trans_9 | Ten Forward

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Ten Forward

Not too long after his introduction to the rest of the crew, Lex slipped away to head back to the Lounge area. That particular part of the ship had been his main workspace for several months now. He knew he would have to share that space one day, and he was certainly prepared for it.

Lex was, at the end of the day, a businessman. As any good businessman would tell you, the biggest deals are never negotiated in the board room. They're done on the golf course, the tennis courts, but more often than not, in the smoke filled backroom of a high end bar. Alcohol was always good for soothing frayed nerves, loosening tongues, and getting people to agree on things they normally wouldn't.

And now Lex had his own bar to conduct business. Actually, he had his own bar and lounge as a business now. Yes, a business. That meant that the booze and smokes that he had were not free anymore.

This is Lex Luthor here, did you think he'd give away all his booze for nothing?

Luckily, he was aware that people are running low on cash, but money isn't the only thing of value around here. His asking price was simple. He'd make any drink you want, even non-alcoholic ones (and given that he had spent some time mixing and matching liquor and juices from different universes, he can mix dozens drinks you never even thought of), and all you have to do...

"So, tell me about yourself."

...is have a conversation with him.

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Lex raised an eyebrow. My, my, my... this group was so very interesting.

"I see. But I've noticed that this is a willful bunch. It would take a strong hand to keep them all in line."

Nate just shrugged at that.

"Sometimes a strong hand is what people need. If there'd been someone with absolute power in charge. I'm sure things would have gone much smoother." A pause. "Check that, if someone smart with absolute power had been in charge."

Cassie hadn't come to this area of the ship to drink or to hang out. She'd come to explore. After all, she hadn't had a lot of time to spend looking around before.

And then she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

"You."

Cassie walked over to Lex and Nate, never taking her eyes off of Lex Luthor. "What the hell do you think you're doing? If I ever catch you near my boyfriend again I'm going to crush you underneath my foot."

"Hey now, hold on a second," Lex said, holding his hands up in a 'calm down' signal.

"I don't know what kind of rumors they've been spreading about me, but I do not swing that way. And even if I did, I'd prefer someone who had at least finished going through puberty. No offense, kid."

"Oh cute, very cute." Cassie said dryly. "You really think that's going to get you out of trouble? Let me give you some advice." Cassie laid her hands on top of the bar and leaned in. "Back off."

Lex did no such thing. He had been threatened by leaders of nations before, a loud little girl was hardly that threatening. He placed his hands on the bar and leaned forward a little. He smirked at Cassie, then looked over at Nate.

"Is this the girl you were telling me about?"

Nate had jumped up when Cassie appeared on the scene and started shouting. Sure there'd been that message about steering clear from this guy, but that was no reason to be so...angry. And then there was that word.

Stepping up behind her, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Cassie cool it. He's not a threat to anyone right now. Everyone needs to pull together if the crew is going to survive at all." His voice was quiet, but firm.

Turning to Lex he nodded. "Yeah. She is."

"No threat? This guy-" Cassie stopped suddenly and stepped back, looking more vulnerable than angry. "Wait you were talking about me?" Was that good or bad?

"Yes, Nate and I discussed quite a few things. But I imagine you and your... ah, boyfriend need to talk amongst yourselves for a moment."

He smiled at them both, then walked down the length of the bar of a bit, inspecting some of liquor.

"Boyfr-" Nate froze for a moment at the word. He'd barely caught it. And in the heat of the moment it had slipped past him. But now that he stopped to think about it, she had said that. She'd called him her boyfriend. But that didn't make any sense.

As Lex walked away, he looked helplessly after the man before turning his attention back to Cassie, slightly wide-eyed. The only thing he had to say was a rather eloquent, "Huh?"

Huh?

"Boyfr-" Cassie gasped. "Oh, I did not just say that..." She said, putting a hand over her mouth.

Nate's expression didn't change in the slightest. He was still completely confused. Why would she? She'd said before that there'd been something between them, but really? And he didn't remember?

"...Seriously?" That was really all he could think of to say. It was kind of a shock to say the least.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that I was-" She turned her big, blue eyes on Nate. "I didn't mean to say that." She repeated.

His brown eyes met her blue ones for a long moment before he quickly looked away, shaking his head. "It's fine." Really, what did a person say in situations like this? 'Hey, I don't remember you so it's cool. Forget about it.'

"It's fine." He reaffirmed falling silent.

"If Jonas finds out I said that he's going to-" Cassie really didn't want to see the look on his face when he found out. If he found out. But she'd deal with that when it happened.

"I- listen, you really shouldn't go near him. He watched Hal 9000 put us all in death traps. We all could have died. Paco lost an arm. He did nothing. He's not a good person."

"No one's going to tell him." That came out faster and sharper than he'd intended. But he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Didn't want to hear about Jonas. Shutting his eyes a moment, he took a deep breath.

"What did you expect him to do? Compromise his position to help you all out of a mess? If the recon team had done a better job you wouldn't have had to get caught in that trap. I wouldn't nearly have died by zombie. What exactly did you expect him to do?" Nate, to his credit, didn't raise his voice. But his tone wasn't pleasant. He wasn't happy. It had been a hard few days, and this. This wasn't something her needed right now. Who was she to tell him what to do?

Cassie just stared at Nate for a moment. That wasn't a very Iron Lad thing to say. That was more of a...

"What did I expect him to do? I expected him to help us not sit around drinking and then watching someone lose an arm over again."

No, it definitely wasn't a very Iron Lad thing to say. But then, he wasn't feeling very Iron Lad-ish at the moment.

"He's a baseline like me. What did you expect him to do? Come running in waving a gun around? You had tonnes of metas or enhanced humans with you! What possible help could he have been? And you don't go into a fight expecting to get off scot free? Someone lost an arm? That's the price you pay in war. If no one's ready to accept that if the plan had been a little more ironclad, if there had been more research that it could have been avoided then they shouldn't damn well lead in a fight should they?"

He glared at her almost. Some part of him knew that what he was saying was wrong. Some part knew that he was just lashing out, unjustly, unfairly. But he was too angry to care.

Cassie heard Nate but what he was saying didn't seem to register. Each word was one more reminder of what Iron Lad had sacrificed. A sacrifice that no longer even mattered.

When he stopped speaking she opened her mouth. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was. How much she wished this hadn't happened but-

But he wouldn't even know what she was talking about.

Cassie looked down. Damn it, she did not want to cry not now. Please not now. Please...

She bit her lip. Tears spilled down her face and she quickly brushed them away.

And she was crying. He'd made her cry. Which just made him all the more angry. Angry at himself for losing it. Angry at Stacy for putting him on this damn ship. Just angry. He felt like he was going to burst.

He just looked at her helpless in the face of her tears. Before he sighed, looking away.

"I'm sorry. It's...been a rough few days is all." Made all the rougher by his realization that he doesn't really know anyone on the ship other than her.

"Mm-" Her voice cracked before she could say anything and she let out a choked laugh at her own expense before sucking in a deep breath. "I miss who you used to be, Nate. And I'm sorry you don't remember."

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then snapped it shut again. What was there that he could say to that? A pause and he nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm sorry too." How could he be anyone else? This was all he had.

Cassie didn't say anything as she walked away. Even if she could find the words she wouldn't be able to speak them. All she could do was wipe the tears from her eyes.

When she was gone, he slammed he fist down on the bar and cursed loudly. What was wrong with him? Why did their encounters always end like this? Sighing, he looked over at Lex.

"Ca I get another one of these?" He held up his glass. "And give me something that'll make me pass out."

Lex sat a bottle of cheap scotch on the table, and another glass. He filled it up a third of the way, about as much as a double shot.

"Drink it fast, do it one gulp. It'll burn all the way down. Hold your breath for a couple of seconds, then exhale. Then you can tell me what the hell that was about."

In the meantime, Lex did mix him up another drink, making sure to add more alcohol to it.

Ten Forward

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