee before he’d dialled. Part of him had wanted to reach out to her, willing to take the bite of frustration and confusion in her voice just to hear it, but it had been a New York landline he’d dialled instead. Will knew that Zoey wouldn’t appreciate him dipping his clumsy fingers into the business with her father. How could he know and not try to do something for the man though?
A phone in a lab at Mount Sinai ringing a half dozen times before Leanore had picked up. The woman was a martyr to the job, pushing their call back three times that day – I’m not talking and monitoring tests at the same time, you’ll have to wait Carnegie. And wait he had.
Sidestepping Zoey after their conversation at Christmas had never been his intention. He had promised he would be there for her through what was happening with her dad and Will meant to keep his promise. If her and her father weren’t ready for the tests and the light that would, he suspected, finally reveal the brutal diagnosis they were all dreading, then he wasn’t about to push them. But … if there was something he, or Lea, could do, then he would make it happen.
They’d spoken for close to two hours in the end. Lea hadn’t been a ray of sunshine, in fact the technicalities had left him feeling as though the coffee were curdling in his stomach, but the offer was there to see Zoey’s father, when he was ready. There were new treatments constantly being pioneered. And little hope that his mind would eventually crumble for the moment.
Will had slumped back into the pillows, lines drawn heavy between his brows, a weight in his stomach, and had gone under quickly. No teeth brushing – which explained the God awful taste in his mouth when that voice cut through the fog – no rinsing the cup, no putting the phone neatly on its charger where he would’ve heard the rattle and hum of it at an ungodly hour.
The earpiece had been bad enough, that first introduction to Lex through it leaving him on the brink of crushing the thing, but waking to that high, nasal whine bursting out through the alarm clock was a thousand times worse. Will pressed his face into the pillow, growling as he slapped at the alarm clock. It tumbled off of the nightstand and onto the bed, the coffee cup thudding down to the rug, even that didn’t stop Lex from shrieking though. ”Have you no idea of … Zoey …” It had been like trying to catch water in hands that very much wanted to throw it as far as humanly possible.
Shoving at the covers, Will fought his way up, out of sleep and the snarl of the sheets. His phone wasn’t in its usual spot on the nightstand, not on the floor, fuck. Liam Neeson? What in the name of … where had it gone, he’d had it last night … The pillows were thrown aside, his hands sliding along the sheets until his fingers bumped the phone. He had to stifle a yawn, another curse, but Will fumbled the call through and pressed the phone to his ear as he scooted to the edge of the bed. ”What the hell is that supposed to mean? What has happened to Zoey? And how on God’s green earth did you start shrieking out of the alarm clock?” His voice was a low growl, a big cat’s threat in it as he hunched over. Fingers pinching at the bridge of his nose, squinting over them as he tried to catch a look at the alarm clock, now flashing up at him from the snarl of the sheets.
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LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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Post by LEX CAMERON on Jul 15, 2022 2:11:20 GMT
━ one click and you are overwritten ━
He heard Will grumbling like a half-asleep old man (which he was), then the rustling from within his bedroom. He also felt the dull tingling in the back of his head when Will clicked on his phone, and almost sensed the call before it began to ring on his side.
All that was important to Will was her, and Lex wondered if he’d ever feel that way about anyone. His gaze ticked over to Winter in the dark, wrapped up in the other super-luxe Grey Haven bed, considering for a moment. Naaah, probs not.
Answering on the first ring━and without touching his screen, Lex chattered through his earpiece to Will. “We don’t have time to talk about all the fuckin’ things I’m amazing at, man! Your girl’s in trouble━get up, get goin’!”
He rapidly clicked away at his keyboard for a moment, then added, “Somebody hacked into your personal shit and sent a fake-ass tip, so Zoey’s on her way there now. I’m thinkin’ they’re gonna try to hold her ransom ‘til you give ‘em some Ninja Turtles art back, but I dunno. I don’t really have the mind of one of these losers.” A few more clicks, “Okay, look at your phone━you can put me on speaker… y’know, if you know how to do that… and I put the address in Google Maps. Look,” If Will would just take a gander, he’d see the app appearing on his phone as if he’d opened it, with the correct address already inputted, directions beginning to scrawl across the bottom of the screen.
“She sent out a call for backup, but obvi I cut that off ‘cause I know you wanna play hero… also they got in through your shit━which you should’ve let me encrypt when I asked the last few billion times, by the way.” He puffed, “Anyway, she already left, but if you hurry, you should be able to get to her just after she gets in. The elevator’s at your floor waiting, and I wish I could start your car for ya, but it ain’t a Tesla, and I’m not a magician. Pretty damn good, though, don’tcha think? Done and dusted. Best partner ever.” Okay, so they had a little time to talk about how awesome he was. After all, Will would still be sleeping if it wasn’t for Lex.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | no notes. |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Jul 27, 2022 20:02:40 GMT
There were plenty of adrenalin junkies on the job. People who signed up knowing that every now and then you’d get that call that would hit like a mule kick to the chest, adrenalin singing through your system, sending into that high that you wouldn’t come down from until the cuffs were on and all that was left was either transporting someone to the morgue or to the holding cells. They were the fools who ended up charging into the line of fire, the ones whose funerals he’d attended over and over. The department would slap wrists, try and winnow them out in the application process, but you could never nudge every single one out.
Will had felt that jolt on dozens of occasions – including the case that had bumped him from a patrol car to a shiny badge of his own – and each time the draining of all that adrenalin had left him feeling sick. He wasn’t the sort who wanted to chase that high, even if that was hard to believe given his career and extracurricular activities. Sleepy Sunday mornings in bed with the rain pattering lightly against the windows, late nights after long shifts spent in the retreat of the kitchen, a bottle of wine and the weight of the day shared as something simmered on the stove, walks through the neighbourhood on crisp autumn days ending with coffee from the place on the corner – that was more his speed. Theirs, he’d believed then.
No. He didn’t care what Lex was screaming through the alarm clock – he wasn’t even going to try and figure that out when he could barely get his eyes open – Zoey wouldn’t have rushed into a situation that warranted this … or Liam Neeson. She was careful, a planner, a thinker, not an adrenalin junkie who saw danger and ran headlong at it like she was bulletproof.
Still, Will’s throat went tight as his feet hit the carpet and he sat there hunched over on the side of the bed. One hand held the phone clamped to his ear, the other pressed hard enough into one eye that he saw starbursts behind the closed lid. He almost flinched away as Lex’s voice screeched through the earpiece instead of from the distance of the now downed alarm clock. ”I’m up,” he ground out through gritted teeth, only actually rising as the words bit out between gritted teeth. ”What has happened to Zoey? Trouble’s a loose enough term that I could strangle you with it.” The temptation was there, as it had been when he’d left the senator’s home to find Lex’s scrawny ass parked against his car.
He could’ve questioned it, ignored the excited chattering of someone who consumed enough sugar for the whole of the Eastern seaboard, but the thought of Zoey in any sort of trouble had his gut knotted tight enough that he was already dragging jeans out of the closet. With the phone tucked between his shoulder and ear, Will went to pull them on and almost ended up head first in the closet as Lex started to explain. ”Why would they do that? There’s nothing to find, no line to lead straight back to me…” But someone had found something in a system he never should used in the first place. There was no hacking paper records. Fuck. ”But you have the nose to follow them and find a way into their mind,” he growled. Raw nerves practically bled as sarcasm started to drip into Lex’s voice. If it wasn’t for the need for him right now the phone would’ve been out the window and tumbling down a dozen floors to the sidewalk below.
The phone clattered down onto the top of a chest of drawers, the screen punched violently with a thick finger half a dozen times before that voice started to squeal out of the speaker at him. Another jab before he hauled his jeans up the rest of the way and zipped them. An address just out of town. Not the senator’s home but if he was behind this he wouldn’t have been foolish enough to call the cops there.
Will’s chin came up, his eyes fixing on the ranks of suits hung neatly on one side of the closet. He blinked, trying to get past the mental road block at the idea of Lex cutting off back up. In what world … ”Playing hero gets people killed. Why would you leave her without help? Jesus.” A t-shirt pulled over his head, bare feet shoved into boots without any thought of comfort. ”Has me telling you no ever stopped you doing a thing?” Probably not, although who knew how decisions pinballed through that empty skull. ”You couldn’t get a helicopter to land on the roof?” A rhetorical question for the self-titled magician. Lex had done enough though, barring his decision not to call in every member of the cavalry in the state. Snatching the phone almost at the last second Will ran from the room.
It didn’t matter that the elevator was already there, the second Will was in it he was thumping at the button for the garage repeatedly. Not fast enough. On these roads he could take the car up to near triple figures, but ‘done and dusted’ wasn’t going to count if he didn’t get to that address before the men who wanted him got their hands on Zoey instead. Imagining the bruises dusting her skin, her face beaten beyond recognition, Will felt pain building in his chest. He couldn’t lose her, even if she wasn’t his now, not in the only way that had ever mattered. ”I hate that I’m asking … are you in the traffic system?” Will breathed the question out as he ran for the car, barely slamming the door shut before he squealed out onto the near empty roads of Mystic Falls and in the direction Google Maps was leading him. ”There are cameras … if you can follow her …” And do what? Scare more years off of his life with each report of how close she was to their pummelling fists?
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LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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Post by LEX CAMERON on Aug 16, 2022 17:48:47 GMT
━ one click and you are overwritten ━
Thankfully, the douche knew how to use his phone. Lex could hear the tapping, and the mildly annoying sound of the GPS’ voice. Was Will seriously lecturing him now? “I’mmmm sorry, did you want her to get there with half of the Mystic Falls PD and discover that her ex-husband is the art thief everyone’s dyin’ to catch? No? Then shuddup.” Lex puffed, shaking his head as he tapped away on his laptop, “Plus, she’s not without backup. You’re coming, and she’s not even there yet, dude. Chillllllll the fuck out.” Probs the wrong choice of words, ‘cause there was no way Will was gonna chill now, but still. He shoulda. It was better for his heart or something━‘cause, ya know, age and all.
Ohhhh, so he was seriously blaming Lex now, huh? Lex could only imagine the reaming out he’d get if he’d encrypted Will’s shit without permission, but noooow it was his fault ‘cause he hadn’t done it, right? Will was still the worst ever.
“I dunno, man, maybe I was trynna do that old people thing and work off trust and whatever, ‘cause you clearly don’t value hard work. You wouldn’t have even realized someone hacked your shit if I didn’t have precautions set up to alert me of sus activity. Fuck me. Can’t never do nothing right with you, huh? And ya wonder why she left you…” Low blow? Yeah. Did Will deserve it? Also yeah. He was being rude as fuck, even though Lex was literally the dopest partner-slash-smart home operator. Will didn’t have a smart home (there was no fucking way he ever would), but Lex was kinda the closest he’d get. And the closest he’d get to being a dude from a romance movie, swooping in to save the chick and whatever. Not that Lex had seen any. “You’re hilarious… and not important enough for a helicopter.” He muttered, rolling his eyes.
Leaning over to rummage through his pile of wrappers, Lex dug out a bag of sour keys and dragged them to sit beside his thigh. He stuck the circular end of one in his mouth and remained focused on his laptop━on the moving indicators. His own map was tracking Zoey’s phone and Will’s, showing them as separately-coloured blinking circles. Zoey was purple and Will was blue, and he’d marked the tip location with a regular red pin.
There were a few (peaceful) minutes without Will’s geriatric grumbling, and Lex used those to continue trying to trace the attack on Will’s shit and the so-called “tip.”
He heard the car start up, a little garbled and cut out ‘cause it was underground, and then the engine’s quiet hum in perfect feedback once Will was on the road. Then, Will asked the wildest question━one Lex was beginning to think he’d never hear. He immediately let out a loud, sharp laugh, and shook his head, “Dude, seriously? Like, yeah, I’m gonna do it, but you can’t say my shit’s the worst in one breath and ask for the same shit in the other,” He puffed, “Just gimme a second.” A little bit of him was escaping into the internet so he wouldn’t have to hear the bullshit that was defs about to come outta Will’s mouth.
Slipping back into the internet, Lex’s mind followed the trail to Will’s phone. He concentrated real hard and linked Zoey’s location, allowing it to pop up as the same live-updating, purple indicator on Will’s map. In real-time, he labelled it with her name, and tried desperately to spread his consciousness to the area around Will. It was a big feat, kinda like when he realized he could produce his own electricity (which only happened recently), but Lex managed to pull it off. He rigged the sensors for the traffic system, and set them so that the light would change green each time Will approached an intersection. The streets were dead, but he figured Will would try to complain anyway.
Slipping back into his body, Lex sucked in a breath and wiggled his fingers, almost as if testing his muscles. “‘Kay, so I put her location on your phone. I’m watchin’ her, too, but yeah. Also, you’re welcome for the street lights.” He grinned proudly for only a moment before it was erased due to his intense concentration. “I’m trynna see if there’s any security in the place they’re going, but it doesn’t even look like there’s working electricity…” He sighed, “Jeeeeesus, this place’s a dump. If this doesn’t earn you at least a bl-wie, man, I’m just gonna say it: you’ve probs got no hope.” Lex was pretty confident in Will’s (and his own) ability to rescue Zoey, so making jokes didn’t seem so awful. Also, it was a great way to ease the tension. If Will was mad at him, then he wouldn’t be focusing too hard and liable to fuck up.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | no notes. |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Aug 24, 2022 19:24:54 GMT
Chill. On the surface that was all he’d been for more than two decades. William Carnegie gliding through life as though it couldn’t touch him. A broken marriage? A divorce? He’d barely blinked. His face a tight mask - shattering only in private – as they’d argued their way towards a divorce, as they’d sat through endless meetings with lawyers, as he had finally packed up his things and had moved out of the apartment that had been theirs. Inside it had been like a tsunami, grief and pain and guilt tearing through him, sweeping away almost every other emotion. Except for the love. In the middle of all that hidden devastation it had withstood the tide, rock solid while his life lay strewn like rubble around his feet. Now it was the only solid thing in the well of lava like heat bursting up from somewhere deep inside, threatening to singe him and Lex all at once.
Teeth gritted against it, Will tried to swallow it hack. It was rolling up the back of his throat, lending that rough, hot edge to his voice. ”I can’t chill.” He could barely keep his hands from shaking as he tried to muscle his way through the steps he usually set aside for something more traditional, less irritating. It had been the trail that he’d left that had somehow led whoever was behind this to Zoey. His fault that he hadn’t given up a chase that hadn’t been his in the first place, that he hadn’t said enough was enough and focused on his marriage not some eighty year old wrong that hadn’t been his to right. All that information could’ve been handed over. They could’ve been in New York now, waking up together, Zoey in his arms and not about to step into the hands of the sort of people who would’ve fitted right in to the regime he was battling.
Another swallow, the nausea clawing harder. Will blinked against the sting in his eyes. Trying not to spew that lava at Lex and failing miserably because right now his only back up in this was incapable of stopping running his mouth. ”It’s better that she finds out than she ends up hurt by this.” There was no choice in that, a broken heart was better than another grave stone in another cemetery, a father in law who wouldn’t remember Zoey was gone, the same way he couldn’t recall laying his wife and other daughter in the ground.
His own lax security had sparked this, not Lex’s new found respect in the boundaries he’d been trying to throw up since the earpiece had first been gifted. The brat hadn’t shied at literally thrusting himself into his life, his career, his apartment, but suddenly he’d been hands off, tossing this back in his face like somehow his lack of faith in him was the reason all of this had happened. Will’s hand tightened in those dark curls that were a couple months past due for their sheering, pulling until some of that heat spilled out like steam from a pressure cooker. ”You think this is going to have me trusting you more or throwing gratitude your way? I barely had shit to hack before you came along.” A toe over the technological line might have been the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.
Or, it was those words.
He knew why Zoey had gone and he knew why pride drove her to hold her head up and walk into these situations now. It took metric tons of it to scrape the broken parts of your life back together and try to walk over the razor sharp pieces left that were too small to try and repair. Will’s own body stiffened with it now as he tore through the apartment. ”I might not be, but she is,” he sniped. Important enough that all he could see now was every mistake he’d made, every ounce of future pain that would finish crushing him if anything happened to Zoey.
That chomp and gnaw was back, the wet sounds of a mouth flapping around something leaving bile spilling up with that heat. He’d be lucky if he managed to keep it all down until later – Zoey couldn’t afford for him to fall apart with the what ifs until she was safe, than it could pour out onto white porcelain for a month, just as long as he got to her. There was at the back of his throat, hammering in time with a heart driven by adrenalin and fear, almost loud enough to drown out the noise in his ear at last. The pace picked up as he got into his car and roared out onto the road. There wasn’t enough traffic for the flashing lights, too much chance that Forbes would send her people out after him if he was seen barrelling through town on official business.
Lex’s laughter was like a gunshot, almost setting off that entire unstable system. Heat pushing out, the threat to take his stomach with it greater than ever. ”Right now, I can say whatever I think I need to,” Will said carefully. It took measured breaths and an iron grip to stop himself from letting go of all self-control. Lex was lucky he’d had a lifetime of keeping it all packed down inside. ”If it’ll take you a second then the answer would’ve been no. Get on them now. I need a clear road out of town, no stops. I need … I need to hear where she is.” Needed to know she was safe every moment until she wasn’t … if she wouldn’t be.
Silence, thank God, for long moments. Blue eyes, burning as they fixed on the road – all they needed was for him to run straight into another vehicle out here – cutting aside to the first set of lights. Green. Not exactly proof of what Lex could do yet, but a gift he took gratefully by stepping harder on the accelerator, already pushing the car close to its top speed as he hit the next set. Still green. A clap on the back he wasn’t going to verbalise. Will’s gaze cut to the phone, back to the road, back to the screen, momentary switches, like those lights. ”So she’s headed to a shack in the woods, that sounds utterly reassuring.” Come on Zoey, see the ruse. Don’t go in. Pull back. Call for back-up. Stay safe. The ‘I love you’, even silently, wouldn’t come for the moment. It was trapped on that love, in the fiery depths of what had for just a few short weeks, been hope of a sort.
With one stupid, foul comment, Lex broke every bit of restraint he’d kept in the face of his worst nightmare.
Krakatoa had nothing on him. The Mount Rainier sized rumblings of only minutes before were a warning sign, one that Lex hadn’t paid enough attention to. ”Say something like that again and when I’ve got Zoey safe I’m going to tear your tongue out of your mouth. It’ll do both of us a favour.” There wouldn’t be any saying anything more then. Lex wouldn’t be able to gum a single syllable with the ragged roots that would be all that was left of that thing in Lex’s mouth, the thing without a filter, the thing he’d nail to Lex’s forehead as a reminder of this moment. ”Any thought you have of what’s between me and her leaves your brain now. Put that pea in your skull to use. Find some way to slow her down. Now.” Was there a chip in her car, a radio tuned into wi-fi, a fucking arial, anything Lex could latch onto apart from his stupidity.
Will’s fingers shook as he rocketed into the woods, onto roads that would only slow him down as he zig-zagged through what certainly wasn’t the rural idyll it painted itself to be. He peeled one hand off the wheel, tapping at the screen again, trying to get a call through to Zoey’s phone that she probably wouldn’t answer, just because it was from him. ”Come on, Zoey, pick up. Please. I know you don’t want to, but please, baby, for me … pick up Zoey, pick up.” The words were hoarse, a plea that rang through the air like a death knell as the dial tone filled his car.
Tagged: LEX CAMERON (or bring Zoey in?) * Word Count: 1404 |
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LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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backup
Sept 14, 2022 19:46:19 GMT
Post by LEX CAMERON on Sept 14, 2022 19:46:19 GMT
━ one click and you are overwritten ━
… Okay, so it was totally about helping Will, but whatever, right? As long as Lex could find his way into this shit, he’d get both things done with, like, literally no help from Will. Since when did the Guy in the Chair become head of the operation? All Will could do was, like, drive right now. Lex was doing everything else.
Including setting all the traffic lights to green, putting Zoey on his map, and continuously checking each location for updates. Even though he was getting freakin’ barked at like he couldn’t do shit right.
All of a sudden, Will was snapping. Like, really snapping, not all the little digs and shit he usually did. The threat was kinda stupid, but he sounded legit angry, and it made Lex pause for a minute. Long enough to make it seem as though he’d actually learned his lesson or was taking it seriously, and then his pitchy laugh came through, ringing loudly. He didn’t find words to say, just a few sputters of breath where it almost sounded like he was trying to speak.
Finally, Lex caught his breath, clearly demonstrating his allergy to authority. “Yeah, yeah, dude, don’t worry, I don’t think about your wife, truuuust.” Lex scoffed, glancing sideways at Winter’s bed. Zoey was pretty and everything (like, crazy model kinda pretty) but Lex had always been attracted to… uh, a different kind of body. His eyes skirted away from Winter and back to the screen as he was put on hold. Lex checked, finding a report of an outgoing call to Zoey from Will’s phone. He raised his brows without an audible comment, though it was clear on his face━y’know, if anybody could actually see it.
Concentrating harder, he dipped back into their phones, using Will’s as a faster way to Zoey’s, and followed the trail to her car’s Bluetooth system. From there, it was easy to get into the computer.
A few minutes after messing with it, Lex came back to his body, eyes ticking to their connected call━unsurprisingly, Will was back on the line. “I killed her car, but she’s on foot now. I’ve got five phones pinging inside the warehouse and she’s getting closer. Take the earbud I gave you inside, man━it’s gonna be easier for me to get to ‘em if you’ve already got me there. And, like, switch it on and use it. I’m not just being an asshole.” He puffed. Will hated doing what Lex said or leaning on him in any capacity, but he usually ended up following whatever was suggested. They made a pretty good team━whether or not Will ever wanted to admit it.
ZOEY WASHINGTON | no notes. |
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ZOEY WASHINGTON
Human
Posts: 54
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 20, 2024 14:17:26 GMT
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Post by ZOEY WASHINGTON on Sept 14, 2022 23:38:29 GMT
 ━ nothing good is born from lies ━
Even if it was a perilous situation. Waking up at five a.m. to a tip━one she absolutely could not wait on━wasn’t the safest or smartest thing she could’ve chased, but Zoey was up and out of bed almost instantly. She only had so much time; their art thief kept slipping between her fingers, and the tip came with plenty of evidence. It seemed legitimate.
It really and truly did. She called for backup anyway, just in case, and headed to the location indicated: a few miles outside Mystic Falls. It took a while to get up and triple-check everything, but Zoey was out of her apartment and on the road as soon as possible.
During the drive, her fingers tightened around the steering wheel and all she could think about was finally catching their thief. He’d been out there taking precious artwork for years, and if Zoey could be the one to finally bring him in? The elusive burglar who moved like smoke? She could practically taste it.
Even William couldn’t ruin this moment. She watched as his name lit up on her car’s dashboard, a deep frown settling over features that were once extremely determined. It was awful how easily he could slide in and change everything, even with a phone call she wouldn’t answer. If he was awake now, then perhaps he’d come as her backup, and he could call her then. There was absolutely nothing he could need at six in the morning━not from her, anyway.
Just then, the lights on her dashboard began to flicker, and each system component blinked in and out. The engine shut off, started again, and, in a matter of moments, Zoey was pulling to the edge of the road as the car died completely. She slammed her hand against the steering wheel and cursed loudly, though there wasn’t much time to beat up the car for choosing the worst possible time to fail her. Grabbing her phone (thankfully the GPS still worked to lead her on foot), Zoey slipped into the woods and headed to the dropped pin, though it wasn’t long until it disappeared, too. Screw technology, she thought. Screw it and all its advancements for society.
Even if her car and phone seemed to be against her, like God was telling Zoey to back away now, she stubbornly moved forward. She could recall where the pin had been on the map and headed towards there, double-checking that her phone wasn’t close to dying. She had a traditional flashlight, her service weapon, her badge━everything she might need. Or so she thought.
Her backup would be there any minute. She was already delayed and trudged through the damn woods to get there━she wasn’t waiting another second.
Zoey was blind-sighted the moment she entered the building. It was an old, dilapidated warehouse, but industrial floodlights sat on the floor as she walked through the door, calling out, “Agent Washington, FBI! Walk slowly into the light━” Then, she was well and truly blinded. Out of nowhere, multiple large figures descended before Zoey had a chance to think, covering her head and ripping her service weapon from her hands. She kicked and screamed, trying to practice every bit of self-defence she’d learned, but was effectively at their mercy.
They brought her forward, hands on her arms, and didn’t warn her (or seem to care) that they were walking over a break in the cement. Zoey stepped in with the weight on the outside of her foot, and her ankle rolled the wrong way, straining the muscles all the way up her leg. She cried out, hearing something crackle and tear as her entire body tensed. Attempting to halt all movement didn’t seem to matter━she was at the behest of others, and they weren’t in the pain she was. Her entire foot was numb, and she was desperately holding vomit━if she puked now, it would fill the inside of the bag on her head, and she might just choke on it.
Zoey tried to hop on one leg, but they didn’t seem very patient, and, well, didn’t toss her so much as just let go. She went tumbling down, though thankfully her arms caught her fall. Zoey slid around on the grainy, rough concrete, trying to move onto her back as quickly and carefully as possible. Before long, another two sets of hands were on her, moving Zoey until she felt a firm wall at her back. The bag was ripped away, duct tape pressed to her lips, and wrists bound with zip ties to a metal rail above her head. It could’ve been a pipe, but Zoey couldn’t comfortably bend her neck far back enough, nor did she want to shift her attention from the men in front of her.
They stood over Zoey, chuckling as she cried and kicked her one good leg, attempting to pull hard on the zip ties.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” One promised, his face covered with a black mask, just like all the others. She only knew which was talking because his hands moved as he did. “If you don’t shut up, we’ll keep you quiet, but this isn’t about you. You’re just perfect bait.”
Zoey shouted from behind the tape, tugging once more on her restraints. If she could get free, she wouldn’t be able to run, but she’d crawl out of there if she had to. It didn’t make sense, though━her backup was on the way; what the hell could she be bait for? The entire Mystic Falls Police Department?
WILLIAM CARNEGIE |  |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Sept 24, 2022 21:36:59 GMT
Maybe there’d be room for apologies when Zoey was safe again. If Lex was expecting to hear them for now, then he was going to have to stay waiting, straining those cloth ears for what wouldn’t come when his mouth was still doing the sort of damage you couldn’t always take back.
Sitting in the lawyer’s office, Will had accepted every accusation thrown his way. Adultery – as though he had ever felt anything for anybody else the way he had for Zoey – uncontested to make sure that she could get the divorce put through with no questions on the legal side. No real explanation of what he had been doing, no smear on her career for not seeing exactly what her husband had really been up to when he’d been out half the night. Zoey had been the one really holding her head high through everything that had happened, faithful to him to the last, completely unaware that he had been the same to her, even after the dotted line had been signed.
Will would’ve taken the accusations from Lex, with a grunt and the gritting of his teeth against the bullshit lashed against him, but he’d pulled Zoey into it, and that had been like dropping dynamite into an already active volcano. Somehow the walls of it held, but at some point in the future Will was sure it would all spill out the incinerate the kid, and Lex would deserve every degree of that heat. Maybe. His mouth filled with the taste of what rolled up from his stomach – acidic, as bitter as the coffee he’d swigged before he’d fallen asleep last night – as he fired more orders at Lex. Slow, measured, better than he deserved under the circumstances.
He looked up at the street lights as he spend through. All green. He had a clear path to Zoey if he could just start to catch up to her. Some part of him had believed Zoey had gone it alone out of sheer stubbornness. She’d been focused on her thief since she’d arrived in town, had been so determined to prove that she had what it took to be an FBI agent, that she could stand on her two feet without him there to lend her his faith, that she’d stormed right into the trap. He hadn’t seen … Lex’s … part in the entire thing, his idiot move in trying to keep his little gig going that he’d cut Zoey up from the backup that might already have been there.
Will’s hands shook on the wheel, that vibration working its way through him like the shock wave was really going to explode out and take both him and the car with him. If Lex had been stupid enough to say a word in those first few moments after he’d spoken, it might’ve happened. Lex held on just long enough for that violent front to start rolling away before he laughed. Forget apologies or gratitude later, Lex was going to be eating through a straw for the foreseeable future. ”Don’t worry,” Will echoed dully, the flattening of his voice everything Lex should’ve been paying attention to. ”If she has a single scratch on her when I find her, I’m going to make sure there isn’t enough left of you to laugh.” Another hoarsely delivered threat, with every ounce of honesty ringing through it. Lex had just chewed through what looked to be his last chance. He’d find that out when he was choking on that earbud that had started all of this.
Trusting that Lex couldn’t hear now that he’d switched lines, Will tried to reach out to Zoey in the only way he knew how. She didn’t pick up, had probably seen his name on the screen and had looked away again, refusing to see how he was trying to mend the bridge he knew he’d set alight in the first place. He was going to ruin her case, the scaffolding that he’d thought they’d started to put up thin enough to look through. The phone clicked over to voicemail, almost leaving him punching hang up to try again. His voice shook, Will knew it did. ”Zoey, you need to stop and turn around. The tip’s a lie. It’s a trap. I can’t explain it all now, but you need to stay where you are. I’m coming to you, OK? I’m coming to get you and I’ll explain everything.” It would send all of that scaffolding tumbling into the abyss, never to be seen again, but he would sacrifice everything for her safety.
He hung up, tried dialling again anyway as he knuckled eyes that burned with unshed tears. Will twitched as Lex’s voice came through. There was no way he’d heard any of it, not even without whatever juju he used to get into the alarm and his phone in the first place. He let out a long breath that shook with fear. ”So it’s Zoey against at least five.” All because Lex hadn’t thought to kill her car right back when she’d still been too close to Mystic Falls to go on foot. ”So you can shoot your mouth off while I try and get her out of there? That would be a change of a lifetime, you not just being an asshole.” His teeth gritted tight enough to crack as he tore the glovebox open though. He fumbled with the earpiece, switching it on and jamming it into his ear without a word.
The remaining miles seemed to take a lifetime. Will was practically standing on the accelerator, trying to coax a little more speed out of the car without ploughing off of the road and into a tree. If he was dead Zoey would have nobody to get her out of there, and her dad would be the one left mourning, for as long as his unravelling brain would hold onto the knowledge. He fishtailed as he saw Zoey’s car on the road side, barely skating past it as he continued on towards that tiny marker that stood out like a drop of blood on his screen. She was slower than he was on foot, maybe if he got to where she’d intended to pull off road, he'd intercept her.
He'd been wrong. There was no sign of her by the time his little blue arrow lay practically atop the red pin and he’d been searching the woods, the ditch alongside the road the entire way. ”I’m there,” he grunted at Lex as he climbed out of the car. ”Have the other signals moved? Is Zoey with them?” He knew that Lex would be watching this play out somehow, analysing the shift of all those little signals, calculating how far apart all those little coloured dots were, figuring out how to tell him Zoey was screwed in the worst possible way.
It looked like the sort of place that should have fallen down years ago, but as he edged up to the warehouse, Will could see those tiny signs of life. No Zoey, but there were floodlights stood on the cracked concrete and one asshole standing in the shadowy lee of what had probably been a delivery dock when the place was still in action. Murmured words had the world around Will seeming to blur. The spell wasn’t much cover if the guy looked directly at him, but it muffled his footsteps on the summer dry leaves on the ground, and allowed him to reach the side of the building without the weapon in the man’s hand firing in his direction. Another murmured word and there was a thud at the opposite corner of the building, a rattle as the chunk of drain pipe he’d magically dragged from its moorings on the side of the building tumbled through the dirt. The man took a moment to stick his head out cautiously, he’d give him kudos for that, but he fell like that drain, without a peep of sound, as Will hammered his gun down on the back of the man’s neck.
One down. Four to go.
Another lurked part way through the building, staring in the opposite direction to which Will had come. A grin curved lips around a cigarette. It had to have been holding back his atrocious breath, because as he went down like the first, a cloud of it puffed out through yellowed teeth and Will recoiled, that vile mixture of bile and the dregs of coffee in his system rolling up his throat. ”You made a mistake,” Will told the man hoarsely as he bent down to use the zip ties from the man’s belt to incapacitate him. The packet of cigarettes in his chest pocket were crammed between his teeth, the sleeve of the man’s grimy plaid t-shirt used to tie it all in place. ”If you’ve touched a hair on her head, I’ll be back to put a bullet in yours.” Fuck the job.
Hollow, muted cries rang out from the back of the building. Will didn’t stop to kick the man in the head just to make sure he was out. He took off running, his voice ringing out low, hoping that the building wasn’t blocking the signal with all that concrete. ”They’ve got her,” he told Lex in a raw voice before the fear robbed him of even that.
His weapon was up as he charged near silently into the room behind the two men. They were masked, unlike the two outside, taunting a defenceless woman from behind black wool and cowardice. Zoey was on the ground in front of them, tape across her mouth, her hands zip tied the way the downed man’s were, securing her to the metal pipe over her head. The first man didn’t have a chance to turn to him as he barrelled in. The sheriff might have an issue with it later, but Will had no problem with pulling the trigger on him. The back of the man’s head exploded outwards, the freed contents of it splattering his friend and leaving him reeling as Will switched aim and shot him too. He toppled, landing on top of his friend.
Almost feeling as though their legs would give out the way theirs had, Will crouched in front of Zoey. He set his weapon down on the concrete beside him, reached out to touch her with shaking hands. ”I’m here. I’m sorry it took me so long … Zoey, are you hurt?” Had they touched her, was she forever going to feel the fingerprints of the men on her skin, tugging the restraints tight enough that he couldn’t even get a finger under those thin strips of black plastic now. Eyes, almost swallowed up by the dark of his pupils met hers, filling with apology as he gripped the edge of the duct tape. It was going to hurt, however he did it. The tearing sound of it leaving her skin ripped through him, leaving him whispering apologies as he tossed it aside and skimmed his thumb butterfly light over the curve of her bottom lip.
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LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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Post by LEX CAMERON on Oct 7, 2022 23:12:55 GMT
━ one click and you are overwritten ━
Lex, however, kept his mouth shut for a little while. Instead, he stuffed it with candy, merely muttering to himself in the intermission between phone calls. His fingers slid over the keyboard of his laptop, tippy-tapping anxiously and at an alarming rate. His dad always said it was a wonder he’d never gotten carpal tunnel or some shit like that.
‘So it’s Zoey against at least five.’
It didn’t sound like a question, but Lex responded anyway, with a distracted, “Yup, yup.” He was hoping Will would listen and just bring in the earbud without complaint, but when did this dude ever stop whining?
The answer was literally never.
“Ha.” Lex let out a sharp laugh, rolling his eyes as he scanned each signal and began to pull up profiles on the owners. Obvs they were, like, just one class above trap phones, but better than a burner flip phone from a gas station. It took a while, but he started to come up with likely identities based on all the activity. He’d already designed a program to do just that━it seemed like it’d be handy with this kinda job, especially ‘cause he could make sure Will couldn’t be tracked like this—but now Lex was giving himself a pat on the back for it. Will wouldn’t, so whatever.
Lex zoomed in on the warehouse as Will neared at an alarming speed, watching the signals ping steadily in their spaces. Zoey was with three of them… no, now one shifted toward the back of the building.
“Looks like somebody decided the earpiece was helpful,” Lex mumbled, then quickly moved to answer, “Uh, yeah. So, there’s one dude at the side you’re approaching, the same one she entered from. I’m trynna get an interior map based on how the signals are pinging off walls, but you’re gonna needa gimme a minute on that one. Right now, I can just see where they are. Dude by you, another dude between that, then it’s Zoey and two dudes. And then another at the opposite end. Looks like they’re leaving her with two guards.” As if Zoey was Princess Peach and Will was Mario━he hoped this fuckin’ plumber could take down two Bowsers. Damn.
The first time he heard Will mutter to himself, Lex frowned and looked at the window where the signals were mapped out—his screen was split between the system coming up with profiles and that. He went silent, figuring he just hadn’t heard Will properly, until he heard it again. What the fuck was that? “Yo, you doin’ some kinda Satan worship, man? Sayin’ shit in another language? Creepy as hell.” Lex muttered, though he honestly tried not to get in the way. Not a lot. Will had some special shit on his side, though, and Lex wasn’t just talkin’ about himself. It was that fuckin’ secret Lex had been trying to crack from the beginning.
“You’re comin’ up on the next,” Lex mumbled as Will went in, judging what was happening by the signal’s movement and sounds radiating through the earbud. He heard Will’s threats to the next guy, and wondered if he was gonna make good on any of these━and, if he did, would Lex be included even though he’d helped?
Whatever, that wasn’t a problem for now. Now was about Will’s sudden revelation, and the quick shifting of his signal. “Yeah, two of ‘em, remember. ‘Bout ten feet south.” It was the only way he could help without knowing the map of the building, but he was working on blueprints now instead of the Batman thing, ‘cause he wanted to figure out where the fifth dude was.
Lex paused when he heard the shots. Digits froze over the keyboard, eyes blown wide. He held his breath, waiting for some sign of life, for…
He exhaled when he heard Will’s voice, somehow comforted by the fact that he was obviously talking to Zoey. Nah, nah, Lex didn’t actually care about them; he was just happy the plan went well. All the glory would come to him now, ‘cause they kicked fuckin’ ass on this job.
Sighing softly, Lex leaned back on the headboard and relaxed for a second. He wiped the two closest signals from the map, keeping the other three on just in case, and grabbed another sour key to munch on. Peach was safe, and Mario got his lady back.
ZOEY WASHINGTON | no notes. |
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ZOEY WASHINGTON
Human
Posts: 54
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 20, 2024 14:17:26 GMT
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Post by ZOEY WASHINGTON on Oct 7, 2022 23:14:23 GMT
━ nothing good is born from lies ━
Any doubt that they’d prevail was shattered when the bullet lodged itself into the stranger’s head. She heard the gunshot ringing in her ears over and over again, and screamed as blood sprayed over the second man. Soon, he met the same fate. Her reaction was muffled by the tape over her mouth, but she wasn’t any less frightened.
Death was part of the job; it always had been. However, Zoey normally showed up after a crime was committed. Even as a police officer just starting out, she was thankful to have never seen this level of violence.
But now it was her ex-husband saving her, splattering the brains of two men over the concrete, and she didn’t know if that was better or worse. Though he’d broken her heart, it was hard to see Will, the man she’d loved for years, inflict that sort of thing on others. She knew him as gentle, kind, caring, soft. A man who’d cook her dinner and snuggle on the couch to watch a movie before bed; not a murderer.
Law enforcement sometimes called for acts like this, though, and he wasn’t to blame. She didn’t think less of him for it, but she trembled all the same.
When his hands touched her, though, Zoey had her answer. She wasn’t afraid; she melted into him, finally feeling safer. She found his eyes through the tears, instinctively shaking her head at his question, though it was a lie. Slowly, she shifted to nod only once, and steadied herself when he reached for the tape. It burned, though it was almost a welcome distraction from the pain radiating up her leg.
“My ankle,” Zoey whimpered, surprising herself with how weak her voice sounded, “I rolled it in that pothole.” She motioned over his shoulder with her chin at a large dip in the weakened concrete, though she was only assuming it was that one. “I can’t walk.” Zoey added, though ‘rolled’ was wishful thinking. She’d heard something tear and crackle, though Zoey sincerely hoped it was just ligaments.
Once her wrists were freed, she shifted closer, throwing her arms around Will, grabbing him as though he was a liferaft. He was, and it didn’t matter how terrifying that was, not when she thought she’d die here. In those moments, she thought of her father, her mother, Addy, and Will. And he emerged out of nowhere to save her when she thought she couldn’t rely on him anymore. Zoey sobbed, shaking in his arms, fingers clutching his shirt desperately.
She thought it was all over. Her life. That, despite their assurances, they would kill her when they didn’t find what they were looking for. Her dad would be alone, rocked by another loss he’d never recover from, and would eventually follow once his mind had fully disintegrated. The idea alone terrified her━how close she was to death━and it didn’t stop now, even as she held her safety.
“There you are.” A voice cackled from behind Will, causing Zoey’s eyes to fly open and find him there, standing with a gun pointed directly at them. “Finally decided to show your face, huh? Gotta rescue the gir━”
His taunting was cut off by screams, though they weren’t from either of the people he aimed his gun at. He was screaming, gun clattering to the floor, flailing as he seemed to spontaneously combust.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | |
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LEX CAMERON
Psychic
Posts: 62
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Oct 6, 2024 16:40:59 GMT
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Post by LEX CAMERON on Oct 7, 2022 23:15:18 GMT
━ one click and you are overwritten ━
He kinda tried to block out the little chat between Will and his chick, like, to give them privacy or something━also ‘cause affection and emotions made him a little uncomfortable. He could hear her crying, and that was kinda weird. Lex almost made a joke about re-applying whatever gag they’d used just to ease the tension, but he knew better than to say some shit like that. Will wouldn’t get it, he’d just snap.
Focusing on the profiles the program spat out, Lex saved them into a file, still trying to block out Zoey’s crying. In that split-second, he realized one of the signals was moving━the only one leftover.
“Yo, yo.” Lex said quickly, like, less than half a second before he heard the dude’s voice ring through the earbud. Without hesitation, Lex dove back into the computer, sending himself soaring into the dude’s phone. He wasn’t sure what to do when he got there, but Lex was quick on his toes, and went right for the battery. He started overloading it with shit, too much power. He wasn’t totally sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot, right? Lex had only just discovered he could conduct electricity on his own, and he didn’t really know if his two abilities could be combined, but it felt like it was working.
It was like an action movie━when the dude makes everything explode and walks away from it all slow-mo and shit. Except, like, Lex basically threw a grenade over his shoulder and ran the fuck outta there. In a moment, he was back in his body, and grinning at the sound of the dude’s pained screams, caused by the freak fire from the phone in his pocket.
“Look at that,” Lex said, sounding super smug and proud of himself, even going so far as to wipe his hands off one another. “Operation: Save Zoey was a success. Complete with one crispy dude. Oh, uh, if you wanna grab her and get outta there, now’s the time. I can set the rest of their phones off to, like, cover the evidence or whatever. Up to you. Just call me Mr. Fuckin’ Fire Boy. No, that sounds gay. Oh, shit, you can’t even talk to me, huh?” Lex snickered lightly, “Say somethin’ in code if you want me to light ‘em up. Be like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy’ or some shit. I’ll get it dooone, homie. You know I will━Go Team!” He whisper-shouted the last part and pumped a fist in the air, double-checking that he hadn’t woken Winter.
WILLIAM CARNEGIE | no notes. |
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WILLIAM CARNEGIE
Warlock
Posts: 168
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective/Art Thief
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Zoey Washington
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 29, 2024 20:13:54 GMT
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Post by WILLIAM CARNEGIE on Oct 26, 2022 18:08:26 GMT
He’d seen the way some had looked at her. The willowy detective who looked like she should’ve been more at home on a runway than an interrogation room. A push over. Will had known what was coming the minute their lips curled in that dismissive sneer and felt the pride radiate through his chest when they were corrected. Even back when he’d been the green detective strutting into the bull pen in the Armani suit he’d seen so much deeper. She’d tried to hold him at a distance, using what he displayed on the surface as a reason not to let him drift any closer into her orbit. He’d worn her down in the end, erasing any distance between them until the job, the other job, had wedged itself there, blasting back into that lonely, meandering orbit around a sun that wanted him to fall through its atmosphere and burn itself to dust.
Over the last year he’d felt the warmth of that sun on his skin, the joy of being able to brush against it – to touch it = filling him. Now it lodged hot in his chest, stealing all of the oxygen away. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fight past what should’ve been so cold, as he rushed through the warehouse. Zoey, so brave, so fierce, against five. She’d have fought against them, the picture of what had happened here not played out in gory technicolour on whatever Lex was using to track her. He could only picture it, choke on it.
Lex’s mutterings on the other end of the earpiece did little to settle his fears. Will tried to push away everything but the needed now. Later he’d teach Lex the importance of empathy and a mental filter as volubly and painfully as possible, for now he just had to know the facts. One man on the side he was about to enter by, an interior map was coming, but for now it was the two his side, two with their hands on Zoey - acid crawled up his throat at the thought, but he swallowed it back - one out the other side.
At the first glimpse of one lurking outside, weapon in hand mask off - all the better to be able breathe properly without their hostage seeing their face - any thought of waiting vanished. There were two with Zoey, doing God only knew what, every moment he delayed was one more for them to hurt her. ”I don’t have a minute,” Will growled. The concealment spell would give him the cover to get where he needed without having to go all the way around. Unfortunately it left Lex witness to it, thankfully only hearing the spell. Another explanation that would need to come later, but not now. Now was all about Zoey.
A silent, invisible force working its way through the building and the men who’d dared lay a hand on her now. Both downed by a vicious crack of his gun butt, the one inside trussed up like a Christmas turkey, the threat to come back and finish him delivered in one grubby ear. He stiffened faintly at the sound of Lex’s voice in his ear, all of this could be used to bring him down if the truth was to spill out about all of this. It didn’t matter though, if he lost Zoey now then none of this would have mattered. All the good he’d tried to do, all he’d sacrificed would have been for nothing.
It felt like it all fell away as he saw the two men standing over Zoey. The echo of her scream still seemed to vibrate in his ears, almost deafening him to the first gunshot. Something inside of him twitched, the spatter of blood leaving him blinking like he had to clear it from his eyes to refocus, to shoot the second man. The numbness seeped in the moment they were down, spreading through his limbs, the ache remaining only in his heart as he crouched. It sharpened, tightened as Zoey melted into his touch. ”I’m here now,” he promised hoarsely. He inflicted an ounce more pain to get the tape from her lips, but instantly he was soothing it with an arm around back, his thumb brushing lips bruised by the tape.
Zoey shaking her head had been a relief, one that had something inside of him sagging, almost sobbing with the weight that lifted. He had gotten here in time to stop the worst of it. At the whimpered words about her ankle, Will eased back, the hand on her back sliding down until his fingers cradled the hollow behind her knee, not chancing moving her leg, but lingering there as though he could feel the damage through the touch alone. ”You won’t have to walk, we’re getting out together, I’ve got you now.” The lingering knowledge that this was his fault had the claws tearing deep through him again.
He dipped his hand into his pocket, retrieving the small folding blade from the keys he’d shoved in when he’d bolted from the car. It cut through the plastic, leaving the strips tumbling away and Zoey scooting forward into his arms. He drew her in, arms around her as tight as hers were around him, his eyes stinging, filling as he pressed his lips to the top of her head. So close to there never being a way back to one another, his worst nightmare almost coming true here. ”You’re safe, darling. I’m so sorry.” The apology burned its way free, needed even if Zoey had no idea of his real role in this. His heart twisted as she sobbed, the shivers rolling through both of them. Soft words of comfort, unintelligible even to himself poured out against her hair, her temple, fingers that shook smoothing up and down her back. They were gone, half of them dead at his hands, that weight on him, piled atop the rest.
But not all.
Why had he not ordered Lex to monitor the last man? Why had the man slipped from his awareness entirely? Still a threat, standing there, cackling, aiming a gun at them both, Lex’s warning coming too late for him to do anything about it. ”Mystic Falls sheriff’s department,” he growled low. A cop, the disguise for the thief - the husband, shifting subtly to put himself between Zoey and the bullet that would come as he slowly turned his head. His own gun was out of reach, even the blade had been tucked away in his pocket. Will tensed, anticipating the slam of the bullets into his back, but the man didn’t even get to finish his gloat before he started to scream. His weapon hit the concrete, another chip knocked from it, although that was going to be the least of the damage once the flames stopped.
In a heartbeat Will was up, snatching his weapon, jamming it in his waistband before he scooped Zoey up. He crab walked away from where the burning man stumbled towards them, those unearthly shrieks still rolling from him. ”Hold on. Don’t look, Zoey, close your eyes.” Don’t see the damage to the men who hurt you. Don’t watch them burn, don’t watch their blood and other things seeping from shattered skulls. As soon as he was out of range, Will was running for the front of the warehouse. The two men he’d just incapacitated were going to have to get themselves away from the flames if the fire spread. If they couldn’t … well, they’d have to take the odds of the Sheriff’s people or the firefighters getting there before the fire reached them. All that he was concerned about was in his arms.
Lex. He should’ve known that the explosion had something to do with Lex and whatever he was able to magic technology into doing - it wasn’t really magic, he knew that well enough, but there was more to the story Lex had blurted this far. His voice had been crowing in his ear from the moment the flames had gone up, only bits and pieces of it registering. Will grit his teeth, trying to bite back the urge to tell Lex a man’s death was nothing to celebrate, even if he had deserved it with every breath he’d ever drawn. ”I’ll call the fire station and the sheriff, the whole place might go up before they get here. We’re going to the hospital. They’ll take care of you. Fix you right up.” Listen, Lex. Take a hint for the first time in your life. The thought of killing two now defenceless men made him feel sick, but he couldn’t be looking over his shoulder forever more, terrified to let Zoey out of his sight in case they came back again. It was almost as nauseating to think that Lex could hold this over his head forever more, but he had to trust him now.
The crackle of the flames grew in the time him to make it across to the car, the air seeming to heat with it, leaving his skin prickling. WIll muscled the door open, whispering apologies as he eased Zoey into the passenger seat. He strapped her in carefully, wishing there was something he was able to do to stop the jolt of the car over the rough roads from making the trip back into town a misery for her. The pain from this was going to roll out in sickening waves in all directions and he’d be lucky to avoid one of them drowning him. Will jogged around to the driver’s side, reaching for Zoey’s hand the moment he had the engine roaring and the car squealing back out onto the road, the light he shoved on the dashboard flashing bright this time. She was safe, but at what cost to them both.
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