Entry for the Last Ship Sailing Competition II

Ship: Katie/Marcus

Round 2

Prompts:

(AU) Mad Scientist!AU

(object) knife

(color) pastel blue

Thank you so much to my amazing fellow Wanderers Kage and Ally, who betaed and Ally helped to get the final polish and find a title :)

I hope you all enjoy it, I'm looking forward to your opinions!

Crazy Comes In Twos

Marcus Flint rolled his eyes about the annoying tune that was coming from the speakers in the elevator – he already knew that the song would be stuck in his head for the rest of the day. Turning towards the mirror spanning over the whole back of the car, he checked his tie before glancing down at his watch, noting with satisfaction that he was five minutes early. This interview was way too important to be late or have a flaw in his appearance.

It was the kind of opportunity that you only got once in your life, and he didn't want to mess it up – one of the most renowned scientists of the underground scene was searching for an assistant.

Or rather, for someone who would get their hands dirty for them.

Because the underground scene of unethical scientists, part-time tyrants and wannabe conquerors certainly needed people who were willing to do things that were cruel and unimaginable for the average citizen. There weren't many people in the world who knew about the amount of money that were flowing for these outcasts; even though society had officially banished them for their methods and their beliefs, governments and intelligence agencies still were highly interested in taking advantage of their work.

Doctor Bell was one of the stars of the underground, so to speak – an expert in various fields regarding the human body, the doctor was the first address for anybody who planned to use effective torture, mind-control techniques or just required an illegal kidney transplant. Everyone spoke of the doctor's brilliant mind, their creativity in finding solutions and their willingness to push boundaries in the name of science, regardless which inhumane experiments were required.

Some feared Doctor Bell, calling them mad – to others, they were one of the greatest minds of the century.

However, not many people had ever met Doctor Bell in person, and those who had had either been sedated for surgery already or had died during experiments.

Nobody knew what kind of person they really were – only their work spoke for them.

The doctor remained a ghost, only contactable through third parties that received their instructions via email and worked with mailboxes and drop off points.

Thus applying for the job had several interesting points for Marcus; not only was the offered payment and housing a huge improvement from his current job situation, but also would he have the rare opportunity to meet this mysterious doctor.

The elevator came to a stop smoothly and yet it ripped Marcus from his thoughts; giving his tie a last pat, he stepped out of the car and into the fancy large combined entrance area and sitting room of the penthouse. A woman with a tablet computer was standing only a few feet away from the elevator, smiling at him politely. "Mister Flint, we have been waiting for you. The doctor will see you in a few minutes, you may take a seat if you want."

Marcus nodded at her before moving over to one of the pastel blue leather armchairs, trying to appear as natural as possible as he sat down – he wasn't used to wearing suits, and he hoped that the doctor wouldn't demand them to become his work attire. No matter how good they looked, they were highly impractical for him, and it was hard to get bloodstains out of suit jackets on his own. Dry cleaners were just asking too many questions in his opinion.

Suddenly, the door leading to one of the other rooms of the penthouse is thrown open, and a huge, muscular man who looked like he could frighten even the hardest fellow came out, tears running down his cheeks. A horrible, strangled sob escaped him and Marcus couldn't help but stare with wide eyes, barely able to believe that this was real.

"Think twice before going in there! This is madness! You better leave as long as you can!"

Irritation shot through Marcus as he watched the man hurry over to the waiting elevator. His gaze flickered to the lady who'd greeted him, but she appeared to be completely unbothered by the incident. Her smile was just as polite and relaxed as it had been when he'd arrived, and her voice was just as smooth as she said: "I wish you a pleasant day, Mister Robson. Mister Flint, the doctor will interview you now."

She gestured towards the still open door and Marcus felt a little bit of nervosity fluttering in his stomach as he stood up and buttoned his suit jacket, clearing his throat. Whoever this doctor was, they were probably intimidating and open about their plans if they were able to throw a man like that off his game in such ways.

While Marcus was positive that he was confident and experienced enough in the scene to handle whatever was awaiting him, he still needed to take another deep breath before entering the room.

It was obviously an office, the walls covered by bookcases that reached the ceiling; a large front of windows allowed plenty of light to stream in and offered an amazing view of the London skyline.

In the middle of the room was a huge desk made of steel and glass, and he could barely hide his surprise when the person sitting behind it didn't look like anything he'd expected.

Whenever he'd thought of the legendary Doctor Bell he'd pictured a man in his forties, maybe with some bodily marks that increased his desire to stay out of the spotlight, glasses...

However, the person was a woman around his age, intelligent brown eyes gliding over him scrutinising while her expression was even, calm but observing. He could tell that she was analysing him, and he might have felt like she could read his thoughts for a moment when he had to admit to himself that she was a beautiful woman – in that second her eyebrow raised briefly. Her appearance was perfect, not one hair out of place and not one crease in the black dress.

So this was the doctor everyone in the underground respected without ever having met them... her.

Again, definitely not whom he'd expected, but he still felt greatly impressed – her presence had an air of superiority, and the respect he'd felt because of her work didn't falter at all.

"Mister Flint. If you would sit down, I don't have much time."

Her voice pulled him back into reality and he could see that her fingers were tapping on the polished glass surface of the desk.

"Yes, of course," he quickly replied and walked over to the only chair in the room apart from hers – it was oddly mismatched with the other furniture, making him assume that she normally wasn't accommodating visitors in her office. "I would like to thank you for inviting me to this interview. It's a very interesting off-"

"Mister Flint, let's just cut the small talk. I don't appreciate it and I can tell that you're not a man of words, but of actions. That's the kind of person I need in my team, not someone who'll annoy me day in day out with their babbling."

"Understood."

He decided that short, precise answers were what she wanted, and he honestly preferred that kind of communication as well. No unnecessary information, no questions about private life; just business.

"Your resume looks promising, Mister Flint. I would like to remind you that I'm looking for someone who follows my orders exactly and doesn't have a problem with aiding in unethical experiments. I see you don't have any scientific experience?"

"No, ma'am. Will that be a problem?" Marcus straightened his back a bit more, hoping to appear confident enough to work through any problems she should have with his qualifications.

Doctor Bell shook her head, eye darting down to his resume for a second. "No, it's not an requirement, though it would have been convenient for me. I assume you don't have problems with seeing blood, organs or other human remains?"

He could barely keep himself from raising an eyebrow at her and ask her if she was serious – during his time with the Royal Army he'd seen enough things to watch even the cruelest torture. "That's correct. No problem at all."

"Good."

"Have you ever disobeyed orders from your boss?"

"No, I'm the muscle, not the brain, Ma'am."

Her eyebrow rose briefly and she scribbled something down on the notepad lying in front of her.

"Any recurring health problems, like immune system weaknesses that would make being close to a lab dangerous?"

"Not that I know."

"Would you describe yourself as immoral?"

"Uh, yes, definitely."

She continued to ask him questions about his work ethics and if there were things he wouldn't be able to do; a little later she even briefly brushed the topic private relationships interfering with his professional life and Marcus got the impression that she was slowly analysing his psychological profile through his answers. Knowing that she was more than capable of finding out more about the way he ticked only through his answers made him feel at least a bit uncomfortable; thus he was more than happy when she ultimately said that they were done.

"Well, Mister Flint, I've made my decision. I would like to hire you if you would be able to start next week," she said with the faintest trace of a smile playing around the corners of her lips. Marcus hesitated for a moment, unsure if she was serious, but then he nodded.

"Thank you for the opportunity, ma'am."

"Aida will sit down with you to talk you through the contract and inform you about everything you'll need to know before you start," Doctor Bell explained while standing up – his signal to leave. Marcus stretched his arm to offer her his hand, and she hesitated a long moment before shaking it. Her skin felt so soft against his, and he caught himself looking at her lips for a moment; he hurried to slap himself out of this daze and scolded himself. Unprofessional behaviour even before he'd signed the contract – great work.

Fortunately she didn't show any reaction to that, though he was absolutely sure that she'd noticed his glance, and he released a little breath when the door to her office closed behind him. Aida was still in the entrance area, the same smile from earlier on her face – that really started to get creepy in his opinion – and motioned for him to take a seat again. Marcus wasn't really that surprised when he saw the contract lying on the coffee table.

"Congratulations, Mister Flint, I hope you'll feel comfortable here. I would like to ask you to send the contract back to me before your first day, signed. I shall explain some of your duties and responsibilities to you now, feel free to interrupt me if something remains unclear to you."

OoO

One week later, Marcus exited the elevator at the penthouse level once again, feeling equally nervous as the last time, though today it was also laced with some excitement. Shouldering the big gym bag that contained all his clothes and personal belongings, he walked into the entrance area, not surprised at all to find Aida waiting for him.

"Welcome back. Please follow me, I shall show you your private area and then Doctor Bell would like to see you."

Marcus just nodded, once again feeling like Aida simply couldn't be human; the way she talked and walked was completely natural, but very emotionless and always too perfect. Maybe he would find out more about that sometime.

Aida led him past Doctor Bell's office and down a long hallway that he hadn't noticed the last time he'd been here; somehow he'd forgotten about the giant dimensions of the building itself and that the penthouse had to be equally big.

"To our left you can find Doctor Bell's lab, to the right is the surgery and experiment room. Remember to always knock before entering should the doors be closed."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that rule," Marcus replied dryly. "It was also in the three memos you sent me over the last week. But thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot."

"Sarcasm. The doctor likes to use it frequently as well, I'm sure you're compatible." Aida sounded casual and Marcus didn't even bother to feel irritated anymore, he simply added another point to his list of evidence that Aida probably wasn't as human as she was supposed to appear.

"We'll see," he mumbled, more to himself than to her, and let his gaze wander over the two doors; the one to the lab was closed, but to his right he caught a glimpse of polished tiles, countless machines and an operating table with thick leather straps. It felt a little bit creepy, as if it was taken right from a science fiction movie, but he shook it off. He'd seen rooms like that before, they'd just been a little more shabby and the doctors working in them had been way more shady.

Doctor Bell was far from being shady, though, in his eyes.

Or, the non-shadiest of shady?

His mind was doing weird things when he thought of her.

"Now, this is the living area," Aida explained, ripping him from his thoughts, and Marcus couldn't help but make an impressed sound. The room was even bigger than the entrance area and looked a lot more lively; a polished, red kitchen with a breakfast bar was located at the far side, steps led up to a slightly higher area where a big glass dining table stood right in front of the huge window front. A slide door was leading out onto a big terrace which was full with plants and had a whirlpool that looked a bit unused, and the view over London was breathtaking. Comfortable looking couches and armchairs in light colours were accompanied by loads of bookshelves lining the walls.

"You'll be sharing this area with the doctor, but don't worry, she isn't using it very often. The door over there leads to Doctor Bell's private room, only-"

"Only to enter in emergencies, I know," Marcus grumbled, earning an irritated glance from Aida, her brown eyes wide.

"I don't understand why using sarcasm in this situation would be appropriate. Could you elaborate?"

"Forget that I said that. It was just... you keep saying things I already know." Marcus buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans and Aida looked at him for a bit longer, then nodded.

"You're annoyed about my attempts to assist you in memorising everything you need to know. I apologise."

"Yeah, no problem."

Aida appeared to be lost for a moment, then she turned towards the other door leading away from the living area. "Over there you find your room."

She walked over, her heels clicking on the expensive hardwood floor, and Marcus followed as she opened the door for him. "We hope that this will satisfy your needs. You may decorate it to your liking and feel free to move the furniture if this constellation doesn't appeal you."

Marcus had to pinch himself to be sure that this was actually reality and not some weird daydream, and he mumbled in surprise: "Holy shit."

His room was huge and a lot of sunlight was streaming in through the same huge windows as everywhere in the penthouse. A really big bed stood by one wall, there was a couch, a TV, bookshelves, a closet, a desk, and even a punching bag was hanging from the ceiling.

"I apologise, I don't understand...," Aida said and Marcus and her turned around when they heard a snort behind them.

"Aida, that means that he is more than content with his room. You may go now."

Doctor Bell was leaning in the doorframe, a smirk spread all over her face, and Marcus found that it formed a pleasant contrast to how he'd seen her so far. Aida nodded at them before walking off; Marcus let his gaze wander around the room one last time before turning completely towards his new boss.

"That's definitely a lot better than what I'm used to."

"I figured. We added the punching bag thinking that it would be to your liking, given your background check. I'm glad that you decided to take the job, they say you're one of the best."

Marcus pulled his hands out of his pockets and stood a bit taller. It was weird, but the words kind of stroked his ego, coming from her, and he smiled.

"They do? Well, I'm always making sure to leave an impression behind. It obviously worked."

"Yeah," she said, chuckling almost nervously, and Marcus had to gather a lot of self-control to not show his surprise openly when he spotted the tiniest blush on her cheeks. This was quite the opposite to the way she'd behaved during the interview, almost as if she'd tried to appear more serious and businesslike to the few applicants that she hadn't approved. He could imagine that holding a reputation up was a tough job, especially when people got to meet her and realised that their expectations – a man – wasn't fulfilled. And he himself had proven that it was true, he'd expected a man, and knowing the kind of men that were working in the underground, he was absolutely sure that they wouldn't react very positive. Probably the reason why she'd kept her gender a secret and stayed in the shadows.

Marcus was astonished about himself when some thoughts rushed through his mind, telling him that he wouldn't behave like that, ever, and that he would justify the trust she'd put into him by hiring him.

Deciding not to touch that topic and to get some conversation rolling, he put his bag down next to the door and stated: "So... your assistant, she... well, she does seem a bit weird, to be honest."

"Aida? Of course, she's an android. Unfortunately programming never was my strongest suit, so she keeps having processing problems. But it's enough for an assistant." She sounded dismissive, trying not to make a big deal out of it, and Marcus couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever been told that her work wasn't the top notch while it really was, causing this behaviour.

Before he knew it, he gave her one of his rare smiles – he had absolutely no idea why, as he normally only cared about his own business. "At first sight she appears to be human, and she's behaving naturally most of the time. That's impressive."

"It really isn't. I was being cocky and thought that even though my PhDs are in completely different fields I would be able to do this. And now I have an android that I can barely use for the purposes I built it for," she explained while rolling her eyes about herself in obvious annoyance, gesturing behind her vaguely.

"Better than anything I would have managed." The words slipped out of his mouth before he even realised how utterly lame they sounded – he was a college dropout who tended to rely on his muscle while she had two PhDs and degrees in four fields, all from the most renowned universities of the country. That was hardly comparable and he asked himself why the hell he'd done that.

But she chuckled softly to his surprise, pushing a strand of her hair out of her face before saying: "Thanks, I guess."

A weirdly warm feeling rushed through him as she smiled and Marcus cleared his throat, trying to concentrate on anything else.

"Well, Mister Flint... I'll let you unpack, then, have a look around, there's nothing you have to do today... I'll be in my lab if you have questions..."

She slowly took a few steps back, almost bumping into a decorative table while Marcus nodded at her, catching himself while he realised that her pink cheeks were adorable.

OoO

Katie breathed a sigh of relief when she closed the door of her lab behind her and sank against it, the back of her head hitting the wood with a gentle thud. Oh, what had she done?

When she'd put Marcus Flint on the list of potential candidates for the job, seeing him as one of those who would be best, she hadn't known that he wasn't only deliciously vicious but also the sweetest eye candy she'd ever seen. That alone wouldn't have been a problem – she prided herself with the ability to work with everyone and if a hot piece of ass truly was a distraction to her she never would have gotten her Psychology PhD.

But hell, now he turned out to be an accidental goofball who unknowingly made her feel better about the sloppy job she'd done with Aida... she told herself that she had to be ashamed about the way her cheeks had glowed. She was a grown woman, for fuck's sake, one who took pride in her professionality, but five minutes after Marcus Flint had arrived she'd suddenly behaved like a teenager.

Maybe it was just the agitation of having someone new move in and having to get accustomed to their different way of working...

Surely it was that...

"There's something I don't understand."

Katie jumped, her body hitting against the door as she stared across the room where Aida was standing, looking at her with a slightly confused expression. Touching her chest, Katie could feel her heart beating harshly against her ribcage and she needed to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"What the hell, Aida? How many times do I have to tell you to announce yourself?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Doctor. But I have a question. I noticed that your heart rate picked up around Mister Flint and your blood pressure raised significantly. What does that mean?" Aida asked, and though Katie knew that the android was truly curious, she couldn't help but feel pissed about her innocent tone.

It was as if she was rubbing her own denial into her face.

"Shut the fuck up, Aida."

OoO

Marcus spent the rest of his first day checking everything in his new room out and getting a few pictures for the horribly empty walls at the local Ikea. He didn't see Doctor Bell at all, not even during dinner – he'd picked up some takeout on his way back to the building – and so dinner turned into a rather awkward affair, as Aida decided to give him company. There weren't many things that could make him feel uncomfortable, but he had to add 'being stared at by an android while eating' to the short list.

That night he could barely fall asleep as he kept staring at the illuminated skyline, fascinated by the amazing view.

The next morning came too quickly and he nearly grabbed the gun he slept with from under his pillow when Aida suddenly stood in his room, sounding way too gleeful as she wished him a good morning. While Marcus forced himself to calm down, the android lady informed him that one of the doctor's projects had a breakthrough the previous night and that it was time to test the methods on a human. He would have to acquire a test object later.

Dragging himself out of bed, Marcus slipped on sweatpants and a tshirt, deciding that he needed coffee and something to eat before he could even think about how to fulfill this request – Aida had completely thrown him off his morning routine.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, disheveling it even more while he entered the living area; Doctor Bell was sitting at the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal, looking like she could fall asleep again any second. Feeling oddly satisfied that he wasn't the only one who'd been woken way too early and abruptly, he grumbled a short greeting that earned him a grunt while he went over to the fridge – the room smelled of fresh coffee, telling him that he didn't have to make any effort to get his lifesaver, thus he could look into finding food.

Rubbing his palm over his face and making a mental note that he definitely had to shave later, he opened the fridge and blinked in surprise; dead, green eyes stared at him from behind round glasses, located between a few cucumbers and the remains of the takeout. Cocking his head to the side, he returned the gaze for a long moment, not quite able to process the situation, then he stated over his shoulder calmly: "There's a head in the fridge."

She turned slowly, gazing into his general direction, then she yelled: "Aida! I didn't mean that fridge!"

For a moment it was silent in the living area, then Aida entered the room, smiling while moving over to the fridge and taking the head out of it. "If you had programmed me properly, Katherine, then I would have been able to distinguish between the various fridges in the penthouse."

Marcus forced himself to hold in a snort at the android's response, and he didn't regret that decision as Doctor Bell... no, Katherine – what a lovely name for her – sounded more than pissed when she replied to Aida. "Oh, your subroutines finally picked up some sarcasm!"

"As I noticed that you and Mister Flint tend to use it in various situations, I started to fear that I would be unable to decipher your conversations. So I did some research and I think I understand its purpose now," Aida explained, turning around in the doorway leading to the hallway, and the dead eyes stared at the two humans in the kitchen again.

"Yeah, awesome, really, but could you bring the head in the fridge? The right one, this time! I don't want it to get too warm." Aida simply nodded before leaving, and Katherine released a groan that earned her a sympathetic glance from Marcus while she nearly dropped her head into her cereal.

"Tech, huh?"

Pouring himself and her some coffee, he sat down next to her and placed the mug in front of her.

"Curse and blessing. She has her endless faults but I've grown attached to that piece of scrap metal," Katherine replied, her voice dripping of annoyance, and Marcus chuckled softly. "Thanks for the coffee."

A tiny smiled played around the corners of her lips, but it was enough to wake that warm feeling inside of Marcus once again, the one that made him wonder where his usual emotional distance to his job and all the people connected to it had went. There was something about this woman that made him do or say things he normally wouldn't, and that concerned him.

OoO

Even though Marcus had sworn to himself to behave normally and ignore the feelings that kept rising inside him whenever the doctor was around him, they still came back more often than he would have liked – and they kept intensifying as he got settled in the penthouse and in the job. He was used to acclimating fast to new situations, but this time it went even faster, it seemed. Soon he learned to ignore Aida's chaotic subroutines or make the best of them. Also he got used to having his movie evening interrupted by screams – until he remembered to always gag the subject instead of just beating them unconscious – and even started to enjoy the amount of free time he had. Doctor Bell spent a lot of her time in the lab, regularly pulling all-nighters , and from time to time Marcus got her a new test object. She'd once tried to explain her current project to him, but he'd been forced to make her stop after the first few sentences as he found it way too complicated.

Still, it was easy to have long conversations with her when she happened to stop working for some time to eat. There was some professional distance between them, but they could talk about personal views just as casually as about books or movies. They were polar opposites on the outside, however, upon digging deeper they found similarities that surprised them.

Neither of them really noticed how they grew closer and became a good team on the job, slipping into a natural comfortableness around each other. Aida, on the other hand, observed it constantly, but she'd learned that humans didn't react well to being asked about romantic interests.

Of course, the day they noticed it themselves inevitably came.

It was just another day in the penthouse; the doctor – Marcus still forced himself to not use her first name, in real conversation and in his head – was once again planning to work on one of her test objects and Marcus strapped the poor, struggling guy onto the operating table for Katie.

"I feel like I'm nearly there, Aida," she said while entering the room, Aida trailing behind her with a clipboard. Marcus took a step away from the table, watching in silence how the woman put her gloves on. "Where's my knife?"

Marcus glanced at the small table next to him and grabbed the knife in question quickly. "Here, ma'am."

"What kind of doctor are you, using a kitchen knife?" the man on the table scoffed, reminding Marcus that he'd forgotten to silence the man. The doctor walked over to him, taking the knife, and their fingers brushed, making them both stop in their motions. Her brown eyes were gleaming in surprise while Marcus felt a light tingle run over his skin where they'd touched.

"Sorry, ma'am," he said quietly, unable to break their eye contact while his heart picked up the pace.

"Call me Katie."

Her voice was a soft whisper and Marcus slightly hated this cliché moment, but it was also making him feel warm on the inside.

"Marcus."

"Oi! If you two aren't too occupied with the goo-goo eyes, could you get over with this procedure?"

Katie and Marcus jumped apart at the annoyed yell of the man on the table, and Marcus hurried to grab some tape to shut him up, still feeling a bit light-headed.

Why did she always manage to throw his insides upside down? There'd never been a woman who'd managed that quite so intensely.

Aida could have given him the answer, but he wouldn't have listened – she'd noticed that humans seemed to prefer denial instead of discussing their attraction.

"I'm terribly sorry for letting you wait, sir," Katie replied in a rather cheery tone after clearing her throat to get rid of the awkward silence; as she turned to him she straightened her green scrubs, her cheeks still pink. "Normally my test objects aren't that eager."

Marcus leaned against the nearest wall, watching in silence how she prepared a few last things for the experiment. He hadn't witnessed many procedures yet, but he felt the need to learn more about what she was doing and see what she made out of the subjects he brought her.

"Let's start, shall we?"

She threw a glance over her shoulder, grinning widely, and Marcus couldn't help but smile to himself; her ruthlessness matched his. Whenever she started working she seemed to turn a bit more into the doctor that she'd pretended to be during the interview, not batting an eyelash while blood sputtered onto her clothes and the person on the table writhed for a moment before passing out. And a minute later she could turn into the woman again who watched romcoms to make fun of them while eating junk food and painting her nails.

Maybe it was madness, or maybe it was determination and utter devotion to science.

Whatever it was called, Marcus found it damn fascinating in its own wicked way.

OoO

Katie sighed as she slowly flipped the pages of the print version of her experiment protocol, trying to figure out where she'd went wrong. Lately she'd been having a phase dominated by failed experiments, and while it didn't concern her too much, she still wanted to find out what was going on.

However, she noticed that reading her entries didn't quite have the desired effect; while she did remember things, they didn't have much of a connection to the experiments.

On July 1st, for example, she'd been trying to make her subject more open to suggestions, but it had failed. The most prominent memory of that day though was Marcus cooking lunch for them, surprising her greatly with his skills – he handled a pen almost as well as a gun. On first sight, cooking didn't fit this tall, muscular man who always preferred the quicker methods, no matter how destructive they were, but she had to admit that she liked the image of him stirring another delicious sauce while telling her to stop eating the bread.

Another day bringing back some prominent memories was July 5th, upon which they'd accidentally ended up watching Galavant and Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog all day instead of working. They'd contemplated if singing would make them appear more evil during experiments. He'd also asked if she'd ever had a nemesis, and even the memory of his smirk made her heart beat a bit faster.

To compensate her laziness of the previous day, she'd worked all day on July 6th, and she could briefly recall falling asleep over her notes, but somehow she'd woken up in her own bed, a faint scent lingering around her that she smelled again when she joined Marcus for breakfast.

OoO

Marcus was lounging on the couch in the living area, watching random videos on YouTube out of pure boredom when Katie came in. Her hands were buried in the pockets of her jeans and she had an uncharacteristically sheepish expression on her face. "Hey…"

"Hey, what's up?" he mumbled, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl resting on his stomach. "How's the new killer virus zombie mind control thingy coming?"

"I never said anything about zombies. I'm not Frankenstein!" She shot him a short glare while crossing her arms in front of her chest, eyeing the popcorn for a moment. "Can I show you something? I need your honest opinion."

A bit of confusion rose inside of him and he frowned; Kati had never asked him for his opinion so far, and he couldn't remember to have done anything to increase his competence.

"Uh, sure. But don't you wanna show it to Aida instead? I mean, she probably understands more of it…"

Katie shook her head firmly, making a dismissive gesture during which she almost slapped herself. "No, no, lately Aida always says yes and amen to everything I show her. Cost me a dozen of lab rats last night," she explained with an air of annoyance and Marcus gave her a sympathetic look.

"A virus again?"

A sigh passed over her lips and she fished a few pieces of popcorn from his bowl, nodding in defeat; lately Aida had exhibited quite a few problems, resulting in chaotic situations, and Katie had already considered deactivating her while Marcus had threatened to rip her head off if she ever entered his room in the middle of the night to cite ads for certain blue pills and other 'equipment' enhancing equipment at high volume.

Why had she thought that he could be interested?

Paranoid, half-asleep, Marcus had made plans to check his bathroom for cameras, but by the morning light they'd been forgotten.

"Looking back, it really was a bad idea to connect her to my email inbox and tell her to read through every email while forgetting about spam," she stated and Marcus simply nodded – there seriously was nothing to add – before sitting up and setting the bowl down on the coffee table. "Please… I promise, it doesn't even have much to do with science, it's more like some general, slightly… well, weird and utopic… idea."

"Okay, show me."

"Oh, thank you, I really appreciate that." Katie fell into some nervous babbling as she led him to her lab and came to a stop in front of her big whiteboard, which was filled with notes and chemical formulas like always. "So, uhm… all these experiments, finding new ways to manipulate people's minds and the other shady stuff… they're great for me as a scientist, I gain a reputation, I get praise in the darknet."

Marcus leaned back against the experiment table, listening quietly while feeling curious about what she was about to present. From the way she talked, it had to be something more personal than professional, and it excited him to get even more insight into her.

"But everyone is striving for something bigger, and so do I. I have a dream."

Her gaze drifted off momentarily and he cleared his throat, nodding. "Well, that's… that's great. Everyone needs a dream."

"Yes!" Katie exclaimed, her brown eyes gleaming. "All the projects of the last years were also there to make money for my big dream."

Taking a deep breath, she looked at him as if waiting for a sign that he was ready, her hands gripping the whiteboard and pulling it away from the wall slightly. Marcus nodded again, anticipation boiling inside of him.

With an overly dramatic gesture, Katie pushed the whiteboard out of the way to reveal a second one, covered with a giant action plan. "Free pizza for everyone and world domination!"

She threw her arms up in an exaggerated, presenting manner, glancing at him while his gaze jumped over the countless steps she'd noted down. Surprise was rushing through his body and Marcus had to admit that her revelation had hit him quite hard.

Blinking a few times, he ultimately cleared his throat awkwardly and straightened his back; Katie's smile was tainted by a trace of insecurity. "What… what do you think?"

Shaking the shock off, Marcus tried to think of the most diplomatic way to express what he was feeling in this very moment.

"It's… I… wow. Uh… I didn't think that there could be something that makes me fall in love with you even more."

He'd seriously tried to steer around that particular iceberg, but the words slipped out of his mouth without him being able to hold them back in time.

Now it was Katie's turn to be slightly flabbergasted, her cheeks starting to glow while her mouth opened and closed a few times. When she finally found her voice back, it was a bit squeaky and filled with disbelief. "R-really? You like me?"

"Yes," he admitted sheepishly, a condition nobody had ever seen him in before. "You're romantically ruthless, charmingly crazy and a tempting torturer. It's adorable how you always try to laugh evilly but end up snickering instead because you can't stay serious. So yes, I like you, Katie. A lot."

She appeared a little bit shaky as she crossed the distance between them, a smile slowly spreading on her face as their fingers brushed together almost shyly. "I… I like you too."

"You at least could have tried to find some alliterations to compliment him the way he did with you!"

"Aida, fuck off!"

THE END

A/N: Some may have picked it up, others not - nerdy me put some references in this. One from Sherlock, one big one from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one from Tangled. The latter is the reason why the end is the way it is.